Ggjbffjvsfhbfrt Chapter 1: Ujgg by ghdynfgyjvtg, an academy 7 fanfic

Your name is Taylor Hebert, and you are a parahuman.

Everyone knows your story by now. The school's administration might have tried to cover it up, but you can't stop students from gossiping. It'd be like trying to carry water in a sieve- you can cover up as many holes as you can with your hands, but it's never going to stop it from leaking.

So everyone knows already what happened to you. Everyone knows about the locker- about how the trio found you in the showers after gym class and shoved you in there; about how you were locked in there, utterly alone and barely able to move, for an entire night; about how, when the school's janitor finally freed you from the locker the next morning, you slid out in front of half the student body, completely nude.

The only consolation, you suppose, is that nobody was quick enough to snap any pictures of you with their phones before the janitor covered you with his jacket.

Convinced you were going to die of pneumonia, and utterly humiliated as the student body stood over you judging your body... It would be no surprise to anyone who knew about trigger events that you'd triggered. Not that anyone could tell.

Which is good- because if anyone knew what your power is, you are fairly sure that you would be either imprisoned or coerced into the Wards by the threat of such before you could say "I want to see my lawyer".

And that just wouldn't do. You can't afford to be thrown in prison just yet. You've made too many plans.

First things first; if your power is going to have any effect, you're going to have to give it time to work. And, as you well know, the effect is diminished when you try to spread it across more than one person at a time- and you need the power strong to twist them as far as you need them twisted. You're going to have to pick just one of them to start off with.

So who is it going to be?

] Sophia Hess. The leader of the trio, and the strongest of the three to boot- both physically and mentally. Emma has been crueller than her, but Sophia is the only one who's hurt you physically. She's made your life hell- so now she's going to bring you to cloud nine.

- 50% chance of success.

- On a success, if Sophia was chosen first, the chances to recruit Emma and Madison will increase by 25%, and Emma and Madison will start with increased levels of loyalty when you bring them beneath you. In addition, Emma will start off with increased levels of devotion, while Madison will start off with increased levels of submission. These bonuses will change if Sophia is not recruited first.

- On a failure, Sophia will still be brought beneath your influence, but the general state of alarm will be raised by 2 out of 10, as Sophia exhibits minor signs of being beneath Master influence to her teammates. In addition, the bonuses to Emma and Madison's loyalty, devotion and submission levels will not be granted, and the bonuses to recruitment chances will be halved.

] Emma Barnes. The schemer of the three. Emma was once your best friend. Now, she uses the secrets you told her to hurt you. Well, she's hurt you enough. Now, she's going to use her skills for your benefit- and your pleasure.

- 70% chance of success.

- On a success, if Emma was chosen first, the chances to recruit Sophia and Madison will increase by 20%, and the next point of alarm that would be generated is instead negated. Additionally, Sophia will start off with increased levels of intrigue. Taylor's reputation amongst the general student body will go up substantially. These bonuses will change if Emma is not recruited first.

- On a failure, Emma will still be brought beneath your influence, but the general state of alarm will be raised by 1 out of 10, as Sophia will find Emma's change of heart suspicious. In addition, the negated point of alarm, the increases to Sophia's intrigue levels, the increase to Taylor's reputation levels will not be granted, and the bonuses to recruitment chances will be halved.

] Madison Clements. The most popular of the three, and also the one who has hurt you the least. You're not sure why she helps the other two bully you, although you have your suspicions. Regardless, while she hasn't hurt you as much as the other two have, she's still hurt you, and you want her to pay you back in full for that. Plus, she's the cutest of the three.

- 90% chance of success.

- On a success, if Madison was chosen first, the chances to recruit Sophia and Emma will increase by 10%, and Madison will be recruited with double the levels of submission. In addition, Taylor's reputation amongst the general student body will go up somewhat. These bonuses will change if Madison is not recruited first.

- On a failure, Madison will still be brought beneath your influence, but the general state of alarm will be raised by 1 out of 10, as Sophia and Emma will find Madison's change of heart suspicious. In addition, Madison's increased levels of submission and the increase to Taylor's reputation amongst the student body will not be granted, and the bonus to recruitment will be halved.

But then, you know, your plan extends well past these three. You don't intend to be imprisoned, after all- it's a risk you're willing to take, but one you plan to avoid if at all possible.

You've always wanted to be a hero, and now you're a parahuman. A fairly powerful one, at that. This is your chance to finally be a hero. You'll even have underlings, three willing and eager underlings to help you in your goal.

But there are a lot of different ways to be a hero, and they're going to bring you in very different directions, into contact with a lot of different people. People who, if all goes right, might be brought- willingly or unwillingly- into your fold, alongside the three you're already planning for.

Luckily, your powers aren't just Master-rated. You have secondary abilities, too. And those abilities are going to help you in your path to becoming a hero.

Your hero path is going to be...

] An independent hero. Your powers are somewhat suited to teamwork and solo heroing, but you don't much feel like joining the Wards, and New Wave definitely doesn't suit you- you don't want your everyday persona being on the news, your powers being what they are. So, instead, you're going to strike out as an independent hero and make your mark on Brockton Bay- starting, of course, with the situation at Winslow.

- This path comes with Brute/Blaster powers. You are able to use the emotions of people around you to toughen your skin and form weapons of pure force. These abilities increase in strength dependent on the emotional levels of the people around you, so the more people you recruit, and the stronger they feel about you, the stronger your powers will get.

- This path will unlock Rune, Tattletale, Othala, Battery, Miss Militia, and several other hidden characters for recruitment.

] Running a new hero team. Your powers aren't suited to combat at all- in fact, you're pretty sure that if you got into a fight, even an unequipped Tinker would be able to beat you to a pulp. They are, however, suited to directing other people around. And you yourself are suited to bossing other people around... on the job and off the job. It's win-win, really.

- This path comes with Thinker powers. You are able to subtly feel and track the emotions of people all around the city, especially those who adore you or are engaged in acts of severe violence. With Emma and Madison- and their respective expertise learned from their families- beneath your thumbs, you'll be able to run a legitimate hero team.

- This path will unlock Tattletale, Laserdream, Vista, Sundancer, Parian, and several other hidden characters for recruitment.

] Supporting the other hero teams in Brockton Bay. Your powers aren't suited to combat, or even really working well with other heroes in a professional setting. They're very suited to making tools for other heroes to use, though- and that'll definitely bring you into contact with a lot of people for you to practice on.

- This path comes with Tinker powers. You are able to make arms and armour for people, with several modules within suited for additional abilities available upon special request. It's not the fanciest stuff, but everyone's going to want stuff that makes them more survivable, right?

- This path will unlock Laserdream, Vista, Battery, Miss Militia, Parian, and several other hidden characters for recruitment.

View in Thread

Last edited: Jun 27, 2016

Jun 24, 2016 ReportLike

TheManNowDog, Some_guy_161, PanDron and 278 others like this.

Threadmarks: Index and Character Sheets

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Okay, everyone. Welcome to Heaven or Hell, a Worm quest written by yours truly. It's my first time writing a quest, or even posting on QQ, so please be kind to me!

This quest doesn't quite follow canon, as you probably noticed from the first post. The point of departure is pretty simple; instead of Sophia and her crew shoving Taylor into a locker full of rotting tampons and the like (ew), they grabbed her after she finished showering after gym class and shoved her into a locker. Note that there are substantial AU elements outside of this, however.

The combination of shock, the feeling that she had caught pneumonia (she caught a mild cough from being in moderately cold temperatures overnight), and the humiliation of half the school's population seeing her nude caused her to trigger, resulting in a different powerset from canon Worm.

Taylor's powerset now consists of a Master effect that allows her to manipulate the emotions of those around her, increasing their levels of affection, admiration and respect for her- and their willingness to work both with her and with other people affected by her powers.

In addition, her abilities have increased effects on women. She is able to manipulate women with some level of latent lesbian or bisexual tendencies into feeling increasing levels of attraction to her.

Yes- this is indeed a quest about Taylor Hebert's lesbian harem. You may now begin throwing rocks, although I'd appreciate it if you instead gave it a chance. I swear, there is actually altered backgrounds to explain some of the changes I made! Plus, lesbian harems are hot. Don't deny it.

A link to the compiled PDF and .epub versions of the quest can be found here, at least up to update 34. Thank you to UrsaTempest for creating this!

Omake List

The following is a list of omakes written for Heaven & Hell. These omakes are canon, and should be read with that in mind.

- Comprehension, by LeonTrollski. An interlude from Madison's point of view.

- Openness, by Kinematics. An interlude from Glory Girl's point of view.

- Stars, by Kinematics. A short exploration of Squealer's backstory and why she cannot be recruited without extensive mind-control.

- Did You Hear, by BastetsChosen. An amusing aside from the point of view of several PRT members looking at Gallant's open relationship with Glory Girl.

The following is a list of omakes written for Heaven & Hell. These omakes are not canon, and should be read with that in mind.

- Revelations, by Kinematics. Takes place an unspecified length into the future, when Madison is attending college. Heavily Madison/Taylor.

- How Lisa Got Had, by aaronexus. Features Lisa's introduction to Taylor and Glory Girl. Heavily Lisa/Taylor.

- Happiness is to Love and Be Loved, by Jysan. Features Taylor seducing Iron Rain and Cricket. Taylor/Iron Rain/Cricket, if that wasn't obvious. Please note that this omake features heavy mind control content.

- Who Knew, by Kinematics. Features Taylor being introduced to the idea that many of the girls in her harem are also capes.

- PR Performance, by Navrin. Features Vista meeting Taylor prior to their canonical introduction.

- For Happiness!, by Navrin. Features Dinah meeting Taylor prior to their canonical introduction.

- Amy Dallon, PI, by BastetsChosen. Features Amy mocking up as a private investigator and digging into Taylor's personal life. Features interactions between Sophia and Amy.

- Theories & Queries, and its follow-up, by Kinematics.

- Perspectives, by Gaemnomut. Features perspectives on Taylor and her relationships from each of several girls.

- An unnamed omake, by Kinematics. Features Taylor and Madison conspiring to seduce Charlotte.

- Communication, by insignia33. Features Victoria and Amy unknowingly discussing their respective relationships with Taylor.

- An unnamed omake, by Helpless Kitten. Features Sophia fantasising about various girls during school hours, like a proper irresponsible superheroine.

- Incomprehension, by ShoulderDevil. An alternate look at how Dean and the people around him could come to view Taylor and her relationship with Victoria.

- Taylor Lessons, by Navrin. In which Taylor finds a series of videos from her parents intended to teach her sexual education.

- Sparkly Pink Pen, by an anonymous author. A look at Taylor and Madison's relationship some time post-Comprehension, from Madison's point of view.

- A surprise, by Dragolord19d. Featuring Madison sending Taylor a raunchy video after leaving town for a family reunion, and Taylor's reaction to that.

- Back from Boston, by Poliamida. Features a look at what might happen if Victoria had encountered Carol and Amy by chance after their return from Amy's date with Taylor in Boston.

- Idle Hands, by JadeDemilich. Features a look at a potential action by Bakuda should Taylor and Bakuda date for a substantial length of time.

The following is a list of AU ideas written by myself, featuring scenarios that could have occurred within Heaven & Hell, or are otherwise related to the premise.

- Emma & Sophia. This is a description of what the quest may have come to look like if either Emma or Sophia were recruited first over Madison.

- Annette. This is a description of how Annette and Taylor's relationship could have developed if the deaths of Annette and Danny were swapped around, and how Taylor would eventually have recruited Annette into her harem.

- Mother Knows Best, by Poliamida. A somewhat raunchy exploration of this AU, in which Purity and Annette tag-team to seduce Taylor. Features a threesome, incest content, and breastfeeding.

The mechanics of this quest are quite simple. There are only two kinds of dice rolled; d100's and d20's. d100's are used to resolve recruitment efforts (turning women in the setting into Taylor's haremettes) and random events, while d20's are used to resolve conflicts like combat and the like.

There is a general stat tracked, in the form of the Alarm stat. If this stat hits 10, Director Piggot will find out about Taylor's powerset, and she will be jailed for using her Master powers on civilians and heroes. This stat can be lowered by performing heroic actions, or by manipulating heroes and the general populace into respecting and adoring her.

Additionally, each recruited character has four stats.

The first stat, Lust, represents how much attraction the character feels towards Taylor. This stat typically starts at 0, but can start out at positive numbers if the character is attracted to Taylor, or at negative numbers if the character dislikes the idea of having sex with Taylor.

Generally, the higher this number goes, the further the character will be willing to go with Taylor and the more they will enjoy putting themselves in sexual situations with her. At low ranks of one to three, the character may be reluctant to enter into full sexual situations with Taylor, and will prefer lesser activities such as kissing or fondling. At medium ranks of four to six, characters may be happy to participate in sexual situations, unless their personal circumstances (e.g. having an existing relationship with someone else) dictate otherwise.

As ranks in Lust increase, characters become more willing to explore their sexuality (specifically with regards to Taylor unless noted otherwise) and are more open to allowing Taylor to play with them as she likes.

The second stat, Loyalty, represents how much personal loyalty a character holds towards Taylor. At low ranks, this manifests as increasingly strong friendly feelings towards Taylor, which may transition into romantic feelings as Lust increases. At higher ranks, this can manifest in surprising ways, with character's loyalties to Taylor overtaking their loyalties to other people such as friends, family and organisations.

Increasing Loyalty decreases the chance that taking actions with a character will increase Alarm. Additionally, at high levels- eight or higher- most characters will be willing to kill in defence of Taylor, and some characters may be willing to kill at Taylor's command.

The third stat is a character's Personal Stat. This stat is unique to each character, and represents a particular path that character may go down. This stat may change depending on Taylor's growing relationship with that girl, but will not decrease unless actions are chosen specifically to decrease it.

The higher this stat is, the more that stat will affect a person's mind. For instance, Madison's personal stat is Submission. The higher her Submission grows, the more she is willing to place herself beneath Taylor's control. At low ranks, this may manifest as Madison showing off for Taylor's gaze, or letting Taylor play with her in situations she is uncomfortable with. At higher ranks, Madison may be willing to allow Taylor increasing levels of control over her life.

This stat will always start at 1 unless otherwise notified.

Lastly, there is a character's Affection stat. Largely a combination of a character's Lust and Loyalty stat, but also separate to the two of them, a character's Affection stat represents that character's romantic feelings towards Taylor.

At low ranks of Affection, the character has a noticeable crush on Taylor. At higher ranks, the character may transition towards falling in love with Taylor. This Affection stat cannot be manipulated by Taylor's power, meaning it is the measure of the character's romantic relationship with Taylor.

This stat is not tracked from the get-go; it is only tracked when the character enters into a romantic relationship with Taylor.

Spoiler: Outdated Version

Heaven or Hell

Spoiler: Miscellania

More miscellania:

Event chart, maintained by Kinematics.

Shipping chart, drawn and probably not maintained very often by myself.

A list of posts made by the author, maintained by Kuura.

View in Thread

Last edited: Feb 15, 2018

Jun 24, 2016 ReportLike

Jep Gambeson, TheBigMole, The Man in Black and 134 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.2

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: 90%

Necessary roll: 10. Rolled: 26. Success.

It's a lot more difficult than people might expect to manipulate someone into being servile to you, even if you have superpowers to help you along in the process.

It's easy to underestimate the challenges involved. Everyone is always too busy being abhorred at the thought of manipulating someone like this to really think through the logistical challenges involved.

And there are a lot of them.

It's difficult to twist someone who loathes you into feeling attracted to you. You can only affect some emotions people feel, but it's hard to coax them out sometimes. When someone is looking at you and feeling not much besides sadism and boredom, it's hard to try and bring up their buried feelings of lust. You're working against someone's strongest impulses, after all.

That's one of the reasons you choose Madison as your first target. She doesn't feel as sadistic as Emma and Sophia often do when they see you, and there's a lot of suppressed lust in there - although, disappointingly, not very much of it is aimed at you.

She's also not as close to the other two as they are to each other. Emma follows Sophia around like a loyal little puppy, yipping at her heels and never letting her out of her sight for more than a moment. Their schedules synch up oddly well, or maybe not so oddly. It wouldn't surprise you if Emma had slipped the school's admin staff some cash to make sure their schedules aligned as much as possible.

Madison, on the other hand, spends more of her time drifting between the various upper-class circles of the school ("Upper class", you think to yourself with a snort- like there were more than five or six people in the school who could be described as more than lower middle class).

That's good and bad for you. Bad, because that means that Madison isn't always around for you to slowly shape. Good, because it means that she isn't always around Emma and Sophia when they turn up to push you around- and that means you can afford to go a bit further than you can when they're around.

Take right now, for instance. Emma and Sophia have had their fill of you for now, after stealing your pencil and notebook during English class earlier. Ordinarily, you would probably be more upset about this than you are, but the wound is balmed when you notice that when they left together after class, Madison didn't follow them.

Madison typically doesn't bother to pick on you when the other two aren't around, preferring to ignore your existence entirely instead. Once, that used to sting, but now it's just the perfect opportunity. She's too busy focusing on one of the upperclassmen to pay any attention to you or what you're doing.

It's surprisingly easy to pick out her lust from here. Or not so surprising, really- objectively, the man she's talking to does look fairly attractive, for a guy. Maybe that's why she's wearing such a low-cut shirt, despite it being the middle of winter. Madison's good at showing just enough to keep you interested.

One of the best things about being both a Thinker and a Master is that you don't need to concentrate on your power once you've managed to get inside your target's head. A part of your consciousness remains focused on controlling it, but by and large, your power handles the bulk of the work for you.

Which is good, because if you had to remain focused on it, you wouldn't be able to not-so-covertly watch Madison as she shifts restlessly beside the guy, a faint flush beginning to spread across her cheeks.

She's growing increasingly bored as the guy rambles on about- something. Football, maybe- tries are a football term, aren't they? Whatever, it's something much duller than the upcoming show anyway. Madison clearly agrees, as her attention wanders away from him, glancing casually over the quad until her attention falls on you. Her lips curve into a small smile as she catches you looking at her. Good. It's already taking root in her mind, then.

You don't look away. For a few moments, you force your view to remain steady on her face as you slowly pull on her loyalty. The effect isn't strong, and it normally wouldn't hold for long, but you don't need it to do much- you're not looking to buy her eternal loyalty just yet.You just want her to feel enough to stop her from remembering that she actually dislikes you for a few minutes, and allow her to enjoy the pleasant warmth you're sending coursing through her.

You send over one last strong blast of loyalty, and her smile shifts up into a teasing smirk. You try not to let your satisfaction show on your face as you mentally shift tracks again, going back to the slow and subtle manipulation of her lust as you finally allow your eyes to drift down from her eyes to her sharp jaw, then down to her pale and slender neck, and lower still.

Her shirt is surprisingly low-cut, you find when your eyes drift that low. Her breasts are bigger than you'd noticed before- maybe not quite big enough to make a full handful yet, but big enough to give you plenty to play with. You can just make out a hint of the lacy powder-blue bra peeking from the very bottom of the V of her shirt, a bra unfortunately thick enough that you can't see her nipples straining through it.

Her shirt is, in addition to being so low-cut, cut short enough that she bares her midriff whenever she bends slightly back. You wait a moment, and when she notices where your gaze is, she darts her eyes towards the boy next to her. Seeing that he's still paying more attention to his own conversation than her, she acqueises, arching her back subtly to allow her shirt to slide up, up, over her bellybutton- high enough to reveal her toned stomach to you. You spend a few moments enjoying the view, watching as her muscles tremble in a barely-noticeable effort to keep herself in that position for you.

A quick glance back up at her face shows you that she's clearly enjoying this, not that you'd let her feel otherwise. Her breathing isn't coming ragged, but she's flushing deeply, and she's still staring at your face with hooded eyes. You smile again at her, and she smiles shakily back, trying not to let out any signs that might alert the boy next to her to your little game. Acknowledging it with another short pull on her loyalty, you allow your view to slip back to the valley of her breasts again.

Now that you're not staring at her stomach, she attempts to shift back into a more comfortable position. You snap your eyes back up to her face, feeling a small shift in her emotional state as her... submission? tries to subside.

You glance back down at her midriff, pouting slightly as you tease out with your power, pulling on the gentle feeling of the submission within her. Madison stifles a shaky sigh as she once again submits to you, leaning back uncomfortably on her arms to present her body for your inspection.

It's hard to prevent yourself from trembling in arousal at the discovery, but you manage. The boy beside her is still blabbering on, oblivious.

You spend a few moments rewarding her commitment by gently pulling at her lust, causing her to bite imperceptibly at her lip, before you allow your gaze to fall back to her stomach- and then again lower, past her hips and down to her legs.

She's wearing a short denim skirt today. Not as short as some you've seen her wear, but you're pretty sure that if she wasn't the school's darling, she's have been pulled up short and sent home until she put a more decent skirt on. It comes up inches above her knees, revealing far more of her thigh than any decent girl should.

You can sense indecision warring in her for a few moments, before she slowly and carefully twists her body slightly. Through your power, you can almost feel her slight surrender to you.

Up until now, she's been angled some away from you; now, she's facing you almost directly. The nervousness flowing through her is strong enough that you can feel it even begin to flow through you; and for almost the first time since your encounter begins, her gaze breaks away from your face as she looks nervously around the quad, checking to see if anyone else is paying attention to her. At the same time as she does that, though, she leans back again, resting uncomfortably on one arm so she is still displaying her stomach for you.

Your hands tremble at your sides as you reassure her, alternating between playing on her loyalty and her submission. Her lust is strong enough now that you don't need to play on it- you're surprised the boy beside her can't feel it emanating from her, but he's still so absorbed in his sports chat that he hasn't even looked at her in more than five minutes.

Even with you slowly manipulating her mind, it takes Madison a few minutes to gather up the courage to act. When she does, though, you're riveted.

She hesitantly grabs at the side of her skirt with her one free arm. Her face is flaming red at this point- if anyone else had noticed your little game, you're pretty sure you'd be feeling waves of suspicion emanating from them. But nobody has, and all you can feel is Madison's nervousness and desire as she slowly begins to inch her skirt up her legs.

Now that she's been assured that nobody else in the quad is paying attention to her, her attention is solely focused on you. You're not sure if you're pleased about that or not- it might be nice if she displayed a bit of an exhibitionist kink, but the servile pleasure she's experiencing in displaying herself exclusively for you is leaving your mouth watering.

There should be other people whose exhibitionist kinks you can revel in encouraging, anyway. You rather fancy the thought of having this girl be exclusively yours to play with.

She pulls her skirt up her legs half an inch at a time, pausing at intervals to search your face and assure herself that your attention is still focused solely on her. You squeeze your hands into fists hard enough to draw blood just to prevent yourself from ruining everything now by breaking her with a single blast of loyalty, choosing instead to send soft, reassuring waves of it at her.

Then, overcoming a final wave of nervousness, she chooses to yank her skirt up over an inch in one move, finally revealing her panties to you.

The first thing you notice is how wet they are. The front of her panties, almost all that you can see of them, are dark blue from the arousal flowing from her. The few times you've been that aroused, you walked around uncomfortable for the rest of the day with soaked panties. Madison, however, is reveling in the feeling.

The second thing you notice is that she's making no move to try and cover herself up from your inspection, even after you've been staring at her panties for more than two minutes. You glance up at her face, pleased to notice that she's still staring directly at you, then glance back down.

Madison remains in that position, one hand holding her skirt near up to her waist and one hand trembling from the effort of supporting her arched back, until the bell rings, a full twelve minutes later. You spend most of that time subtly reinforcing the submission she's feeling, occasionally alternating between the lust and submission. Always better to draw the link there in her mind, after all.

By the time the bell rings, Madison can't disguise her red face and her panting breaths. And somehow, ridiculously, neither the boy sitting beside her nor the rest of the squad noticed her little show. Some people are so self-absorbed.

As people begin to stand, she finally glances around and hurriedly pulls her skirt back down. Hurriedly picking up her bag, she clutches it tightly to her chest, eyes darting fearfully around the quad.

The feelings you evoked in her are fading away already, but they won't disappear that easily- not after you built them up that strong, and not after Madison accepted them, even reveled in them. She won't be red-faced and panting whenever she sees you, but you should be able to build her up to that point again, easier next time, and maybe even push her further.

Of course, you can't let it go that easily.

As you pick up your uneaten lunch and move to throw it out, you pass by a bewildered Madison, who's looking up at you with confused and fearful eyes. You don't say anything- you just shift your lunch over to one of your hands and half-hug her with the others, giving her a thankful smile. One small mental tug on her loyalty later, and she's smiling demurely back at you, the confusion once again clearing up- hopefully for good, this time.

Hours later, when you've finished your afternoon classes and are finally at home, you're still flushed with victory. Dad's still out, so you take some time out to go and relieve yourself- twice. It was a really good show, in your opinion.

Now that it's over, though, you find yourself feeling nervous. You didn't go into this blind; when you concocted this entire plan, you spent some time performing mild experiments on your father and your neighbours, testing your limits and how far you could push them before they realized something was wrong.

The answer is surprisingly far. It is certainly possible to push someone too far, too fast- you'd tried that with the old lady who lived across the street, and she still glares at you whenever you see her- but if you take it slow and steady over the course of an hour or so, people's minds are surprisingly malleable.

The key factor in it all is that you're not imposing any outside feelings- you're just encouraging things they're already feeling, and directing those feelings towards yourself. When the mind has already recognized that they're feeling something, if subconsciously, it's surprising how far it will go to justify it. It will even go so far as to edit previous memories, justifying today's actions by assuring itself that it had felt this way previously.

You let a long sigh out as you pull a shirt on, not bothering with a bra (there's nothing there to put a bra on, anyway, you conclude with a glum look).

This self-reflection is all well and good, but you have plans to finalize. Madison has fallen under your sway, but you still have a ways to go before she's completely yours. And while today was fun- extraordinarily fun- you can't risk doing that again, not where Emma and Sophia might find out about it.

No- if you're going to make Madison completely yours, which you are, you're going to have to do it outside of school.

The question, as it were, was where.

] You're going to do it in the safest place you possibly can- your own house. Dad's out often enough at one of his various girlfriends' houses that you can be relatively assured of your privacy, and it's not going to take much to lure Madison over here- a few more hits to increase her loyalty to you, and she'll be willing to follow you over for some "tutoring". She's going to need to become accustomed to being over at your house, anyway. She's going to be spending a lot of time here in the future.

- Success chance: 100%

- On a success, Madison will gain somewhat increased levels of lust and loyalty towards Taylor, allowing some nudity and kissing in future scenes. She will also be more willing to visit Taylor's house in future, potentially allowing for increased submission gains.

- On a failure, Madison will gain a somewhat increased level of lust towards Taylor, allowing some nudity in future scenes. She will also be more willing to visit Taylor's house in future, although submission gains will not be increased. This option cannot be failed.

] You're going to do it in the best place you can think of- Madison's house. You can't be assured of your privacy there, but if you can push Madison hard enough to accept your advances within her own bedroom, she's going to be much more receptive of your advances in future.

- Success chance: 80%

- On a success, Madison will gain moderately increased levels of lust, loyalty and submission towards Taylor, allowing some nudity, kissing and fondling in future scenes, as well as encouraging Madison to submit to Taylor's desires, causing her to anticipate Taylor's wants and make some efforts to meet them (Madison may attempt to make Taylor lunches for school, for instance). Additionally, Madison will be receptive to the idea of Taylor visiting her house at her whim in future, although Madison's parents may not be.

- On a failure, Madison will gain a moderately increased level of lust towards Taylor, as well as a somewhat increased level of loyalty towards Taylor, allowing some nudity and kissing in future scenes. Madison will also be receptive to the idea of Taylor visiting her house at her whim in future, although Madison's parents will not be.

] Actually, screw it being a bad idea. You began this in school, and you're going to finish this in school. You're pretty sure you can avoid showing everyone what you're doing, and the idea of forcing Madison to accept you bringing her to a finish in front of an unaware class- and in front of an unsuspecting Emma and Sophia- already has you aroused again. It could tip Sophia and Emma off to your advances on Madison, though.

- Success chance: 50%

- This choice will exclusively unlock access to future scenes wherein Taylor sexually caresses or outright finishes Madison in front of unaware recruits and potential recruits.

- On a success, Madison will gain a greatly increased level of submission towards Taylor, as well as moderately increased levels of lust and loyalty. This will allow some nudity, kissing and fondling in future scenes, as well as greatly encouraging Madison to submit to Taylor's desires, causing her to anticipate Taylor's wants and attempt to meet them (ranging from attempts to cook Taylor meals, to buying her presents, to wearing lingerie she thinks Taylor will enjoy). Madison will also enjoy the idea of Taylor visiting her whenever she wants, although her parents will not.

- On a failure, the general state of alarm will increase by 1, and the chances of successfully recruiting Emma and Sophia will decrease by 10%. Madison will gain a moderately increased level of submission towards Taylor, as well as somewhat increased levels of lust and loyalty, allowing some nudity and kissing in future scenes, as well as encouraging Madison to submit to Taylor's desires, causing her to anticipate Taylor's wants and make some efforts to meet them (Madison may attempt to make Taylor lunches for school, for instance).

(Please note that Emma and Sophia may become Taylor's regardless- the chances of successfully recruiting them refer to their own success and failure rate, which like the choices above, refer to the chances of gaining increased stat gains from actions.)

View in Thread

Last edited: Oct 12, 2016

Jun 25, 2016 ReportLike

Jep Gambeson, Fred Flintstine, Bjornfell123 and 286 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.3

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: 80%

Necessary roll: 20. Rolled: 62. Success.

For the next few days, you try not to push Madison too hard. Your manipulation of her is still fragile, and if you try to push her too far, too fast, you'll either set your progress back as she begins fighting back and trying to suppress it, or... well, you're not entirely sure what will happen if you push her past that point, but you're pretty sure that it won't involve Madison retaining much of her original personality. And that would be a shame, because you're enjoying this newfound submission of hers.

Which isn't to say that you don't push her at all. You can't afford to push her lust high enough that she will willingly lift her skirt for you again, but you work on subtly reinforcing her loyalty towards you, and it pays dividends. She doesn't do anything overtly sexual, but you notice that she's wearing shorter shirts despite the colder weather. She also makes a habit of leaning back slightly when she notices you watching her, giving you a better view of her body.

It takes a little over a week before you're confident enough in your progress that you're willing to push things a bit further.

And, entirely coincidentally, that's also when fate shifts in your favour.

Chemistry is one of your favourite classes right now, and not just because it provides you with the opportunity to make dirty puns in your head every five minutes. It's taught by one of your favourite teachers, Mrs. Knopf, an old woman who still talks with a slight German accent despite having lived in the Bay since Dad was a child.

Unlike most of the teachers in the school, she doesn't turn a blind eye to the activities of the trio. Or, rather, she doesn't give the trio the time or space to do anything. Her class is a demanding mix of schoolwork, homework and practical demonstrations, and it's all some students- particularly, Sophia and Madison- can do to keep up in class. By the time the bell rings, you're usually packed up and gone before Sophia has even finished closing her textbook.

When you arrive to class today, you spot the three of them giving you bored looks- although you don't actually sense any boredom from Madison, just little frissons of nervousness and excitement.

That boredom lasts up until Mrs. Knopf arrives, and announces that today, you're going to be working on a practical experiment... in pairs.

A month ago, if Mrs. Knopf had announced in front of the class that she was pairing you with Madison for a double period, you would have spent half the lesson cursing the old bag in your head and the other half waiting in a constant state of anticipation for whatever cruelties Madison deigned to visit upon you.

Now, however, it's just a perfect opportunity.

Madison settles in beside you, peering around the room for a moment before giving you a small smile. You don't say anything, but you return the smile, sending with it a small wave of loyalty.

Risking a glance around the classroom, you find Sophia and Emma sitting three tables across and behind from you. You're not hidden from their view, exactly, but it's going to be difficult for them to see what the two of you are doing from there. In fact, given how low-slung the desks are, even the people directly behind you are going to have trouble seeing beneath the table so long as you're not too obvious about it.

A plan unfolds in your head, and you turn back to look at the materials in front of you. It's just a follow-on from the lessons on polymers you've been doing over the past week. You don't even have to do the experiment- you've read ahead on the materials, you could do this in your sleep.

You spend a few minutes setting up the experiment and covertly writing your answers, idly toying with Madison's emotions as you do. You're deliberately underplaying them, for now- you need her wet, but you don't need her ragged and gasping. You focus more on her loyalty and submission, gently playing on them for a while as she stares with a creased brow at the experiment.

Frustration builds in her. It takes a long time, maybe fifteen minutes, before she finally lowers her pencil with a frustrated sigh and turns to you. "I don't get it," she says plaintively. "What are we supposed to be looking for?"

You lean over to glance at her sheet, casually placing your hand on her knee to help you keep your balance. She's filled out the first two answers, which asked about setting up the experiment, but there are eight others. They're pretty simple, in your opinion- you've already gotten all ten answers written, and you haven't even started playing around with the polymer yet.

Judging by the light blush dusting her cheeks, she clearly notices that you don't remove your hand when you lean back, but she makes no move to brush it off.

"Well," you begin, "it's pretty simple. Look at this."

You spend a few minutes demonstrating the polymer's properties with your left hand, while you begin to rub small circles on her knees with your right hand. For the first time since the class started, you focus on pulling her lust up- careful not to do it too fast, or raise it too high.

She occasionally makes a small noise of understanding and writes the answer down on her sheet of paper. You wait for her to have her fifth answer written- Mrs. Knopf won't assign her detention if she has at least half her work done- before you smoothly slide your hand from her knee up to her thigh, swapping quickly to focus on pulling on her loyalty again. You're cautious not to move your hand too far or too fast- you could still reach over with your middle and index fingers and rub circles on her knee, if you wanted to- but it's an obvious move, and there's no way she can mistake it for anything but you gently rubbing her thigh now.

Madison freezes for a moment, but her only response is to spread her legs some, granting you easier access.

You continue describing the polymer's properties to her, but she's distracted now, her hands shaking slightly as she moves on to the sixth question. You don't let up; by now, you're swapping every few seconds between pulling at her lust and her loyalty. It's having a visible effect on her.

Her eyelids are fluttering slightly, and her pink tongue is darting out occasionally, wetting her lips. You're pretty sure by now that she's aroused enough that she's not going to make any attempts to stop you. Not that you let up- you just stop focusing on her lust, and start focusing on raising her loyalty again. She doesn't just need to be aroused- she needs to be aroused by you, and she needs to know that.

To that end, you begin sliding your hand up her thigh again. She freezes once more as your hand advances, until you reach the midway point. When your hand ventures high enough that it's brushing her spread skirt, she reaches down with her left hand and grabs your hand.

She doesn't do anything with it, doesn't make any attempts to push your hand away. She just rests her hand atop yours, occasionally rubbing it gently.

Taking the permission for what it is, you slide your hand further up her thigh, pushing her skirt up as you do so. Madison is faintly trembling now, but her nervousness is being drowned out by an increasing wave of arousal.

Abruptly, you notice that she hasn't been writing anything since you started moving your hand again. You don't say anything, but a smirk makes its way across your face. She flushes in response when she sees what you're smirking out, but her only response is to defiantly drop her pencil and squeeze your hand.

Well; if she'd rather play around with you than do her schoolwork, who are you to say no?

You glide your hands up, up, up her thigh, skimming lightly over her skin. She's looking down now, afraid to let anyone see how strongly she's blushing. You send her an encouraging smile; she blushes heavier, but responds back with a smile of her own.

And then you reach it- the apex of her thighs. You can feel the soft lace of her panties on the edge of your pinkie, and judging by the muted groan she lets out, Madison can feel it, too.

You pause for a moment, then reign back your power. You can still feel her emotions, but as you slowly, teasingly slide your fingers up her thighs to rest on her panty-clad pussy, you refuse to influence them. You don't want this moment to be marred by forcing her into it- you want to feel her submit to your actions of her own volition.

And submit she does. Her hand tightens around your own, but rather than pull your hand away, she pushes your hand harder against her pussy.

For a moment, a wild, reckless idea appears in your head. You could push this further- stop this gentle teasing, pull her panties aside, and claim her as your own, right now, in front of everybody-

But you check yourself. You've pushed Madison far enough that she'd accept it, but that doesn't make it a good idea. You're in the middle of class. Even ignoring that there are people sitting right behind you, Emma and Sophia are still occasionally shooting you and Madison loaded glances. You can't afford to do anything that will jeopardize your chances with them, not this early in the game.

It's with a heavy heart that you abandon that idea. Maybe in future, in front of willing participants, but it's too risky to finger someone in front of people you haven't influenced yet.

You can't resist pushing it one little bit further, though. Leaning over to Madison, you whisper into her ear, "What colour panties are you wearing today?"

She chokes slightly, and doesn't answer for a few moments. When she does, she's staring at the desk, too red in the face to look at you. "Grey," she mumbles.

"Hmm," you hum. "That's a nice colour, but I prefer black."

She's unable to hide the tremble in her body at that, and even if you weren't paying attention to her, you'd be able to feel the lust that flows through her- and, oddly (or perhaps not so oddly), the submission.

You content yourself the rest of class alternating between skimming your fingers over her upper thigh and drawing light circles over her panties. Madison doesn't make a move as you do, choosing to sit still with her legs spread and allow you to play with her, occasionally shivering with pleasure as you rub a particularly sensitive part of her.

Only when Knopf finally calls out that lab time is over do you regretfully lift your hand away. Madison lets out a small whine as you do so, but luckily it's covered by the sounds of other students chatting and occasionally erupting into laughter.

The teacher moves around the classroom, collecting everyone's answer sheets. You gather yours and Madison's, presenting them up to her for inspection when she finally makes it to your table.

Knopf tsk's in disapproval. "Only five questions, miss Clements?" she asks. "I expected more from you after our discussion last week."

You glance around the classroom. Emma and Sophia have their heads tucked together, looking at something on Sophia's phone. Good enough.

"She's a bit distracted today," you offer up. Knopf turns to you with a raised eyebrow, as if wondering why you were defending her- which, well, fair enough. "It's okay, though. It was partly my fault, so I'll help Madison catch upon her work."

"Huh?" the girl in question replies intelligently.

You give her a patient smile, activating your power for the first time in half an hour. As you speak, you begin to gently press on her submission again. "I was probably one of the things distracting you, so I'll help you catch up on what you missed today," you repeat. You send through a strong burst of submission, and then; "I'll come visit you at your house after school today, around five. We'll work on our chemistry. How does that sound?"

"Okay," she squeaks. You're not sure if she caught the double entendre. "Um, hold on, I'll write down my address for you."

Knopf looks sternly down at you, but you just give her your most charming smile- and a general burst of your power. You don't need her to feel lustful or loyal to you, but your power does have additional effects, and increasing her sense of admiration and affection for you is useful.

"Good girl," Knopf says eventually, smiling at the both of you. "I'm glad to see you're both finally mending the bridges between you."

Madison just trembles as she tears a page out of her notebook and hands it to you. You're not sure she could respond even if she wanted to.

"Well, you know me," you say brightly, brushing your hand against Madison's thigh. "I'm all about meeting the needs of others."

You dress up nicely when you get home. You haven't grown very much since the last time Dad took you out to one of his work parties, celebrating a deal he'd secured with a local parahuman to aid Igneous's efforts in clearing the Graveyard of the dead ships beneath it. The clothes are some of Mom's old clothes- a simple pair of creased brown pants and a white blouse. They look respectable without making you seem ostentatious, you think.

Thankfully, Dad doesn't say a word when you descend the stairs in your finery, just giving you a considering look. In fact, he doesn't say a word as he makes his way out to the car; and even when he's on the road and driving, he only makes the usual small talk.

When he pulls up in front of Madison's house, he turns to you with a smile on his face. "I won't be home tonight," he says. "Work is asking me to stay late again. Have fun with your friend, and don't do anything I wouldn't do."

You smirk at him, and he manages to hold the expression for a moment before he chuckles. "Seriously, though," he continues, "Have fun, kiddo."

"I will."

You turn and head up the path towards the front door. Behind you, you hear Dad slowly pull away from the kerb and drive off.

The door swings open as you approach, before you can even reach close enough to ring the doorbell. Madison's expression brightens as she sees you, and she ducks forward out of the house, eagerly attaching herself to your arm. "Hello, Taylor!" she exclaims happily.

You can't help but grin back at her. "Hello, Madison," you reply. "Ready for some chemistry, then?" You almost waggle your eyebrows at her, but you're pretty sure that would seem a lot dorkier with her than it would with Dad. You do begin slowly pulling on her lust. It hasn't completely settled after your little game in the chemistry lab this afternoon, so it's easy to coax out.

She snuggles into your side. "Sure am," she says, voice muffled by your arm. "Come on. I'll show you to my room."

Her room is almost exactly what you'd expect of the cutesy girl. The furniture is all carved from soft brown wood, and tucked neatly against sky-blue walls. The carpet, coloured a deeper blue than the walls, is soft and luxurious; you stop and take your shoes off as you cross into her room, reveling in the soft feel of the carpet against your feet. Even her bedspread is cutesy, with a stuffed bear resting against a curved pillow and what you recognize as a Peter Rabbit blanket cover.

Madison blushes furiously as she steps into her room after you- having stopped snuggling against your arm when you crossed the threshold into her house- and ducks her head, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Sorry," she mumbles. "I know it looks childish."

You touch her arm, leading her to stand in front of you. "Hey," you say encouragingly, "it's fine, Madison. It's cute. It suits you."

She looks shyly up at you. "Yeah?"

You nod decisively. "Of course."

There's only a small desk in here, littered in scraps of paper and magazines, with a single chair tucked in beside it. You step over to examine it. Most of the magazines are fashion magazines, although surprisingly, you can see a few cooking magazines in there- and a single edition of Playboy, although you can only see the name of it. The Playboy magazine has been casually tucked beneath the fashion magazines, and it's only because you have so much experience with staring at their covers that you can recognize the half-revealed 'PLA' left uncovered by the other magazines.

It's the scraps of paper you find more interesting. There are sketches of dresses and shirts on them. A lot of them aren't drawn to proportion, and you can see a worn eraser off to the side of the desk. It's obvious that Madison is still practicing her skills.

Fashion design, cooking, and a willingness to explore her own sexuality. It looks like there's more to Madison than just her cuteness and her popularity after all.

"Um, yeah," the girl in question speaks up behind you. "I keep asking Daddy for a bigger desk, but he says that one's fine. I was thinking we could just sit on the bed and go over it."

You turn to face her, taking note of the textbook in her hands. "No," you say. Her face falls, but before she can begin to look too disappointed, you continue, "I think the desk will do just fine."

"Huh?" she asks inelegantly.

Rather than answer her verbally, you step back around her to close her door so nobody can look in, then step back over and take her hand, pulling her with you. She doesn't resist, moving willingly with you. You take a few steps backwards- still holding her hand- and sit in the chair, adjusting your position to make yourself comfortable. Then, you pull Madison forwards, and seat her on your lap. She lets out a soft sigh as she tucks herself comfortably against you, placing the chemistry textbook on the desk in front of you so her hands are free to rest on her lap.

You're taller than Madison. Only by two or three inches, it's not usually very noticeable, but you're tall enough that you're able to rest your chin on her shoulder. She lets out another soft sigh as you do so, tilting her head so her cheek rests against your own. You swap, finally, from the constant low-level adjustment of her lust you've been doing until now over to a stronger touch to her submission.

From here, you can see straight down her shirt.

"Nice bra," you murmur. And indeed, it is a nice bra. You suspect that if you weren't peering down her shirt like this, you wouldn't be able to see it. It's a little silky slip of a thing, barely large enough to cover her nipples- you can see her aerola from here, and even a hint of the nipples contained within. The dark black of the material contrasts well with her milky skin.

"Thanks," she breathes. "Y-you mentioned you like black, earlier today..."

You reward her by turning your head and pressing a kiss to her cheek, on the corner of her mouth. "I do," you affirm. Another kiss, and she turns her head towards you, looking at you through lidded eyes. "It looks even better on you than I thought." You slowly slide one hand under her shirt, leaving it to rest against her stomach; your other hand comes up to cup the back of her head.

"Mm," she moans. "D- does that mean you w-want me to wear more like it...?"

You slide your hand further up her shirt, coming to rest just short of her breasts, and chuckle when she lets out a frustrated sigh. "Yes," you reply reassuringly. "I would very much like that." And you tilt your head to press a kiss fully on her lips.

She kisses you back, groaning softly as you finally reach up and begin caressing her bra-clad breasts. You tease your fingers around the edge of the bra for a moment, but- enjoying her frustrated groans entirely too much- you don't slip your fingers beneath it, instead cupping them and gently rubbing her hard nipples through the material. She opens her mouth to groan again, and you take the opportunity to slip your tongue in, circling Madison's tongue with your own.

You barely remember to turn off your power before Madison eagerly sucks on your tongue, and your mind goes blank.

You never do end up going over that Chemistry work.

"Madison!" The call comes from downstairs. You jerk away from each other, each of you panting hard. Madison's face is beet-red, and her hair is mussed where you tangled your hand in it. Even that could be hidden, but you suspect it's going to be harder to hide her swollen lips- and your own.

"In a minute!" she calls loudly, trying to disguise her laboured breathing from her parents. "Shit, Taylor, I got too- I should have kept better track of the time, and now-"

"It's fine," you interrupt her gently. You gently squeeze her nipple through her bra one last time, then regretfully slip your hand out from under her shirt. She makes no move to climb off your lap, though, or even twist back into a more comfortable position; and you have no desire to encourage her to get off you any time soon.

She shakes her head. "No, I should have kept a better track of time. I just got... caught up. Um, how are you getting home..." Her hands begin to shake slightly, and you can feel nervousness and anticipation coming off her. "... Or would you like to stay for dinner? I don't know if your Dad is okay with that, but, um, if you want you could stay. We probably won't be able to, um, but I'd like it if you... yeah." She flushes again, a deeper red this time.

Hm.

] Accept the offer, and stay for dinner with Madison's parents. This is a chance for you to make a good impression on Madison's parents, and not have to sneak through Madison's window any time you want to visit her (although the thought of such forbidden clandestine visits sends a thrill through you). And you've learned some interesting things about Madison today. Who knows what more you might learn?

- Success chance: 70%.

- On a success, raises Taylor's reputation with Madison's family, allowing her easy access to Madison's house- until, that is, Taylor completely steals Madison for herself, and access to Madison's house will no longer be necessary. This vote increases Madison's Affection by 2. This vote is also the first opportunity (of many) to characterize Madison outside of her sexual appeal to Taylor.

- On a failure, lowers Taylor's reputation with Madison's family, preventing her from openly visiting Madison within her house. Taylor will have to sneak into Madison's room to visit her at her home- until, that is, Taylor completely steals Madison for herself, and access to Madison's house will no longer be necessary. This vote increases Madison's Affection by 2. This vote is also the first opportunity (of many) to characterize Madison outside of her sexual appeal to Taylor.

] Regretfully turn down the offer, but make sure to give Madison a (thorough) goodnight kiss- and a subtle reinforcement of the progress you've made today. Sadly, you have to get home and begin working on your plans for how you're going to form your own parahuman team.

- Success chance: 100%.

- On a success, increases Madison's Affection by 1. Taylor will go home and begin researching parahumans she might seduce to join her forming team, giving a broad-level overview of the capes in Brockton Bay (including some who were not in canon) and revealing some hidden characters. This vote is the first opportunity (of many) to begin the recruitment of Sundancer and Rune.

- On a failure, Taylor will go home and begin researching parahumans she might seduce to join her forming team, giving a broad-level overview of the capes in Brockton Bay (including some who were not in canon) and revealing some hidden characters. This vote is the first opportunity (of many) to begin the recruitment of Sundancer and Rune. This vote cannot be failed.

] Regretfully turn down the offer, but make sure to give Madison a (thorough) goodnight kiss. Taylor has to go visit the library before it closes, so she can research the local parahuman scene and make absolutely sure she knows what she's getting into before she enacts her plans.

- Success chance: 50%.

- On a success, increases Madison's Affection by 1. Taylor will go to the library and begin researching the local parahuman scene, giving a broad-level overview of the current cape scene in Brockton Bay and presenting future paths for Taylor's team to expand down. This vote is the first opportunity (of many) to begin the recruitment of Tattletale and Panacea.

- On a failure, Taylor will go to the library and begin researching the local parahuman scene, giving a broad-level overview of the current cape scene in Brockton Bay and presenting future paths for Taylor's team to expand down. This vote is the first opportunity (of several) to begin the recruitment of Panacea and another hidden character.

View in Thread

Jun 26, 2016 ReportLike

Jep Gambeson, Fred Flintstine, TheBigMole and 300 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.4

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: 70%

Necessary roll: 30. Rolled: 100. Critical success.

What a useless post to crit on. See end of vote for more information.

You press another kiss against Madison's lips, although regretfully, you don't slip your tongue in this time- her parents are waiting down below, and there are already enough signs of your make-out session, you don't need to make them even more suspicious.

Still, you linger for more than a few seconds, and can't help but run your tongue against her lower lip again, enjoying the delicious way she shivered against your body.

She mewls when you pull back, looking up at you with an adorable pout. A rush of affection flows through you, and you press a swift kiss to her nose before you reply to her invitation.

"Dad said he was going to be home late," you murmur. "I'd love to stay for dinner." You conspicuously refuse to add "if your parents are okay with it". Honestly, you don't care if Madison's parents approve of it, or you, except in how their approval or disapproval might make it harder for you to continue your relationship with your girl.

Luckily, Madison either doesn't notice or doesn't care. A bright grin steals over her face, and she presses a quick, wet kiss to your lips before clambering off your lap and straightening her clothes. You begin to miss having her there immediately; you instinctively start to generate plans on how to get her back there, wrapped securely in your presence and unable to resist your advances again.

"I'll go down and tell Daddy," she giggles, now attempting to run her hands through her hair and give it some semblance of neatness again. "Uh, you're not allergic to anything, are you?"

"Nope," you reply with satisfaction. When you were younger, you'd had a scare when the doctor told you you were allergic to some foods (although you hadn't minded too much when he'd told you you weren't allowed to eat shellfish any more, blech), but the allergies had grown much less severe as you grew older. Nowadays, you could eat pretty much anything you wanted. The only thing you had to watch was your figure, not that you have much of a figure to watch.

She coos happily. "We're having pasta for dinner tonight," she informs you. "Come on, I'll show you the way."

The Clements' dining room is much fancier than your own. That's what happens when a family has more money, you suppose; your father accepted a heavy pay cut when the mayor was negotiating with Igneous to bring her to Brockton Bay, and it'd left the two of you strapped for money for a while. A sharp contrast against the two Clements parents, who Madison casually informed you are in the property management business (her mother) and as a restaraunt manager (her father) as she led you down to the dining room.

Your own furniture at home was an eclectic mix of IKEA furniture, furniture bought from a cheap second-hand store with an oddly friendly clerk, and a coffee table the two of you had built by hand that the two of you jokingly referred to as Frankenstein's Monster. You quite enjoyed it; it had its own rustic charm to it. Your own dining table had been rescued from thrift store workers who had been going to throw it out, since the paint on it had been cracking and it had been missing a leg. Kurt and Lacey, two of your father's friends, had come over on the weekend and helped you fix it up.

The Clements, on the other hand- although the girl sitting beside you hasn't made any mention of it, you wouldn't be surprised if they'd hired an interior designer to come in and design their house for them. The furniture, a sleek mix of curved grey metal and black-tinted glass, definitely didn't look like it came IKEA.

Your mouth is suddenly dry, and you take a small sip from the glass of water Madison's younger brother had put in front of you before he took a seat. You hadn't felt this inadequate about your family's financial situation since the last time you visited Emma's house. Suddenly, you wish you'd asked Madison to stay with you, instead of letting her go help her father in the kitchen.

It doesn't take long for Madison's father, a tall and muscle-bound man wearing a pair of thick glasses and a frilly pink apron, to sweep out of the kitchen bearing a large pot. He wanders around the table with the pot in one hand, and Madison follows him around with a large slotted spoon, doling out servings of carbonara to everyone. She takes extra care with yours, making sure to leave just the right amount of sauce on your plate and casually checking to ensure the bowl of chopped parsley is near to hand.

Still, nobody begins eating until the two have gone back to the kitchen and put the dirty dishes in the sink. Madison subtly edges her chair closer to yours when she returns, and beneath the table, grabs your left hand with her own right as she inexpertly begins twirling pasta onto her fork with her left hand.

After she finishes the mouthful of food, she looks at her father speculatively. "Pancetta this time?" she asks, surprise colouring her tone. "I thought you decided on prosciutto."

He chuckles, a deep, rich sound. "I had," he admits. "It was difficult to balance the flavours, so I decided to try pancetta instead. Mark tried to get me to take some weaker prosciutto instead, but I wanted to try sautéing the pancetta to complement the sauce. Do you think it worked?"

In lieu of answering, she takes another mouthful of food, this time chewing it slowly and somehow thoughtfully. Even after she swallows it, she takes a few moments to consider.

"It works, but the pancetta's flavour is a little weak," she decides. "The sauce overpowers it. If you used a little less stock in the sauce, it might balance out."

He chuckles again. "Exactly my thoughts," he says proudly. "Although I think I'll try flavouring the pancetta with thyme rather than basil instead. The pasta itself doesn't have much taste, so I don't want to reduce the flavours if I can help it."

Madison nods. "That does make sense," she admits. "Maybe oregano instead?"

While their conversation is going on, you slowly eat your meal, occasionally gently squeezing her hand beneath the table. She doesn't verbally acknowledge you, but she returns the squeeze each time.

The conversation slowly shifts away from the food, and towards how everybody's day has been. You politely listen in, but only rarely offer up a comment- somehow, you don't much think her parents want to hear about how you've been fondling their little girl all day.

Inevitably, or so you think, the conversation eventually comes around to focus on Madison.

"So, Madison." Madison's mother- Jasmine, she politely informed you earlier- turns to your girl, looking at her with a critical eye. "How are you going with your schoolwork after our talk last Monday?"

Madison looks up guiltily. Beneath the table, you can feel her palms getting sweaty. You squeeze her hand, a gentle reminder that you're there, and give her an encouraging smile; she gives you a small, relieved smile, but doesn't take her attention off her mother.

"I'm doing better than I was," she replies. "I spoke to my teachers, and some of them even gave me some extra booklets to look through to help me catch up. And Taylor here has been helping me study." Her grip is tight on her hands. She doesn't quite give you a pleading look, but you can literally feel the nervousness and anxiety rolling off her.

"Yeah," you cut in. "We've been meeting up at lunch to study. She's making a lot of progress." The anxiety turns to relief, but the nervousness is still there, causing your stomach to roil. You politely push your mostly-empty plate away. You'd eaten your fill anyway.

Her mother eyes the two of you speculatively, eyes lingering on Madison's mussed hair and still-swollen lips. You slide your other hand beneath the table and curl it into a fist, trying not to sneer at the woman. You will not brook any interference in your plan.

You're lucky that Madison's father doesn't seem to be suspicious of the two of you, focused more on the food in front of him and the heavy workload he's going to have when he goes into work tomorrow. If you had to extend your power over both of them, trying to nudge them both into feeling better about you, you probably wouldn't be able to calm their suspicions faster than they could rise.

But he isn't, and you can manage one person.

You'd really hoped to be able to pull tonight off without using your powers, though. At least you hadn't had to use them on Madison- you'd wormed your way into her mind enough that she was willingly accepting you.

You don't bother being subtle. Honestly, you wouldn't care overly much if you turned the woman into a drooling wreck; you're careful not to push her that far, since you're fairly sure that it would be difficult to visit Madison if she was going to the hospital daily, and you're pretty sure it would sit around in your mind unsettling you for months to come. You don't care if everyone at the table notices the way her eyes widen and dart to you, or the way she suddenly sits up straighter, as if to be respectful in your presence.

"Well," Jasmine says. "Don't let up now, Madison. You still have a long way to go."

You rub small circles on the back of Madison's hand. You don't even need to feel the sadness and frustration rolling off her to know how she feels- if Dad disapproved of your academic prowess, you can't imagine how bad you'd feel.

It's all you can do to fight down a scowl at the woman.

"I know," Madison says, voice unexpectedly loud. "You already yelled at me about this, Mom! I know I have to get my grades up if I want to get into university, I'm trying."

Oddly, instead of growing angry with Madison for nearly yelling at her, Jasmine's mouth lifts up into a pleased smile. That just makes the frustration rolling off Madison grow even worse. You're pretty sure that if you weren't holding her hand, she'd have stormed off away from the table already.

" Jasmine," her father says unexpectedly, "we've been over this. She's making an effort, and I know you've been checking in with Mrs. Blackwell, so you know that too. You agreed you'd stop haranguing her if she makes an effort, and she has. Don't teach our daughter to go back on her word."

That cuts the scowl from her face, even as you feel Madison's frustration ebbing away, replaced by pleased acceptance.

"I remember the deal, Rick," she says grudgingly. "I'll stop, but don't let me hear about your grades slipping again, Madison."

"I know," the teen pouts.

That discussion puts a damper on the dinner. The conversation is subdued, and Madison takes the earliest opportunity she can to follow you back upstairs to her room, ignoring her brother's plaintive cries for her to "Come play Playstation with me, Madison!" and her mother's call of "Don't forget, it's family movie night tonight, be down by seven!".

When you get back up there, she lets out a tired sigh. "Sorry about that," she says tiredly. "I didn't think Mom would start harassing me tonight, or I wouldn't have asked you to stay."

"Hey." You step forwards, lifting her chin so you can look her in the eyes. "I don't mind, Madison. I'm glad I was here, actually. You seemed pretty uncomfortable."

"Yeah." She sounds vulnerable now. "Mom does that to me. Can- um- could you- hold me?" By the end of her sentence, her teeth are chattering. Whatever confidence held her together when talking back to her mother has completely faded, now that she's alone in your presence.

You slowly lead her back to the bed. "Of course," you say simply as you sit back, pulling Madison over to sit on your lap again- this time facing you, rather than away from you. She buries her head in your neck, shuddering slightly- not crying, but obviously a bit upset.

She just sits there for a few minutes, the shudders slowly dying as you reach beneath her shirt and gently stroke up and down her spine. You are suddenly extremely glad that you chose Madison as your first target. Anger curls, deep in your stomach, as you picture Jasmine's face. How dare she upset your Madison.

Finally, Madison nuzzles your neck a little and places a light kiss on it before straightening somewhat. She snuggles her body against yours, and rests her forehead against your own, closing her eyes so she doesn't have to look you in them as she talks.

"It's just-" Her voice is halting, and the nervousness that had somewhat died down in her flares back up again, this time focused at you. "She- She um- She wants me to, um... I want to, I want to go into fashion design." Her eyes briefly flicker open as she tries to gauge your opinion of what she's saying.

You continue to stroke her back gently. "Yeah," you say gently. "I saw your designs on your desk. They looked pretty good."

Some of the tension in her body lifts, and she closes her eye again, this time letting out a little mewl. "Thanks," she says happily. Then she turns glum again. "But, um- yeah. Mom says that, that if I want to do that, I need to get into university. And my grades aren't good enough for that, so she's been yelling at me about it. That's, um..." She glances up guiltily at you. "That's actually why I stopped bullying you at school, which I'm so, so sorry about, by the way, I never-"

You interrupt her with a soft kiss, cutting off her words before she can say anything more. "It's fine," you say softly. "Besides," and a perverted grin spreads over your face, "I'm sure you'll think of a way to make up for it."

She blushes and stammers incoherently for a moment. "I- You- I- Buh- I-"

You press another soft kiss against her lips. "It's fine," you tell her again, this time more insistently. "Seriously, Madison, you can make it up to me." You kiss her again, this time nipping her lower lip, drawing a mewl out of the girl.

You draw back after a long, drowsy kiss, allowing her to speak up. She does, after shaking her head some to clear it. "Yeah?" she asks softly. "I'll try, then. I can't do anything about Emma and Sophia, though."

"That's fine too," you shrug. "I have a plan."

She draws back, opening her eyes and searching your face. Whatever she finds there seems to satisfy you, because she leans in and presses a brief kiss to your lips.

"Okay," she murmurs, snuggling back into your neck. "Just, don't forget about me when you do it?"

You stroke your nails up her spine, causing her to shiver. "I would never forget about you, Madison," you murmur.

"Okay," she murmurs again, sleepily this time. By this time, the nervousness she was exuding has faded almost entirely, buoyed only slightly by the last question she had asked you. Mostly, she's radiating contentment. Contentment, arousal, and no small level of affection.

The two of you remain in that position for nearly an hour, slowly watching the clock tick down. Occasionally, one or the other of you will kiss the other's neck or tighten their embrace, but that's as far as you take it.

Sadly, the clock eventually does hit 6:50, and you have to shake Madison slightly from where she's nearly fallen asleep in your arms.

"Come on, Madison," you breathe into her ear. "You have to get ready for movie night."

"Don't wanna," she mumbles. "Can't I stay here?"

You laugh quietly in her ear, and her mouth reluctantly turns up into a grin. "I know, I know," she groans, and leans back, although she doesn't try to escape the confines of your arms. She leans in instead and presses a languid kiss beside your mouth. "Thank you." Her voice is soft and vulnerable.

"Hey," you murmur, and press a kiss to the corner of her mouth in turn. "You don't need to thank me, Madison."

Her grin grows softer. She stares at your eyes for a moment, then leans in and kisses you a final time- an affectionate kiss on the tip of your nose- before finally slipping out of your arms and staring at you. "At least let me follow you out," she mumbles.

"Of course," you reply. You're tempted to reach out and take her hand again, but- no. It's not a good idea, not yet. One day, you'll be in a position where you can hold her all the time, but that day isn't today.

She follows you out the door, outside. It's bitingly cold outside, cold enough that you're even distracted away from the sight of Madison's suddenly hard nipples straining through her shirt, over the bra you'd... actually accidentally pulled down during your play just before, probably when you'd accidentally skimmed your fingers over her bra strap a few times. Not even a happy accident- you hadn't even noticed until now.

"Wait," she says suddenly, "how are you getting home?"

You pull out your phone. "Dad gave me some money for a taxi," you reply, peeling back your phone case to reveal the fifty tucked in there. "He knew he'd be working late."

She shakes her head. "You don't need to do that," she replies. "Hold on, I'll go ask Daddy if he can drive you."

As it turns out, Rick Clements has an absolutely luxurious car. Something called a "Buick", you learn, although a secondhand one; it's an import from Earth Aleph, where they still had the factories to build luxury cars.

You're thirteen minutes into the drive, by the clock on the dashboard, only a few streets away from your house, when Rick begins speaking.

"I'm sorry you had to see that argument at dinner," he says, flicking on his blinkers before slowing down at a crossroads. "I'm trying to get Jasmine to stop harassing Madison, but it's slow progress. My wife is a very independent woman."

"Yeah." You try your best to mask your dislike of the woman in your response. "Madison is doing her best at school, sir. She's really trying."

"I bet she is." He drums his fingers against the steering wheel, seemingly lost in thought. "It can be a bit- difficult to deal with the two of them," he says carefully. "My wife comes from a very driven family. Our family owes a lot of our success to her passion for what she does, but I'm not blind to her flaws, and I know she's pushing our children to become like her."

You can see your house from here, but your attention is focused on Rick now. "I noticed a bit of that," you admit. "Madison doesn't seem to enjoy that very much."

He laughs roughly. "No, I doubt she does." He pulls smoothly in front of the curb in front of your house and shuts the engine, turning to you with a serious look on his face. "My wife may be blind to it, but I am not. I know that Madison struggles with being independent."

He pauses for a moment. You're taken aback. Rick Clements is a lot more clever than you had given him credit for.

"Don't get me wrong, Taylor," he says. "I have my kinks, too. I don't want to shame Madison, which is why I've never brought this up with her. But this is driving a wedge in between my wife and my daughter. It's driving a wedge in between my family."

"I-"

"No, don't worry." He shakes his head wryly. "Sorry, that came out more aggressive than I wanted it to. I'm glad that Madison asked me to drive you home, Taylor. I'm glad that we got a chance to speak alone, so that I could thank you for what you're doing for my daughter."

You are so confused. Does he know what you've been doing, or...?

This isn't where you thought this conversation would go at all.

He reaches over and clasps you on the shoulder. "My wife wants Madison to be independent, but that doesn't mean she wants her to be unhappy with her life." He shakes his head, but you can see he looks a little lost. "And I want nothing but the best for my little girl. If that means she wants to make herself submissive to you- and yes," he chuckles, seeing the shocked and scared look that flickers across your face, "I do know what you were up to this afternoon, Madison is not a very subtle girl- if that's what makes my daughter happy, then I want you to know that I'll support you in that."

Your mouth opens and closes a few times, but all that comes out is a choking noise. There is no possible response you can make to that.

He grins again, and pats you on the shoulder. "With that said, I would appreciate it if you actually did spend some of your time studying when you're over at our house. I'll keep my wife distracted, but she's right when she says that Madison needs to get her grades up if she wants to get into university."

"I- I see," you manage faintly. "Thank you, sir?"

He chuckles deeply. "I should be the one thanking you," he replies. "Your father seems to be home already. I'll see you another day, Taylor Hebert."

You climb out of the car without responding, feeling vaguely shell-shocked.

You make your way up to your bedroom, barely acknowledging your father's early return from work on the way. Once you get there, you collapse on your bed and stare up at the ceiling for a while.

Then a wide grin spreads across your face.

It's going to be so much easier to corrupt Madison with her father's unknowing approval of your plan!

Spoiler: Bonuses Achieved

The next day, you wake up fidgeting. It's a public holiday in Brockton Bay today; Salvation Day, or the anniversary of the day in which the Triumvirate and the PRT worked together to drive Leviathan away from the city with less than ten thousand casualties. This means you have a three-day weekend ahead of you.

You'll take it a day at a time, though. You never know what opportunities might spring up over the course of a day.

You're going to spend today...

] With Madison, at least for the morning- you'll need most of the afternoon to recover. You'll call her- her name is in the phone book, you checked- and invite her over to your house. It's not time to finish what you've started, not yet, but it's time to take a step you never envisioned when you formulated this plan; you're going to bring Madison over to your house, and you're going to subtly introduce the idea of ownership to her.

- Success chance: 50% 60%% (10% bonus from Submission). Note that this option will always be available unless another future path is chosen for Madison at a later date, but will disappear permanently if such is chosen.

- On a success, will raise Madison's Submission cap to 15. Will also plant a seed of a thought in Madison's head, making her consider the idea of asking Taylor to mark her as hers. Note that this does not mean Taylor will literally own Madison; it will open up future paths for Madison in which she will act subserviently to Taylor, (e.g. cooking her meals for her, performing domestic duties without complaint), and most importantly, will get off on doing so.

- On a failure, will raise Madison's Submission cap to 12. Will also plant a seed of a thought in Madison's head, making her consider the idea of asking Taylor to mark her as hers. Note that this does not mean Taylor will literally own Madison; it will open up future paths for Madison in which she will act subserviently to Taylor, (e.g. cooking her meals for her, performing domestic duties without complaint), and most importantly, will get off on doing so.

] In the library, researching the local cape scene. It's important that you do so soon-ish; you need to have an awareness of the local scene before you try and set up your own hero team, so that you can use the trio's skills to begin spreading your influence around before you enter the scene.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- On a success, will provide exposition about the local cape scene- which capes are prominent in the area, the large teams and gangs, notable individuals, and current alliances and power plays. Will also provide early access to begin recruiting Rune and Glory Girl.

] With Madison, "researching" in the library. At least, you'll be researching as much as you can... with one hand down Madison's panties. You'll find a secluded corner, drag as many research materials as you can over, and begin playing with Madison while you do your research. Probably won't get as much done as you otherwise could, but if you're going to take Madison's virginity, you want to spend a lot of time building her up first.

- Success chance: 90%

- On a success, somewhat increases Madison's lust. Provides limited exposition about Brockton Bay's cape scene, informing you about which capes are prominent in the area, the largest teams and gangs, and current alliances in the area.

- On a failure, somewhat increases Madison's lust. Provides limited exposition about Brockton Bay's cape scene, informing you about which capes are prominent in the area, the largest teams and gangs, and current alliances in the area. Gets you banned from the library for one month for indecent exposure.

] Going to work with Dad. As the head of the local Dockworker's Union, he doesn't get Salvation Day off, and has to go to work. He's been absent a lot recently, so it would be good to have a chance to spend some time with him. He's effectively the department manager, so you could learn a lot of vital business skills from him, too- nothing you couldn't learn online, but a nice bonus.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- On a success, will introduce characterization to Danny and provide exposition about Taylor's relationship with him. Will also provide the first stage of three of the business management skills necessary to run the hero team, although there are at minimum ten chances to learn those skills.

Your conversation with Rick last night sticks around in your head.

Madison has expressed anxiety with regards to her classwork and her chances of getting into university later in life. She is not a stupid girl, but she is struggling with many of the concepts introduced in class, and could really use a hand. You've told Rick you would help her, but you're unsure if you really want to, or if you're just using that as an excuse to get access to Madison's bedroom.

So which is it?

] Yes, you are going to help her. Madison is your lover, and she's going to be your love slave, but while that's never going to change if you have anything to say about it, that's not all there is to her. Her fashion design skills aren't the greatest at the moment, but she seems really invested in them.

- If chosen, this path will decrease all gains made while seducing Emma, Sophia and Rune by 25% prior to taking their virginities, and lower the chance of successfully recruiting Rune by 15%. This path will encourage Madison to improve her classwork, and eventually go to a university close to you. This path is also one of two chances to open up early access to recruiting Parian. Finally, this path will passively generate Affection from Madison.

] No, you're not going to help her. Madison is your lover, and she's going to be your love slave. That might not be all she is, but if she's going to be something else, she's going to have to beg you for it.

- If chosen, this option will passively raise Madison's Submission, to a maximum of 8 (the effect will cease at 8, rather than lowering Madison's maximum Submission). This path encourages Madison's more complete dependency on Taylor.

And it's time for one final vote; the vote brought about by rolling a critical roll on a useless post.

Spoiler: GM Context

Given that the natural 100 was entirely wasted on this roll, I am going to give players several options to choose between. These options will vary in result, either giving access to early character recruitment, giving bonuses to current character recruitments, or granting additional sexy scenes with characters.

Players can vote for up to two of the following options. I will choose the options with the most individual votes, not necessarily the combined options with the most votes.

The options are as follows;

] Increase the chances for successfully recruiting all recruitable characters in Winslow by 10%.

- Note: This encompasses 5 characters besides Madison. Of those, you know two are Emma and Sophia.

] Have Rick casually bring up Taylor's presence in their house to Alan Barnes, causing him to wonder about how Danny and Taylor are doing, resulting in him inviting them over for dinner with the Clements on Saturday night.

- Success chance: 80%.

- On a success, will initiate the recruitment of Emma, and result in a moderate increase to Emma's Lust, Loyalty and Devotion, and somewhat increased levels of Madison's Lust and Submission. Will also result in a unique scene in which Taylor and Madison partially declothe and fondle/kiss each other in front of Emma. Will not result in a failure of any recruitments or decreased progress thereof.

- On a failure, will initiate the recruitment of Emma, and result in somewhat increased levels of Emma's Lust, Loyalty and Devotion, as well as Madison's Lust and Submission. Will also result in a unique scene in which Madison and Taylor make out in front of Emma. Will not result in a failure of any recruitments or decreased progress thereof.

] Gain access to exclusive scenes in which Taylor sexually fondles Madison and/or fingers Madison to climax in front of unaware or unsuspecting recruits.

- Note: More than one scene is generated by this. There is a potential for up to two scenes per recruit. Note also that unless another natural 100 is rolled on a post in which it is useless, you will not gain access to this vote again.

] Locate a cache of Taylor's mother's old school textbooks, including several textbooks on fashion design from a course you know she did to supplement a Liberal Arts degree she did before she got her teaching degree.

- This will immediately give Madison 2 Affection, as well as reduce the penalty to recruitment gains from choosing to tutor Madison to 10%.

View in Thread

Last edited: Jun 28, 2016

Jun 27, 2016 ReportLike

Jep Gambeson, Fred Flintstine, BrawnyMonk5034 and 266 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.5

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: 80% (10% crit bonus) 90%

Necessary roll: 10. Rolled: 39. Success.

Roll pending for tomorrow's update. Please wait warmly until then.

It's only quarter to six, you notice as you quietly climb out of your bed. You're careful not to step on the loose floorboard in your room as you pad out to the hall, and you tread carefully on the wooden hall so they don't groan loudly enough to wake Dad up just yet.

Dad normally doesn't get up until six, but since it's a public holiday today, he might not get up until as late as six thirty. Normally he has to be at work by eight, in time to get some work done before his employees start trickling in at eight thirty, but that's pushed back to nine for members of the Union on public holidays.

You walk into the kitchen, absently rubbing your hands together against the chill permeating it, before heading over to the fridge and opening it. You haven't gone shopping in a while- you make a mental note to head to the grocery store later today and pick up some food- so there isn't much left in there, but you can see a foam container (probably the remnants of Dad's dinner last night), half a dozen eggs, and the remnants of the vegetables you've used for dinners over the week.

With a casual shrug, you begin pulling ingredients out of the fridge. It's going to take a while to cut up all the vegetables anyway.

Eventually, you've prepared all the vegetables, whisked the eggs, and have the omelette mixture sitting in a covered bowl. You're about to put the bowl back in the fridge when you hear the creak of the hallways' floorboards.

Dad trundles out, looking blearily at the mess you've made of the kitchen. Evidently, he dismisses it as unimportant, as he he just shakes his head and moves to the cupboard to pull two mugs out.

"Morning, Taylor," he yawns. "Coffee?"

You place the bowl back on the bench and give him a quick hug from behind. "Yes please," you say cheerfully. "I turned the percolator on half an hour ago, it should be all ready."

"Good girl," he tells you drowsily, dropping the mugs on the bench in front of the percolator. "What's for breakfast?"

You hurriedly sweep the onion skins off the bench into your hands before he can knock the mess onto the floor. "Just omelettes," you reply. "I wanted to use the rest of the bell peppers and tomatoes, and there was some spinach and goat cheese left in the fridge."

"Sounds delicious," he yawns.

For the next fifteen minutes, the two of you fall into a companionable silence while you quickly cook the omelettes. They're really nothing fancy- for a moment, you consider the idea of calling Rick later today and asking him to teach you to cook, but you dismiss the thought when you realize that you can probably get Madison to cook for you- but they're filling enough.

Dad looks much more alert when you drop a cooked omelette in front of him. The coffee's clearly done its job.

You settle in at the table across for him, and quickly cut a section of your omelette off and eat it. Yeah, it's really not the best. It's serviceable, but you won't be winning awards any time soon. At least the coffee isn't bad, sweetened by cream and three sugars, just the way you like it. Dad refuses to have sugar in his coffee- "I'm sweet enough," he always jokes when you bug him about it.

Dad finishes his omelette well before you do, fair shovelling it down his throat. In fact, before you've managed to get halfway through yours, he's already up and washing his plate at the sink, then turning on the percolator for a second cup of coffee.

He clears his throat. You look up at him with a questioning expression, a forkful of omelette halfway to your mouth, to see him holding up your mug as well. You send him a pleased smile and a nod, and he nods back.

"So, it's a public holiday," he says. "Have you got any plans for what you want to do today?"

You half-shrug. "I was thinking about going to the library," you tell him. "Maybe I could invite Madison to come with me, that'd be fun."

He nods, glancing down at the perculator for a second. "That sounds like fun." For a moment, neither of you speaks; you take another mouthful of your omelette. "Actually, I was going to invite you to come to work with me today."

You pause, then quickly chew and swallow the mouthful of omelette as you consider it. You have slowly been growing apart from Dad recently, first because he was working so often, and then because you needed space to experiment with your powers in, and you didn't want to risk messing up your relationship with your dad with them.

"Actually, that sounds like a better idea," you admit. "I can go to the library tomorrow or something."

Danny smiles at you over the bench. "Glad to hear it. We'll leave at eight, then. Make sure you're showered and ready to go by then, okay?"

The Docks aren't exactly bustling when you arrive. Eight o'clock is the shift change, when the overnight workers have signed out and the people working the morning shift sign in, and you arrive a bit after that. Everyone is already hard at work.

Looking around, you can see that they're two separate shipments. One is being loaded on the eastern side of the docks, where you can vaguely see Kurt operating a crane, lifting large steel shipping containers onto several railway cars. The other is filled with much smaller boxes, which over a dozen dockworkers are manually lifting onto trucks.

Dad leads you over to a small grey building near the dock's fence. It's signposted 'ADMINISTRATION'; beneath it is a smaller sign, obviously added later, that says 'Dockworker's Union- Office Open 8-6 M-F, 11-3 Weekends'. A man in his mid-thirties greets the two of you with a bland smile and a monotone "Hello, Danny" as you step inside- the receptionist, since he's sitting behind a thick wooden desk with panes of what you suspect is bulletproof glass between him and whoever comes in the front door.

"Heya, Thom," Dad says with a smile. "Anything happen while I was gone?" Thom only shakes his head, so the two of you proceed down the hallway without further comment, until Dad leans over and says quietly, "He always sounds like that. His wife told me a story about how she yelled at him for talking in a monotone during their wedding." You snort inelegantly in response.

He leads you to his office- you know because he's affixed a crooked wooden sign to it, reading "Office of Danny Hebert". And there's a brass plaque sitting on his desk reading 'Danny Hebert- Union Steward'. And there's a photograph of your family sitting on his desk, turned half-away so he could view it from in front of his computer.

Well, and he told you as you approached it. That was, admittedly, probably the biggest hint.

"Right," he says when he finally makes it in. "Pull up a seat and I'll show you some of what I do. Lunch break is at half past eleven, so I'll introduce you to everyone then."

You'd never really put much thought into what Dad actually does at work all day. You'd kind of assumed he was like a manager, directing people about and assigning them duties. As it turns out, that was entirely wrong. The role of a union leader- "Union Steward," he stresses to you- is apparently something entirely distinct from a manager.

He actually spends most of his time doing three things: catching up on news from the broader union and disseminating any new information to the workers in the union, checking to ensure the Docks complied with state and federal policies and regulations, and investigating incidents involving union members as reported to him by his workers.

"It used to be a lot worse than it is," he tells you at one point. "When I took the job, back when you were a kid, the Docks were headed downhill with the Graveyard and all. They'd cut almost half their staff by the time I stepped in. The manager was terrible at his job. They later found out that he'd joined the Empire and started embezzling funds, which is when they let him go and hired Rebecca to take over. But the standards for workers at the dock were terrible, and the guy obviously didn't care much about following state safety standards. It took me years to get enough of my people hired in that work was actually getting done according to schedule, and it wasn't until they hired Rebecca that the council considered the Docks worth investing in again."

There's a fascinating system in place. Dad responds to emails with crisp efficiency, clearing out a backlog of over four dozen emails in before the clock even hits half past ten. Some of them are from the Union, memos for him to read over later, but a lot of them are emails from workers in his care or members of the Dock's managerial staff. His fingers snap out over the keyboard, shooting out responses almost faster than you can read them.

From what you can tell, there's a struggle over pay rises. The council has agreed to an ongoing contract, including a small pay rise each year to match inflation rates. The Mayor has refused to allocate additional funds to hire new employees, however, and with the Docks becoming more active, workers are having to work longer hours to meet the new demand.

"Don't they get overtime pay for that?" you ask, staring at the computer screen. Dad stops typing for a minute, looking down at you.

"They do, but that's not what this is about," he replies. "The boys are feeling underappreciated. The Mayor is demanding longer hours from them, but a lot of them have families they want to be home for, and being a dockworker doesn't pay very much in the first place." He smiles humourlessly at that.

"The Bay is still in an economic downslump, though. Tourism is finally picking back up, but with the two Empire factions in town and the foreign gangs forming a coalition against them, a few businesses have decided it would be better if they moved their businesses elsewhere. The Mayor is struggling to balance the budget, and the Docks are a low priority so long as the Graveyard isn't cleared out."

You consider that for a moment. You're vagely aware, of course, that the presence of so many gangs in town has been hurting the town's economy. That's just inevitable- gang violence, drug problems and increased crime rates always result in the local economy getting worse. The Protectorate, and especially the PRT, do their best to combat that, but there's only so much even superheroes can do. Problems like these are systemic. New Wave tries to offer what help they can, you know; Brandish, also a high-profile lawyer, offers her services free to anyone trying to get out of the gangs, and Panacea dedicates Sundays to helping victims of gang violence get back on their feet. But it's not enough to fix the problems in Brockton Bay, not alone.

Idly, you wonder what else is being done around town. Something else to research when you get to investigating the cape scene, you suppose.

It's fascinating to watch Dad at work. You never really understood what a role like his was for, before. You'd always thought of managers and the like as spending most of their time bossing people around and the like. In reality, Dad's more like a middleman. The bosses, the higher-ups of the Union, tell Dad what's going on, and he relays it to his workers. His workers tell him what it's like on the ground, and he relays it to the bosses. He figures out what each group needs from the other, and how they can deliver on that, then he sets the process in motion.

Businesses are way more complicated than you'd thought. It's lucky you figured that out before you tried setting up your own cape team.

You're going to have to look more into that.

Eventually, lunchtime rolls around. Dad finished responding to his emails about an hour ago, and has spent the remaining hour writing memos and going over resumes his bosses sent him to look over.

There's a larger room- repurposed from a warehouse, probably- that acts as a general meeting room and break room for the employees. Dad leads you there, chatting animatedly with you about the trade agreements between America and Russia.

You're not sure how the chat got there. Your head is spinning with too much information.

Inside, you can see everyone sitting down around the room. Most of them are sitting on plastic stools in front of cheap, foldable aluminium tables. Some of them have chosen instead to sit on a long wooden bench, where they're wrapped in an animated conversation about one of Uber and Leet's latest videos.

When the two of you step forward into the building, everyone shoots your father respectful nods and waves. It's obvious that they appreciate the work he's done for them, even if he isn't having much luck with this pay rise thing.

At the back of the warehouse is a large fridge. Dad swings it open, revealing- not very much, really. A few cartons of milk, a half-empty loaf of bread and three full ones, some cheese and tomatoes, a thick packet of sliced beef from a local butcher's, and a bunch of tins of tuna.

"I know it's not very much," he says with an apologetic look towards you, "but everyone pools their money together to buy this stuff, and we don't get paid until Monday." He lowers his voice and leans towards you, murmuring, "And some of the guys can barely afford to pay their rent with the Empire's tax. They're too prideful to accept charity, so Lacey and I came up with this idea. This way everyone is at least able to eat one little meal at work."

You shrug and accept that. You don't mind sandwiches in the least. "That's okay, Dad," you reply.

He smiles at you and proceeds to make you a sandwich, then leads you over to a large table, with several people already sitting around it, including a lady dressed in a shimmering suit and wearing a full-face mask. He gestures around, introducing you to everyone as the two of you take a seat.

"Taylor, you already know Kurt and Lacey." You greet the two of them with a shy nod. "This is Rob, one of the foremen. Henry- don't worry, he's shy too," he confides to you in a loud whisper, causing the man to blush and stammer out a denial. Dad guffaws and claps him on the shoulder, before pointing you at the lady you'd noticed earlier. "And this is Igneous, the cape who's been clearing up the Bay for us."

You give them all a small wave, then take a bite out of your sandwich. You can't help your nose wrinkling for a second. Dad cut those tomatoes awfully thick.

There's a jovial atmosphere around the table. Dad carries the conversation, his booming voice filling the silence when everybody else falls silent. None of the topics are very interesting to you, so you just stay silent at the table, nibbling slowly at your sandwich.

The conversation doesn't interest you, but you're glad to see that Dad is enjoying himself. It took a long time for him to get to this point. After Mom's death, he'd slid into a depression for over a year. You'd taken care of him as much as you could, but you were barely nine at the time, and didn't even understand how to work the percolator, let alone care for a grown man.

Eventually, Kurt and Lacey had stepped in and booked him an appointment with a therapist. It still wasn't a quick process, but a combination of fortnightly sessions with the therapist and antidepressants had slowly helped him to recover. He still had his bad times, but you can't blame him for that- you have your bad times, too. It helped that the two of you had had nearly a year to prepare yourselves after Mom was diagnosed, but grieving was only natural.

You don't really know what's happened at work to make him seem so much livelier here than he is at home, but looking around, you can see that nobody's uncomfortable with his presence any more, nobody is shooting him sour looks. Everyone looks genuinely happy with

him around.

Looking at him now- his face almost splitting in a wide grin as he joked around with his employees- you feel a small piece of your heart settle.

After the lunch break, Dad leads you back to his office.

"They're good people," he comments idly as he opens his mail program again, beginning to sort through the replies he'd received from earlier. You give him a quizzical look, and he jerks his chin in the direction of the door. "The workers here, they're good people. A lot of people look down on them for being unskilled labourers, but all they're doing is the best they can to provide for their families and make a living."

You nod. "Yeah," you reply quietly.

You'd never really paid much attention to the city itself. You knew it wasn't in a good state- obviously, since if it was, the Empire wouldn't still be around. But you'd never really looked at what the city is like for the people who lived in it.

For the rest of the afternoon, you content yourself by stealing one of his pens and a pad of paper and trying to write out a simple lesson plan for your tutoring sessions with Madison. Chemistry is simple enough, since you're still going over the basics, but she mentioned she was having trouble with her grades in general. Maths and English will be harder.

Dad doesn't clock out until five, a solid four hours after the rest of the morning shift. Most of the workers you pass give him a nod and a "Hello" as he walks past, but he just acknowledges them with a smile and a wave before moving on.

The car drive home is silent. You fiddle with the radio some, but most of the radio channels in the Bay are filled with Empire propaganda, and you can't stand the music the Protectorate's channel blares through the day.

When you get home, Dad takes a deep breath. "Okay, I guess it's time," he breathes almost inaudibly to himself. You don't think you were meant to hear that. "Taylor," he says louder, "could we talk for a minute?"

You shoot back with a flippant "Sure", tucking the stolen notepad back into your pocket.

Dad leads you into the house, then through the hall into the dining room, where you both sit at the dining table. He looks seriously over at you.

"Taylor," he begins, then cuts himself off. "I'm-" He comes up short again, exhaling a frustrated sigh. He visibly gathers himself before saying anything. "I'm sorry if I'm away a lot," he says quietly. "I know I'm missing a lot with you, and I really am sorry about that. I'll try to do better in future."

You shake your head. "No, it's fine. I-"

He interrupts you, shaking his head angrily. "It's not fine, Taylor," he says. For the first time all day, you can feel his emotions leaking out heavily enough that your power picks up on them. Frustration, and disappointment. "I've... I'm not a perfect man, Taylor. I try my best, but I've made a lot of mistakes in the past, with you, with me, with my whole life. But I'm your father, and I should be doing a better job of that."

Anger flares to life within you, deep in your gut. "Hey, I said it's fine," you state firmly. "Dad, I'm fifteen years old. I can handle you not getting home until eight some days."

He closes his eyes, the frustration growing stronger. It's tempting to use your power on him, but- you did it once before, when you manipulated him into feeling like you could handle staying alone at home overnight in preparation for your plan, and you didn't feel good about it. He's your Dad, someone you actually care about, not just another one of your victims.

"That's not what I'm saying, Taylor." He sounds defeated. "I should have been there for you more. Not even physically," he says hastily when you open your mouth, "I mean emotionally. Annette's death was hard on me, but it was hard on you too, and I should have been there for you."

You clench your teeth angrily, grinding them together.

These don't sound like his words. They're too prepared, too rehearsed. His therapist, maybe.

"Dad," you say lowly, "it's fine."

The frustration just grows heavier.

You tilt your head back, and choke back a groan. "Look," you bite out, "I'm dealing with it. I'm doing really good at school, and I have some good friends. That's enough, isn't it?"

You risk a glance over at him, taking in the pained grimace on his face as he leans back in the chair, looking up at the ceiling as though for guidance.

You get the feeling that, no. Dad does not consider that to be nearly enough.

His expression doesn't change at all when you get up from the table and storm off to your room. Not that that helps you at all.

Even later that night, after you've hidden in your room for over five hours, you can still feel the shame rolling off him.

The next day, you wake up to find Dad already awake. Odd; he usually likes to sleep in until nine on a weekend.

Neither of you bring up last night's scene. There's an air of awkwardness between you two, but you're content to let that stand. The awkwardness is better than the disappointment he was feeling last night. Besides, you can feel his antidepressants at work, slowly smothering his disappointment and shame beneath a small thread of cheerfulness.

Breakfast is mostly a silent affair, until eventually, the phone rings. Dad rushes off to answer it, and you take the opportunity to steal his fried eggs while he's gone. Push you for answers, you grumble silently. Let's see how he likes his breakfast without a fried egg!

When he returns, it's with a smile, if a strained one. Internally, you let out a sigh of relief. It must be good news, if he's smiling so soon after a fight.

He raises an eyebrow at you when he looks at his plate and sees his fried eggs missing, but you don't say anything, just glare defiantly at him as you eat a huge forkful of eggs. Oddly, that seems to soften him somewhat.

Of course, as has to be the way, any traces of a good mood you'd developed are shattered when he speaks.

"Good news," he says, somewhat cheerfully. "I just got off the phone with Alan. Apparently he was speaking to the father of that girl you went to visit yesterday, and it reminded him that we haven't seen each other in a few months. He's invited us all over for dinner."

Your hands clench around the handle of your fork, and suddenly, you wish Alan Barnes was here so you could steal his eggs, too. Then something he said catches your attention. "Us all?" you ask.

"Yeah," he replies. "Us and the Clammen... your friend and her family."

Well, you suppose. At least there's some good news here.

You'd say that today started off so promisingly, but you'd be lying. A fight with your father, and an attempted discussion about your "feelings", as though that actually needs to be talked about. And now, you're going over for dinner with Emma and Madison.

You aren't prepared for this. You have a plan for how you're going to approach Emma, and it looks nothing like this. You need more time, more room to prepare. You haven't even started nudging her emotions yet. How were you going to get her to accept you in now, when she was going to be pre-warned and have her defences up?

The thought of not influencing her crosses your mind for a moment, but you dismiss it out of hand. Even if you didn't have to worry about Emma making nasty comments and causing your father to storm out in a huff, which would make it very difficult for you to seduce her later, you honestly want to get started sooner now that the opportunity has forced itself on you. A plan is already forming in your head, a very naughty plan.

The dinner won't be until six, if you still know Emma's family at all. Dad will drive you over at five, and you're going to need some time to prepare yourself before, so you're going to need to be home by at least two. It's seven now, so you still have a fair amount of time during the day if you want to get something done.

You're going to spend your time in the morning...

] With Madison- you won't have recovered by the time it's time for the dinner, but that's okay. You expect you'll find yourself aroused again soon enough anyway. You'll call her- her name is in the phone book, you checked- and invite her over to your house. It's not time to finish what you've started, not yet, but it's time to take a step you never envisioned when you formulated this plan; you're going to bring Madison over to your house, and you're going to subtly introduce the idea of ownership to her.

- General results: Will plant a seed of a thought in Madison's head, making her consider the idea of asking Taylor to mark her as hers. Note that this does not mean Taylor will literally own Madison; it will open up future paths for Madison in which she will act subserviently to Taylor, (e.g. cooking her meals for her, performing domestic duties without complaint), and most importantly, will get off on doing so.

- On a success: Raises Madison's maximum Submission score to 15.

- On a failure: Raises Madison's maximum Submission score to 12.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

] Down at the Boardwalk, "acquiring" some magazines of... a certain nature from the adult stores around. With not just one, but two girls about to be under your thumb, you're suddenly a lot less confident in your actual sex skills. And besides, Madison is nearly ready for you to take her. Tease her just a little bit more by, say, reading some adult magazines and playing with her, and she'll be primed for you to finally have sex with.

- Success chance: 50%

- General results: Acquires adult videos, allowing you a scene in which Taylor sexually frustrates Madison as they watch porn together. Note that this scene will open up options in which Taylor has sex with Madison in one of three locations.

- On a success: Will increase Sophia's Intrigue by 1, and raise successful recruitment rates of Sophia by 5%. Note that this does not initiate recruitment of Sophia.

- On a failure: The next point of Lust and Loyalty gain from Emma are negated.

] At your house, with Madison. Madison is submissive enough towards you now that you think you could push her a bit further without completely altering her mind. To that end, you're going to invite Madison over and push her submissiveness a bit- and delight yourself in the process.

- This option cannot be failed.

- Invites Madison over, allowing you a scene in which Taylor and Madison lie on Taylor's bed in their panties and watch a movie, and Madison feeds Taylor snacks as Taylor plays with her. Note that this scene will open up options in which Taylor has sex with Madison in one of three locations.

View in Thread

Last edited: Jun 28, 2016

Jun 28, 2016 ReportLike

Jep Gambeson, Fred Flintstine, TheBigMole and 256 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.6

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

The air between you and your father is still awkward over an hour later. Your resentment faded somewhat in light of the new nervousness now fluttering in your stomach, and you even felt a little bad about stealing his eggs... at least until he just went and fried himself three more to replace the two you stole. That killed off the guilt fast, and you went back to glowering at him.

When you announce that you're going to visit the library today, Dad gives you a one-armed hug and the money for the bus fare, sending you on your way with a cheery wave. You shoot a suspicious look at his back as you leave, but sadly, you have the power to manipulate people's emotions, not the power to read people's minds. You can feel that he is feeling happier than he has for the past... well, as long as you can remember reading his emotions, anyway.

The bus is late, as it always is. Not too late today, thankfully, it's only four minutes behind the times listed on the schedule sitting on the side of the bus stop. Once, you'd had to wait almost half an hour beyond the scheduled time for the bus to arrive. The bus scheduled to arrive half an hour later had arrived while the first one was still picking up passengers. That had been an embarassing incident for the first bus driver.

Soothing songs ring forth from the radio, tuned to the Protectorate-aligned channel of Brockton Bay. You're a little surprised- usually the music on this channel is a lot worse than this- but it's passable enough today that you sing along under your breath. "Mouse Protector, Mouse Protector, Defender of the Weak and Innocent, Mouse Protector~"

The man sitting beside you gives you an odd look. You glare up at him and continue singing defiantly. Those words are meant to be capitalized. You'd seen the subtitles once, and they said so, damn it! Subtitles are law!

The bus trundled down along the roads of Brockton Bay, slow and cautious, as mandated by the council. There had been one too many incidents of minor villains taking advantage of the buses, planting bombs on them or holding them up so they could get some funds far enough away that the heroes in the PRT couldn't respond in time to save anyone. Now, the public transit system was mandated to remain within a certain distance of patrolling heroes or subsidized rogues. It was inconvenient, but less so than not having buses at all, or inevitably ending up in a hostage situation when the heroes turned up.

It takes nearly forty minutes for the bus to arrive at the stop in front of the town hall. You climb off there, then head across the street to the public library- an old, dour building, with a sign out the front proudly proclaiming "Brockton Bay Public Library". Beneath that was written, in smaller letters, "Proudly standing since 1878".

You pass through the RFID trackers standing in front of the doors and head within. There are several ancient computers sitting on small tables within the rows of books, permanently open with their screens set to display the library's catalogue searching system.

With an eager grin, you take a seat in front of the closest catalogue computer and get to work.

Four and a half hours later, you finally fold the last newspaper back up, wiping some imaginary sweat from your brow. It turns out that trying to get a good idea of what Brockton Bay's cape scene is like is actually a lot harder than it sounds. That's a recurring theme, you're noticing.

There's aren't a lot of records online. You'd checked, but the only really serviceable source you'd found was ParaHumans Online- "the" premier source for cape news online, if only because it was where the Protectorate actually had a presence, and thus official Protectorate news and posts from PRT-aligned heroes flowed in. There were other sites on the internet that followed and tracked cape news, but few capes visited them, so they never built much steam.

You'd read over as much as you could, both on PHO and in the library's archived newspapers. PHO is actually a good source for news, but it's relatively new, having only been around for three or four years, and there are a lot of smaller incidents in the Bay that either go unreported on the website, or were only tracked in some of the "Incident Megathreads" you don't have the time to read through today.

Still, you've learned quite a bit today. Some of which you wish you hadn't learned.

From what you've read, there are three "major" gangs in Brockton Bay. The Protectorate only officially recognizes two of them, naming specifically the East-Asian Coalition (unofficially referred to as the "ABB", the Azn Bad Boys, by some of the gang members, but that name hadn't caught on enough to be added to official reports) and the Empire- or Empire 88- as gangs engaging in criminal activity.

The political reality is as such;

The Empire's presence in Brockton Bay isn't as shaky as the Protectorate claims, but they're still far from the lofty heights they had presented in the Bay prior to the strife with Marquis, and then Leviathan's attack. They're a faction divided by internal strife, a civil war that had been formed with the death of the former leader of the faction, a man named 'Allfather'. Each of Allfather's children has claimed they are fit to rule the Empire, and the gang split in two between them.

Now, two factions of the Empire vie for supremacy within Brockton Bay's shores.

Kaiser, the elder son of the family, leads the faction still referred to as 'The Empire' by most of the populace. The man is noted to be extraordinarily charismatic, and you're inclined to agree, as much as you dislike it. He's charismatic enough that he's plastered most of the city's media outlets with Empire propaganda- radio channels, newspapers, even public advertisements. None of it is technically illegal, as the propaganda never uses hate speech- just preaches the "values of good, working-class families within the Bay and its surrounding area" and "struggling against the filth accumulated over centuries of Great American Progress", capitalization typically not included. It's effective, too. Nobody wants to believe that they're racist, but there are plenty of disadvantaged people in the Bay, and Kaiser prays upon their hopes and fears, furthering his own ends.

Beneath the Empire are a sundry list of capes. Purity, Fenja and Menja, Night and Fog, Crusader and Alabaster are amongst the ones mentioned most often; their powers are terrifying enough to let them hold their own against New Wave and PRT-aligned capes when they show up, and charges against his followers the few times the city's heroes have managed to arrest them have consistently fallen through. Purity is officially listed as a rogue as of a year and a half ago, but she has been noted as still being Empire-sympathetic, so you're listing her with the Empire still.

There are also a host of minor villains, often mercenaries hired temporarily to perform a specific duty, listed in there too, and then estimates of up to six hundred Empire-affiliated gang members. Surveys of Brockton Bay's citizens have found that near 20% of people living in the Bay sympathize with the Empire's position, too.

Iron Rain, the younger daughter of Allfather, leads the other, decidedly more violent faction of the Empire. If Kaiser's faction reminds you as much of a business as a gang, then Iron Rain's faction reminds you as much of the stories you've heard of the Italian Mafia as it does a typical gang. Iron Rain doesn't bother with things like advertising. No, she goes out and deals with the problem "effectively"- typically, by beating a bunch of black or Asian people senseless , and-slash-or extorting their businesses into bankruptcy. They're the only gang in town with confirmed murders to their name.

The presence of Iron Rain's Brotherhood is the other reason why the Protectorate never cracks down as heavily on the Empire. The Empire has denounced the Brotherhood as misguided and foolish, although you can't help but note that they never denounce the Brotherhood's goals, only their methods.

Beneath the Brotherhood lies a more extensive list of capes. Hookwolf is most prominent amongst them, one of the deadliest capes in Brockton Bay besides Iron Rain, Kaiser, Lung and Dauntless (the latter not having any crimes on public record, but you've seen videos of the man in action). Other long-term or significant members include Krieg, Victor (you wonder briefly at the name, but decide he's probably referencing victory, rather than not bothering with a codename), Othala, Rune, Cricket, and Stormtiger. Eight capes within a single faction, and Iron Rain and Hookwolf amongst them- it doesn't surprise you terribly much that the PRT has only made a few arrests over the years, and only gotten one to stick recently.

Luckily, the Brotherhood doesn't have as much of a political presence as the Empire does. They don't bother to advertise, so there are a lot fewer people willing to work with them and publicly affiliate themselves with them. The money they make mostly comes from extortion and illegal habits like gambling and underground fight clubs... or so you assume, though you've never really looked into the whole illegal scene.

And then... You grimace down at your notebook.

The Empire factions are bad enough, but you also have the East-Asian Coalition, this "ABB". Originally a wide variety of separate factions, many of them were originally at each other's throats. It wasn't until the arrival of Lung that they began to unify, and became a threat capable of fighting off the Empire- and the PRT. Sure, many of those gangs had had minor capes of their own affiliated with them, but Lung is a far more capable combatant than any of them, having once held off Brockton Bay's entire Protectorate force off for long enough for Oni Lee to extract him.

The ABB is a loose and disparate force largely held together by Lung's sheer force of presence, and the assistance of his demonic associate, Oni Lee. From what you can tell, the minor gangs that make up the East-Asian Coalition often hate being part of it, but there's not much they can do when Lung threatens to tear them apart if they don't do what he says. And, besides, they hate the Empire more than they do each other.

That's the scary thing about the ABB. Even the name isn't correct; they were branded the East-Asian Coalition back when it was still forming and Lung was focusing on the gangs with a heavy Japanese or Chinese presence, but nowadays it was comprised of all kinds of minorities. Many of them joined up specifically to take a stand against the Empire and all they stood for. And that's hard to take action against, because how are you supposed to tell minorities that they shouldn't stand up for themselves and their rights without coming off worse?

The PRT is largely willing to let them stand, because of that. They are willing to arrest any members of the ABB they come across actively in the process of committing crimes, but it's more important to dedicate their resources to taking down the two Empire factions. The ABB can always be dealt with afterwards, after all; and it will be much easier to do so then.

And then there are the heroes.

It kind of depresses you that this section is so much smaller.

The PRT, and with them the Protectorate, are strapped for assets. It's been that way since Leviathan attacked; a lot of the heroes that were previously assigned here were killed by the Endbringer, and it was deemed to not be worth it to send more heroes in on a permanent basis.

The Protectorate's forces in town consist of seven heroes, less even than the comprised forces of the Brotherhood. They're lead by Armsmaster, a notoriously skilled combatant noted on several of your searches for being one of the only Tinkers in the world to survive a close-range encounter with an Endbringer and emerge not only alive, but having wounded it. Beneath him is Miss Militia, who acts as his second-in-command and the public face of the PRT. And then there's Velocity, Assault, Battery, Triumph, and Dauntless.

The Protectorate spends most of their time publicly patrolling the downtown areas of the city city- not advertising where their patrol routes are, but making people aware of their presence as they do patrol- and assisting the PRT in providing shelters, resources and protection for disadvantaged citizens. The second is probably the most effective thing they're doing in the city, both in your own opinion and according to the newspapers you'd read, although PHO begged to differ, and differ for pages.

That alone isn't very effective, but that is where their cooperation with the other hero group in town comes in- New Wave.

The PRT is limited in what they can do within the city. All their funding comes from the PRT headquarters in New York, which in turn is headed by a board of directors advised by the Triumvirate. As such, they only have a limited amount of money they can throw at the problems in Brockton Bay- and thus there are only limited results they can bring in.

New Wave doesn't have that restriction, and it shows. They work together with a lot of business owners in town, securing donations for their charities and finding placements for people who have trouble securing work for whatever reason. They've opened up several free clinics in town, and even have Panacea visit them on a weekly basis. They offer legal representation, the opportunity to find work, counselling to overcome drug addictions, help with recovering from debt, and a lot more. They work closely with the PRT, allowing the PRT to send the people who seek the assistance of their shelters to better their lives with New Wave.

It's not a perfect system, but it's helping. The Empire's influence is spreading, but the PRT and New Wave are doing what they can to counter it.

There had been a few threads dedicated to individual capes, but you hadn't had much time to browse through them, only making it through the first few and last couple pages of two of them. Which reminds you- glancing at your watch, you immediately begin packing up the newspapers. You only have five minutes before you need to leave.

The only threads you'd been able to spend any time reading were Battery and Glory Girl's, the two threads closest to the top of the pages. You hadn't learned much- there was a description of their powers and a few photos, but nothing you didn't already know. There had been at least some interesting information in there, though.

Battery's page had been fairly boring, most of the information in there consisting of official reports and a lot of discussion of her relationship with Assault (blech). There had been a few images in there of her- including one you'd saved and e-mailed to yourself for later viewing, an image of Battery with her costume partially torn, revealing an expanse of stomach topped by the underside of a plain blue bra- but nothing exciting apart from that.

The only really interesting tidbit you'd learned was about Battery's patrolling habits. Officially, the Protectorate isn't supposed to favour any one organisation over another, preserving an unbiased image so everyone can believe that the Protectorate does their best to serve everyone's needs equally. Unofficially, it seems like Battery seems to spend a lot of her off-patrol times hanging around PRT-funded battered women's shelters. There was rampant speculation in her thread for half a page or so before the wrath of the mods descended and that line of discussion ended, but you tucked the information away for future use.

Glory Girl's page was a lot more exciting. It seems that her role as a local celebrity has attracted a lot of the more "enthusiastic" fans around, and Glory Girl, if anything, seems to encourage them. On the few pages you'd read, there were a lot of people drawing pictures of her and posting photographs they'd taken of her, or writing awestruck stories about how Glory Girl had single-handedly saved them from a group of Brotherhood members or helped rescue their families from burning buildings. Unfortunately, nothing dirty- you suppose that the mods clamped down much harder on sexual discussions of people under eighteen. Fair enough, for a public board.

There is actually a wealth of information on the girl and her family. New Wave did nothing to hide their identities, so there was a lot to discuss. A few shipping discussions, cut short when someone pointed out that she was already dating someone (one brave soul dared to suggest that maybe someone like Gregor could steal her away, but was promptly verbally torn to shreds both for suggesting that she would ever cheat on her boyfriend and for suggesting such a terrible ship). A long tangent about her favourite foods, ended when the girl herself interjected and noted that she has a fondness for cheesecake and tacoes, sending the thread wild for more than a page. An eleven-post tangent about the merits of dropping a car on people, sparked by a video of Glory Girl doing just that to Alabaster (the discussion, which was growing increasingly heated, ended when Brandish popped into the thread and told everyone that it had been Shielder's car, not a bystander's, and that Shielder had already reamed her over it).

The thing that intrigues you the most, though, is the mention of a weekly book club headed by the girl that met on Sundays. You have written down the time and date, noting that they met on Sundays at the upper floor of a small bookstore on the Boardwalk.

You don't even have to build yourself an in, you think with a pleased smile. You were looking for a book club to join a few weeks back anyway.

Emma's house looks just like you remember it. A two-storey affair similar to Madison's house, with a pleasant soft-green exterior and a neatly trimmed lawn. They've replanted the roses, you note- the last time you'd been here they were purple, while now one side of the garden has red roses, and the other side has yellow.

Rick's car is parked in their driveway. Madison must already be here.

Alan greets the two of you at the door, evidently having heard your car. He looks genuinely happy to see the two of you, and you can see Dad's face light up in a smile at the happiness he's exhibiting. Honestly, it makes you feel like a bit of a jerk for not wanting to come earlier.

You peer around the house. It feels colder, a little more sterile than it did the last time you visited. You can't quite place why.

"Taylor," Alan says, his smile growing a little more. "It's nice to see you again. She's grown, hasn't she, Danny?"

"That she has," Dad replies. "Five foot, what, seven?"

"Eight," you reply, giving him a disgruntled look. He just smiles cheekily in response, jostling your shoulder. Alan chuckles at the interaction.

"Emma's up in her room with Madison," he tells you easily. You can't quite describe the feeling that sentence invokes in you. A mix of trepidation at the thought of seeing Emma, anticipation at the thought of seeing Madison again, and heady arousal at the image of Emma in her bedroom. Soon, you silently promise yourself. "Why don't you head on up there and say hello?"

"Okay." You try to give a nonchalant shrug at that, hoping he can't see your eagerness in the action, or the hesitation in your steps as you begin to climb the staircase and head to Emma's room. Honestly, all these stairs leading to your girls rooms' are going to kill you.

Once you're out of sight of Alan, you stop for a moment, reaching out with your power. You can feel Madison immediately- the arousal pooling in you grows stronger as you feel her lust, still strong enough after your last encounter that you can taste it from here, and her submission brimming beneath it. The sensation is exquisite.

Emma is much more muted- you have to actively search for her presence to feel it at all. There's a whole lot of boredom in there, some apathy, some disdain, some frustration, some anger- all the emotions you've come to expect from your former friend. Some cruelty, some loneliness, all directed at you. And- there, running beneath them all; a low, humming thread of lust, twined already around a weak band of loyalty stretching to you. Unexpected, although it's not strong enough to have led to anything in the past.

Before you even walk into the room, you begin tugging on her loyalty. You're not gentle about it, not at all. You need to make a good impression now, if you're going to make any progress tonight.

You wait in the hallway, stomach writhing with nerves, for nearly five minutes as you wait for your power to really take root. You can feel the loyalty in her growing, slower than you'd like, but- good enough.

Madison breaks into a smile the second she sees you step into the room, and you can see she's restraining herself from leaping up and giving you a hug. You have no such compunctions, being able to actually feel Emma's emotional state, and pull her into a hug the moment you sit beside her. Her face turns beet red and she buries her face in your neck, but she eagerly returns it. For a moment, you're tempted to pull her up into your lap again (she's wearing actual pants today, so you don't have to worry about revealing anything to Emma if you do so), but you refrain- Emma's cruelty just spiked up again, tempered only by you giving a sharp tug on her loyalty. You can't afford to push Emma quite that far just yet. Soon.

Emma narrows her eyes at the two of you. "So that's why," she says roughly.

Madison wringes her hands nervously behind your back for a moment, before lifting your shirt slightly and placing both her cool hands on your bare back, seeming to derive some comfort from the physical contact with you. "Obviously," she fires back, voice muffled through your shirt. She doesn't turn to look at the other girl.

"Well," Emma says. She probably intended the phrase to sound cruel, but her cruelty is already subsiding as you tug on her loyalty again and again, sharp pulls intended to bring it to the forefront as soon as you can. "I see."

You give her a dry, amused smile when she trails off after that, looking a little lost. You don't blame her, though. Her emotions are all a tangled ball of frustration and self-loathing, all rolled up with anger and cruelty. Making them subside as you are is probably leaving her feeling more than a little lost.

Honestly, you're probably doing her a favour by manipulating her like this.She's going to feel so much happier under your thrall.

You wait a few moments for the loyalty to grow a bit stronger- long enough for it to have buried the sharpest thorns of the cruelty- before you pull Madison completely up onto your lap, where she snuggles into you with a contented sigh. Lust pulses through her, and you almost lick and suck her neck before you remember Emma is still in the room with you.

"You two seem happy together," Emma says neutrally.

Emma's emotions are complicated. The words bring up a lot of emotions, and you have to sharply tug on her loyalty again to get them to subside. Anger, cruelty, pain, loss, regret. You're actually a little curious, now. Up until now, you've only been able to feel anger and cruelty from her. Was this buried beneath all that? What had caused all this? Had Emma always felt this way, or did something happen to her?

Madison finally lifts her face from your neck, turning to face Emma with a determined expression. "Yeah," she says defiantly. "What of it?"

"Nothing," Emma replies dully. "I was just- never mind." Another pang of loss, quickly buried with another pull on her loyalty.

Your girl glares defiantly at her for a moment longer before turning back to face you, eyes pleading. You give her a quick kiss, but aren't quite willing to go any further- there's enough faint lust in Emma that you're fairly sure she won't storm out of the room in disgust at the first kiss, but you're going to have to pull her lust up if you want her to watch anything serious.

With an exaggeratedly pained sigh, Madison falls limply back against you, laying one cheek on your collarbone and looking up at you. She still hasn't removed her hands from beneath your shirt, so- releasing Emma's loyalty for the first time since you stepped in the room, and giving a quick, sharp tug on her lust- you slip your hands beneath her own. Madison shivers deliciously against you, and you can't help but tilt your head down to press a kiss against her cheek.

For a moment, you pause and evaluate. Emma's emotions are still a tangled, complicated ball, and you're going to have to deal with that at some point, but for now... Well, you're not going to get the opportunity to deal with that if you don't get her to open up enough to have some fun first, and her darker emotions are getting blunted right now.

Madison's content enough snuggling in your lap that you feel safe in leaving her for a second, focusing your attention (but not your eyesight) on Emma.

For the next few minutes, you concentrate on slowly teasing Emma's lust to the forefront. It's easier to bring her lust up than it was her loyalty, since they were loosely tied together, but with it come a host of messy issues. You have to keep dropping it and tugging on her loyalty to bury them again, unless you want to her to associate being lusty with being cruel to her- and, yeah, there's absolutely no way you want that to happen.

Finally, you've brought it up enough that Emma's feeling it- feeling enough that her face is faintly flushed as her gaze darts between the two of you and the pictures hanging on her wall, at least. You keep pressing on it, taking care to alternate between lust and loyalty, but the other emotions are being dampened more and more, slipping down as you manipulate Emma's mind.

You're still careful as you slip one hand out from beneath Madison's shirt and use it to gently lift her chin, though. You don't want to spook Emma- just associate her growing lust with your activities with Madison.

Madison's lips are soft and compliant. She opens her mouth the second you brush your tongue against her lips, meeting yours in a slow, lazy kiss. You can feel the arousal in her as she returns the kiss- literally, in that you can feel her lust, and figuratively, in that you can feel her restraining herself from grinding on your thigh- but she matches your pace, reigning in her own growing lust to match the pace you set. You should reward her for being a good girl, later. Maybe tomorrow.

Across the room, you let your eyes flicker from Madison's closed eyelids to Emma as you take Madison's tongue into your mouth and gently suck on it. Emma's pretending not to watch, but when Madison shudders, she can't help but glance over, causing her already red cheeks to darken further. She quickly looks away again, but you can see her glancing over on occasion out of the corner of her eyes.

You're careful not to push it too far. You've pushed down her bitchy nature for now, and started associating her lust with you, but there's only so far you can clamp down on her emotions. If you do anything that could freak her out right now, her thorns will come back with a vengeance, and you'll set your progress back for the rest of the night.

So you take care not to get Madison too worked up at first. It works, and you don't even need to use your power on her- she responds willingly to your gentle touches and caresses, only occasionally letting out a soft, breathy moan when you move from her mouth to briefly kiss her jawline or drag your teeth lightly across her neck.

She's well aware of Emma's presence- you can see her occasionally opening her eyes and chancing a glance at the other girl- but you aren't feeling any hesitance from your girl at all, so either she doesn't care, or it's actually encouraging her. She spends most of her time either closing her eyes and focusing on you, or staring into your gaze with lidded eyes as you break away for air.

Madison's hands creep slowly higher up your shirt as you continue the kiss. This time, it's you who shivers; you go to stop her, but when your hands touch her arms, she pulls back from the kiss and gives you an adorable pout.

When she looks at you like that, sitting on your lap with her lower lip jutting out and trembling- you'd have to be heartless to deny her that, no matter how unsexy you think your tiny breasts are.

You take a moment to feel for Emma with your power anyway. You haven't been actively paying attention, but you've been softly tugging away. Now, you can feel the powerful undercurrent of lust rising through her. Her other emotions are still there- you're pretty sure the self-recrimination you can feel in there is going to rise when you're not around to suppress it- but you suspect that if you were to feel her panties right now, they would be damp. Not that you're stupid enough to try anything of the sort... yet.

Soon, maybe.

Madison's breath hitches as she pulls your shirt up over your head and places it to the side, revealing your bare chest to her. She stares at it for a moment, before looking up at you with a pleading look on her face.

You almost cream your panties then and there when you realize what she's waiting for. You give her a rough kiss before doing anything, catching her lip between your teeth and biting it hard enough to cause her to whimper.

Then, when you pull back from the kiss and her gaze drops back down to your chest, you look over at Emma. She's watching you, all traces of disgust washed from her face. Her knees are clenched hard together, but she's watching your face, her brow knitted together. You attempt to memorize everything about this scene- the sweet smell of Madison, the warm feeling of her in your arms, the puff of her warm breath on your nipples, the way Emma catches her lower lip between her teeth as she watches you.

Then, you stare Emma in the eyes as, for the first time in your life, you give Madison an order- "Lick them." And she obeys without even thinking about it.

You've played with your breasts before, of course. They're sensitive- small breasts usually are- but there's really not much to them. Most of the time, you don't even bother to wear a bra; you have nothing to support, and your nipples are small enough that even when they're hard (which has been a lot, lately), they're not very noticeable through a thin shirt, and are completely hidden behind the jackets you like to wear.

If you'd known how fantastic it would feel to have Madison's tongue running over them, though, you would never have complained.

Madison is clearly new at this, but she gives it her best. She seems to take a particular pleasure in licking you in just the right places to cause your breath to hitch, and teases you by focusing on those places- the undersides of your breasts, your aerola, the skin between your breasts- and occasionally takes a moment to move over, instead sucking your nipples into her mouth, then releasing them and blowing cool air on them. Your grip tightens on her shoulders whenever she does the last, causing you to feel her mouth widen into a grin against your bare skin.

As Madison continues her work, you keep your gaze focused on Emma in a silent challenge. She doesn't back down, continuing to stare at you, although occasionally her gaze trails down to look at your devoted little sub suckling on your bare breasts before hurriedly snapping back up to your face.

Unfortunately, that's as far as you can push your little game tonight.

You regretfully push Madison's head away from her chest when you hear the creaking sounds of someone walking up the staircase, reaching over to pull your shirt back on. Madison lets out a little mewl as you hide her new favourite toys from her, a sound that makes Emma shiver a little even as she pretends not to watch.

"Sorry, Maddy," you say with a husky voice. Her eyes darken at the newly-bestowed nickname, but she reluctantly climbs off at you and smooths down her shirt as she hears the footsteps approaching. Even Emma turns around, still pretending at reluctance, although by this time, you're so deep in her emotions that you can feel the thread of disappointment when she sees you and Madison are once again sitting beside each other, no longer even hugging.

Alan rounds Emma's door, either not noticing or dismissing the red faces of Emma and Madison. You were careful not to muss up Madison's hair this time, as you did before your dinner with her family, so hopefully he'll dismiss her red face as being embarassed. "Dinner's ready!" he exclaims excitedly. "Rick cooked for us tonight," he adds helpfully when he notices none of you look excited.

You can actually feel the excitement bubbling up in Emma at those words, but nonetheless she tries for indifference when she responds. "Oh, did he?" she asks, staring coolly up at the ceiling. "That was nice of him."

A smirk flits across Alan's face. Yeah, he's not buying it any more than you are.

"It's roast chicken tonight," he says, waving his hands as though wafting a smell towards her. "Chiiicken, Emma, you know you looove chicken."

She rockets to her feet so fast you're afraid she may have sprained an ankle hitting the floor. "Daddy!" she hisses, glancing momentarily towards you and Madison. "Stop it, you're embarassing me!"

"Well, soooo-rry," he drawls mock-sympathetically. "Danny's setting the table now, so come down in a minute or two." With his message delivered, he turns and walks away, shooting yourself and Madison a quick wink as he does so.

"Ugh," she groans. Seeing Madison open her mouth with a teasing smile, she holds up a finger. "Not a word!"

You just grin at her. Her expression doesn't even sour when she sees it.

The dinner goes well. Emma refuses to speak a word to you throughout it, but for once, not out of cruelty- her face just flushes red every time she looks at you, and whatever words she had on her lips dies. You can't even content yourself by playing with Madison- it feels cruel to toy with her so soon after she devoted herself so eagerly to you. Maybe tomorrow.

It's over far too soon. You pull Madison aside into the darkened sunroom on the other side of the hall as Dad stands in the kitchen, saying his goodbyes to everyone and making promises about holding dinner again soon.

You're no longer surprised when she melts immediately into your arms as you pull her into an embrace, finding her usual snuggling position against your neck.

She holds on to you for a long minute before pulling away slightly, looking up at you with a hesitant expression on her face.

"Did I do good today?" she asks quietly. "I wasn't sure if you wanted to do that in front of Emma, but you seemed... and she didn't say anything, so..."

You press an affectionate kiss to her nose, causing her to grin reluctantly. "Don't worry, Madison," you murmur. "You did perfect, and not just with Emma. You did a good job today. You're a good girl."

You probably shouldn't be surprised when you have to pry open her arms after that when Dad calls, leaving her pouting after you with a bright expression in her eyes.

Emma still hasn't said a word to you, but even when you leave, you can still feel the threads of lust and loyalty pounding strong through her. They're going to fade somewhat overnight, and she's going to be dealing with self-recrimination for some time to come, but those feelings aren't going to fade entirely, and she's going to remember how good she felt watching you and Madison together.

It's a good base to work from. It's going to take work for you to push her as far half as far as you have Madison, but at least now you know- it is possible for you to influence her the same way.

Still, though, that's a project for another day, not tonight. You sink down into your bed almost as soon as you arrive home at ten, hands falling between your legs almost as quickly as you can pull your covers over you. Images float through your head, images of Emma's enraptured face, of Madison's devoted smile, and it doesn't take you long to cum as you think about what tonight felt like, how good it felt to order Madison around as Emma watched, unable to speak or move as you nearly fucked Madison on her bed-

At least in your fantasy, you conclude in your head once the afterglow of your orgasm fades and you're left panting with a sticky wetness along your thighs.

You roll over, not bothering to slide your panties back on, and try to fall asleep as plans for tomorrow- the final day of your long weekend- whirl through your head.

Tomorrow, you think, you'll spend the day...

] With Madison- you'll need to spend the afternoon recovering, both from the activities themselves and from the heady feeling of control it's going to bring. You'll call her- her name is in the phone book, you checked- and invite her over to your house. It's not time to finish what you've started, not yet, but it's time to take a step you never envisioned when you formulated this plan; you're going to bring Madison over to your house, and you're going to subtly introduce the idea of ownership to her.

- Success chance: 50% 62% (12% bonus from Submission). Note that this option will always be available unless another future path is chosen for Madison at a later date, but will disappear permanently if such is chosen.

- On a success: Raises Madison's maximum Submission score to 15.

- On a failure: Raises Madison's maximum Submission score to 12.

- Success chance: 40%

- On a success: Will increase Sophia's Intrigue by 1, and raise successful recruitment rates of Sophia by 5%. Note that this does not initiate recruitment of Sophia.

- On a failure: Somewhat increases Emma's Lust, but the next two points of Loyalty gain from Emma are negated.

] Attending Glory Girl's book club for the first time. In such a public setting, there isn't much you can do, but you can at least make yourself notable to her, and spend some time raising her loyalty to you. Maybe if you spend enough time with her, you could eventually invite her over to your house for a movie night and push things a bit further. Of course, Glory Girl is currently dating someone. Not that you mind seducing her for yourself.

- Success chance: 80%.

- General results: Raises Victoria's Loyalty by a moderate amount. Introduces Taylor to Victoria, setting the building blocks for building a relationship Taylor can use to brainwash Victoria. Provides one of two necessary visits to Victoria's book club before she can be recruited. . Encourages Victoria to willingly and knowingly cheat on Dean with Taylor. Note that this option does not lead to Gallant discovering Taylor's power, and that options that involve him discovering Taylor's influence in future will be explicitly marked such and avoidable even when pushing Victoria's relationship with Taylor to max.

- On a success: Victoria will be trying out a new outfit that is more revealing than she thinks, giving Taylor an opportunity to ogle her without offending her. Somewhat raises Victoria's Lust when she realizes what Taylor is doing.

- On a failure: Victoria will be wearing non-revealing civilian clothes, forcing Taylor to actually pay attention to the book club. How boring.

View in Thread

Jun 29, 2016 ReportLike

Jep Gambeson, Fred Flintstine, PanDron and 270 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.7

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: 80%

Necessary roll: 20. Rolled: 86. Success.

Ugh.

As sexy as it had felt to go to sleep last night in the throes of your orgasm, it just feels gross when you wake up the next morning. You stumble out of bed, tiredly pulling your pants back on (not even bothering to do the buttons up, just pulling the zipper up and and wishing you hadn't taken them off so you wouldn't be so freezing this morning.

Then you shuffle your way to the bathroom and turn the shower on, taking your pants straight back off along with the rest of your clothes. Ugh.

At least the hot spray of water wakes you up some. You stand beneath it, luxuriating in the warmth radiating from your body and the feeling of stickiness washing away from your legs for long minutes before you finally feel awake enough to begin cleaning yourself.

Even after you've finished washing yourself, turned the shower off and headed back to your room, the sky outside is still dark. Glancing at the clock, you're startled to see it says it's only five thirty. You'd arrived home a bit after ten, and had definitely stayed awake for a while after that. How much sleep did you miss out on, and why were you awake now?

You shake your head, trying to shake the cobwebs out. Letting out a long sigh, you wander downstairs (closing the hallway door as you do so you don't accidentally wake Dad up) and turn the percolator on.The rich smell of coffee begins to permeate through the kitchen.

As the percolator bubbles away, you head out to the living room and hit the power button on the computer Dad had installed there a few months ago, wincing as the machine makes a loud grating sound. You really hope that didn't wake Dad up. You've been enough of a hassle for him lately.

The dial-up modem attempts to make an even louder screech when you power it up, but you just rip your shirt off and throw it over the modem in a huff of sudden anger. Stupid machine. Why did you decide to turn it on? You should have just left it alone.

The anger passes quickly, and you have to make a regretful trudge back to your room, completely bare from the waist up, to retrieve another shirt. While you're there, you pull a thick towel out of the linens closet, and throw it over the modem instead when you return back to the living room.

While the computer loads up, you head back out to the kitchen and pour yourself a mug of coffee, adding four sugars today. You take a mouthful, then grimace; that's way too sweet. You pour it out and make yourself a new mug, this time only putting one sugar in. For a moment, you're in heaven- then, abruptly, you almost gag as the bitterness overwhelms you.

You tip it out, and this time very carefully measure in your sugar, taking tiny sips of it as you go to test if it's sweet enough.

After the fourth spoonful, it is. You glare spitefully at the mug, tempted briefly to throw it to the ground and shatter it. The urge passes in a moment, leaving you to stare into the dark liquid, looking at your bewildered expression like it could explain what's going on to you. What had Dad put in the percolator last night to mess with your head like this?

Shaking your head, you take another small sip of the coffee. It's alright, although you'd prefer a bit of cream. There's some in the fridge still (Dad must have gone shopping at some point, you note absently- you'd forgotten, but there's food in here again), so you add some to your coffee and wander back out to the computer. It's loaded up by now, and the internet browser has already loaded. The home page is set to Dad's email. Hopefully he won't mind if you use the computer this morning, although he might. You chew anxiously at your lip at the thought.

You slowly your way back to PHO, the message board for capes. Slowly, because PHO is clearly not a site built for your connection; it takes two minutes to load any given page, and you have to reload pages twice as your connection crashes. Maybe you can convince Dad to sign up to one of the new ISDN services. Probably not, they're a lot more expensive. You don't need to remind him of how little money he's making just to satisfy your fetishes.

Navigating your way to Glory Girl's thread, you settle in to read it.

There's a lot of discussion about her boyfriend in the thread. A queasy feeling settles in your stomach the more you read about their relationship- a curious mix of guilt and arousal. Are you really going to seduce her, knowing she already has a boyfriend? Encourage her to cheat on her boyfriend with you?

You already know the answer. Of course you are.

Trying your best to push the self-recriminations to the back of your head, you try your best to just focus on the thread.

The book club starts at twelve on the dot, so you make sure to be on the bus by eleven. Dad sends you off with another hug and a pocket full of change scraped from the bottom of the change jar, just enough for you to afford the subsidized bus fare.

The bookstore that Glory Girl is holding her book club at is a charming little place. Surprisingly, it's not packed to capacity- in fact, despite you arriving at barely five to twelve, there are only three other people in there besides you, and one of them is a store clerk. One of the other two is a civilian, and the fourth is the girl you've come here to see. You instinctively begin using your power, delving into her emotions to find the one you're looking for. You're pretty sure it works, because Glory Girl floats over to you as soon as you walk into the store, apparently hearing the little bell above the door ringing to announce your entrance, and gives you a wide smile. "Hello!" she says brightly, hovering half an inch above the ground. "Are you here for the book club?"

You nod your head, flushing. Glory Girl is, actually, as pretty as all her photos made her out to be. You're used to people being dolled up to make them look so fantastic, but no- she is just naturally incredibly attractive. Even in ill-fitting civilian clothes, with a long, heavy jacket on, she's prettier than anyone you've met.

"Excellent!" She seems enthused, not at all let down by your sudden shyness. Before you can react, she grabs your hand and starts pulling you towards the staircase at the back of the store. She's gentle enough that she doesn't hurt you, but her grip is firm around your wrist. You actually feel a little indignant. You don't like being led around like this.

You swallow down your instinctive dislike of her actions, though, and follow her through the bookstore, up the stairs and into a cozy room. In here, there are well over a dozen people crowded around two large round tables, each holding a weathered copy of a book. The Riddle of the Sands, you vaguely remember from the PHO thread.

You take a moment to gauge her emotions. There's a lot of cheeriness in there, and a hint of naughtiness you'd like to investigate some, but you're more interested in pulling on her loyalty here. And- ah. Yes, it's running quite strong now. You actually tone yourself down a little, afraid of making what you're doing to anyone around you too obvious.

She looks consideringly around the room, searching for an empty spot. "Do you have a copy of the book?" she asks quietly.

You shake your head in response, causing her to frown. "Well," she says after a moment, "that's okay too. You can share mine." She glances at one of two empty seats on the end of the table.

Somewhere in the shop, a clock strikes twelve, a minute early by your watch. A grandfather clock, you presume; it's not soft enough to be anything else.

And then your attention is dragged away from the rest of the room when Glory Girl shrugs her heavy jacket off, revealing what she's wearing underneath, and places it on the back of her chair. Evidently, you're the only person who notices, the rest of them too absorbed opening their books and pulling notepads out from their bags to take in what she's wearing in the few seconds before she sits down.

It's like someone made a Glory Girl fetish costume, and then gave it to Glory Girl. You can definitely see where the outfit's creator took inspiration from her regular costume; it's got the same colour scheme, the same trimming, even the same style. But it's... tighter, and shorter. Instead of stretching below her belt like her regular costume, this one shamelessly bares her midriff, cutting off a bare few inches beneath her breasts and exposing her midriff to anyone who looked. The shirt's collar is cut much lower than normal, revealing an indecent view of her breasts- you're pretty sure you could rest your face within the hole of the material. And the whole shirt is just... tighter. It clings to her body, hugging and highlighting every curve and swell of her chest.

You glance back up at her face, and jerk back slightly when you see her watching you look at her. There's an amused expression on her face, but she doesn't say anything, or make any attempts to hide her body- at least from you. She's holding a large paperback version of the book upright in front of her, and her bag is sitting to her right leveled higher than her chest. Nobody but you can see what she's wearing. Suddenly worried, you pull hard on her loyalty, and watch as her eyes lid for a moment.

Without speaking, she slides her chair out a few inches and turns to the book, beginning to speak out across the room. You swallow as your mouth becomes suddenly dry.

Glory Girl's shirt wasn't the only thing altered. You'd seen a lot of pictures of her in her uniform this morning, including several that were less than decent, taken from roofs or after she'd been knocked down in a fight. So you know that Glory Girl normally wears a skirt that drapes a bit past mid-thigh, and a pair of athletic boyshorts beneath that, not giving anyone who looked a very interesting view.

The skirt she's wearing today isn't much shorter than normal, only an inch or two- you hadn't noticed earlier because the jacket had distracted you, which you now suspect was the intention. But when she'd sat down, her skirt had ridden up some, revealing not just an expanse of creamy flesh- oh, god- but also the fact that in place of her usual boyshorts, she is wearing a modest white thong.

By the smirk on her face when you look back up, you think she catches the shiver that sends through you. She does reach down and straighten her skirt, though, stopping you from getting a good glimpse of her thong again. Forbidden territory, then. Fair enough; she does still think that she's in an exclusive relationship with her boyfriend.

You try to pay attention to the discussion on the book, you honestly do. It's hard, though, when Glory Girl keeps shifting on her chair as she talks to the rest of the group, drawing your attention towards her bouncing breasts as she does so. Unlike when you looked at her panties earlier, she doesn't make any move to discourage you from looking down her shirt. In fact, you kind of suspect that she's subtly teasing you, although you can't tell why- she won't let you look at her panties, but is willing to let you look down her shirt? What kind of weird double standard is that?

She continues doing this through the entire two hour book club, and never once admonishes you for continuing to leer at her, although you know she catches you doing so at least four more times.

You're startled when the clock finally rings out twice, signalling two o'clock- the end of the book club. While everyone else is busy packing up their items and wrapping up their discussions, Glory Girl discreetly pulls her jacket off from the back of the chair she's sitting on and puts it back on, giving you a wink.

You sit beside Glory Girl, kind of afraid to get up and leave before her in case she's just waiting to do something horrible to you, until everyone else has left, a good twenty minutes. That's when she turns to you with a cheeky smirk on her face.

"Hi." She holds up her hand. "I'm Victoria Dallon. Who are you?"

Shit. You never did introduce yourself, either. You feel so much creepier than you intended, now. "Taylor Hebert," you squeak out in response. "Um, thank you for having me today?"

Victoria snickers, raising her eyebrow at you. You flush and look down at the floor. Okay, that had been a pretty bad attempt.

"You didn't seem to participate much," she continues, eyes dancing. "More of a watcher and listener then?"

You attempt a nonchalant shrug. She doesn't buy it. Yeah, you didn't think you were very good about hiding your shyness. "Sometimes. I'm usually better at taking a more active role in this kind of thing, though."

She snorts at that- actually snorts. You're a bit confused, but let it pass.

"Well, that's fine too." She nods to herself. "Just don't get too active, yeah? Other people were here first."

"Uh..." You let out a small, garbled noise. "That's okay," you eventually say with a pout. That's kind of unfair, you think- other people might have started attending before you, but they shouldn't get to have a more active role in discussions and stuff just because of that. You're pretty sure that's not how clubs are meant to work, otherwise they'd be pretty hostile to newcomers. Maybe it's because you didn't speak up very much today? "I'll probably be more active in future," you add. "Maybe I'll be first in line soon!"

A rough laugh bursts out of her. "Stranger things have happened," she concedes, "but I wouldn't count on it, Taylor."

Well, that was just rude. You were only shy for a little bit, and then she deliberately distracted you! Maybe. Or maybe you were just being rude. Still, a little miffed, you stare her directly in the eye and say, "Well, I will. Just wait, you'll see." Then, with an imperious look down your nose at her, you turn and walk away, ignoring the soft gasp and then the choked laughter from behind you.

You head into town and purchase some groceries Dad had missed when he went, since you're already here. He's usually pretty good, but he always forgets to buy new batteries for the TV remote and replacement filters for the percolator. You pay with a swipe of your card and head home, using the rest of the change Dad had given you for the bus fare.

By the time you get home, you're a bit less annoyed about how your encounter with Glory Girl had gone. Her shifting must have been an accident, then, if she didn't even bring it up with you afterwards. She didn't seem to mind you looking down her shirt, but she didn't encourage it, either- disappointing, but more than you'd expected from a girl with a boyfriend. And where did she get that costume, anyway? Why was she wearing it in public, yet took pains to avoid anyone besides you looking at it?

Still, that book club seems really snobbish. You'd want to go there again now even if Victoria wasn't there, just to prove to them that even someone they haven't met before can have interesting things to say.

That's a plan for next week, though. The book club only runs on Sundays, and you've got an entire week to go until your next one.

You put Victoria out of your mind for the moment.

You have three other girls you're planning for, anyway.

For the moment, you decide, you're not going to waste a whole week like you did last time. You've experimented with how far you can push your powers, now, and what you can convince people to do with them. And you've already got a start on some of them. Now, you're going to be able to have some real fun.

No- instead, you're going to take it a few days at a time, and see what developments you can push. If you stop to reevaluate midway through the school week, you think, you should be able to keep on top of things.

So, for the first half of this school week, you plan to... [Pick up to three two options from the below list.]

[X] Spend some time tutoring Madison. She's struggling with her classes, and has asked you for help. You've agreed. The school's open until five, so you'll spend until then tutoring her each day- except Wednesdays, when she has an afternoon shift working at Rick's restaurant. This is serious studying time, so you're not going to play with her here.

- Success chance: 20%.

- General results: If kept up for an entire week, raises Madison's Affection by 1. If kept up through at least ten weeks, raises Madison's schooling results to the point her grades have recovered, potentially opening up future paths in which Madison designs and makes costumes and lingerie for Taylor and her team.

- Note: This option has been locked in due to previous votes for a period of at least 4 weeks.

- On a success: Raises Madison's Affection by an additional 1 point.

- On a failure: Nothing.

] Start playing with Emma. She's stopped bullying you, but that doesn't mean that you are going to forgive her that easily. Emma has said some very cruel and unkind things to you over the past few months, after all. Wouldn't the Emma you had known in the past have wanted to make it up to you? And you know just where you want her to begin.

- Success chance: 75%.

- General results: Furthers Emma's recruitment. Raises Emma's Lust by 2, Loyalty by 1, Devotion by 1 and Affection by 1. Provides a scene in which Emma willingly takes off her bra and panties and gives them to Taylor at the start of school.

- On a success: Provides an additional 1 to Devotion and 1 to Affection.

- On a failure: Raises the general state of alarm by 1. Taylor's reputation at Winslow drops. Sophia gains 1 point of Lust.

] Begin the process of manipulating Sophia. Emma has stopped bullying you, and with that, Sophia has mostly lost interest in you, but she still shoves you in the halls when she sees you and makes cutting comments. Sophia has hurt you in the past- verbally and physically- and this is the first step in getting her to repay you for that. Plus, Sophia might not be as attractive as Emma or as cute as Madison, but she's one of the hottest girls at Winslow- and you're pretty sure you can tame that wild attitude of hers beneath you.

- Success chance: 50% (10% crit bonus, 10% Madison recruitment) 70%

- General results: Begins the recruitment of Sophia. Increases Sophia's Lust by 2, Loyalty by 1, and Intrigue by 1. Provides a scene in which Sophia gets off on Taylor harassing her in a sexual manner (flipping her skirt up, kissing her neck unsolicited, etc).

- General notes: This scene represents Sophia getting off on Taylor taking control from her. Note that this path is intended to lead to scenes of bondage and Taylor taking control of the relationship as she did with Madison (down a less submissive path), not to scenes of rape. If this path is not chosen within the next 2 updates, this path will disappear and a different path will become available.

- On a success: Raises Sophia's lust by 1. Sophia witnesses Taylor and Madison kissing in a secluded spot prior to school, and is aroused by it, leading her to encourage Taylor to sexually grope her.

- On a failure: Negates 1 point of Sophia's Loyalty and Intrigue gains.

] Take Madison out for a walk in the evening. You can't afford to take Madison out on a proper date- hell, you can barely afford the bus fares to go to school and into town each week- but you'll make what efforts you can anyway. Besides, this way, you'll get to spend more time with her and get to know her a bit better, both within and outside her role as your cute little sub.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Increases Madison's Affection by 1. Makes Taylor's relationship with Madison a little bit deeper. Note that this does not affect Taylor's harem- Taylor can have deep relationships with multiple girls at once, so long as she successfully convinces them to enter her harem.

] Do something potentially immoral; you're going to deliberately and willingly use your powers to grant you safe passage during class to the area where you know the school's Brotherhood contingent keeps stashes of drugs and drug money. You are then going to dispose of the drugs and steal their money.

- Success chance: 60%.

- General results: Taylor will steal several thousand dollars worth of cash from the Brotherhood without leaving a trace of her presence behind, allowing a wider variety of options in future updates. The Brotherhood will not know it was her, and will not suspect it.

- On a success: A wandering teacher will have sent the Brotherhood gang members to class, and Taylor will be able to liberate the money without anyone the wiser.

- On a failure: There will be the usual Brotherhood gang members standing guard in front of the locker instead of going to class. Taylor will have to use her powers on the Brotherhood gang members, sending them wandering away to leave school and go on a shopping spree, resulting in there being less than a thousand dollars in cash remaining in the walls.

Spoiler: Stat Gains/Losses

Spoiler: Bonuses Achieved

View in Thread

Last edited: Jun 30, 2016

Jun 30, 2016 ReportLike

Jep Gambeson, Fred Flintstine, PanDron and 227 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.8

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: 20%

Necessary roll: 80. Rolled: 66. Failure.

Success chance: 70%.

Necessary roll: 30. Rolled: 41. Success.

Success chance: 75%.

Necessary roll: 25. Rolled: 11. Failure.

Madison really is trying to make up for her previous behaviour towards you, you find when you get to school on Monday morning. You're not sure how she managed to get your locker open- presumably she pouted that adorable pout until someone opened it for her on the presumption she was planning a prank on you, but you can't be sure- but when you open it just before class, you're surprised to find a lunchbox waiting in there for you, a pink card with a floral pattern tied to it.

Taylor

I didn't know what you wanted for

lunch, so I made you a ham roll and

some fruit salad. I worked really hard so

please enjoy it! Love, Madison~

She has drawn little smiley faces over her i's instead of dotting them. One of them has a little heart drawn fluttering away from it. You can't help the wide grin that steals its way across your face, or the way your heart flutters. Yes, you definitely didn't make a bad decision by taking Madison for yourself first. You're going to have to find a way to reward her for being a good girl soon.

You're distracted all the way through first period by the little flutters of your heart. A giddy feeling sits deep in your stomach, and you really wish you own a cellphone so you could text her, even if it'd distract you from your lessons. You'd rather focus on Mads than Maths, anyway.

If anyone notices you smirk at the wordplay, they don't care enough to comment.

You don't manage to find anything to distract yourself from Madison with until second period, when you walk into class to find Emma and Sophia watching you like a pair of hawks. Madison pouts at you from three rows behind them, where the seat beside her has already been taken by another girl- Charlotte? Something like that. You give her an encouraging smile and she perks up, but out of the corner of your eyes, you see Emma frown and Sophia scowl.

Well. That could go badly.

You're forced to sit at the front of class today, as most of the seats in the classroom have already been filled. That's okay, though, you think; it's only History again, and as always, you've read far on ahead of the rest of the class.

Your teacher drones on, but you allow your attention to drift away, reaching out with your powers. You're immediately drawn to Madison, who's feeling giddy and anticipatory about something (as well as a heady feeling of lust, although it's sitting at a simmer for the moment); you have to actually force yourself away from her to feel out Emma and Sophia, ignoring your own feelings of disappointment as you do.

Emma is still shining to your senses, the lust and loyalty you'd drawn out on Saturday seeming almost to lie coiled around the rest of her emotions. They're still there, you can feel the anger and cruelty and deep, deep self-loathing roiling beneath them, but she seems to be clamping down on them herself today.

Sophia, however, is a different story entirely.

If Madison is an open book, utterly unable to hide anything from you even should she want to, and Emma is a tight ball of misery bound together by thin threads of desperation and misguided anger, then Sophia reminds you of nothing more than a coiled snake. A cold, deep anger runs through her emotions, bleeding into every one of them. Cruelty, sharper and yet less thorny than Emma's, winds around her.

Surprisingly, though, it's not that difficult to find a shred of attraction to you buried in there. It's not as strong as Emma's was, and Emma's wasn't very strong, but you won't be trying to build up an attraction from nothing.

Once you've found it, you sieze upon it. There's forty minutes left in class, so you get to work quickly, watching her out of the corner of her eye as you give her lust hard tugs.

Whenever it gets too bad, she shivers momentarily, or darts her eyes around the classroom. When she does that, you quickly swap your focus over to Emma for a moment, and begin tugging on her lust instead until Sophia settles down and it's safe to swap back.

By the time the bell rings and Sophia sweeps to her feet alongside Emma, you're pretty sure you've made some significant progress.

You can't keep it up the entire day, of course. You're pretty sure you'd get a headache trying to keep track of their emotions for a full six hours, for one, and they don't share all their classes with you, despite their best efforts.

Still, you do your best, focusing on first Sophia and then Emma. Sophia's harder to tease emotions up from, but Emma's too open at the moment. Every time you do more than caress at her loyalty to you, she shivers, and you're left waiting with bated breath as to whether Sophia noticed this time or not.

By the end of the day, Sophia is watching you with dark, calculating eyes. Emma is trying her level best not to look at you, but you don't need her to- you can feel the lust pooling in her, and you know it's directed at you.

You give Emma a small wave as she leaves the school after the bell for sixth period rings. She doesn't acknowledge you, but you can feel a small surge of happiness rising in her at the gesture. Sophia leaves alongside her, but you don't acknowledge her presence.

Then, once they've headed over and climbed into Alan's car, you turn and head back into the school towards the library.

Winslow's library is nothing special, much like the rest of the school. Most of the school's budget went to hiring staff and funding the school's sports teams, the only part of the school that received accolades on a regular basis. The library was one of the things hit hardest by the budget cuts over the years. Its materials are often ancient, outdated things from ten years ago or more, and even the newer books are rarely less than three years old.

But the library does have three things going for it. One, the librarians there are dedicated to their jobs, volunteering to stay in after school hours and monitor the children to encourage the school's peer tutoring program. Two, it's quiet- none of the louder teenagers bothered coming here, so you're generally assured of your peace and quiet while you're up here. And three, Madison is sitting in a chair waiting for you with a grin on her face.

Nobody else is around as you take a seat, so you're free to casually lean in and give her a quick kiss as you sit down. She returns it, her grin growing wider, and she snuggles in against your side, edging her chair closer to yours. You don't discourage her, and even slip your arm around her waist, encouraging her to lean against you.

Unfortunately, as tempting as the thought is, you can't afford to start wasting this time. You're enjoying the feel of Madison against your body enough that you don't try and shift her away, but you keep your hand settled decently on her shoulder instead of cupping her breasts as you're tempted to, and pull out your notebook from your bag.

"Okay," you murmur quietly, unable to stop yourself from giving her a quick kiss atop her head. "How are you, Madison?"

"Better now," she says quietly back. Then she lifts her head up at you, eyes searching yours vulnerably. "Did you like the lunch I made for you?"

It actually wasn't a very good lunch. She'd tried her best, but she either didn't have very much to work with or she was afraid to draw attention to herself by hanging around in the kitchen for too long. The bread roll was grainy and kind of stale, the ham was soft and bland, and the fruit salad she'd made alongside it had too many conflicting textures (banana alongside apple alongside orange, what a combination).

"It was perfect," you reply to her. She positively beams at you, then tucks her head against your shirt again.

"You didn't mind then?" she asks shyly. "I don't think Mom will be happy, but I like making your lunches."

"I didn't mind at all," you purr.

In the end, despite your best of intentions, you still only get an hour of tutoring done. Still, with a pupil this cute, can anyone really blame you?

The next day proceeds much as the first did. You wake up, tired but content, drink your coffee, eat your breakfast, and head over to school. Madison has left you another lunchbox in your locker, this time accompanied by a lovely yellow note- "I made you another lunch. It's a chicken wrap today. I hope you like it! Love, your little Maddie~".

You float through first and second periods, spending the time idly amusing yourself by manipulating Sophia's emotions. The dark anger and cruelty is still there, you suspect you will have to make a concerted effort to ever heal her of that, but you're a little surprised to find that her lust is running up near the surface today.

It's surprisingly fun to tease Sophia like this, bringing her emotions bubbling up and then brushing them lightly to keep them at the surface. She keeps trying to lash them back down, burying them down with dark anger and sadism, but you don't let her, giving soft tugs at her loyalty to keep her from lashing out at you. That's not her choice any more. When she'd had the choice, she'd chosen to lash out at you, hurt you, victimize you.

After second period is over, you can feel a headache forming. You kick yourself internally- idiot, you know that overusing your power can lead to headaches.

Worth it, though.

You head over to the nearest available bathroom, where you look blearily at your reflection in the mirror. Your face stares back at you. There's nothing unexceptional about it, except maybe for faint traces of dark bruises beginning to form around your eyes, as though you haven't gotten enough sleep. Your features are still undelicate, ungirly, but you've taken pains to keep your hair long and soft- your one particularly feminine feature.

Honestly, you're beginning to get a bit worn out. For nearly two weeks now, you've been using your powers near-daily, and even when you haven't been using them, you've been making concerted efforts to try and push your efforts forward. It's taking its toll on you, you can tell. You're a teenaged girl, not a robot. Maybe you should seduce Dragon, you think mirthfully for a second, before realizing how absurd the idea is.

You should take some time off and relax a bit before the stress starts to really affect you. It's not hampering you now, but if it grows too bad- well, you've seen what stress does, and you like not being bald.

The loud sound of the door swinging open draws your attention away from your self-reflection. You turn, and almost blanch when you see Sophia before you can steady yourself and realize that she's not feeling particularly hostile. Still, when you see her take a step towards you, you immediately reach for your power again, ignoring the twinge in your skull, and begin tugging on her loyalty again.

And then you do blanch when she stops behind you and steps forward, pinning you against the bathroom's benchtop. You twist, attempting to turn to face her; she allows it, but then pins you in place with her left hand, pushing you roughly against the varnished benchtop and keeping you pinned in place.

"Hebert," she purrs softly, a cruel grin on her face. It reminds you of a cat, giving a bird a very cruel expression before leaping upon it. You try to disguise your nervousness. It seems to work; at least, no anticipation or cruelty flashes through her.

"Sophia," you reply neutrally. You don't wiggle around or try to escape; every time you even look like you're going to try, that anticipation does try to rise, and you're forced to tug on her loyalty again to bury it back down.

She stares down at you, and you can feel confusion rising in her, although what it's directed at, she can't tell. You're forced to pull at her loyalty again when you feel anger begin to rise, and the puzzlement only becomes stronger.

You stand there, trapped between Sophia and the hard bench, for over a minute before you realize she's not going to let you go any time soon.

Curiously, though, her anger has faded again, and even her confusion has faded. You slowly ease down on her loyalty, and she still doesn't move, just continues searching your face.

You drag your eyes from her face, keeping a wary touch on her emotions so you can feel if her anger suddenly surges again, and drag your eyes down her body. She's unfortunately not wearing particularly provocative clothes, but unusually for the dark-skinned girl, she's wearing a skirt. Normally, she wears long pants, or shorts cut similarly to her track uniform in summer. Something must have happened, you presume.

She's still not making a move to let you go. Your headache is beginning to pound within your head now.

Slowly, slowly, you stop touching on her loyalty entirely, and begin to gently pull on her lust, watching her face carefully. Her expression doesn't change, but her eyes are darting all over your face now, from your eyes to your lips to your ears and back.

For a moment, you stand there, gently tugging on her lust. Then, steeling yourself, you lean slightly down, grab the hem of her skirt, and yank it up.

"What the fuck, Hebert?" Sophia reacts as you had expected, finally pulling her arms away from the bench and grabbing your wrists, attempting to yank them back down. Anger flares within her, but you quickly swap back to her loyalty, tugging on that. The anger subsides hatefully, flaring at the edge of your senses. Her attempts to yank your hands away are weak, and you're easily able to keep holding her skirt up. The anger subsides further, then further again, and you can feel that puzzlement rising again.

"Well," you say, struggling to sound casual, "didn't you want this? After all-" You speak louder when she opens her mouth to rebut you- "- you have been hugging me."

"Hugging you?" she splutters. "I wasn't hugging you, Hebert!"

You shrug, the movement lifting her skirt even higher. You glance curiously down, noting with slight disappointment that she's wearing a pair of athletic boyshorts. "Then what were you doing?" you ask. She splutters for a moment, attempting weakly to shove her skirt back down, but she seems too shocked to give you a coherent answer. You know she is, which is why you reply with a smug expression, "I thought so. You know, you're supposed to get over pulling pigtails in third grade, Sophia. I'm flattered, though."

You have to tug on her loyalty again as your taunts make her anger struggle to rise. You regretfully subside; no matter how fun it is to make fun of her, you really can't afford her anger to break free of your control right now.

"Fuck you, Hebert," she hisses.

A nice idea, but she's not quite ready for that yet.

It's tempting to see exactly how far you can push your luck right now, but with a titanic effort, you refrain. You're actually making progress now, and while you can push her anger down, you're pretty sure that if you push her too far, you won't be able to stop her anger from rising without making your headache so bad you'll have to go home for the day.

Instead, you step forward, still holding her skirt up. She takes a step back, a little frission of fear and- anticipation? intrigue?- shooting through her, but all you do is lean towards her, giving her skirt a soft tug so she can feel that you're still holding it up, and quickly press your lips against her mouth in your first kiss with her, a half-second thing before you're stepping around and away from her.

Well, that's a lie. It's not quite all you do. As you leave, you do reach over to the side and grab her ass quickly. She's not expecting it, and can't quite hide the little tremor that goes through her as you do it. You get the idea the tremor wasn't born so much from the act, though, as it was your audacity. Interesting.

Lust is still at the forefront of her mind, and you can feel that that cold anger has subsided almost entirely, for the moment- you won't need to stick around and hold it down, which is good. You're pleasantly surprised at how warm she feels, actually. Lust, curiosity, intrigue, and even a little bit of respect are there.

Still, you decide, it's probably best if you stay away from Sophia for a few days. Give her a chance to become accustomed to the idea of what you did- and give her subconscious time to justify her rising attraction to you in her mind- before you push her further.

School ends that day, and your tutoring with Madison continues apace. She's an eager student; partly, you think, because she genuinely wants to get her grades up, but also partly because she gets off on you bossing her around and telling her what she needs to do. It's fascinating, really.

Dad's "working late" again today, you find out when you get home. He left you a note on the kitchen table. Idly, you wonder which woman he's staying out with tonight, but dismiss the thought almost as soon as it registers, leaving you sitting in the kitchen with a disgusted expression on your face. Ew.

You expect to be home until nine, maybe even ten1. Thus, you're surprised when the doorbell rings at six.

You're even more surprised when you cautiously swing the door partially open to find Alan and Emma standing on your doorstep.

For a moment, you're tempted to swing the door shut in Emma's face. You refrain, though. Maybe if it had just been Emma, you would have done it- you're not prepared to have Emma in your house again, in your space- but Alan hasn't done anything wrong here. He doesn't deserve you being mean to him just because his daughter bullied you.

Reluctantly, you swing the door wider open. "Come in," you say, trying your very best to introduce some happiness into your voice. It doesn't work. "Dad's not home yet, he's working late. Sorry."

Alan pauses. "Oh." He looks a little let down, but only a little. "That's alright, Taylor. I didn't come to talk to your dad, Emma here wanted to see you."

"Did she now." You peer over at Emma, scrutinizing her face. She looks blankly over at you, then rolls her eyes when you squint suspiciously at her. "Alright then. Um, I already ate dinner, though. Sorry." That's a lie. It's bad enough Emma's in your house. You can't handle the thought of being that domestic with her.

"That's fine." Emma shifts on her feet. You can feel nervousness rolling off her, and... lust. Unsurprising- you have been manipulating her for days now. Still, it does surprise you a little every time you feel it. "Um." Her eyes flick to her father, and she looks demurely down at the ground.

"Can we speak in your room?"

"Can't we speak out here?" you ask plaintively.

She flicks her eyes to her father again, and she grimaces. "It's about... private stuff," she temporizes. "It'd be better if we talked in your room."

You want to deny her, but she has too much over you. If Emma says anything about what you did in her room with Madison on Saturday out here, Alan is going to hear it, and from there Dad's going to know. And you can't have Dad knowing. Either he'd force you to keep your door open whenever you have a girl over from then on, or you'd be forced to use your power on him again. Both are intolerable ideas.

You hold out for a few seconds, though, trying to give yourself as long as possible to prepare yourself. Finally, you can't wait any longer. "Fine," you say reluctantly. Alan looks a little curious at your reluctance, but doesn't pry.

You lead Emma through to your room. She makes no comment about how obsessively clean it is now, nor about the smell of rose perfume that permeates your room to cover the smell of sex now, although she does look over at you with raised eyebrows at once. She sits down on the edge of your bed, smoothing out your Miss Militia bedspread.

Silence stretches out for long seconds before you let out a sigh. "What do you want, Emma?" you ask tiredly.

She doesn't respond for a long moment. Then she shakes her head and looks up at your ceiling, scoffing.

Behind your eyes, your headache pounds away.

You know you shouldn't use your power. You do anyway.

Emma's emotions are, as always, turbulent. It's almost enough to make you sick right now. Fear, nervousness, doubt, anger, self-hatred and crushing isolation almost overwhelm you, but they're bound tight, sealed, with bands of... something, directed at you. You can't quite place the emotion. It's similar to what Dad feels about his job when you head out to the kitchen each morning. Job satisfaction? No, that can't be right. Why would Emma be feeling job satisfaction around you?

Well, you can think of one reason why, at least.

Through it all is the thick band of lust you've been playing with all day. It's still there, as strong as ever.

Whatever cruelties Emma came to inflict on you today, you can't deal with it. Not here, not in your sanctuary. Not in the one place you have where you can still lie back and pretend like Emma hasn't done any of the things she's done.

You know it's a bad idea. You pull on her lust anyway.

She shifts restlessly on your bed as you move over to your bed and sit beside her, placing your hand gently on her knee. "Hey," you say encouragingly. "It's okay. You can tell me, whatever it is."

Her expression wavers. A flicker of- something, is revealed, too quick for you to identify it, then hidden away, tucked deep down.

You draw your fingers up along her thigh, teasingly dancing them along as you pull gently at her lust over and over, each time drawing a little sigh from her. When you reach the V of her thighs, she lets out a soft, lustful sigh and spreads her legs, but you don't pull your fingers up- instead, you drag them back down, painfully slowly by the hitch of her breath. You repeat the action a few times, enjoying the way she tries to stifle her lusty moans.

Soon, you grow tired of stroking her thighs despite her heaving breaths, and move your fingers up, past the apex of her thighs and towards her stomach. Her eyes widen as you tease your fingers around the waistband of her pants, dipping your fingers in far enough to brush her panties before suddenly pulling them out and moving your hands back to your sides.

She looks at you with slightly wild eyes. You look back at her, gaze level and innocent. Too far, too fast. Or maybe it's just in time.

Neither of you speak another word as she clambers back to her feet and staggers out of your room, calling for Alan to take her back home.

Only once the front door has closed and you hear their car start do you allow yourself to fall back with a weary sigh.

You'd think being able to manipulate a girl's emotions would make her easier to understand, you think wryly to yourself.

It's Wednesday morning now, and the week is half over already.

You've made a surprising amount of progress this week so far, but your headache is also beginning to build. You're not sure why your power is inconsistent like this- sometimes you can manipulate a girl like Madison for hours at a time and only get a minor headache, while other times you can manipulate a girl like Sophia and have a headache after less than an hour. Something to investigate at another time, probably.

You're not sure what that was with Emma last night. You've tried to put it out of your mind, but you keep circling back to it. Why had she needed to come over to your house? Why couldn't she have made whatever barbed comment she wanted to at school? Maybe you should have let her speak, but- you suspect that whatever she'd wanted to say, it couldn't have been a good conversation. Nothing involving Emma pushing her way into your house can be pleasant. Better to just push her away now and deal with it later, when you don't feel like she's invading your house.

At least your manipulation of Sophia is going well. You can't afford to push her much further just yet, so you'll have to wait until next week, but if you'd kissed her and groped her on the arse just two weeks ago, you're pretty sure she would have legitimately murdered you.

Still, you can't put off heading to school much longer. You can't skip, not with Madison waiting for you. So what are you going to do, over the next few days? [Pick up to three two of the following options. Tutoring Madison is already locked in.]

] You're feeling just a little bit vulnerable right now, and you could really use a distraction. And Madison is proving herself a devoted little sub. So, after tutoring, you're going to tell Rick you're bringing Madison around to your house, and- you're not telling him this part- Madison is going to distract you. Not with sex, not yet- but you won't say no to some nudity. Yeah, you can get behind the idea of spooning a nude Madison as you watch a movie together. What could go wrong?

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Increases Madison's Lust and Affection by 2. Distracts Taylor from her issues a little. Provides a scene in which Taylor plays with the body of a completely nude Madison, then falls asleep together with her. Encourages Taylor to hide her issues and provide herself with emotional comfort by having sex with her harem instead of healthily talking them out. Will not block or hamper recruitment efforts or similar; will only affect Taylor's characterization.

- General notes: Basically encourages Taylor to comfort herself by sleeping with her women instead of stumbling through and trying to figure out what could cause her to overcome them. The safer option for players.

] Take Madison out for a walk in the evening. It's not the most romantic of dates, but you really think you could do with just spending some alone time with Madison now. Not in a sexual way- you just want to get away from this entire messy plan of yours and cuddle in a park with a girl who adores you. Well, maybe in a little bit of a sexual way. 90% platonic.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Increases Madison's Affection by 1. Distracts Taylor from her issues a little. Makes Taylor's relationship with Madison a little bit deeper. Note that this does not affect Taylor's harem- Taylor can have deep relationships with multiple girls at once, so long as she successfully convinces them to enter her harem.

- Success chance: 60%.

- On a success: A wandering teacher will have sent the Brotherhood gang members to class, and Taylor will be able to liberate the money without anyone the wiser.

] Get a hobby and try and bleed off some of this stress. You've been thinking about trying to develop an interest in something non-cape related recently anyway. [Select one of the following.]

] Go and volunteer at one of the local hospitals. They always need the help, and not only will it teach you useful- no. No, you're not going to think of it like that. They need the help, and you need something to do. You'll go there, you'll do what needs doing, and maybe you'll even make a friend.

- General notes: Provides early access to Amy's recruitment. If recruitment here is started prior to breaking one of Victoria's rules, recruitment bonuses for Amy will be increased by 50%. If recruitment is started here, Amy will- similarly to Madison- not add to Taylor's stress levels.

] Go and learn some photography. Maybe taking some calming nature shots will calm you down.

- General notes: Provides the ability to engage in some voyeurism if you break the unwritten rules and spy on capes within their homes. Will not result in negative consequences for Taylor unless future options explicitly say so.

] Go and learn how to garden. Maybe gardening is nice and peaceful.

] Go and learn how to paint. Painting is peaceful, probably!

] [Write-In] [Note: Write-ins subject to GM approval. Fetishistic write-ins subject to increased GM scrutiny, as I can't write all fetishes interestingly.]

Spoiler: Stat Gains/Losses

View in Thread

Last edited: Jul 1, 2016

Jul 1, 2016 ReportLike

Jep Gambeson, Fred Flintstine, PanDron and 240 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.9

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Come Wednesday morning, you find yourself giving very serious consideration to the idea of just skipping school this morning. It won't be the first time you've skipped school, although you try not to make a habit of it- you've only done it twice before, when Emma's taunts got bad enough that they actually cut you, made you need to find a place where you could go and cry.

You don't, in the end. You're pretty sure you could get away with it, especially as Dad leaves this morning with a parting call telling you that he's going to be working late again, but... you don't much feel like staying at home, either. You're twitching after several minutes alone in the house. School might be bad, but your house isn't much better at the moment.

Besides, you don't want to leave Madison alone in the library this afternoon. The thought of her disappointed expression makes you feel vaguely ill.

At least your headache has mostly faded by now. It's still there, pounding away in the back of your head, but it's better now. Barely noticeable unless there's a sudden jolt or a bright light.

You arrive just before the bell, having barely enough time to run through the halls to your locker. A grin makes its way across your face when you see that Madison's left another lunch for you, adorned with a pink card again, this time cut into the shape of a messy love heart. You're pretty sure it was hand-cut, which makes you have to stifle a dopey giggle at the image of Madison sitting at her desk cutting it out for you. Your girl really is the cutest.

The card- and the lunch- lifts your mood enough that you don't even mind too much when you walk into first period and find Emma studiously avoiding looking at you. That's fine, you tell yourself. You need some time to yourself anyway.

Madison smiles warmly at you when you seek her gaze out. You can't help but be a little resentful of Charlotte or whatever her name is, for getting to sit beside her, as silly as the feeling is. It's not her fault that she's been assigned there, and it's not her fault that she doesn't feel like requesting to sit somewhere else. Still, you want to sit there.

For a moment, you briefly consider the idea of using your power on her, and bringing her under you so you could make her swap seats-

but then your head twinges, and you hurriedly discard the idea. No, as much as you want Madison to be around you all the time right now, you also want to be able to focus during your tutoring sessions with her. They're too important to Madison for you to mess them up for something so selfish.

No. Instead, you pull out your books and try to actually concentrate on your classes. You might have read ahead, but you can't rely on everything the teachers are teaching you now having been in there.

By the time of the final bell, your headache has finally almost completely abated. Without Madison around during the second half of the day, your good mood has faded somewhat, but it's manageable still.

And it rises again almost immediately when you see Madison waiting by the entrance to the library for you. You pull her into a hug as soon as you walk up into hugging range, enjoying the way she immediately melts into you.

"Hi," she sighs happily. You tighten your arms around her in response, enjoying the warm gasp she can't quite hide, before you reluctantly let go. You still keep one arm around her waist, though, encouraging her to press herself against your side as you pull her into the library, where you locate a seat and pull her onto your lap. So far, the only other person who's come to the library during these hours was a single girl who headed off to the back of the library, and hadn't come out by the time you and Madison finished for the day.

She doesn't try to get off you, but she does twist around to give you a worried look. You just wrap your arms around her middle and give her a reassuring kiss. It doesn't make her look much less worried, but she doesn't say anything- just reaches down and twines one of your hands with hers, gently rubbing her thumb over your knuckles. It helps.

The study session itself goes well. Madison's not a stupid girl, no matter what certain whispered rumours around the school are saying; she's just not the kind of girl who learns well in class. With some individualized attention- and a much naughtier incentive scheme than any teacher could legally provide- she's proving herself a quick study. You doubt she'll ever attain your own grade level, but you're one of the top students at Winslow.

Still, despite Madison's presence in your lap, you're left feeling a little anxious when the clock ticks close to five. You try to put it out of your mind for a while, but it just builds up, and you're afraid that it's going to spill out if you don't do something about it soon.

"Hey, Madison," you whisper quietly against her neck. She shivers and lets out an inquisitive "Hm?", pencil pausing from where it's scratching against her notepad. "What are you doing after we're done here today?"

"Nothing," she says, twisting again to look at you. "Did you want me to do something for you?"

You grin and gently stroke her sides. "With me," you correct her gently, and she nods her head obediently at the correction. "Come to the park with me."

"Okay," she replies instantly. Then your words actually catch up to her; you can tell, because her face immediately flushes a furious red. "Like a date?" she squeaks.

"Exactly like a date," you purr.

Her face is a furious red, but there's a luminous smile on her face as she nods eagerly. "Yeah, of course," she says hurriedly. "Um, did you want me to do anything first? I can get Dad to take me home, I can change or cook some food or-"

You cut off the flood of words by nipping at her lower lip, causing her to squeak and blush even harder. "It's fine," you say. "I don't want you to do anything but come with me. Call your dad and let him know you'll be home later."

The park is nice and peaceful this late in the day. Most parents have taken their kids back into the safety of their houses, and the few that haven't are off in their own little groups, trying not to draw too much attention to themselves.

It's a bad idea to walk around in public with your arms around Madison, so you restrict yourself to just holding her hand as you stroll around the park. She pouts at you, but understands; in a city with such an Empire presence, it's not a good idea to make the fact that you're gay an open one. It's risky enough at school, and that's a place where you can use your power to crush someone's mind hard enough that they won't blab, if it comes down to it. You can't do that in public, where a cape might see.

Still, it's pleasant enough. You can feel the stress slowly fading from your system, helped along by Madison's soft humming.

You wander around the park for around fifteen minutes, just taking in the sights and enjoying the fluttering feeling of being on a proper date with Madison, before you finally spot a seat that's secluded enough for your liking. Hidden behind the dropping boughs of an old willow tree and a series of rosebushes that aren't trimmed nearly often enough to keep them from overgrowing their trellises, you sit down on the bench and pull Madison into your lap again.

At her questioning glance, you shrug. "I like it when you sit on my lap," you tell her. Then, "I like it when you're that close to me."

She giggles and settles in comfortably against you. You take the chance to peer down her shirt, drawing an amused and slightly naughty smile from the girl; you're pleased to find that she's still wearing lacy black lingerie beneath her shirt.

"You said you liked it," she says simply after a moment. "Do you want me to-"

"No, no," you interrupt her. "Trust me, Madison, this is absolutely fine." You finish your sentence with a lewd smile, causing her to burrow her face against your neck again with another embarrassed flush.

"Good," she mumbles. Then, she leans up and whispers into your ear, "It feels so good to wear this for you." This time, you're the one who can't hide the embarrassed flush that creeps up your neck, causing her to let out a naughty little giggle as she settles back against you.

The two of you stay snuggled together there for a long time, exchanging little naughty comments like that and talking about your school and home lives.

Madison tells you about her adventures with her little brother, who's currently obsessed with an Earth Aleph-designed video game about... she's not actually sure; digging up blocks of dirt and building hollow cubes dirt to protect yourself from exploding monsters, she thinks, and punching spiders to death. There could be more to it, but her brother keeps getting excited about the exploding green things and forgetting whatever his other goals were.

You tell her about your day out with your Dad over the weekend. You'd gone with him before you'd seen Madison at Emma's house, but you haven't actually told her about it before now. She doesn't understand most of what you describe to her- she doesn't actually know much about the economy, she admits with a shameful blush, which causes you to stop telling your story as you gently reassure her- but she hangs attentively on your words anyway, patiently asking questions as she tries to wrap her head around your Dad's job.

In turn, she tells you about the time she's spent with her own parents. She doesn't tell you much about her mother- you get the feeling there's still some lingering resentment there- but she goes on enthusiastically about her experiments with her dad cooking in the kitchen.

"I'm sorry that the food I've been cooking for you isn't the best," she mumbles shamefacedly at one point, "but Mom got really angry when I told her I was making lunch for you, and she and Dad got in a fight over it, so I can't spend too much time in the kitchen in the morning in case that happens again."

"Don't worry about it," you tell her, pressing a kiss against the tip of her nose, "I don't care about the food, I just love that you're making it for me." She blushes a beautiful red and stammers a bit, losing track of what she was talking about.

Seeing that she's lost for words, you take the lead in the conversation again. You're tempted to use your power for this, but you refrain, trying to ignore the queasy pit of nervousness in your stomach as you describe to Madison your activities with Sophia in the bathroom yesterday.

"... and then I kissed her and ran out," you admit. "Wait, no- I grabbed her ass, too. She didn't seem to mind that much, though."

Madison doesn't speak for a moment. You search her face, and are relieved when you don't see any of the usual signs of her anger or frustration.

When she does speak, it's with a measured, determined calm.

"Was she a better kisser than me?" she asks.

You don't know- it'd only been a half-second kiss- but that's not what Madison needs to hear.

"Of course not," you mutter. She grabs onto your collar as you guide her head up again, meeting her in a gentle kiss for a moment. "You're the best kisser, Maddie."

"And don't you forget it." She pouts, then fiddles nervously with your collar for a moment, before leaning in and seeking another kiss. After that, she speaks again, seeming a bit less nervous. "You promised you wouldn't forget about me, right?"

"Hey." You surprise her by sitting up suddenly, almost causing her to tip over backwards if your arms weren't around her, holding her strongly in place where she is. "Of course I won't," you say seriously. You don't tell her not to worry, there's no way she can't worry about this, but you do your best to reassure her anyway. "I will never forget about you, Madison, no matter how many women are in my life."

That seems to wash away her insecurity some, but she still looks a little vulnerable. You almost lean in to reassure her with another kiss, but something holds you back. Maybe that isn't the best path right now.

"I promise," you murmur instead, leaning your forehead delicately against hers so you can stare into her eyes up close. "I could never forget about my favourite girl."

This time, she doesn't pout. Whatever she's feeling, it's too serious for her to try to hide it behind trembling lips and doe eyes as she normally does. She does, however, lean in close before kissing you, still clutching your collar with trembling arms.

Well, okay. You're going to need to deal with that insecurity somehow.

You could leave it- she's willing enough to dedicate herself to you anyway- but somehow, the thought makes that same sick nervousness as before roll around in your stomach briefly before you brush the thought away. Maybe once, you might have been willing to just ignore her insecurities and rely on her loyalty to you to overcome any reluctance she has in being one of your lovers, but now- now you just want her to willingly accept every part of you. Even the sexiness of Madison enjoying the odd threesome or foursome isn't your biggest concern (although now you're thinking about it, it is pretty sexy).

There's nothing you can do about it right now, though- at least not without using your powers on the vulnerable girl. And that just seems wrong.

So instead, you just press a gentle kiss to her nose and hold her tightly against you, reassuring her with your presence, until it gets too cold and you have to reluctantly part from her as her father sweeps in to pick you both up for the night and drop you off at home.

It probably says something about you that you're kind of glad that you're having this kind of relationship drama.

Unfortunately, as it turns out, Madison isn't available after school on Thursday- "Piano lessons with one of Mom's friends," she explains glumly when you inquire the next day. You're a bit disappointed, although also a bit relieved- you're not sure how much privacy the park really affords, and you don't want to always take Madison to the same place.

Maybe you can get a job, you think suddenly- it'll eat up time either during the week or during the weekend, but it's guaranteed income, and you might even get a job somewhere you like.

But that's something to consider later (you don't even have a resume at the moment). You need something to distract you now.

So you take some time during computer class, the one class you have free from Emma's fretful gaze, to look up hobbies online. Unfortunately, most of them sound extremely boring. Knitting, scrapbooking- what's the point of that kind of hobby? And most of the other ones that you can find require way more money than you have. Model-building has potential, but then you look at the prices listed for beginner-level models, and a little piece of you dies on the inside as you close the tab.

There isn't very much at all you can do in Brockton Bay, you soon find out glumly. If you had some money, you might be able to find a camera and take up photography, but you don't, and even if you did, who's to say you'll be good enough at it to justify the price tag? Gardening sounds promising for a moment, but even it requires money, unless you're willing to go around stealing plants and cutting- which you are, but that's a bit visible for your liking.

In the end, there's really not a lot you can do. At least, until you stumble across a simple advertisement from a clinic downtown, asking for people interested in assisting a free clinic by donating their services on weekdays. You check, of course, to make sure that it's still current; it is.

From what you can tell from a quick skim over the site, they're asking for volunteers to come and assist with basic duties unrelated to health care. Their recruitment page advertises the fact that they "have close ties to the New Wave movement", and that they're willing to consider funding volunteers for further education and training in health care matters if volunteers prove willing and capable to do their work.

Unfortunately, as you also find out, volunteering isn't an easy process. You can't just walk up to someone in a building, say "I want to volunteer here", and be told to get an immediate start- especially not as a minor. You download and email the forms to yourself, but you're going to have to fill them out when you get home, get your Dad to sign them, and ask him to ring up and make an appointment with them for the both of you to go see them. It's all complicated by you still being under sixteen- there are laws about what kind of volunteers they're allowed to take on and what minors are allowed to do, and they need to discuss them with you before you can sign anything.

Fortunately, he agrees to do that for you, and doesn't question you on your sudden interest in volunteering at a health care clinic. In fact, when you present the forms to him, he draws you into a sudden hug that almost causes you to drop the forms all over him.

"I'm proud of you, Taylor," he says when he finally pulls back.

And that makes the decision worth it all on its own.

By Friday afternoon, though, you're getting a bit antsy.

Dad had rung the clinic the next morning, inquiring about when you could come in and speak to them about volunteering. You hadn't heard the other end of the conversation, but from what he'd said, the earliest they could fit you in was after school next Monday. That didn't suit you, so he'd arranged for Wednesday morning instead. Then, hopefully, you'd be able to start volunteering in the afternoons from then on.

That still leaves you with the weekend, though, and half of next week before you can start. You're going to have to figure out a way to occupy yourself until then.

So, how are you going to occupy yourself over the weekend? [Pick three of the following options.]

] You're going to visit Madison. Even after your date with her, you're still feeling a little stressed- and the fact that you still have no idea why Emma came over isn't helping. Being with Madison really does help. Even if your relationship with her does have its own issues, those issues aren't related to your powers or your past history with her- they're related to her own insecurities. And those, you can hopefully deal with.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Taylor will spend more non-sexual time with Madison within Madison's own house. May provide scenes wherein Taylor bonds with Madison and Madison's family.

] You're still feeling a little bit vulnerable right now, and you could really use a distraction. And Madison is proving herself a devoted little sub. So, after tutoring, you're going to tell Rick you're bringing Madison around to your house, and- you're not telling him this part- Madison is going to distract you. Not with sex, not yet- but you won't say no to some nudity. Yeah, you can get behind the idea of spooning a nude Madison as you watch a movie together. What could go wrong?

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Increases Madison's Lust by 2 and Affection by 1. Distracts Taylor from her issues a little. May provide a scene in which Taylor plays with the body of a completely nude Madison, then falls asleep together with her. Encourages Taylor to hide her issues and provide herself with emotional comfort by having sex with her harem instead of healthily talking them out. Will not block or hamper recruitment efforts or similar; will only affect Taylor's characterization.

- General notes: Cannot be picked in conjunction with 'You're still feeling somewhat stressed out'. Basically encourages Taylor to comfort herself by sleeping with her women instead of stumbling through and trying to figure out what could cause her to overcome them. The safer option for players.

] You're still feeling somewhat stressed out, and Madison is newly insecure in her relationship with her. You're going to head over to Madison's house and spend at least a few hours playing with her. It'll feel good for both you and Madison, and hopefully might distract you from your issues- and you're pretty sure that what your girl needs to feel secure with you is just for you to keep spending time with her. Spending time with her on the weekend and letting her know just how much you really appreciate her and her body is a win-win.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Increases Madison's Lust and Affection by 1. Distracts Taylor from her issues a little. May provide a scene in which Taylor continues to encourage Madison's submission by stripping and pinning Madison down beneath her and touching her girl wherever she wants to. Encourages Taylor to ignore her issues and provide herself with emotional comfort by having sex with girls she's romantically engaged with instead of healthily talking them out. Will not block or hamper recruitment efforts or similar; will only affect Taylor's characterization.

- General notes: Cannot be picked in conjunction with 'You're still feeling a little bit vulnerable right now'. Basically encourages Taylor to comfort herself by sleeping with women she feels romantic attraction to, such as Madison. Less emotionally harmful on Taylor than 'You're still feeling a little bit vulnerable right now'.

] Attend Glory Girl's book club again. You seemed to make a little bit of progress last weekend, even if the other girl didn't make any sexual moves towards you. Your headache has faded, so you're pretty sure you're going to be able to start using your powers again. This time, you think, you might make enough process that she'll actually make a move. It shouldn't take much more before Glory Girl is willing to visit you at your house, you think.

- Success chance: 70%

- General results: Increases Victoria's Affection, Lust, Loyalty, and Theatricality by 1. May result in a scene where Victora wears her risque Glory Girl outfit for Taylor's benefit again, and deliberately shows Taylor her panties. Lets Taylor show those snobbish and elitist book club members that even newcomers can contribute something to the club!

- On a success: Increases Victoria's Lust, Loyalty and Theatricality by 1. May allow Taylor to go further by rubbing Victoria through her panties without Victoria stopping her. Note: Will push Victoria's Loyalty high enough that she will be willing to visit Taylor at her house, ostensibly to view Taylor's mother's book collection. Will provide the first opportunity to encourage Victoria to cheat on Dean.

- On a failure: Victoria will enforce her no-touching rule. Poor Taylor.

] Begin searching for a job. It's likely going to be a frustrating process, and might not result in anything. Even if it does, it's going to eat up a fair chunk of your time. But even if it's not as much money as you could make from stealing from gang members, it's honest money- and it won't result in people who are potentially new or unwilling gang members being punished for having thousands of dollars stolen under their watch.

- Success chance: 40%. Will be available every weekend in future until successful or Taylor decides against getting a regular job.

- On a success: Finds a job, the details of which will be determined on success.

- On a failure: Youth unemployment continues to remain steady.

] You're going to go to the library and look up information on a specific cape, event or issue in Brockton Bay. [Please write in who or what you would like to look up more information about and how the narrative can justify Taylor desiring to learn this information.]

Spoiler: Stat Gains/Losses

View in Thread

Last edited: Jul 2, 2016

Jul 2, 2016 ReportLike

Jep Gambeson, Fred Flintstine, PanDron and 225 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.10

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: 40%.

Necessary roll: 60. Rolled: 31. Failure.

Success chance: 70%

Necessary roll: 30. Rolled: 40. Success.

There's a small part of you that's constantly surprised when you see how happy Madison is to see you. Or maybe it's not a small part of you- you just don't expect people to actually be happy when you turn up on their doorstep.

But you can't deny that she is, even if you wanted to, which you definitely don't. Every time she sees you, her face lights up in a grin, and when you're not in school, she's constantly trying to get close to you. Hugging you, holding your hands, tucking herself against you, kissing you- you're not sure you've spent any time with Madison over the past couple of weeks without one of the two of you touching the other. Not that you're complaining. It's definitely not an unpleasant feeling, having such a cute girl want to press up against you all the time.

It's kind of awkward when Madison opens her door ahead of her younger brother on Saturday morning and immediately lets out a small shriek before leaping forward to hug you, though. You're not complaining, but the kid gives you a weird look, and you have to refrain from poking your tongue out at him.

"Taylor!" Madison exclaims, finally releasing herself from you and slipping her hands up your arms to let you clasp her hands in your won. "Come in, come in. Um, I didn't know you were coming over today."

You're forced to release her left hand when she turns so she can lead you inside, but you maintain a tight grip on her right hand. "I wanted it to be a surprise," you say with a small smile. The grin she gives you in exchange is smaller than the one before, but more tender, too.

"It's a nice surprise," she reassures you. "Um..." She hesitates, but before she can say anything, Rick pokes his head around the corner with an inquisitive look. He gives you a nod and a warm look before he turns to Madison.

"Nice to see you, Taylor," he says. "Come to see Madison? Do you need me to distract Jasmine for a while?"

"Um, no." You flush, both at the implication and because you'd seriously considered it last night. Multiple times. In succession. You flush harder. Madison gives the two of you an inquisitive look before her eyes widen and her own face turns scarlet. "I just wanted to hang out with Madison today," you say.

He smiles at that. "Good," he says. "Lunch will be at one today, girls."

"Okay," Madison says in a strangled squeak.

It's cute that Madison won't look at you for the next few minutes as she leads you up to her bedroom, but you grow tired of not being able to see her face pretty quickly. Once you're up there and settled on her bed, you gently push her down and lie half on top of her, slipping your hand up her shirt to draw small circles on her stomach. With your other hand, you reach up and gently lift her chin, forcing her to look at you. It's adorable how flustered she looks, but you only allow yourself to press a single kiss against her jaw before you speak.

"Hey," you murmur. She just whimpers, so you draw your hand beneath her shirt a little higher and kiss her jaw again. "Come on, Madison," you say reassuringly. "It's not that embarassing."

"Yes it is," she mumbles, but she does finally stop fidgeting, letting her hands fall to her side. You take the opportunity to actually pull her shirt up, revealing her bra-clad breasts, and press another kiss to her jaw.

"It's not," you say gently. "It's just sex, Madison. You didn't think we were going to just mess around forever, did you? Unless-" Oh, god, you'd never actually asked Madison whether she wanted to have sex with you, you'd just assumed. What if she didn't? What if this was as far as she was willing-

"No!" Madison's eyes widen, and she grabs your hands from where they were tightly clutching her shirt, gently rubbing them until your grip loosened and she can pull your hands down to rest on her breasts instead. "No," she says more delicately, "I definitely do want to- to have s- sex with you, Taylor." Her face reddens even more noticeably as she stammers over the words, probably not helped by the way you begin softly squeezing her breasts as she talks. "I just d- didn't think Dad would know," she finishes meekly.

Oh.

Well, that's more understandable.

You lean back in, pressing a kiss against her jawline. "He knows about us," you murmur. "I don't know what your Mom knows, but your Dad gave us permission. I didn't want to sneak around your parents' back. That would make it hard to have a relationship with you."

Her eyes darken, and she chews her lip briefly. You don't fail to notice her nipples hardening when she finally opens her mouth and admits, "I kind of thought you were going to steal me away from them. I had a whole fantasy about it. I imagined like you'd take me and- and have sex with me until I couldn't think of anything else, and then-"

You lean up and kiss her, cutting off the flow of words. You're not sure how much longer you can resist taking her here and now if she keeps talking like that.

"I considered it," you say lowly, "but I don't want to steal you away, Madison. I told you already, I want a relationship with you."

Her gaze softens, becoming less heated and more warm. She nibbles at her lips for a moment before leaning up to press a kiss against your neck.

"Good," she murmurs, then returns to lay down submissively beneath you.

"Good," you mimic her. "Now, Maddie, take off your bra and we'll go hang out with your family a bit."

She gives you a small, amused smile, but follows your orders without hesitation, removing first her shirt, then her black, silky bra. You try not to stare at her breasts, although you can't help but lean down and bite her nipples quickly, drawing a shivering gasp from her before she puts her shirt back on. You can see her hard nipples poking through it, but so long as she doesn't cross her arms or pull her shirt down, they're not prominent enough to draw attention.

You don't have any real plans with what you want to do with her today- you hadn't even planned on getting her to strip her bra, it was just an impulsive decision- so you leave it up to Madison to decide what you're going to do this morning. She hems and haws for a moment, seeming to gravitate towards the small TV in her room for a moment before shaking her head, taking your hand and leading you out to her little brother's room.

You haven't really spoken to Madison's little brother- Terry- before. He'd been around the last time you'd been over, and Madison had told you about him, but you've only ever seen the kid from a distance. She seems to be close to him, though, at least from what she's said- she doesn't understand his hobbies or anything, but she's described him as having an infectiously cheerful attitude.

What your girl hadn't described was the way her brother doted on her. From the moment you stepped into his room, he was babbling away, describing what he was doing in this latest game and how he was doing in school and how he'd been making up this story with his best friend Fred and his other best friend Daniel and also his other best friend Julie and isn't it the best story in the wholest of the world, Madison, it's so cool!

Frankly, you're a little overwhelmed by the kid's enthusiasm and energy. You blink rapidly as you try to keep up with the stream of words coming out of his mouth for a moment. Madison just nods along, half-listening with the practiced ear of someone long used to taking in this kind of babble.

"Terry," she interrupts him when he finally pauses to take a breath. He stops crawling around on the floor, where he was looking for a picture he said he'd drawn of the characters of his story, and looks up at her with an expectant look. "I wanted you to meet Taylor. She's a... special friend of mine. Say hello to her, okay?"

All of his enthusiasm seems to drain out of him at once, and he retreats shyly into himself. For a moment, your heart pangs, although you're not sure why. He looks out from behind a curtain of curly brown hair and says shyly, "Hi, Taylor, I am Terry! I am six years old!" His mouth curls up in an awkward, toothy grin as he says it. It sounds like he's rehearsed that sentence several times before.

"Six years old?" You try to make yourself look exaggeratedly surprised, but you're not sure it works. "No way, you seem way older than that!" He giggles happily at that. Encouraged, you continue, kneeling down so you can extend the hand that isn't still holding tightly onto Madison's to him and look him in the eyes. "I'm only fifteen. Do you know how old that is?"

He nods seriously, holding up his hands and poking out his tongue in concentration. "Yeah, yeah! That's... five and plus ten!" He holds up first one hand with all five fingers out, then both hands with all ten fingers out, looking very pleased with himself.

Beside you, Madison coos and pats his forehead. "Very good, Terry," she praises him. His grin somehow grows wider. "Now weren't you going to show us your game?"

"Oh yeah!" He looks shocked that he'd forgotten. "Go sit down, Madison! And you can sit down too, Taylor," he adds, eyeing you and nodding with childlike approval. "You can watch me too, but you hafta be quiet, okay? The monsters can hear you when you talk." With a serious nod at both of you, he scurries over to the cabinet at the far end of his bedroom and begins rooting through a small collection of books and plastic covers sitting atop it.

Having gained Terry's approval, you feel confident enough to take the reigns again. Madison allows you to lead her over to her brother's head, where you sit and gesture for her to lay beside you. She does so, leaning her head on your lap.

For the next few hours, you and Madison watch Terry play various games on his consoles. For all his warnings about the monsters hearing you when you talk, he shouts loudly whenever something happens or he gets a little scared. You suspect that if the game actually could recognize when people were speaking, Terry's cries would act like a beacon for everything on the screen.

Eventually, one o'clock rolls around. You're tempted to stay for lunch and continue spending some more time with your girl, but when you wander downstairs, it's to find her mother glaring at you from the table for a moment before she conceals it behind a strained smile.

Ah. Yes, you remember now. Her mother doesn't approve of your relationship with Madison. Well, that's really too bad- you're not interested in catering to anyone except Madison. Still, you already know that her mother's approval does matter to Madison, and you don't want to get in the way of her family- not when it means so much to her.

Madison follows you to the door, pouting at you. "You could stay," she protests. "Mom's just being a bitch right now." You're actually a little surprised to hear her using such strong language to refer to one of her own parents.

You shake your head, then lean down to kiss her on the mouth, and again on the nose. "No, no," you murmur, "I don't want to cause any issues between you and your mother. Go have your lunch. I'll see you on Monday."

Her pout doesn't fade until you kiss it away, though. In the end, it's actually difficult to drag yourself away from her. You know it's for the best, though.

Besides, you conclude, you can always just deal with Jasmine later. You're hesitant to use your powers on Madison any more, but her mother is a different issue. Madison may be tentatively willing to allow you to see other women while you're with her, but there's no way in hell you're going to cause her that level of pain by playing with her mother's emotions like that.

Instead, you spend the rest of the day wandering around the Boardwalk, casually poking around the storefronts for anyone looking for high school workers.

It's difficult going, unfortunately. You're only fifteen, so you're still covered under child labour laws. No more than four hours work on a weekday, and no working before seven in the morning or after seven at night; even your weekend hours are restricted. Most places that are willing to hire teenagers still prefer to wait until they're sixteen or seventeen, both so they can actually work passable hours and for the less stringent restrictions in the kinds of hazardous work they're allowed to do.

Downtown is a big place. There are still a lot of other places you could look.

Still, you're feeling kind of discouraged by the time you head home.

Your mood has buoyed back up a bit by the time Sunday rolls around and you're headed off to Victoria's book club again, but it doesn't climb back to the heights you'd experienced while spending time with Madison. That's a bit depressing in itself, honestly; you hadn't thought you'd pinned that many of your hopes on getting a job, but you honestly had kind of hoped it a little.

Even outside of being able to actually take your girls out on dates, having a job would mean you'd be able to contribute some money to your household. Dad wouldn't have to scrimp and save to afford the money for your bus trips, wouldn't have to dig into the change jar to be able to afford another loaf of bread if the one you bought weekly goes stale or mouldy midway through the week. It would have helped a lot.

But it wasn't to be, you conclude as you step inside the bookstore again just before noon, this time clutching a small satchel containing an old copy of The Riddle of the Sands you'd dug up from your mother's collection.

For the first time in a few days, you stretch your power out properly.

You find Victoria almost immediately; she isn't making any attempts to hide her emotions. This time, you actually take a moment to pause and examine her emotions. There's the remnants of her lust and loyalty, of course- you begin almost immediately to tug on her loyalty, reinforcing it before she even sees you- but there are other emotions in there, too. Pride, contentment, naughtiness, wilfulness, an undercurrent of anger- and something you can't quite pin down, something you haven't felt before. It reminds you somewhat of the feeling you'd got from one of your neighbours when she'd walked around her front yard nude after you'd played with her lust for a while. Victoria isn't feeling lust at the concept of exhibitionism, not quite- but it's similar. More private, somehow.

She accosts you a few steps after you enter the store, affixing you with a naughty smile as she floats over to you. "Hey, Taylor," she drawls. "I'm glad to see you're back again." She's wearing a heavy jacket again, this one coloured a dark scarlet. Now that you know to pay attention to it, you can see that her skirt does rise indecently high, although it's hard to notice with the jacket's coattails hanging down.

"I wouldn't miss it," you reply.

Her smile just grows larger for a second. "Did you bring a copy of the book today?" she asks. You raise your satchel and go to answer in the affirmative, but she keeps talking over you. "Because if you didn't, you can sit next to me and 'share my book' again." She even makes quotation marks in the air and winks at you as she says it.

Well. Even you're capable of recognizing the innuendo when it's that in-your-face. You drop your satchel back to your side and give her an obviously fake frown. "Looks like I forgot it again," you lie glibly.

She smirks at you and reaches for your hand. You're prepared for it this time, though, and casually place your arms behind your back as you begin to walk forwards. Shes' caught a bit off-balance, and looks at you with a raised eyebrow as she floats casually in front of you towards the stairs. You poke her tongue out at her back when she turns back around. Pull you around, you grumble internally.

In a ritual familiar to you from last week, Victoria casually pushes you into a chair once you arrive in the book club's room, and waits for the store's clock to chime twelve so the attention of the other two dozen or so people in there is focused elsewhere before quickly taking her thick jacket off and sitting down, arranging her materials in front of her so nobody can see anything below her neck. She's wearing her lewd Glory Girl costume again, and it's exactly as revealing as it was last time.

You quickly touch her emotions again, getting a good feel for them. Her loyalty is tugging easily towards you- actually oddly easily. You brush around them some more for a moment, trying to understand what's going on. It doesn't take much; you quickly feel that same almost-exhibition rising up, strengthening her latent good feelings for you and making them much easier to manipulate. Her lust is rising similarly, although you haven't touched that one.

You should be safe to leave her loyalty as it is, you judge; it's not quite as strong as it was last week, but considering how easily she let you leer at her last week, you shouldn't need to worry about that. Instead, you begin gently tugging on her lust. It rises easily, too, but it'll take at least a few minutes to settle in.

In the meantime, you just casually lean over as if to peer at Victoria's copy of the book. You lower your head enough that the others in the room shouldn't be able to tell where your gaze is, and allow your hungry gaze to roam her body. The buzz of the others talking fades into the background as your attention narrows.

With your attention this focused, you barely need to focus your attention on your powers more than peripherally. You can feel Victoria's lust rising, but you can see the visible signs of it, too; little shivers rack her body every time you shift, and her hardened nubs are straining through her shirt. That answers that, you think, ignoring the thread of arousal that runs through your stomach; she's definitely not wearing a bra beneath that shirt.

It takes well over half an hour for Victoria's lust to rise gently enough that she lets you do anything more than just peer at her body.

One of the benefits of flying is that people who can fly don't need to shift the rest of their bodies in order to raise themselves off a seat. They can just float up a little, and to everyone else, it looks like they've just sat straighter for a moment. This allows them to do a lot of things- adjust seat cushions beneath them, straighten their skirts, and so on- without making a big deal of it. In Victoria's case, she's able to do rather the opposite; she bunches her skirt up, lifting it lewdly up and holding it to her stomach with one hand as she gesticulates with the other at someone else in the room, arguing about something or another.

She's wearing rather more immodest panties than she was last week. Or maybe she's just wetter than she was last week- you have been playing with her lust rather a lot. Either way, her panties are clinging to the outlines of her pussy lips, the faintly sheer material giving you just the slightest glimpse of the treasures laying within. You're pretty sure Victoria can hear the immediate change in your breathing, because she smirks triumphantly, leaving the guy she's talking to looking a bit lost.

You hesitate, fingers trembling. Last week, she stopped you from even looking at her panties for more than a moment. It could be a very bad idea for you to try to touch them this week.

On the other hand, it could be a very good idea, you conclude, and casually maneuver your hand such that you can press your index finger against her pussy through her panties.

Victoria stumbles over her sentence, but otherwise lets out no visible indicators of what you're doing to her.

Well, fine then.

You add your middle finger and press down harder, then begin stroking up and down. You can definitely feel how wet she is- she's not soaked, precisely, but your fingers are gliding easily up and down the material. She lets out a muted gasp when you drag your near-nonexistent fingernails down the front of her panties, sending a shiver down your own body.

It would be really easy to get used to drawing those kind of gasps from Victoria, you think to yourself.

You content yourself for the next hour or so by exploring Victoria's reactions as you play with her panty-clad pussy. She's pretty neutral on you gently stroking her normally, you soon find out; she doesn't mind it, but it doesn't draw much of a reaction from her. She has more of a reaction when you drag your fingernails around, or when you press down hard and rub within her entrance a little. What really drives her crazy, though, is when you spread your two fingers out to either side of her panties and squeeze them together, thereby rubbing her lips together, or when you move your fingers up higher and flick her nub slightly. The latter causes a whimper every time, so regretfully you can't do it very often; you're pretty sure that the quickest way to end this little game is to draw any attention to yourselves.

She stops really discussing the book after a few minutes of you playing with her, only saying anything when people directly address her, and even then only with a strained smile. The first time she does, you begin gently pulling on her loyalty again, drawing her attention away from the girl and back towards you; from there, you begin gently playing with both her lust and loyalty, teasing them up in tiny amounts, not really enough to affect anything significant, but enough to keep her attention focused on what you're doing to her.

By the time the clock downstairs chimes two, Victoria's panties are thoroughly soaked. You sneakily raise your finger to your mouth. She tastes pleasant- sweeter than you do.

As with last week, she just shrugs her jacket back on while everyone's attention is focused away, and waits until everyone else has left before she turns towards you.

Today, though, she doesn't make weird remarks about the club being elitist. She just draws you over into a tight, almost crushing hug, and whispers directly into your ear, "You're playing a very dangerous game, Taylor Hebert." When you look at her after she releases you, though, she's giving you a smouldering look, not an angry one. You can live with that.

You give her a faux-embarassed smile. "Sorry," you say sweetly.

She shakes her head, giving you a half-amused, half-frustrated shake of her head. "You don't even know what you're doing, do you?" she asks, softly enough that you're pretty sure you're not meant to have heard. Well, that's rude. You know exactly what you were doing. Louder, she says, "I'll see you next week." It's not even a question. You're momentarily tempted to avoid going next week now, just to spite her for trying to order you again. Then you feel the wetness still on your fingers, and that desire evaporates.

"Planning on it," you say with a cheeky smile.

She huffs out a laugh, then smooths down her skirt and leads you downstairs and out. Then, with a smooch to your cheek, she waves goodbye and floats straight up and away.

Well; that went well, you think.

In fact, it went well enough that you're not feeling down until the moment it's time to actually head off to school the next morning. That does, unfortunately, have the tendency to kill your good moods.

Your headache has returned, but only slightly. You're pretty sure you can still use your power some over the next couple of days without splitting your head in half; you're just going to have to make sure you give yourself a break somehow, or else be prepared not to use it for the rest of the week to give yourself a chance to recover. Or power on through the headache, but that sounds... unpleasant.

So; the question now is, exactly what are you going to do over Monday and Tuesday? [Pick two of the below. As last week, tutoring Madison is already locked in, so this week I won't be cluttering the vote with its presence until it's possible to avoid voting for it.]

] Continue your emotional manipulation of Sophia. You managed to steal a half-second kiss last time, and you've given Sophia's subconscious enough time to accept the fact that she's attracted to you and justify it to herself. Now, you're going to push it further, and get a bit of revenge in the process; you're going to step up your campaign of sexual harassment a bit, knowing that Sophia will accept it coming from you (and only you).

- Success chance: 60%.

- General results: Increases Sophia's Lust and Loyalty by 1, and Intrigue by 2. May include a scene in which Taylor continues to sexually harass Sophia, in manners unlikely to remind Sophia of any prior similar abuses (by putting herself in vulnerable situations first so Sophia will accept it as fair payback for her own harassment of Taylor).

- On a success: Increases Sophia's Lust and Loyalty by an additional one point. Will result in Taylor winning this round of the battle of wills, lowering Sophia's resistance to future actions. Will result in Emma and Sophia stopping the school's harassment of Taylor, allowing Taylor to openly date Madison in Winslow.

- On a failure: Increases Sophia's Lust by an additional one point. Will result in Taylor losing this round of the battle of wills, giving Sophia the same permission to sexually harass Taylor that Taylor would otherwise have.

] Use your powers on Charlotte. You'll feel a little bad about it, but not as bad as you feel at not getting to sit next to Madison. Besides, while she's no Madison or Emma, Charlotte isn't unattractive herself... and you really want to be able to sit beside Madison soon.

- Success chance: Impossible to fail.

- General results: Taylor deliberately uses her power on someone who is not a cape and is not a member of the Trio for purposes other than testing and training her powers. This will result in Taylor coming to partially acknowledge her control issues and accept her mind control fetish. Will open Charlotte for recruitment to Taylor's harem.

] Take the first step towards familiarizing yourself with the problems facing people at Winslow. Start with the disadvantaged students and the delinquents; those who haven't joined the gangs yet, but are most at risk of doing so. See what problems are affecting them, and then you can spend some of your time researching what's been done in other parts of the world to help combat those issues.

- Success chance: 70%

- General results: Taylor will investigate around the school, seeing what issues people are facing and trying to figure out what issues the school is facing. This is the first step in making Taylor's hero team more than a vague idea in her head.

- On a success: Introduces Taylor to Aisha, who is unpowered right now. Opens Aisha up for recruitment. Introduces Taylor to Rune. Points players at further Winslow-related information regarding the directions she can take her hero team in.

- On a dailure: Introduces Taylor to Aisha, who is unpowered right now. Introduces Taylor to Rune. Opens Rune up for recruitment. Lowers Rune's recruitment chances by 5%.

- Success chance: 50%.

- On a success: Suffers no negative impacts other than increased stress levels. Opens up additional options in which Taylor can purchase items (cellphone, food, bus fares, etc), as well as potentially take her girls out on dates.

- On a failure: Substantially ncreases stress levels even further when Taylor learns that the Brotherhood guards were punished for losing the money, and what form the punishment took. Decreases Rune recruitment chances by 10% while within Winslow's halls.

Spoiler: Stat Gains/Losses

View in Thread

Last edited: Jul 3, 2016

Jul 3, 2016 ReportLike

Jep Gambeson, Fred Flintstine, PanDron and 223 others like this.

Threadmarks: Minor Vote- Fetishes

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Opinion Poll-

Fetish Preferences

As we all know, there are some things that just make people personally uncomfortable to read about. When writing Heaven & Hell, that's something I try to keep in mind. I'm here to write enjoyable content, after all, not content that will make people uncomfortable.

I willingly admit that anything I write will make somebody uncomfortable, but I think there's a spectrum there.

Anyway, that's a little beside the point. The point is, when it comes to some fetishes, I recognize that there are significant elements of them that can make people uncomfortable. As such, I'd like to take a step back from... everything, and try and gauge where my playerbase stands on where they'd like to see the limits for certain things set.

Please be aware that there are, necessarily, going to be limits I'm not comfortable with raising, similarly to how there are fetishes I'm not comfortable with writing. I understand if that annoys some people, but I can only hope you can forgive me for that. I can't force myself to find something sexy if I don't.

I am probably going to substantially edit the latest update at some point. Not soon, but eventually. I think there are things I can do to make it flow within the story much better. For now, however, I will have to ask that you just bear with me and accept that the latest update was flawed.

So, without further ado; I'm going to be presenting some votes based around the things likely to be most uncomfortable in the quest. Please vote for the preference that skews closest to what you'd like to see included in the quest.

] Fetish the First: Mind Control.

This one is obviously an intrinsic part of the quest, and it's not going to go away. However, the degree to which it's focused on in the quest is something that I'm willing to work with. There are, however, limits as to what I am willing to write about. One of these limits is that I am not personally willing to write about heroes being non-consensually subjected to heavy levels of mind control. I am fine with writing light levels of it, and even loving relationships based off the premise of mind control enabling the relationship, but that is as far as I will push the packet there.

For this one, I will be presenting three choices. These choices will represent both fetish preferences, as well as how Taylor will view them in the context of the quest's story.

] Option 1: Continue with the limits as before. Taylor will come to accept that she has a mind control fetish (that is, she will come to accept that she is turned on by the idea of mind control, but will not necessarily accept the idea of mind-controlling just anyone). She will proceed with light mind-control elements, on the level of how heavy she has gone with Victoria so far and perhaps a little further, on civilians, heroes and rogues, and will be willing to go somewhat heavier on villains.

] Option 2: Set the limits a little higher. Taylor will come to accept that she has a mind control fetish (that is, she will come to accept that she is turned on by the idea of mind control, but will not necessarily accept the idea of mind-controlling just anyone). She will proceed with light mind-control elements, on the level of how heavy she has gone with Victoria so far and perhaps a little further, on heroes and rogues, and will be willing to go somewhat heavier on villains. Civilians will present an ethical dilemma to Taylor, which will be resolved by Taylor determining that civilians are not fair game for her power's use.

] Option 3: Set the limits a little lower. Taylor will come to accept that she has a mind control fetish (that is, she will come to accept that she is turned on by the idea of mind control, but will not necessarily accept the idea of mind-controlling just anyone). She will proceed with light mind-control elements, on the level of how heavy she has gone with Victoria so far and perhaps a little further, on heroes and rogues, and will be willing to go somewhat heavier on villains. Some particularly bad villains, such as Iron Rain, Bakuda and potentially Purity, will feature heavier mind-control themes as Taylor plays with their minds until they willingly submit themselves to Taylor and her sexual desires over their own villainous desires.

] Fetish the Second: Cheating.

This one isn't an intrinsic part of the quest, but there are a subset of characters in the quest who were canonically in relationships prior to the start of canon, such as Othala, Victoria, Battery, and both New Wave parents. Cheating, however, is a very complex topic, and a lot of people may be personally offended by the fetish due to personal experiences or hangups with it. That is fine, and I don't want to make people uncomfortable.

For this one, I will be presenting three choices. These choices will represent how far Taylor is willing to go. Please note that if you choose not to indulge in this fetish, it will mean that Glory Girl will break up with Gallant soon within the story's context. Please also note that this one will be a contextual thing- you are setting boundaries here, not necessitating that all characters will fall under the most extreme thing you will allow.

] Option 1: Continue with the limits as before. Taylor will encourage women in relationships to cheat on their partners with her, engaging in both sexual and romantic relationships with her while ostensibly remaining in stable relationships with their partners at least up until Taylor gets bored of not having them around often enough. This option will result in cheating portrayed in full force- as a sexual and an emotional form of cheating.

] Option 2: Set the limits a little higher. Taylor will encourage women in relationships to cheat on their partners with her, but will encourage them to leave their partners as soon as she has enough influence over them to get them to do so. The cheating will thus be both sexual and romantic, but will not remain as deliberate cheating for very long.

] Option 3: Deny the fetish. Taylor will continue to seduce Victoria until she is seduced and willing to break up with Dean, but will not encourage any other heroes to cheat with her. Instead, she will attempt to use her powers to encourage people to break up with their partners prior to engaging in sexual or romantic relationships with her.

] Fetish the Third: Loli.

This one isn't an intrinsic part of the quest, but there are a subset of characters in the quest who are underage. On occasion, very underage. I've already held a poll regarding the inclusion of Dinah in Taylor's harem, and the answer was a resounding 'yes', but that doesn't mean I can do anything I want to with them. I would also invite Megaolix to tell me where the limits on loli characters lie, rules-wise. Also, I am very uncomfortable with writing characters aged under 12; even 12 is kind of pushing it, but as this is fictional and not real life, I believe I can write such scenes (there is no way I could do so if this had even slight bearing in reality).

For this one, I will be presenting four choices. These choices will represent how far Taylor is willing to go with underaged characters. Please note that even if this is voted in, all such scenes will be spoilered. This is also conditional upon the options chosen being okay with the board rules; if they are not, I will be wiping this option off.

] Option 1: Age all characters aged under 13 to be 13 or older. From here, all characters aged under 13 will be restricted in terms of sexual content; Taylor will content herself with hand-holding and kissing, and not attempt to push sexual boundaries.

] Option 2: Age all characters aged under 13 to be 13 or older. From here, all characters will be unrestricted in terms of sexual content; Taylor will indulge herself in these characters as she would any others.

] Option 3: Leave all characters their canon ages. From here, all characters aged under 13 will be restricted in terms of sexual content; Taylor will content herself with hand-holding and kissing, and not attempt to push sexual boundaries.

] Option 4: Leave all characters their canon ages. From here, all characters aged 12 and over will have looser sexual restraints; light sexual content, such as breastplay and kissing with tongue, will be allowed. No further sexual content- including contact with sexual organs beyond breasts- will be allowed for characters aged this young.

Note: Voting for this has long since closed. The winning options were;

Mind Control- Option 3.

Cheating- Option 1.

Loli- Option 2.

View in Thread

Last edited: Sep 14, 2016

Jul 4, 2016 ReportLike

Fred Flintstine, PanDron, TheBigMole and 112 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.11

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: 60%.

Necessary roll: 40. Rolled: 87. Success.

Your head is twinging slightly as you make your way to first period, having stashed your bag in your locker and retrieved the card Madison had left for you atop a lunchbox today (a hot pink card emblazoned with a concise 'Hope you enjoy it today! Love, Madison~' written in the middle of the card and 'HI TALOR IT IS TERRY' written in large block letters beneath that).

You give her a small smile when you head in to class, getting a bright grin and a little wave in return. You're still trying not to look at Emma, so you miss whatever expression she makes, but Sophia in front of her doesn't look disgusted- just a little curious. Spreading your power out some, you confirm you're correct- there's no disgust in there, just some curiosity and a strong undercurrent of boredom.

The lesson begins, but it's just a rehash of material you've covered over the past few days- helpful for students like Madison who are struggling to understand it, and in fact you make a mental note that you probably won't need to go over this again, but less helpful for students like you, who study well ahead in their... admittedly copious free time.

Growing quickly bored, you glance around the classroom, examining everyone. Sophia and Emma have their heads bent down, although Sophia glances up once to look at you; when she catches you looking, she sneers at you and looks away, although you can feel a faint thread of embarrassment in there. Madison, meanwhile, is just looking around, lost. She catches your gaze at one point and pouts miserably. Frustration and longing mix wildly within her for a moment before they settle, the frustration winning out as she turns back to her schoolbooks and scowls down.

Okay, you correct your previous mental note; you probably will need to go over this again.

Then again, you do have an awful lot of spare time in class, since you read ahead so often...

You glance over again. Madison is still looking lost, and the frustration threading its way around her is growing stronger. Beside her, Charlotte glances over occasionally, but offers her no help, preferring to focus on her own schoolwork. You wish, almost, that you could sit beside Madison, coach her through this, have her at your side even more- but Charlotte was assigned there by the teacher, and you can't just ask her to move.

... Or can you?

You bite your lip at the thought. Technically, there's nothing stopping you from using your powers on the girl. You've been hesitant up until now, but- you really want to sit next to Madison right now. Besides, you try to justify to yourself; it's not like you're compelling her to do anything, right? You're just... getting her to trust you a little. Even like you. You could use a friend anyway.

With that thought planted firmly in mind, you extend your power over to Charlotte, gently bringing her emotions to the fore so you can feel them. They are... surprisingly complex; more than you'd really thought the girl would have, although you've never actually spoken to her, so perhaps you shouldn't have judged her.

She feels very... solid. The other girls you've manipulated with your power have all felt fragile somehow. Madison felt the most solid of all of them, but even she felt like pieces of her had been broken off and smashed, then half-stitched back on in a feeble attempt to hold her together. Charlotte, on the other hand, doesn't feel at all that way. There are vulnerable parts to her, but they're still clinging on, frayed at the edges but ultimately whole.

You frown to yourself a little. That probably means something, but you're not sure what.

Either way, you're not done. You spread your power out further, touching her emotions with little feather-light touches, slowly getting a feel for them. There's a lot of... responsibility, you're pretty sure that one is; it evokes an image of dutifulness, performing tasks to the best of their abilities as expected. A strong undercurrent of fear whenever she looks up and glances around the room, although you're not sure what it's directed at. Patience wraps around a core of frustration, holding it at bay. Wrapped all around it are tight bands of self-control, hard but rigid.

Your breath comes a bit faster as you gently tighten your power's hold over her. There's a certain sexiness in knowing you hold this much control over someone, in knowing that with a thought, you could twist their minds, that you could tug all you wanted at their emotions until their minds are consumed by thoughts of you, that you could gently manipulate them until their lives revolved around you, revolved around pleasing you and meeting your every desire.

You wouldn't do it to her, of course. You have your limits, even if you're sure they'd seem arbitrary to anyone but you. Someone would have to be really bad for you to consider turning them into your sex dolls.

It's not hard to maintain your self-control as you begin to tug at Charlotte's mind, really, so much as you're left with... a faint feeling of regret. Even the thought of slowly moulding someone's mind like that is a turn-on; you can only imagine how good it would feel if you actually did it. But, unlike most of your fetishes, this one could cause serious harm to a person. It'd be like... indulging in a snuff fetish, if you had one (which you definitively do not, you think with a shudder).

It really is a turn-on to think about, though.

You shift uncomfortably after a few minutes. Charlotte doesn't need much playing with; she wasn't loyal to you, not exactly, but that strong responsibility you'd felt running through her acted beneath it, reinforced what you'd done. It shouldn't be hard for you to convince her tomorrow to ask the teacher to just move seats, which would allow you to move near Madison.

You unconsciously rub your thighs together as you cast your eyes around the classroom. Eventually, your gaze falls on Sophia, who looks away as your gaze falls on her, chewing roughly on the end of a pencil.

Checking first- yes, that should be strong enough, you think; you'll just make sure to arrive a bit earlier in class tomorrow so you can reinforce her conditioning- you allow your power to slip away from Charlotte and towards Sophia.

You'd brushed over Sophia's emotions before, but you spend a few moments now to feel them again. You'd felt embarassment and disdain earlier, and they are still both there just as strongly as before, although the embarrassment is fading- maybe she felt embarrassed that you'd caught her looking at you, although that's unlikely. Sophia couldn't care less about your opinion of her.

Running underneath the embarrassment and disdain are a complicated mess of emotions, as you'd come to expect from your trio. There's the usual cruelty and sadism, of course; you'd be worried if you felt Sophia without feeling those. They run intertwined beneath everything, little tendrils of cruelty and anger dipping into her other emotions and tainting them. Lying squeezed between those branches are her boredom and apathy- the strongest of her emotions right now.

Her loyalty to you is a fragile thing yet. It lies buried beneath her disdain, the disdain threatening to choke it out. It's a good thing you did this now- there's a good chance that if you left this too much longer, Sophia would have been able to fight back against your influence enough for her disdain to completely overtake it.

As it stands, though, you just begin tugging on it again, slowly pulling on it until you can see her dart a glance towards you, for once not filled with the promise of humiliation. Satisfied for the moment with that, you seek her lust next, pulling it out from where it's lying- not hidden, exactly, but kind of... pushed down in a corner of her mind, near her repressed fragility and despair. You tuck a note about that away in your head- you should follow up on that, later, when Sophia is more open with you and you can actually do something about it- and begin tugging on her lust, pulling it to the surface. There's a thread of curiosity in there as she glances at you, but only a thread.

You spend the rest of first period entertaining yourself with Sophia, pulling alternately on her lust and loyalty and watching her trying not to let you catch her looking at you. You briefly consider making a game of it, but decide against it.

When first period ends and the bell rings, you take your time packing your bag, subtly monitoring Sophia. You can feel impatience streaming from her, but she takes her time too, occasionally curling her lip up in a sneer as you slowly put your books away. The one time she catches you glancing at her, you try to fake a flinch away, tugging on her lust as you do so. She subsides again with a satisfied sneer, happy with your performance.

When you finally leave the bathroom, you continue to keep your attention half on Sophia, ensuring she's following you and playing on her lust. She is, so you head to the bathroom again- the same one you'd played around with her in last time. You're not sure if a familiar environment actually helps your powers set their hooks in, but it certainly helps put you at ease a little.

Once you get inside the bathroom, you head over to the farthest mirror and pretend to busy yourself at the sink. You cast your eyes down, projecting the best image of vulnerability you can. If there's one thing you know about Sophia, it's that she loves going after vulnerable people.

You're not surprised when you feel her arms sliding against you, pinning you against the bench as she did last week. You are surprised at just how close she presses against you. Instinctively, you press against the bench to try and put some distance between the two of you, but she follows you forward, trapping you against the edge of the counter.

She's warm, you note absently. Deliciously warm.

"Hebert," she purrs in your ear. Absently, you trace her emotions, feeling for her cruelty. It's far weaker than you'd expected, tied only loosely against the strong, savoury feeling of her lust. "A bit upset today?"

You risk a glance up into the mirror. There, you can see her looking back at you, dark eyes smokey. From here, she looks like she's pressed herself even closer against you than it feels. You're pretty sure that you couldn't turn around to look at her even if you wanted to. She's just short enough that she has to lean up to look over you in the mirror.

Well, that won't do. Subtly, you lean back. She stiffens as you rub your ass against her crotch, and she instinctively leans back. You take the opportunity to spin around and look her in the face just as she corrects herself and leans back in. Frustration and curiosity rise up in her, and you quickly release her lust to pull on her loyalty for a moment, forcing the frustration to subside.

"No," you say as steadily as you can. You're unsure as to whether she takes your breathiness as lust or depression, but either way, her eyes darken further. A slight smile steals over your face, and you lean forwards and wrap your arms around her for a moment as she stiffens again. It's worth the sudden pain in your hip when she pushes you roughly back against the counter, but you don't let go, and she doesn't immediately step out of your arms. "It's okay to want a hug," you tell her steadily.

She looks up at you with a knitted brow. A slight anger leaks up, not as strong as you'd expected. You tug on her loyalty again, just enough so that the anger is muted when it finally runs to the surface. "Fuck off, Hebert," she mutters, and releases you with one arm so she can yank your arms out from around her. Pouting at the loss of contact, you swap back to tugging at her lust for a moment.

Then she rolls her eyes when your hands drop down to her skirt and you begin to lift it up. "Of course you do that again," she complains. She half-heartedly pushes down at your arms, but you don't let her stop you, and she doesn't put any real effort into it- just enough that she can claim she tried to stop you. You don't stop until you've lifted her skirt high enough that your hands are resting above her navel.

"Boyshorts aren't very feminine," you pout at her. Admittedly, they're as feminine as boyshorts can get- they're cut low and do a lot to emphasize her curves. They're still boyshorts, though, and they cover entirely more of her legs than you'd like.

She just rolls her eyes at you. "I didn't wear them for you," she says rudely. Still, you can feel a thread of embarrassment rising through her. She drops her arms from your own and moves them down to your hips as though to push you away, but changes her mind midway through the action and leaves them resting there instead. Not that you're complaining. It really does feel a little like she's hugging you now.

You stay in that position for a long few minutes, allowing yourself to rest comfortably with Sophia's skirt held above her waist as you tease at both her lust and loyalty. The curiosity in her rises again, and you do nothing to discourage it, curious yourself as to what she's curious about.

Eventually, you judge that you've done as much as you can for now. Glancing down, you look into Sophia's hooded eyes for a moment before you bend an inch or so to press a kiss to her lips. You keep at it for a few seconds until her lips part slightly and you draw her lower lip between your own.

A sharp pain erupts in your lip, and you pull back, a soft cry ripping its way out of you as you jerk back. Sophia looks at you from where she's just bitten you, satisfaction, cruelty and lust twining their way through her.

In retaliation, you let go of her skirt with your right hand and smack her hard on the ass. She lets out an indignant squawk that turns involuntarily into a stifled groan as you leave your hand there, apologetically squeezing her ass. "That was rude," you inform her.

You don't let her hackles rise, tugging gently at her loyalty until they fall again. Missing her usual anger, Sophia just sneers back at you, her lip curled. It's tempting enough that you lean down and give her a kiss again. When she eventually opens her mouth and bites your lip this time, it's much gentler- still painful, but you don't instinctively run your tongue against the area seeking for the taste of blood. You lightly smack her ass in return, drawing another stifled groan from her when you again leave your hand there, gently squeezing her ass. This time, when you kiss her, she doesn't bite on your lip hard enough for it to be painful- just hard enough for her to tug almost playfully on it.

You linger for a few seconds until she bites your lip again with an annoyed expression on her face. You lean back, running your tongue over the sore area, then quickly lean in and give her another kiss, drawing back before she can bite you again.

This game continues for several minutes- you leaning in to give Sophia a kiss, and her trying to bite you when you do. She gets you a few more times, but doesn't seem to mind when you smack her in return as long as you keep squeezing her ass afterwards. The one time you try to stop squeezing it, she bites you harder the next time you lean in. You're not sure she even realizes.

It's not until the bell rings that she jerks again, as if she'd completely forgotten where you are and what you're doing. You lean in and still one more kiss from her, then quickly sidestep out of her limp grasp.

Neither of you says anything as you stroll out of the bathroom, casually clutching your bag in your hands. Behind you, you can feel Sophia's frustration beginning to rise, but damp, muted- and, for once, not aimed at you.

You can live with that.

The next day, you arrive earlier at school and spend a few minutes searching for Charlotte. She arrives at school not long after you do, heading immediately to her locker. There's not long until the bell, so you just follow her as she weaves her way to your shared classroom, tugging on her loyalty as she goes.

To her credit, even with your manipulation fresh over her mind, she doesn't acede immediately once class starts and you move over to her to ask her to swap seats with you. To your own credit, your manipulation is strong enough that she gives up without much of a fight, offering only a token protest before standing up and heading over to the teacher. He gives you an odd look, but gives Charlotte a nod; in turn, she turns and smiles at you before heading over to your old seat.

When Madison enters the classroom, she gives out a little shriek barely audible over the hubbub of the classroom. She doesn't throw herself upon you, but she fair vibrates with excitement as she sits beside you and takes your hand in her own.

Worth it.

By the end of Tuesday, your headache is growing steadily worse. It's not crippling just yet, but it's definitely getting uncomfortable.

You've made some inroads recently, you think. You've at least begin manipulating Charlotte, even if the thought of manipulating someone uninvolved in the cape scene leaves you feeling as guilty as you feel aroused. You've pushed Sophia far enough to overcome her cruelty at least for a little while- and surprisingly, hard enough that she stopped one of the Brotherhood members in your class from harassing you and Madison in class when you weren't subtle enough about holding hands, pinning him down with a steely gaze and barbed comments about the size of his dick.

But you have a busy week ahead of you still. What are you going to do with the rest of it? [Pick two. Tutoring Madison is still locked in.]

] You've already promised to head in and see about this volunteer job at the clinic. There's always a grace period before they expect you to turn up as you get accustomed to the work the role will entail, but you don't need a grace period- you're going to start immediately, busying yourself after tutoring Madison with working there.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Introduces Taylor to Amy. Taylor begins working as a volunteer at the clinic, sorting supplies and being trained in preparing coffee for volunteers and people in the waiting room. Increases chances of finding a job by 5% for every week Taylor participates in this.

]Take the first step towards familiarizing yourself with the problems facing people at Winslow. Start with the disadvantaged students and the delinquents; those who haven't joined the gangs yet, but are most at risk of doing so. See what problems are affecting them, and then you can spend some of your time researching what's been done in other parts of the world to help combat those issues.

- Success chance: 70%

- On a failure: Introduces Taylor to Aisha, who is unpowered right now. Introduces Taylor to Rune. Opens Rune up for recruitment. Lowers Rune's recruitment chances by 5%.

] Head to the library and borrow some books, then head home and study them. You might have to sacrifice some free time over the weekend to finish them, but it shouldn't interfere with any plans you have. You can read up some more on business strategies and management, this way- and prepare yourself before it becomes relevant.

- Success chance: Cannot fail.

- General results: Will provide the second stage of three to learn business management skills for your upcoming hero team. Write-ins can gather information about specific topics (particular capes, the state of rogues, etc) at the cost of introducing a 10% chance of failure for learning the business management skills.

] You've furthered your manipulation of Sophia, to the point she has at least partially accepted her lust for you, if not your control over her. Now, it's time to take that a step further and really bring her into your wing.

- Success chance: 70%

- General results: Taylor will use the final power use she will allow herself to use on Sophia. Will stagnate Sophia's relationship with Taylor (allowing some minor room for growth over time but preventing Taylor from deepening their relationship), but provides an immediate 3 to Lust and makes Sophia more likely to accept sexual advances.

- On a success: Raises Sophia's Loyalty by 1. Makes Taylor use her power on Sophia, causing Sophia to fully submit to Taylor's control by having her accept Taylor's status in their relationship. May provide a scene in which Sophia takes off her shirt and bra in front of Taylor on school grounds.

- On a failure: Makes Taylor user her power on Sophia, causing Sophia to submit to Taylor's control, but will enable Sophia to continue the fight for control at a later date. May provide a scene in which Taylor plays with a clothed Sophia on school grounds.

]You've been manipulating Sophia for two weeks. Now it's time to do something you never imagined you'd do; it's time to learn more about Sophia as a person. Much as with Madison, you're fairly sure there is more to Sophia than just the bully. There are secrets you're unlikely to learn, but now that you've filed away the rough edges Sophia liked to point at you, it's time to step back and stop manipulating her with your power.

- Success chance: 80%

- General results: Pairs Sophia and Taylor in Chemistry for a weeks-long project, allowing them a chance to interact in a non-hostile and non-sexual manner. Taylor will stop using her power on Sophia before being entirely sure on Sophia's loyalty. Will not result in Sophia backsliding, but will feel like an admission of trust to Taylor. Will enable 'romantic' paths with Sophia similar to Madison's, although with themes of control and trust rather than domination and submission, and obviously with Sophia as a character instead of Madison, resulting in different plotlines to Madison's relationship (obviously). Will not immediately result in Taylor learning much about Sophia, but will open up further paths in which Sophia softens to her.

- On a success: Will raise Sophia's Affection by 2. Will result in Sophia telling Taylor about why she joined the track team and her hopes for her future career (without admitting that she is a cape).

- On a failure: Will raise Sophia's Affection by 1. Will result in Sophia telling Taylor about her strugges with schoolwork.

Spoiler: Stat Gains/Losses

View in Thread

Jul 6, 2016 ReportLike

Jep Gambeson, Fred Flintstine, PanDron and 230 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.12

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: 80%.

Necessary roll: 20. Rolled: 54. Success.

Wednesday morning rolls around, and for once, you're actually feeling good about going to school. You have a cute girl waiting for you, and you're fairly sure that Sophia is now more interested in sexually harassing you than in throwing taunts at you or pushing you around.

Dad's already left by the time you're up and clattering about. There's a note for you sitting on the table- 'Taylor, had to leave early, union dispute. I'll pick you up around 5 from school so we can go to that meeting. Love, Dad.'

You tuck the note into your pocket so you won't forget, then rush out to meet the bus before it leaves without you.

As usual, the bus is running a little behind schedule by the time it pulls up in front of Winslow. Ostensibly, you're supposed to be here no later than half an hour before the bell for first period rings. Your bus has to drive around through some of the more run-down areas in Brockton Bay, though, and thus the bus drivers all naturally slow down and give way to everything and everyone, not willing to risk accidentally pissing off a gang member just to get you to school a little bit earlier. You're nearly fifteen minutes late by the bus's schedule by the time you get there.

You're not in any rush today, so you don't mind it too much. You chalk it up as being one of the Bay's many idiosyncracies and move on.

Madison's left you another card- this one soft blue, without a message from Terry on it- in your locker, atop a small lunchbox. The meals have been getting better in quality; you're not sure if that's because Madison is accustoming herself to your tastes, or if she's getting more pushy at home when she makes them. You hope it's the first.

When you arrive in first period, you slide in beside Madison and give her a one-armed hug in thanks. She beams and snuggles against your side, staying there until the teacher arrives and coughs pointedly at the two of you, at which point she lets go with a pout at him. You take her hand beneath the table and she settles down a little, a content smile on her face as she focuses on her schoolwork.

That lasts up until second period- World Issues, with Mr Gladly- where Madison reluctantly has to let go of you and make her way to sit beside a boy- Henry? Whatever, one of the sportier boys at the school. For a moment, you're tempted to try to use your power on him, but you refrain. You're not sure you want a guy to admire you that much, even if it would get you another seat beside Madison.

Instead, you just try to focus on your classwork over the next few periods. World Issues is one of Madison's weakest classes, anyway. You probably need to pay attention here so you can go over it with Madison during tutoring later. She's not as bad in Maths and English, but you try to focus through them anyway. It gives you something to do other than glare at whoever's sitting beside her, anyway.

Eventually, the bell for lunch rings, and you hurry through the dimly-lit halls to get to your locker. You're quick enough that you manage to miss the footsteps behind you until you pull out the lunch Madison had prepared for you and close your locker, revealing Madison's smiling face behind it. You start, dropping the lunch.

Madison's hands dart forwards, fumbling to catch the lunch. She just manages to, giving you a look just as startled as your own.

"Sorry," she says contritely. "I thought you heard me."

"I didn't hear anything," you say. Absently, you wonder what she's doing here, but you dismiss the thoughts after a moment's consideration. "Did you want to have lunch together?" You're pretty sure that without Emma and Sophia harassing you, it should be safer. Maybe not safe, but safer. Worth the risk, now.

She nods enthusiastically. "Yeah!" she says, excitement leaking into her tone. "Um, there's a place I know where not many people go. We could go there for lunch?"

"Sure." You pause, then think about it. "Where is this place?"

"Oh, it's over in the courtyard." She gestures vaguely in that direction. "There's a little area where they planted a tree and some shrubs."

You know the place. It had been during one of Winslow's many attempts to try and spruce the school up, and like all the others, had failed when it became clear that most of the students just didn't care. The shrubs had nearly caught fire after someone had flicked a lit cigarette butt in there, and only the timely intervention of the school's automated sprinker system had saved the little corner of greenery from being burnt entirely to the ground. Over a thousand dollars worth of greenery had burned down in the meantime. A few years later, the little corner was doing well for itself, but the school had decided it wasn't worth investing in again considering the potential for a repeat occurrence.

You lead Madison over to the corner, and pull her down to sit beside you behind the tree. You immediately see why she suggested it. It isn't quite hidden from view from the rest of the courtyard, but you have to be both standing up and looking over directly at the tree to see you. It makes sense, you suppose- if the area was well-hidden, you suspect that it'd be seeing a lot more use than it is.

Emma and Sophia are sitting in the courtyard, not far from your tree, when you arrive. You ignore the two of them, pulling Madison over to the little copse and tucking yourself in behind it.

You sit down and spread your legs. Madison sits between them and pulls herself up against you, allowing you to wrap one arm around her as you slowly eat your lunch. When you finish the wrap she'd made for you, you wait patiently for her to finish eating her own wrap, then hand her the small punnet of sliced strawberries she'd put in with your lunch today. She gives you a quizzical look for a moment before understanding dawns in her eyes, and she obediently turns in your arm and begins feeding them to you. You take your time, enjoying Madison watching you with lidded eyes as you occasionally stop to suck the strawberry juices off her fingers.

You're thoroughly enjoying yourself, right up until the moment some jerk spoils it for you.

Some guy- you don't recall seeing him before, but you don't pay much attention to most of the people at Winslow- walks past with a group of his friends, sneering at you. He's dressed typically for someone who goes to Winslow, wearing a hand-me-down leather jacket and denim jeans that had been patched one too many times for you to pretend not to notice.

"Dykes," he growls as he walks past. His friends sneer at the two of you, some making disgusted faces and some leering at the two of you. One of them even puts two fingers up in a V-shape and lashes his tongue between them, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

You sneer back at them once their backs have turned. It probably won't escalate to violence here at school- LGBT rights have progressed that much over the last few years, at least- but you're not willing to provoke a group of boys who might well be gang members. Outside of school, it's a very different matter. They'll probably let it go if you don't provoke them.

Still, it's ruined the mood. You look mournfully at the last few strawberries as Madison leans back against you, fingers faintly trembling as she looks uneasily in the direction the men had gone. You tighten your arms around her and pull her against you.

You stifle a sigh so Madison can't feel it.

It looks like you still have some work cut out for you if you want to be able to have faux-dates with Madison at school.

You've only just finished tutoring Madison for the day and walking her out to the front door when Dad pulls up in his rickety old car. Madison pauses when she sees it, but eventually shrugs. For a moment, you wonder how she knew it was your car- then you remember that Dad had driven to the dinner at Emma's, and she'd probably seen it then.

You give her one last hug goodnight, refraining from giving her a goodbye kiss in front of your Dad, and walk briskly over to the car. He gives you an odd look after your interaction with your girl, but doesn't comment on that.

"You ready, Taylor?" he asks, giving you a smile as he pulls away from the curb.

You nod seriously. "Yeah," you reply.

The two of you chat casually about hospital work as Dad drives you over to the clinic. The path there isn't the safest, so Dad has to take it slow and careful- Winslow isn't in the greatest of areas to begin with, and New Wave has funded most of these clinics with the stipulations that they be built in some of the worst parts of the Bay. From what you understand, the original proposals had had them being built in some of the better off areas in the Bay, closer to Downtown and the like- areas where the people who need the clinics most couldn't readily access them. New Wave had shut that down, pointing out that ready access to the clinics was the entire point.

New Wave might have funded the clinics, but even they couldn't afford to pour enough money into them to pretty them up. That's immediately obvious almost as soon as you get on the same block as it and actually see the clinic itself. It's painted an ugly, bland white; from here, you can see a man in his early twenties scrubbing away with a large bristled brush at the walls, where someone's drawn some dark red graffiti on it. There are two wilted potted plants sitting out the front, the frost having taken its toll on the ferns.

It all clashes with the much more sterile interior, you find once Dad has parked the car and walked you inside. The outside might look kind of run-down, but inside, everything has been mopped and scrubbed to sterile perfection. There's a small waiting room off to the side, where three people- one white man with a gaunt, hallow face and pockmarked skin, a black man currently busy absently scratching at his skin as he stares at a wall, and an Asian woman cradling a baby to her chest as she coos down at the gurgling child- sit in front of a small TV mounted to the wall, waiting for their turn to be called up.

You and Dad walk up to the counter, giving the security guards- two large, beefy men standing taller than even Dad, dressed in body armour and wielding large stun batons and what you recognize as PRT-issued foam launchers- a wide berth as you go.

The receptionist gives the two of you a bored look as you stand in front of her. "Yes?" she asks, tone professionally disinterested.

"Danny Hebert and Taylor Hebert," he replies. "We have an appointment with Doctor Fitzgerald."

"One moment." She clatters away on her keyboard for a few moments, likely searching for the doctor's schedule. Eventually, she finds it. "I see," she says eventually. "Doctor Fitzgerald's office can be found through the hall to the right. Walk to the end, then turn left. It's the door at the end of that hall."

You politely thank the woman and follow Dad as he follows the woman's instructions. Eventually, you end up in front of a door with a clear plastic container hanging within it, a small wooden stick with painted gold letters spelling out 'FITZGERALD' stuck behind it. Dad knocks, and a moment later a voice calls out a perfunctory, "Yes, yes, come in." You can't help but hear a harassed note in the doctors' voice- something you confirm a moment later when you stretch your powers over to him for a second, taking in the stress and fear running through him, as well as the solid undercurrent of determination threaded through with compassion.

He looks up at the two of you as you enter, taking in your appearances and nodding to himself. "Miss Hebert, I assume?" he asks. You nod, and he continues. "Excellent. I'm glad you're here. We have a lot to cover."

For the next hour- hour and fifteen minutes, actually, going by your watch- Doctor Fitzgerald goes over everything. And you mean everything.

He starts with the duties expected of you- "General maintenance of the grounds and buildings, mostly, and perhaps some cataloguing if you can prove you're up to the task." You make a noise of protest at that, but he quickly points out that you have no health and safety training, let alone training in medical procedures. It's not only unsafe for you, the clinic could get in actual legal trouble if they allowed you to perform medical procedures without proper training and review. Which, well- it's annoying, but okay, you can understand that.

He spents most of the time talking about something you actually hadn't even considered- safety procedures. It makes sense, you suppose; you're going to be volunteering at a clinic with a focus on treating drug addiction, built in a predominantly poor neighbourhood with minor Brotherhood and ABB influences. It's unfortunately true that those factors means that the clinic likely sees violence on an unpredictable basis. He does assure you that there are multiple safety procedures in place, several security guards on the premesis at all times, and that New Wave will respond in the case of any alarms going off- but you still have to be aware of the procedures, just in case.

Finally, he concludes with a big sigh. "Are you still interested?" he asks wryly.

You nod confidently. "Yeah!" you reply enthusiastically. You're not quite sure why he feels so surprised at that, but you can also feel his weary happiness at your zeal. "Can I start today?"

He glances down at his watch, noting the time- it's six thirty. "You'll only be here for half an hour," he notes, but otherwise doesn't try to dissuade you.

"That's okay!" You grin at him. "It'd be good for me to see what working here will be like, you know?"

As it turns out, it's exactly as boring as the doctor had intimated it would be. It's hard to engage yourself in the mundane tasks of washing windows and mopping floors. Some people do it for a living, but you can't imagine how. And that sounded a lot more denigrating than you intended it to. Oops. Janitors earn their keep, you do know that. The work just isn't engaging you very much.

Still, it serves its purpose. By the time you get home, your mind is full enough that you barely think about Emma twice.

You're not looking forward to school on Thursday, which is a bit disappointing after your enthusiasm yesterday. For a moment, you'd hoped that you were beginning to regain that excitement you'd once had for learning something new. It doesn't look like that's happening, though. At least it isn't affecting your school performance too badly- you spend most nights awake until just before midnight studying, and have for a while now, so even when you're not enthusiastic for classes you're still learning the material. It just... feels like a huge hassle to try and drag yourself into school every day.

It's not too bad, though. School is somewhat less miserable now that you don't have your own personal tormentors- just the school's regular bullies. But you can't do anything about them now, so you're just going to have live and let live.

At least Madison hasn't let yesterday's episode get her down too much, you discover when you get to school the next day. The card she's left for you is noticeably more subdued than the last few have been, but the words within- "Taylor, I'm sorry you couldn't enjoy yesterday's lunch, but I made you a strawberry cake today. Love, Maddie~"- are no less sweet, and the cake she made for you does look mouth-watering.

You give her an appreciative hug when you slide into your seat beside her during first period, and enjoy your regularly-scheduled hand-holding through the lesson, but when the class ends and you're forced to let go of her, your mood instantly plummets. She notices, but the most she can do is give you an apologetic hug before you're both forced to run off to your next class.

Things don't get much better through second and third periods. You have Computer class in place of Maths on Thursdays, and while Mrs Knott gives everyone their assignments, it doesn't leave you with much to do when you're done in less than half an hour. You can't even go onto PHO and try to find something interesting- the one time you managed to circumvent the school's ban on the website (the ban itself claiming that it was "not intended for educational purposes), they'd blocked you from downloading any files anyway.

As such, your mood remains sour right up until you arrive at the Chemistry classroom for your fourth period class and see two amazing sights; Sophia stretching back in her chair, giving you a catlike grin as you enter the room- and an excellent view of her chest through her tight shirt- and a familiar boy clad in the same leather jacket as yesterday scowling ferociously at Sophia from behind her back, sporting a new cast over his nose.

You sit down at your table, giving Sophia an intrigued glance. Her grin only grows larger, right up until Mrs Knopf- your Chemistry teacher- enters the room, at which point she visibly fights it down into a scowl.

Most of the class haven't even unpacked their books from their bags when Mrs Knopf takes to the front of the classroom, clapping her hands together and clearing her throat. Everyone immediately stills, looking towards her.

"Excellent," she says loudly. "Class, as I mentioned on Monday, we are going to be moving to a new unit beginning today. We'll be studying chemical reactions for the next few weeks. Given that some of our students-" She levels a glare at someone behind you; you can't see who it is, but whoever it is gulps loudly- "have been unfairly leaving large portions of their work to their lab partners, I have taken the liberty of assigning lab partners for the unit myself. Are there any objections?"

Predictably, several hands shoot up into the air. Even more predictably, the teacher ignores them. "I'm glad to hear it." She pulls up a clipboard you hadn't seen her holding in her arms. "Lab partners will be as following. Martin Adams, with Renee Phillips..."

You sit there for a few moments, crossing your fingers as hard as you can. Please pair me with Madison, please pair me with Madison!

Finally, the teacher reaches your name. "... Taylor Hebert, with Sophia Hess..."

You're too stunned to reach for a moment. Sophia isn't. Her catlike grin returns when you turn to look at her, this time looking more than a little smug.

Two weeks ago, this would have been the worst result imaginable. Today, you don't actually mind.

When the teacher finally finishes listing off all the names on the roster, conversation fills the room for a few minutes as everyone gets up and begins wandering over to their new seats. Your own partner- a weird guy called Greg- gives you a pleading glance, but you shoo him away, gesturing for Sophia to come sit next to you. She's already on her way, but it's important that she understands that she's doing it because you want her to, not because she wants to.

She slides into the seat beside you, her smug smile replaced by a friendly scowl as she casually rearranges her skirt (why does she even wear a skirt so often? The answer arrives almost as quickly as you ask yourself- she normally doesn't, but she's been wearing them more often lately, she's teasing you) so it doesn't bunch up on her thigh.

"Hello, Hebert," she purrs. "Looks like we're going to be partners for a while."

School goes fantastically after that. It's hard to distract yourself in lessons like Maths, but with Madison at your side during first period and lunch, and Sophia sitting by you during Chemistry, you can distract yourself reasonably well.

Even the afternoons aren't too bad, now that you have your volunteer job at the clinic. You can't go every day, as much as you want to- it's not safe to walk there, and Dad can only take you there when he's not working late and he has the spare gas- but it's something. You're forced to skip Thursday, for instance, but you're able to head in on Friday.

Doctor Fitzgerald feels oddly thankful when you meet up with him again. Somebody must have told him some good news, you think.

The clinic ends up being a lot busier than normal, for some reason. The doctor reassures you that this doesn't happen often, but he doesn't have the time to sit there and explain to you what's going on- he just leads you out to the back room, where a lot of medical supplies have been left scattered haphazardly around out of place, and asks you to tidy the place up.

It's difficult work, not because the work is particularly onerous, but because nurses keep rushing in and out of the room and messing up areas you've just tidied up. It's tempting to yell at them. You refrain, but it's difficult.

You've almost tidied the room up by half past six when a mousey girl, not much older than you, walks into the room carrying a white bundle, tinged with red- dirty sheets, you suspect. "Laundry chute's over there," you inform her quickly, before she can just dump them atop the trolley you'd recently cleared off.

The girl squeaks- honest to god, squeaks- and turns to you, her cheeks almost on fire. "Um," she manages, before having to visibly shake herself. "I wasn't- I was just-"

"It's fine," you say. Honestly, you've grown sick of everyone's excuses by this point. "Don't worry about it... uh, what's your name?"

Curiously, she doesn't have a nametag on. Actually, on closer inspection, she doesn't have anything identifying her as a volunteer on. Her attire is appropriate, at least- her shirt is loose and doesn't draw any attention to her body, and she's wearing tight-cut pants that accentuate her hips without drawing attention to them- but she should really be wearing a nametag. Or so you assume. Actually, maybe you're being a bit presumptuous- this is only your second day.

"Hey!" the girl manages eventually. "My eyes are up here!"

"I know," you reply. Just for the comment, you eye her chest for a long moment, considering it. Her shirt is loose, but not so loose that it completely hides her breasts- the material rests against them. They're small, smaller even than maybe Madison's. A good size, you think.

When you finally look up at her face, her cheeks are blazing red. Embarassment flows through her, but there's no real anger there- just embarassment, and no small amount of lust. It's not strong, but it's there enough that you can feel it.

"W- Well then," she stammers. "Uh, I was just looking for- actually, never mind, I found it!" She scrabbles around behind her back with the hand not holding the sheets, grabbing the first thing her hands fall upon. You're not quite sure what use she might pretend to have for a stethoscope, but you let her get away with it, smiling teasingly at her.

"Alright then," you reply. "Have fun out there, mystery girl."

She hurries out of the room, still blushing furiously, and you turn back to your task, smiling slyly to yourself.

Well, that was interesting. You wonder if you'll see her again.

Eventually, the week comes to a close, and the weekend approaches. School wasn't terrible this week, but there's still a ways to go before you feel comfortable there.

That, though, isn't something you can do much about. Nope; you've got a weekend to plan.

So what are you going to do this weekend? [Pick three.]

] You're going to head to the library and spend some time studying up on some topics.

- [Write-in topics; up to three. Also enter a justification as to why Taylor is studying these topics.]

] Go over to Madison's. Terry kind of grew on you a little, and you'd like to see him again. Plus, while you've had a few outlets for your stress recently, you're still not feeling the greatest. You'd like to spend some time with Madison.

- Success chance: 50%.

- General results: Madison gains 2 Affection. Taylor spends some more semi-platonic time with Madison.

- On a success: Madison's mother leaves for the day before Taylor arrives.

- On a failure: Taylor's presence in their house triggers another argument between Madison and her father and Madison's mother. This will result in the schism between Madison and her mother growing, worsening Madison's personal issues.

] Invite Madison over to your house. Dad's been invited over to Alan's house for lunch; he invited you along, but you declined. This means, however, that you have the house to yourself for most of the day, as he won't be there. This gives you a window to do some things you normally can't do.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Madison gains 1 Affection, Lust and Submission. Provides a scene in which Taylor and Madison engage in sexual play while nude, although does not result in proper sexual scenes. May provide a scene in which Taylor dresses Madison up in very inappropriate clothing and encourages her to cook for her like that. Provides some mental stress relief for Taylor.

] Go to Glory Girl's book club again. You haven't been doing very much reading there, but considering what- or who- you have been doing, you're more than okay with that. This time, you're pretty sure you can push her loyalty far enough that you can engage her personally.

- Success chance: 70%

- General results: Increases Lust by 1, Loyalty by 1 and Theatricality by 1. Victoria wears even skimpier panties this week as she allows Taylor to fondle her in front of her book club again, allowing some accidental skin-to-skin contact. Victoria shows her inexperience with girls as she attempts to sexually fondle Taylor in turn.

- On a success: Increases Loyalty by 1 and Affection by 1. Taylor engages Victoria in personal conversation, resulting in Victoria sneakily flying Taylor home and explaining the four rules of her open relationship with Dean. Victoria will cheat on Dean for the first time as she breaks the first of their four rules and allows Taylor to kiss her. Opens up potential for Victoria to visit Taylor at her home in future.

- On a failure: Victoria is called home early. Such a let-down.

] Do something you may regret, and spend some of your weekend looking into the current state of Winslow. There's bigotry and violence there, and you're not sure what the root cause of it all is, although you know it materializes in the form of high-school gang members. If you're going to address the problems of Winslow- which you're going to need to do if you want to openly date girls there- you're going to need to understand what's causing the issues there.

- Success chance: 50%.

- General results: Provides basic information on gang structures, recruitment methods and general gang activities at Winslow. Increases Taylor's stress levels when done on weekends, but doesn't eat up a more limited weekday slot.

- On a success: Provides further information regarding the above topics. Provides information regarding Rune's association with Winslow and her involvement with the problems at Winslow. Increases recruitment chance of Rune by 5%.

- On a failure: Taylor accidentally draws some gang attention to herself, forcing Sophia to intervene behind the scenes. Oops.

- Success chance: 40%. Will be available every weekend in future until successful or Taylor decides against getting a regular job.

- On a success: Finds a job, the details of which will be determined on success.

- On a failure: Youth unemployment continues to remain steady.

View in Thread

Last edited: Jul 9, 2016

Jul 9, 2016 ReportLike

Jep Gambeson, Fred Flintstine, PanDron and 208 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.13

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: 70%.

Necessary roll: 30. Rolled: 95. Success.

Success chance: 50%.

Necessary roll: 50. Rolled: 85. Success.

Despite all the work you put in at the clinic yesterday, and the fact that you stayed up past midnight getting to the end of your maths textbook, you find yourself stumbling out of bed just after six on Saturday morning, blinking drearily at the peeling wallpaper in the hall as you incautiously make your way out of your room and down to the kitchen.

You set the percolator to bubble away and busy yourself making some toast for breakfast. Dad must have gone shopping again, because there are more groceries in the fridge again- including, this time, three whole tomatoes. Excellent. Several slices of a tomato are cut off, as thinly as you can cut them, and you carefully wrap the rest of the tomato in plastic before tossing it back in the fridge.

It's not the fanciest breakfast, you lament a few minutes later; a cup of sugar- er, a cup of coffee- and two slices of toast with thin slices of cheese, tomato, and cucumber atop them. As garnishing, you shake a little pepper over the top and sit at the table. It's somehow even less exciting when you're actually eating it. It does wake you up a bit, though.

You eye the clock, noting the time. It's just passed six thirty; you have plenty of time to do some simple investigation before you head downtown or whatever.

Remembering the disaster that had happened last time you turned the computer on this early, you retrieve a towel from the linen closet, dropping it over the modem before you turn the computer on. The muffled sound of the dial-up kicking in is still worryingly loud, but not so disastrously so that you're worried it'll wake Dad up.

You set the percolator to boil again, making a mental note- not that those have actually been helping- to make yourself another cup in ten minutes or so, and load up a search engine to begin your search.

Soon enough, you're forced to duck back to your room and retrieve a notebook and pencil to keep track of the information you're getting. There's a veritable flood of it on some very easily accessible pages now.

As far as you can tell, there's a new mayoral election coming up soon, and every candidate and their mothers have started talking about their plans to "fix the problems facing minorities in less accessible areas of the lower Bay area" and "introduce economic stimuli to incentivize the youth population of Brockton Bay to remain in school and find gainful employment in the tech/customer service/sciences industry". You're not very good with politics, but you know enough not to trust a politician to say what they mean outright on their page, so you spend most of your time reading up on them and then checking various political blogs written by people in the Bay to see what they're really saying.

From what you can tell, the problems facing Winslow are as such:

First, and most pressingly, 'gang culture' has become firmly entrenched in the minds of youths living in areas of low economic stability.

This is one you feel confident in believing, because you've seen the signs around Winslow. A lot of students there have already signed up to one of the big gangs in the city.

Not many of the articles go into much detail on the topic, but you don't need them to; you already know all about this one. It wasn't as bad as it is now even five years ago, but as gang culture has entrenched itself more and more solidly in the minds of the citizens of Brockton Bay, it's become easier for them to recruit people. Recruitment of people as young as thirteen or fourteen swelled a few years ago, when there was essentially no oversight of the students at Winslow, and it was realized that the school could be used for trafficking.

As the gang population at the school swelled, cliques started to form. Brotherhood members would harass members of minority groups, leading to the members of the minority groups signing up to the ABB to join together against the Brotherhood in solidarity. This would lead other people to grow frightened, allowing Empire recruiters to prey on the newly vulnerable teens.

Second, and directly related to the first problem; there's a very real crime problem amongst disadvantaged youths.

Many of the political blogs you read talked about how this is due to those youths being hit hardest by economic disadvantages and the current unemployment problem in the Bay, leading to swelling crime rates as youths seek to find additional sources of income for their families, and are preyed upon by recruiters along the way. It makes sense, you suppose, although something about that niggles at you.

Third, and following implicity from the second, is the drug problem running rampant through Winslow.

Not just a drug consumption problem, either. Drugs are actively being sold by suppliers at Winslow. Teens are sold low-grade drugs like marijuana or low-grade amphetamines, acting as 'gateway drugs' and slowly drawn into trying and buying heavier drugs like methamphetamines or ecstasy. Some of them are in turn drawn into selling drugs to support their own habits, while others simply drop out of school.

There are a lot of people arguing about that one in the comment sections on the blogs, though, so you're not sure how much you should buy into it.

You're pretty sure that this is why the Protectorate and New Wave focus so much on their public outreach programs. They could spend their time out on the streets arresting drug dealers, but that wouldn't deal with the issues that have caused them to spring up. People would still be out of a job, and people would still be addicted. It might make things more difficult for a few weeks, but eventually, you'd just find more suppliers on the streets, and the situation would repeat itself.

You're about to give up when something catches your eye- a comment on a blog you'd just been about to close.

[3 days ago] GreenArien replied to xxTreeLover22xx:

"They should just shut down Winslow XD Evryone knows its got most of the drugs going thru it nyway!!"

That wouldn't help anything. My buddy at the school tells me that Rune's been riding them to push more lately. Going through Winslow's the only way they're able to keep up with demand and avoid her punishing them. Shut it down and you're not going to see less being pushed- you'll just see more aggressive pushing outside of the school.

First step's to take down Rune and her Brotherhood buddies. Hate to say it, but I think I gotta support the ABB here. They're full of dickheads, but they're making a difference. Protectorate's got it going, but they're thinking long-term. ABB's all short-term right now. Gonna have to take them down eventually, but if they can take down the Brotherhood down, good on them.

I miss Shadow Stalker being around as often as she used to be. I know she was brutal, but she was getting results like the ABB are. Too bad she decided to join the Wards. Gotta make a living, I guess. Just wish she'd waited a few more months."

Well, that's intriguing. You're about to load up PHO and read up more into that when you hear the halls creaking as Dad walks out of his bedroom. It's nearly ten, you see when you look at the clock, so that makes sense.

Hastily, you close the windows you were working on and set the computer to boot down. Dad doesn't notice, too busy glaring sleepily at the percolator- oh, damn, you forgot to make yourself another cup- to pay any attention to what you're doing.

"Morning, Taylor," he mumbles eventually. "Coffee?"

"Yes please," you reply with a smile. He grunts, but a smile tugs at his lips.

Neither of you says anything further until Dad's halfway through his second cup of coffee. His cheap digital watch beeps at him, and he looks down at it, surprised for a moment.

"Oh," he says, looking mournfully down at his coffee. "I'd better go have a shower. Alan's invited me over for lunch today, Taylor, did you want to come?"

You shake your head. "I already have plans today," you say quickly. "With Madison." You didn't, but you do now, you quickly decide. "Gotta study some biology."

He nods, accepting that. "Alright then, kiddo," he says, ruffling your hair affectionately. You squeal a little and back away, leaving him to chuckle quietly to himself. You pout at his retreating back. Messing with the hair is not cool!

Five minutes later, Dad's in the shower, and you're on the phone to Madison. Terry answers, voice already chipper and hyper, but he hands the phone over easily enough.

"Madison!" he calls out in a loud whisper. "It is Tay-Tay!" He giggles naughtily at the newly-bestowed nickname as Madison takes the phone off him.

"Taylor, hi!" she says breathlessly. "Um, excuse me for a moment- Terry!" Her voice rises abruptly. "Get out!"

"But I don't wanna!" you hear the kid whine. "I wanna talk to Taylor too!"

"Too bad." There's the brief sounds of a scuffle, then a loud wail and the click of a door. "Sorry," she says sheepishly. "He's being a brat because Dad told him he wasn't allowed to have a new game until he gets five more stickers on his chore chart."

A chore chart? Huh. You vaguely remember having one of them when you were a little kid. "That's okay," you reassure her. "Take your time, Maddie."

"Don't need to, already kicked him out." Satisfaction is evident in her voice for a moment, before shyness overtakes it. "Um, so. Hi."

"Hi again," you reply dryly. She responds with awkward laughter, and you can't stop a huge grin from taking over your face at the sound of it. "So, guess what?"

"Um, giant insects have invaded the Bay?" She sounds so uncertain that you can't stop a loud peal of laughter from bursting out your chest.

"Oh jesus, Madison," you wheeze. "Where did that one come from?"

"I'm sorry!" she replies petulantly. "I'm not good at guessing games. You should- um, please just tell me?" You don't miss the way that her demand turns into a plea halfway through the sentence.

You lean against the wall, smiling broadly down the phone. "I don't know that I want to now," you tease her. "I wonder what you'll come up with next~"

"Taylooor!" she whines. You don't give in, and she continues on grumpily, "Fine. Um, you bought a limousine?"

"Nope," you say cheerfully, but you don't have the heart to keep her in suspense any longer. "Dad's going to lunch with Emma's dad again, so I have the house aaaaall to myself today."

There's silence for a few moments, and you can almost hear Madison's cheeks sizzling over the phone. "U-u-um, that's nice," she says shakily. "Did- did you want me to-?"

"Yep!" You tangle your hands in the phone line, almost shaking in your anticipation. "Can you come over?!"

You're taken a little aback by how vehement her response is. "YES!" she practically yells. "Sorry, yes. Um, let me go ask Dad. Did you want me to... bring anything?"

For a moment, you consider it. "Nope," you decide. "I only need you." She inhales sharply at that.

"Okay," she says. "I'll be there in an hour, then."

It turns out to be a little less than an hour. Dad has already left by the time Rick pulls up with Madison in the car, waving genially at you. Madison climbs out of the car, clutching her schoolbag and- is that her chemistry book? You wave back at Rick, then give Madison a quizzical look.

She looks down at her books and lets out a little embarrassed laugh. "Oh, yeah," she says sheepishly. "Um, I just told Dad that we'd be doing some more tutoring. It's so embarrassing otherwise."

You roll your eyes affectionately at her, then pull her inside and quickly close the door. She looks a little nervous as you lead her to your room, so you reach down and grab her hand, squeezing it in your own. "Don't worry," you say, trying your best to sound encouraging. "There's nothing to be nervous about."

She gives you a tremulous grin. "Yes there is," she says simply. "But it's okay."

You're a bit confused. "There's not," you say more firmly as you finally make it into your bedroom. "Madison, you're the cutest girl I know. You don't-"

She abruptly comes to a stop, tugging against your hand to bring you to a stop as well. "No, that's not it," she says firmly. "Taylor, I'm not nervous about showing you my body. My body is yours. You can look at it whenever you want. I'm nervous about seeing you."

Which, well.

Ouch.

"No, wait, that came out wrong," she corrects herself quickly. "I'm not- I don't mean... I don't mean I think it's going to be bad." Her voice grows progressively stronger as she talks. This is evidently something she feels passionate about. "I want to do this. I really do. I've even been dreaming about it," she admits frankly. "But I can't- I can't just make myself not nervous. This is a big thing for me, Taylor. I can't be as casual about this as you are. This, all of this, it really means a lot to me, and that makes me nervous."

You don't know what to say to that, so in lieu of a quick response, you pull her over to your bed, then push her down and curl up beside her, wrapping your arms loosely around her waist. Your lips are suddenly dry.

Everyone wants to talk about feelings lately. You hate talking about feelings.

But you hate seeing Madison upset more.

"I'm not-" You stop, clenching your jaw as you try to formulate words. "I don't- It's not-" A frustrated growl escapes you before you can stop it. Madison trembles in your arms, but for once, doesn't turn around to try to comfort you. You let out a long sigh and try to think your words through.

"You know..." The words drag on for a moment. "I'm not... I'm not being casual about this, Madison. I'm not." The girl in question shifts in your arms, turning to look at your face for a moment. "I know it might seem like I am, but I'm not." You press a gentle kiss to her forehead, buying yourself another moment to formulate your thoughts. "I might be interested in other women, but that doesn't mean, it doesn't mean I don't like you, Madison. I do. You don't know how much I like you."

Frustration rises in you. You don't know how to say any of this.

So you just say the first thing that comes to mind.

"You're important to me." You press another kiss to her face, this time on her nose, a little ritualized gesture you've come to use whenever you want to reassure her. "Our relationship is important to me."

"Are you sure?" She sounds hesitant, like she's afraid to ask the question.

"Of course," you say confidently. "I might have other women, but that doesn't mean you're any less important to me, Madison. You're mine, and that's not going to change, and that's all that matters. You're mine, and I don't let go of what's mine."

She looks hesitant, vulnerable, but she lets go of you and retreats so she can lie beside you and stare at you.

Yeah, you're really going to have to keep an eye on her, you decide. You know she's insecure, but you didn't think it ran this deep. Did something else happen to her that made her worry about how people felt about her like this?

Regardless, you sit up, then lean over and pull her up so she's leaning against you, getting that full-body contact going again.

"I wasn't even planning on having sex today," you murmur in her ear. "I don't think either of us is ready for that. I don't want our first time to be a cheap encounter on the couch while Dad's out having lunch with his friend. It should be special for you."

Madison burrows her head against your neck. "Okay," she breathes. "That would be nice."

You kiss the top of her head. "I just wanted to get a bit more comfortable with you," you continue. "So that our first time is less awkward. I'm a bit..." Boyish. "... insecure. And horny," you admit frankly, "but if it was just that, I could take care of it by myself. I wanted to get used to seeing you naked, and I wanted to get you used to seeing me naked. That's all."

"Mmm." She kisses your neck, then sits back some to look at your face. "That's all?" she asks softly.

"That's all," you confirm.

She hesitantly grips the hem of her shirt, but she looks nervous still. Too nervous. You move forward, grabbing her hands and pulling them down.

"You don't have to," you tell her seriously.

Shaking her head, Madison exhales a long sigh. "No, I do want to," she says. "I'm just... still a bit nervous. Insecure." She scoffs. "It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?"

You shake your head vehemently. "Not at all," you reassure her. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to, Madison. But I'll make you a deal, okay? If you take off some clothes, then I'll take off some clothes at the same time. You won't have to do it alone."

Considering that for a moment, she nods, first hesitantly and then more firmly. "Okay," she agrees. "Okay. If you'll do it with me, then that's fine."

She starts with her shirt first, then her bra. You hurriedly take your own shirt off, but the first problem immediately presents itself- you don't have a bra to take off. Your breasts aren't large enough for you to need even the smallest bra most places stock. Madison doesn't seem to mind, though, because the first thing she does when she finishes taking off her own bra is to lean over and place an open-mouthed kiss over each of them, lingering for a few moments as she places heavenly little licks around your stiff nipples. "So cute," she murmurs. "I really do like your boobs, Taylor. They're little, and that's okay. They're cute. I like them." She leans up and gives you a quick kiss on the mouth before scooting back and beginning to undo the button on her pants.

A warmth spreads through your gut at her words, entirely unrelated to the arousal pooling in you as you take in Madison's own breasts.

You slide your pants down your legs in unison with Madison, leaving the two of you dressed in nothing but socks and panties. You're a bit jealous of her legs, in all honesty- she's got that cute, soft look to hers without the fat that usually builds up on a soft body frame. Your own legs, in contrast, are more muscled and toned than hers. She seems fascinated by them, pausing in her task of taking her panties off to rub circles over your calf muscles for a moment. You return the favour, running your fingers lightly up and down her thigh, enjoying how soft her skin feels against your fingers.

She catches herself after a moment and gives you an embarrassed smile, then hesitantly hooks her fingers in her panties. You catch on and hook your fingers in your own, quickly sliding them down in an attempt to reassure Madison. She hesitates for a moment- or, no, she's just too busy staring at your suddenly-revealed pussy to keep her end of the bargain. You smirk, and just enjoy her ogling for a minute or two, spreading your legs slightly to give her a better view. Eventually, she startles out of her reverie; you give her a teasing smile, and she flushes hard as she slides her own panties down, then her socks.

When she moves to sit up, you gently splay your hand over her stomach and push her back down. She trembles slightly, but obeys, giving you a worried look. You take a moment to pull your socks off, then slide down the bed. "Don't worry," you tease her. "You took a nice long look at me. I just want to return the favour."

She blushes, but you ignore the urge to lean up and kiss her in favour of sliding further down her body and parting her legs.

Madison is already glistening when you get down there, her pussy thoroughly soaked through. You're not sure what caused that, but you're glad about it. You study it for a few moments, turning your head this way and that. It's cute, you decide eventually. Very cute. Her lips are puffy, and she's a very cute shade of pink. She's even completely shaved, and recently, judging by the lack of regrowth. You reward her for that by giving her a quick kiss, lip-to-lip, then quickly sit up and give her an innocent look.

She looks back at you with flushed cheeks, but doesn't say anything other than to lean towards you and give you another kiss, this time on the mouth. "Mm," she murmurs with a cheeky grin. "You're definitely right about this naked thing. I could get used to being naked around you."

You almost reply with "And you should!", but as tempting a thought as it is, maybe that's something that should wait for after you move out of your Dad's home. Instead, you just give her another kiss and a small grin.

"Now," you say, then pause and quickly hurry over to your closet, where you pull out a jacket and hold it out for Madison. "We're going to watch a movie. Unfortunately, we're going to have to walk past the dining room window to get to the living room, so could you please put this on?"

She accepts it easily and shrugs it on, although she looks a little disappointed until she subtly holds the jacket to her nose. "Lost interest in being naked already?" she jokes, voice muffled.

You shake your head vehemently. "I could never get tired of you being naked," you declare. "But your body is for me to enjoy, and me only. Nobody else gets to see it."

Her eyes darken at the comment. You pause, then review what you just said. You don't quite blush, but you do internally wince. You're going to have to be careful with the possessive remarks around Madison if you want to make sex with her special. Every time you remind her that she's yours, she gets a little more turned on, and there's nothing fun about orgasm denial.

Besides- it's not like her body is completely hidden. You can't see her breasts, but you're not so much taller than her that your jacket completely covers her ass.

Madison disappears into the kitchen while you head out to the living room to set up the movie. It doesn't take long, just enough time to set a DVD into the second-hand DVD player and turn the TV on, so you wander back out to the kitchen to watch Madison as you wait.

There's something extremely erotic about watching a half-nude Madison wander around your kitchen. She notices you watching at one point, and after checking to confirm that nobody will be able to see her while she's in here, she pulls down the zipper on her jacket to reveal her breasts, but doesn't take it off. She totters around the kitchen, moving between a cutting board on which she's preparing sandwiches and a saucepan in which she's cooking the meager amount of popcorn you have in the house, taking deliberate care to make sure you can watch her nude ass as she does.

Eventually, she's done. She zips the jacket back up for a few moments as she heads out to the living room carrying the food, then finally moves over and closes the blinds on the living room windows so she can take the jacket off.

And- oh yes, you think to yourself as she follows you over to the couch and carefully lays her nude body atop yours, dragging the bowl of popcorn over so she can feed it to you. You could get very used to this.

Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end at some point. You manage to get through three movies in the meantime- you'd wanted to push for the Earth Aleph remake of The Man in the Iron Mask, but held your tongue and allowed Madison to pick from the meager amount of romance movies you'd managed to convince Dad to buy for you- but eventually, the clock hits seven, and the two of you have to return to your room and reluctantly pull your clothes back on before Dad gets home.

When Rick rolls up to pick her up, you think he's surprised to see that Madison's clothes aren't ruffled and her hair is still intact. He can obviously tell that the two of you weren't studying, since Madison forgets her chemistry book and has to make an embarassing run back to your room to retrieve it, but it's obvious the two of you didn't go all the way today. You can see him considering that for a moment, but when he sees Madison's happy face- and believe you, have you worked hard today to bring that expression back to her- he gives you a smile and a thumbs-up. You return it along with a cheesy wink, and try very, very hard not to think about what you just spent eight hours doing with Madison in front of him.

You spend the rest of Saturday obsessing over Madison. You'd known that she harboured insecurities about your relationship with her, but you hadn't realized she was that insecure about it. You're probably going to have to address that soon, if you don't want your relationships with other women to interfere in your relationship with Madison.

That's not something you can do anything about just yet, though. You try to put it out of your mind, and you're mostly successful come Sunday morning. Largely, of course, because you're given something else to obssess about instead; Glory Girl.

You're still not quite sure where you stand with the heroine. You've set your influence into her mind, but you're rapidly approaching the point where you're balking at using your powers on her any more. Much more, and you're not going to be just inserting yourself into her fantasies- you're going to be twisting them. And you're not going to do that to a hero.

Your doubts continue plaguing you even as you get on the bus and head off to the book club. It's not until you get close enough that you can feel Glory Girl's eager anticipation that you manage to shove them in the back of your mind where they belong.

"Taylor!" You're immediately accosted by the heroine the moment you walk through the bookstore's door. You would return the hug, but her arms are wrapped around you so tight that you can't get them out. She's taking care not to squeeze you so hard you can't breathe, you note thankfully.

"Hello, Victora," you say with your most charming grin. She returns one of her own, which, wow, okay, you don't even know why you bothered. Her grin could and would eat yours for breakfast. You drop your eyes away from her depressingly gorgeous grin down to her jacket, which you notice is yet again different to the others she's been wearing- this one's a dark blue, instead.

When you look back up, she's giving you a naughty grin, but doesn't say anything. Instead, she just reaches for your hand and moves to lead you upstairs. Hesitation rises in her for a second, and she turns to look at you; you take the opportunity to dash in front of her and lead her up the stairs, ignoring the amusement you can feel emanating from her.

As usual, the clock in the store starts tolling a few moments after you arrive. Victoria leads you over to your seats and quickly shrugs her heavy jacket off, revealing her fetish costume beneath.

Everything proceeds as per normal until you try to lift her skirt up and she grabs your wrist warningly. You look at her, a little wounded, and she shoots you an apologetic look before turning back to her conversation for a moment. She's a little ruder than she needs to be with how she shuts the line of conversation down, but you don't mind, because it means she can explain herself faster.

As it turns out, the explanation is very simple. She leans towards you and murmurs into your ear, "No peeking today. Touching only."

A little intrigued, you gently pull on her skirt until it's just high enough for you to easily slip your hands under it. Victoria allows it, but grabs her skirt with her left hand at that point. She's far stronger than you- there's no way you can overcome that.

The reason becomes very clear the moment you touch her and find warm, wet skin there, instead of the soft silk you'd been expecting.

You shoot her an intrigued glance. She gives you an embarrassed smile in turn. She can't be obvious about anything, you know, so you stretch your powers out to her.

You take care not to actually tug on anything; you just brush your senses over her, taking in what she's feeling. And she's a mess in there today.

Her emotions are warring with each other. You can feel a thick cloud of shame hanging over her, contending with a flame of lust burning within her. No- contending with it, but also feeding it. The stronger the shame gets, the stronger the lust gets. Guilt gnaws along on the outset, but it's smothered by... something. You can't place it, but you've been feeling it from Sophia, and from Madison the couple of times you've accidentally reached for your power in her presence. Something warm and pleasant, directed at you.

Gently, you begin rubbing your knuckles along her wet folds. You're probably lucky that she isn't talking when you do, because her breath immediately hitches; if she'd been talking, everyone would have noticed that.

For a few moments, you just gently explore her pussy with your fingers, feeling how wet she is, how wet she's getting as you play with her. Then, you try sliding a finger into her.

Try, because she immediately lets go of her skirt and pulls your hand away, shaking her head slightly. She leans back towards you and murmurs, "No fingering, either. Okay?"

You pout at her. "Why not?" you whisper back.

She glances around the room. "I'll explain later," she replies quietly. "No looking, and no fingering. Okay?"

You reluctantly nod. If those are her rules, those are her rules, but you're not happy about them.

You content yourself with punishing her by trying to draw a reaction from her as you play with her, searching for all her sensitive spots. You remember most of them from last week, but it's fun to map out her pussy with her fingers and memorize each and every one of her most sensitive spots. There's her clit, of course, although you try not to play with that too much; it feels like cheating when you make her gasp with a quick flick to it. She still enjoys it when you squeeze her lips together, too- but not nearly as much as she does when you gently rub the length of one of your fingers between her lips. The first time you do that, you draw an audible gasp from her- and that's before your hand brushes her clit.

In fact, you end up having so much fun that you miss it when the clock rings to mark two o'clock, and the cessation of today's session. Victoria has to forcibly drag your hand away so she can put her jacket back on, causing you to look around, confused. Not that she minds; you can feel that with a quick brush of your power. In fact, she doesn't mind at all. You can feel how strong her lust has grown- her shame has diminished, and whatever that warm feeling of hers is, it's grown even stronger.

"Come on," she says quietly once everyone else has left. "Is anyone picking you up today?"

You shake your head. "No, I take the bus home."

Victoria hums. "I'll fly you home then," she tells you. "If that's okay with you. I'll explain along the way."

You nod once, sharply. "Sure," you say. If she hadn't asked permission, you might have been miffed, but she did.

The two of you head outside and to a nearby alleyway, whereupon Victoria sweeps you up into her arms, bridal style and flies in the direction you point out. Silence flows between the two of you for a moment as the girl tries to gather her thoughts.

Eventually, a few blocks later, she speaks up.

"You know I'm in a relationship, right?" she asks. You nod. You know- you just don't care. "Right. Well, I'm dating someone, and I lo- I like him a lot. Not that I don't like you a lot, too," she hastens to add. "But I've known Dean for a long time, and I'm actually dating him."

"Yet you still let me play with you," you say dryly. She raises an eyebrow at how you describe it, but doesn't comment on that.

"Yeah," she says instead. "We have a bit of an open relationship. It was my idea a while back, when Dean was having troubles- well, you don't need to know about that. But anyway, he was having some troubles with some other women, and we talked it over, and came to an agreement we could live with. We set four rules."

You look up at her quizzically. "Hm," you comment. "What are the rules?"

Her hands jerk, as though she went to count them off her fingers before remembering she's still carrying you. "Oops. Well, they're pretty simple rules. One, no kissing. It gets too messy. Two, no nudity. Underwear is fine, but we can't show our privates to anyone else. Three, no sex. We can, like, dry hump, but that and fondling's as far as we can go. And four, no falling in love. Goes back to rule one. Too messy."

Considering that, you tilt your head. "Huh," you say. "I'm in an open relationship myself, but we don't have rules like that."

"... Huh." Victoria stares down at you for a moment, then clears her throat and begins to descend. She comes to a stop in an alleyway, one you recognize as only being a couple of blocks away from your house. "Well, okay, I didn't expect you to be in an open relationship too. But, yeah. That's why I had to stop you."

"Mm." You make no moves to get down from her arms, and she doesn't try to put you down, just floats in the middle of the alleyway, looking down at you. Then, abruptly- before she can react- you lean up and kiss her on the mouth.

She doesn't react for a moment, stunned. Then she shakes her head and lets out an amused scoff. "I should have seen that coming," she says tiredly. "I don't know why I expected you to let this go that easily."

"That was silly of you, yeah," you agree, and kiss her again. She's passive at first, not stopping you, but not participating, either. Then, she slowly begins to kiss you back- gently, barely moving, just barely opening her mouth and nipping lightly at your upper lip. You take the chance to quickly swipe your tongue against her lower lip. She shives against you, and this time, after you break for air she's the one who leans forward and kisses you.

You don't let it evolve to a full make-out session, keeping the kisses gentle and soft, trying to tease her out of her shell. She responds, shying back whenever you get too aggressive, but otherwise fully participating in the kisses.

Eventually, you lean back, satisfied. Victoria blinks slowly, as though waking from a spell, and gently places you on the ground. She can't resist leaning in for one last kiss before taking a step back, though.

"I'll see you next Sunday, Taylor." She sighs, although her disappointment isn't aimed at you, and gently rises into the air.

You're tempted to whistle happily as you step out of the alleyway and begin making your way home- it's not too far from here, although for a moment you wonder how Victoria knew where you lived (the answer becomes clear momentarily: there's a bus stop just outside the alleyway, the same bus stop you wait at for your bus).

Well. That went better than expected, you think to yourself.

Eventually, though, all weekends must pass. Night falls, and you find yourself falling back into your planning sessions as you look to the week ahead.

You honestly haven't used your power that much recently. Minor uses of it, but they've been small enough to not trigger your headache. By now, it's faded entirely. You're hesitant to use it too much, because you know that it could come back with a vengeance if you push yourself too far, but the option is there again.

But you can't determine that in a moment. Instead, you turn to your notepad and begin planning to... [Pick two options. Tutoring with Madison is locked in for the next two weeks, as per an earlier vote.]

] Investigate the situation at Winslow further. You've seen the situation through a political lens; now it's time to investigate the situation yourself. You can't exactly go around asking everyone, but you can try and observe, in class and without. See how many people are in gangs, what they're doing, who they hang out with; all that kind of stuff. Anything you can use when you begin planning out how to deal with the problems here.

- Success chance: 50%

- General results: Grants ground-level perspective on the situation at Winslow. Introduces pre-trigger Aisha as a character, but does not yet open her for recruitment. Opens up later votes in which recruitment of Rune will become available.

- On a success: Taylor is a master of subterfuge, by which she means, everyone's used to Taylor being weird. Nobody cares that she's paying attention to them.

- On a failure: Gang members take note of Taylor's sudden interest in them. Will force Sophia to intervene behind the scenes to prevent the situation from going bad for Taylor. Note: Forcing this intervention too often will result in Shadow Stalker intervening in Taylor's life, potentially a bad thing if Sophia's recruitment has not progressed enough.

] Sit down with that girl you began manipulating last week- Charlotte. Your romantic life is getting entangled enough as it is, between Madison, Sophia and Victoria; you don't intend on romancing Charlotte. But you could always use another friend.

- Success chance: 40%

- General results: Increases Charlotte's Loyalty by 2.

- On a success: Charlotte will be willing to participate in conversations on a semi-regular basis. Hooray for acquaintances!

- On a failure: Raises the general state of alarm by 2.

] Continue with your time spent at the clinic. It was boring last week, but the only way they'll give you more engaging tasks is if you keep showing up and prove you're reliable. Plus, there was that cute girl there last week. Who knows when she'll show up again?

- Success chance: 65%

- General results: Taylor will spend more time at the clinic. Progresses further down the path of giving Taylor actually interesting things to do there.

- On a success: Doctor Fitzgerald will ask Amy to attend the clinic for a few hours to assist him with treating victims of a minor vigilante attack. Will provide Taylor and Amy more chances for interactions.

- On a failure: Taylor will have to focus on stacking pill boxes. Will probably result in me just summarizing the whole thing in 200 words.

] Find a part-time job you can do after school. It'll be difficult, but... you're being forced to admit that you need money. Not only do you really need to be able to be able to take Madison out on dates, you're pretty sure that if you'd had a cellphone by now, you could have given Victoria your number today and progressed further with her. But since you can't steal the money from anyone- and given the talk about Rune punishing people, you're not even going to steal from Brotherhood members- you need to earn it honestly: by actually working for it.

- Success chance: 55%.

- Special note: If this option is chosen concurrently with attending the clinic, chances will raise by 20%. Additionally, Taylor's progression through the clinic's volunteer ranks will progress faster.

- General results: Taylor continues existing.

- On a success: Taylor will continue existing, but will also have a part-time job doing some basic maintenance and customer service work for a local movie theatre two days a week. Hooray for menial drudgery.

- On a failure: Taylor's jobless life continues unabated. Hail the corporate system.

Spoiler: Stat Gains/Losses

Spoiler: Bonuses Achieved

View in Thread

Last edited: Jul 10, 2016

Jul 10, 2016 ReportLike

Jep Gambeson, Fred Flintstine, PanDron and 212 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.14

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: 65%.

Necessary roll: 35. Rolled: 98. Success.

Success chance: 75%.

Necessary roll: 25. Rolled: 67. Success.

Success chance: 20%.

Necessary roll: 80. Rolled: 53. Failure.

By the time you make it to your locker on Monday morning, your high from the success of your seduction of Victoria has crashed, and you're back to obsessing over your relationship with Madison. Exacerbating this is the slight headache you developed over the weekend; it's not bad, but you're becoming kind of paranoid about stretching your powers too far. You've seen what happens when someone ignores a headache for too long, during the aftermath of your Mom's death. The stress Dad had gone under had resulted in him developing severe headaches that had left him crippled for days until you'd made another trip down to buy high-strength painkillers.

Absently, you wonder if your late-night study sessions have been helping your headaches at all, but you dismiss the thought. It's not like you can afford to stop them even if they were making them worse. You get most of your seduction and manipulations done at school.

Madison seems slightly subdued when you meet with her in first period. You know it's probably a bad idea, but when you see her downcast face, you can't help but sit there and pull her into a hug anyway, at least until the teacher glares at you for disrupting his class. You try not to make a big deal about your reluctance to let go of her, but Madison seems to get the idea anyway, and gives you a small smile.

Unfortunately, you're not able to sit next to her in any other class, so the next time you'll be able to sit next to her is during lunch. You're growing wary of sitting next to her at lunch- not only because you're afraid of what some of the gang members at school might do to you if they get it in their head that you're a deviant who needs to be put down, but also because you're getting a little bit worried about how easily Madison is neglecting her friends in order to spend her time with you. Not that you're necessarily against the idea of Madison devoting all her time for you- the thought does have a certain appeal. Hmm...

Regardless, you do have other issues to attend to. And principal amongst them is the girl sitting next to you now, in fourth-period Chemistry; Sophia Hess.

Once, the thought of being assigned to the same project as Sophia would have caused you to break into a cold sweat. Now, there's a certain appeal to it. Not only because it gives you the perfect opportunity to gently tug at her loyalty without having to be obvious in your staring at her, it's mostly because it gives you the chance to actually learn about the girl.

For instance: Sophia is a very aggressive girl. You were already aware of this, having once been the recipient of her cruelty, but it manifests in other ways, too. She gets competitive at so much as the slightest hint that somebody might be better at something than her. It makes you feel a little cruel to admit it, but you take a certain perverse delight in rubbing your academic accomplishments in her face. She looks so cute when she bunches her nose up and sneers half-heartedly at you.

But there's more to her than that. She's a lot smarter than she gives herself credit for, for instance. You're far ahead of her in academic rankings, but you don't have much to do other than study and spend time with Madison. Sophia does.

"Track keeps me pretty busy," she confides to you quietly during Monday's Chemistry lesson. You've been making light talk with the girl about your hobbies, and the topic had eventually swung around to what the two of you do in your time after school. "We meet most days after school at four, and it doesn't let up until eight most days. Sometimes not until as late as eleven. Weekends, too, but we get more time off those days."

You raise your eyebrows at her, sneaking a peek down at her legs. "Well, I can't argue with the results," you note.

She gives you a sly grin. "Didn't think you'd complain, Hebert. But yeah, it keeps me pretty busy."

You nod. "Seems like it," you say. "I have to admit, it's impresive that you manage to keep your grades up as high as you do."

Her face darkens for a moment, before she makes a visible effort to shake herself out of it. "Ah, it's tough, but I manage," she says dismissively. "Han- The teacher makes sure that everyone in the team has some time to sit down and do their school assignments. It's track team, not boot camp, she says. I've got to keep up my grades anyway. Not that I'm looking to get into university or anything, but it's gonna be tough to-" She cuts herself off abruptly. "Well, you know. Job market and all."

"Yeah." You're pretty sure that the track teacher is Mr Brown, actually. Who is most definitely not a 'she', if his constant ranting about transgendered folks is any indication. You frown internally, then reach down into your bag and pull out your water bottle, proffering it silently to Sophia, who takes it with a confused look. You watch her insistently until she rolls her eyes and swallows a mouthful of it. Confusion is one of the first signs of heatstroke.

Sophia barely even insults you through the rest of Chemistry, and in fact gives you a little teasing smile on her way out. You're forced to stop watching her then, when she pauses by the door until Emma comes her way. Sophia is cute, but not that cute.

The rest of the day passes in a little haze. Lunch with Madison goes alright, but you're left yearning for more than the occasional soft touches and hand-holding that you can get away with behind the tree you'd marked as your own. Tutoring isn't the most fun thing in the world, but at least Madison can snuggle up against you during that, and it gives you something to focus on besides work you've done twice over already.

Anxiety about your relationship with Madison still sits heavy in your gut by the time school is out for the day and Dad meets you in his car, though.

He takes one look at you and pauses. "Do you want to go home first, or to the clinic?" he asks.

You consider it for a minute. Going home sounds like a wonderful idea, but- "The clinic," you say absent-mindedly. Quite aside from the issue of cute girls, you volunteered to help out at the clinic, and that's something you feel you should follow through on.

Dad nods nonchalantly. "Okay then," he says. "I'll take you there. Pick you up at seven?"

"Yeah, sounds good."

Dad drops you off with a little wave and a reaffirmation of his promise to pick you up at "Seven on the dot, don't forget!". You give him a small smile and a hesitant wave as he drives off, then turn, take a deep breath, and step into the clinic.

Instantly, you note that it's as busy as it was last week. When you'd first volunteered, there were only three people in the waiting room. Now, there are so many that the two dozen seats set out carefully in the waiting room are completely filled, and you can see at least three people sitting against the wall, looking around with a pained expression on their faces.

Well, you think to yourself as you hurry into the hospital to try and find any spare chairs you can, at least you'll have something to do if things keep being this busy.

For the next hour, you run around the hospital trying to keep up with the influx of clients. With so many little kids in there, there are constantly little messes you have to step in to clean up; they tear the magazines in the waiting room to shreds, throw the toys carefully stacked in a box in the corner all around the receptionist area, and appropriate crayons from somewhere that they begin drawing on the walls with. Someone vomits all over the floor, but thankfully, you're not asked to deal with that one. They call in an actual janitor for that.

The good thing about this kind of menial work, you soon to discover, is that there's just so much of it that you don't have time to obsess over Madison.

It's five forty-nine when Doctor Fitzgerald finally walks out into the waiting room, a harassed look on his face. You're not actively using your power, but even so, you can feel the surprise wash over him when he looks over the waiting area. You flinch a little- you thought you'd done a good job, but apparently, not by the doctor's standards.

He looks around, his gaze eventually falling near you. A warm flash of appreciation flashes through him, and you're forced to fight down a little bit of jealousy at whoever had managed to make him feel good despite your mess. He begins walking towards you, and you have to fight the urge to run.

"Taylor," he greets you calmly. "You can go take a break now, if you want. I'll get one of the other volunteers to take over for you out here until you get back."

So scolded, you hang your head mournfully in shame. "Okay," you mumble. "I'll keep it short, though! I'll be back out here soon!"

He's already summarily dismissed you, though. He nods, but his thoughts have obviously wandered away as another flash of warm appreciation steals through him. He barely gives you another thought as he hurries over to the patients sitting around the waiting room, pulling one of them aside and murmuring lowly to them.

Your depression fades somewhat when you make it to the break room to find a surprise waiting for you, in the form of a mousy little brunette.

Rather than head inside, you opt to stand in the doorway for a few moments, watching her rummage around in the fridge... and rather enjoying it when she bends down to check the bottom shelf, giving you a nice view of her pert ass. It's tempting to go over and let her feel your appreciation, but you refrain. Sophia is the one who doesn't mind you sexually harassing her, anyway. Doing the same to random clinic volunteers is rather less okay.

Besides; if you did so, then you wouldn't be able to enjoy the loud squeak she makes when she finally pulls out a small bowl of chocolate mousse from the fridge and turns around to see you staring at her. The spoon she's holding in her other hand clatters to the floor, and red immediately flares in her cheeks.

You chuckle lowly, an act that only causes the flushing in her cheeks to spread further. "Come on, mystery girl," you say just loudly enough for her to hear. "I know I can be a bit scary, but you shouldn't exaggerate it too much."

"N- no, that's not-" The girl cuts herself off, looking a little exasperated with herself. "No, I don't mean... You're not scary. You just surprised me a little, that's all."

"Ah. And there's a difference, is there?"

She nods her head vigorously. "Obviously. You're too-" Abruptly, she flushes red. Again. This girl spends more time blushing than Madison did when she stripped for you. "I mean, you're not scary enough to scare me! Yeah."

"Oh yeah?" you muse. "I dunno. I think I can be pretty scary when I want to be." You bare your teeth at her in a silly approximation of a snarl, and gnash your teeth at her for a moment when she giggles at you. "See? I can be scary!"

She shakes her head, her giggles fading, leaving behind a little grin. "Very scary," she replies. "Especially the sweater. Really makes you look terrifying."

You look down at your soft green sweater. It's lined with fleece. You're pretty sure you actually resemble a sickly sheep.

Nonetheless, you grin at the girl. "Green is the colour of terror," you reply as seriously as you can. "Didn't they teach you anything in school?"

"I must have missed that lesson," she shoots back dryly. "How silly of me."

You nod emphatically. "Colour theory's an important skill," you inform her. "I learned that in kindergarten." You wince internally as soon as you say it. God, you really need to work on this joking thing a bit.

She looks at you with raised eyebrows, but passes by the obvious comeback. "I see," she says instead. "Are you going to come in, or do you prefer lurking in doorways people need to walk through?"

You shake your head, looking her slowly up and down. "Better view from here," you declare. She blushes again, looking down at her mousse with a small smile.

"Could I tempt you in with some mousse?" she asks, waving it towards you. "Or there was some yoghurt in there, too, maybe you could have that if you don't like mousse..."

You're still a little full from the lunch Madison made for you, but you recognize the invitation for what it is and step inside, pulling up a chair at the table she's standing in front of. "I do like yoghurt," you say. You like mousse better, but the girl had sought out that mousse. You don't want to take it away from her.

She hums, then turns back to the fridge, casually kicking the spoon she'd dropped earlier off to the side as she does so. There is indeed a little tub of yoghurt, although sadly, it's up on the top shelf. You'd rather hoped she'd have to bend down again. Two small spoons are drawn from a rack beside the break room's kitchenette, and you note that she casually kicks the dropped spoon again as she walks past it.

"Here you go." She slides the tub of yoghurt and a spoon over to you, then sits opposite to you and unhurriedly begins to peel the plastic wrap off her mousse. "So," she says once she's finally unwrapped it and has her spoon sitting in the mess of mousse, "what's your name?"

The two of you talk casually over the next ten minutes. You can't help but notice that she deflects your questions about why she's here, but several staff members wander in and out while the two of you talk, and while some of them give you impressed glances behind her back- one doctor, a man you recognize as Doctor Jones, even gives you a thumbs-up, although you're not sure why- none of them seem confused about her presence here. That solves that quandary, at least.

She's very open about personal information, though, at least the kind you're interested in gathering from a casual conversation like this. Her name is Amy, she tells you; she's seventeen years old. You note that she doesn't look too disappointed when you tell her you're fifteen in turn, though you're not sure if that's a good thing or not. You cross your fingers beneath the table, hoping that maybe she's into younger women. She's lived in the Bay area for her whole life, and yes, the weather is very cold recently.

The most interesting thing you learn about her, though, is that she likes to read. And you don't mean the kind of reading most people your age like to do, reading those terrible novellas about people having torrid relationships with capes wearing perpetual brooding expressions. No, she likes to read classical literature.

If Doctor Fitzgerald hadn't walked in, looking more harried than ever, you're pretty sure the two of you might have sat there until seven talking and teasing each other about Dracula. But, sadly, he did.

"Amy!" the doctor exclaims when he sticks his head around the doorway and sees the two of you sitting there talking animatedly. "And Taylor, hello again. Amy, you're needed over in room eight. Taylor, I know you've only just gone on break, but Chloe's finished for the day and the kids somehow got hold of their crayons again. Could you go deal with that for me?"

The two of you are already rising as he speaks. Amy gives you a hurried little wave as she leaves, pulling out- was she sitting on a bundle of sheets the whole time? Apparently, since she pulled them out from the chair she'd been sitting on. What an odd girl.

You shake your head and get back to work.

Plans are formulating in your head overnight, carrying through Tuesday and buoying you up.

You've got plans for finding a job circling in your head. You can't manage them now, not during the week, but when you spoke to Doctor Fitzgerald when you arrived on Tuesday to find a much quieter clinic, he'd agreed to act as a reference for you- and even gone a step further, telling you to go to the Brockton Bay Theatres and speak to his friend Gerald on Saturday. You should be able to start immediately, he informs you, unless he's filled the position already.

Which leaves you with just the rest of the week to plan out. So what are you going to do during the next three days? [Pick two. Madison's tutoring sessions are already locked in.]

- Success chance: 50%

- On a success: Taylor is a master of subterfuge, by which she means, everyone's used to Taylor being weird. Nobody cares that she's paying attention to them.

] Spend some of your time at home relaxing instead of studying. Your headache has abated, but you can still feel stress building in your gut. Maybe if you take some time away from your responsibilities, you can calm yourself down a little.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Lowers Taylor's stress levels down to low stress. Encourages Taylor to think about why Danny hasn't made any attempts to reconnect with her since his failed attempt to talk to her some weeks ago.

] Start getting up earlier so you can begin running. You need to get a bit fitter anyway- you're not quite getting pudgy, but if Madison keeps making you delicious cakes, well. It might leave you a bit tired, but hey, that's what coffee is for, right?

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Taylor will go running in the mornings. Taylor may grow tired some mornings, resulting in her needing people to give her lots of love and kisses to cheer her up. Encourages Taylor to get fit. May result in further interactions with Sophia.

] Spend some time away from studying in the afternoons to browse this 'PHO' site. It's not a perfect resource, but it's the best place you have to go learn about cape news, and there are a couple of capes you want to learn some more information on for various reasons. [Write-in up to three parahumans to learn more about, excluding Panacea [as it'd ruin Amy's storyline :( , and possibly also reasons as to why Taylor wants to learn more about them.]

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Taylor is far enough ahead in her studies that this will not cause her to fail assignments or cause her grades to drop. Taylor will spend some time in the evenings over the rest of the week researching up to three capes online.

View in Thread

Jul 12, 2016 ReportLike

Jep Gambeson, Fred Flintstine, PanDron and 211 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.15

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

You wake up on Wednesday with a growing headache. For a few moments, you lie in bed utterly bewildered- you'd barely even used your powers for days!- before you remember that headaches are in fact allowed to come from sources other than inexplicable superpowers.

That doesn't make it any more pleasant to deal with, though.

You make your way out to the kitchen and wash two aspirin down with your morning coffee. It helps a little, but by the time you've boarded the bus and headed off to school, it's settled into that typical low-key pounding that small headaches tend to do. It's fine so long as there are no sudden loud noises and you don't move your head too fast, but... it's high school.

When first period finally rolls around, you slip into your seat beside Madison and immediately pull her over to you so you can bury your head against the crook of her shoulder, exhaling loudly. You can feel her start a little, then her fingers begin threading through your hair.

She coos quietly as she lightly massages your scalp. "Poor Taylor," she murmurs sympathetically. "What's wrong?"

"My head hurts," you whine. "I took some aspirin, but it's not helping." You pout up at her. Her head sways towards you, instinctively moving to kiss your pout away before she remembers where she is and catches herself. Your pout just grows more prominent. You're pretty sure that Madison kisses fix everything. That's unfair.

She does slide her other arm down to hug you, though, ignoring the teacher's death glare (and how uncomfortable it must be to contort herself into a position where she can rest one arm between your chair and your back) to do so. So there's that. You're pretty sure that a month ago, Madison would never have wilfully ignored a teacher's instructions, let alone do so in order to comfort you.

"Miss Clements." The sound of the teacher clucking in disapproval as he walks over to the two of you makes you clench your jaw in anger against Madison's neck. "Public in... displays of affection aren't appropriate behaviour in the middle of class. Do you have a reason for disrupting the class like this?"

"She's sick, sir." Madison's tone is a bit more challenging than you'd expected from your submissive girl. "She's got a headache."

"Then she should go to the nurse's office," he replies impatiently. "Here- Sophia!" Off to the side, you can just see Sophia's shape jerk up in response. "Take Miss Hebert here to the nurse's office, will you?"

"Sure," you hear Sophia's voice drawl. A few seconds later, you let out a small whine as a dark hand covers your eyes and pulls your head away from Madison's shoulder. Madison pouts too, but slides her arm out from behind your back, causing you to let out a pathetic little moan at the loss of contact. "Come on, Hebert," Sophia grunts.

You reluctantly allow the dark-skinned girl to pull you up out of your chair, letting out an actual groan at the pain the movement sends stabbing through your head. "Shit," you hiss.

"Sorry." Sophia does actually sound a little contrite, and her tugging becomes a little more gentle, allowing you to rise at your own pace. Once you have, she wraps her hand around your wrist; you raise your other wrist to your eyes, making a visible attempt to try to shield off the light streaming through the classroom door. Okay, maybe you're playing it up a little, but it feels nice to have Sophia worrying over you like this. You think you deserve that much from her, at least.

You stumble your way through the halls behind Sophia, too wrapped up in trying to avoid moving too fast to even consider trying to push ahead and make your way to the nurse's office on your own. The girl is gentle with you anyway, setting her pace to one you can match without causing further stabs of pain to travel through your head.

"What did you do last night, Hebert?" she asks eventually. She sounds a little impressed, as though she thinks you'd done something exciting last night.

You shake your head, then immediately regret it. "Nothing," you moan. "I think I went to bed too late. Maybe I slept wrong or something."

Sophia hums. "Sure," she says sarcastically. "Weren't out drinking with your girlfriend, then?"

"No," you protest feebly. "I don't-" You bite your tongue. You'd been about to protest that you don't have a girlfriend, but you're not really sure what qualifies as a girlfriend anyway. Is it just kissing, or is it more involved than that? Do you have to have sex to be girlfriends? On TV, they always told each other they loved them. Maybe that's it? "I don't have a girlfriend," you say eventually. "Just Madison."

Sophia lets out a low, rough chuckle. You wish you were feeling well enough to use your powers to see what she's feeling. This kind of thing is so much trickier when you have to try and figure out what someone is feeling just through what they say. "Right," she says, lightly sarcastic still. "You saying that Madison isn't your girlfriend, then?"

You squirm uncomfortably, blinking at the sudden influx of light when you drop your hand away from your eyes. By the time your eyes have adjusted again, Sophia isn't looking at you any more. Damn it.

"Madison is... Madison." You squeeze Sophia's hand gently, smiling when you feel her hand tighten in response. "She's my girl, but she's not my girlfriend."

Sophia scoffs a little, shaking her head. "You're a weird one, Hebert," she replies. You're glad to notice that her tone has gone back to a joking one, though. "Come on, we're almost there."

She leads you to the nurse's office, a dimly-lit, sterile environment. There are three plastic chairs in there, a cot with a stiff white linen sheet, and too many posters filled with disturbing diagrams of people's innards for you to want to count.

"Miss Hess." You hear the nurse's cold tones emanating from the far corner of the room, where a small door with a glass frame gives him some semblance of privacy and keeps the school's physical medical files out from the hands of students. "Who have you bought me today?"

She levels a flat, unimpressed glare at the nurse. "Taylor Hebert," she says. "Says she's got a headache. I was asked to bring her here. Got me out of class, so eh."

You can see the doctor move backwards on his wheely chair through the glass pane of the window. "Yes, yes. Take a seat on the cot, Taylor. Would you like Sophia to remain with you, or-"

"Yes," you reply instantly, squeezing Sophia's hand. She smirks at you, but doesn't argue, just taking a seat in a nearby plastic chair. You didn't think she'd mind getting out of first period.

"Right," he replies distantly, his voice trailing off. You're pretty sure you're not meant to hear what he says next, judging by how his voice drops lower but he's clearly forgotten that the door is ajar. Both you and Sophia can clearly hear what he murmurs. "Hmm, depression, anxiety, no history of family illness..."

Depression? You wonder absently what he's reading from. Maybe he has a list he likes to read off of? The most common list of illnesses in Winslow. You imagine depression and anxiety would be pretty high up there.

"Okay," he says eventually, louder this time. You're meant to hear this one. "Let's see what's wrong."

For the next ten minutes, you undergo a variety of simple tests. The nurse measures your heart rate, shines a light in your ear, puts a wooden stick on your tongue and asks you to say 'aaaah', and other strange doctor miscellania as you've experienced so many times before. You're impressed at how much patience Sophia exhibits, yawning and staring around the room instead of mouthing off to either of you.

The doctor eventually nods to himself, as though he's confirmed something. "Right," he says. "I suggest you go see a GP, but I don't think you're sick. Tell me, Taylor, have you been doing anything stressful lately?"

"Uhh..." You rub the back of your neck sheepishly. "Yeah."

He nods. "I thought so," he says. "You should speak to your parents about it, but I recommend you take some time to yourself for a while. You're exhibiting signs of stress, that's probably where your headache comes from. In the meantime, I can't give you any more aspirin yet, but if your headache is still bad by lunchtime, come back and see me and I'll give you some more. Okay?"

You nod reluctantly. Take some time to yourself? You already do. That's silly. There's like, an entire hour each day where you're not doing other stuff! But then your head throbs again, and you wince. Okay, maybe it sounds silly, but the man is a registered health practitioner. You probably shouldn't dismiss his advice out of hands. Then again, he's also a Winslow employee, so who knows...

He keeps you in there for the rest of first period, giving your head a chance to recover a bit. You mostly just lie there, staring at the ceiling and clutching Sophia's hands. She doesn't let go the whole time, which surprises you a little bit, but comes as a welcome surprise.

Eventually, though, the bell for second period rings, and you're forced to trudge there with Sophia. She lets your hand go once you reach the office doors; even your pout doesn't persuade her to pick it back up.

When you're about halfway there, and away from the worst of the noise of the other students as they barrel to their next classroom, Sophia leans closer to you. "I don't know if it'll help, but when I get stressed, I go running," she tells you. "It's a good escape, and gets you thinking about other things. Maybe it'll do you some good."

You nod, taking the advice in seriously. It might help, it might not. You'll see how it goes.

Your headache does fade somewhat by lunchtime, but you go back for the aspirin anyway. By the time you get home, it's mostly abated. You remember what the doctor said, though, and instead of reading up on your World History texts until midnight, you stop studying at ten. For a while, you're left floundering- what can you even do?- before you remember what the mystery girl, Amy, had talked to you about yesterday.

It takes some digging around, but eventually you find your copy of Pride and Prejudice. You wander in and out of the story as you go, less enthralled by some parts than others, but you persevere. And, sure enough, you do feel somewhat more relaxed when you head to bed the next night, your head for once not brimming with formulas and chemical equations.

The next day, you wake up early, having set your bedside clock to ring at six. Sophia had advised that you go running in an attempt to clear your head, and you're willing to give it a try, at least. You take a plastic bottle of water with you, not daring to drink a cup of coffee first in case it unsettles your stomach.

It's unsafe to wander too far around your house, so you end up just jogging around the block a few times. After a bit over half an hour, you feel yourself getting winded, and swap to walking for a few minutes. You alternate between walking and jogging then, until you think about an hour has passed- fifty-four minutes, you discover when you head back inside- and head over to the shower to get ready for school.

You're actually a little surprised at how much better you feel now. Not necessarily mentally, but physically. You never quite realized that you'd constantly felt so tired until, finally, you feel like you actually got a good night's sleep for once. It might not last forever, but you quite enjoy not feeling like there's a constant weight on your back any more.

Of course, not everything is good. You're pretty sure you annoyed your teacher by keeping Sophia out so long, judging by the way he keeps shooting you little glances throughout first period that day, and for a while you worry that Sophia is avoiding you. She slides into place without seeming to be too concerned come Chemistry, though. Maybe she's just hiding her annoyance with you. You try to keep your head down and not annoy her, and it works- she doesn't make any biting comments towards you or anything.

But still, overall, you're feeling a bit less stressed out, which is good.

Now you just have to keep that up over the weekend.

Speaking of which; with your suddenly much more plentiful free time, you spend a bit of time working on your plans for the weekend. You've already booked up some of your time on Sunday to go in and see about this job Doctor Fitzgerald had told you about, but the rest of your weekend is free.

In the end, you decide to... [Pick three.]

] Ask Madison if it's okay to go over to her house for the weekend. She told you during tutoring on Thursday that her mother is going away over the weekend to visit her sister, so this is a rare chance for you to visit Madison at her home without risking drawing her mother's ire.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Visit Madison at her house. Probably not the greatest opportunity for sexy times, but Taylor will give it her best. Keeps Madison's concerns at a low simmer by spending time with her.

] Invite Madison out on a date. You still don't have any money, but that's okay- there are a few places you can take her even without any money, right? [Write-in; Where are you going to take her, and what are you going to do with her? Keep in mind that Taylor both has no money and they have to get there by walking.]

- Success chance: Depends on the place.

- General results: Taylor will take Madison out on a date. Dates will be vetted by the GM. Keeps Madison's concerns at a low simmer by spending time with her.

] Spend some time at the library browsing this 'PHO' site. It's not a perfect resource, but it's the best place you have to go learn about cape news, and there are a couple of capes you want to learn some more information on for various reasons. [Write-in up to three parahumans to learn more about, excluding Panacea [as it'd ruin Amy's storyline :( , and possibly also reasons as to why Taylor wants to learn more about them.]

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Taylor will spend some of her time over the weekend researching several parahumans at the local library.

] Go visit Glory Girl's book club again. You're pretty sure that she'll fly you home again, and you can take the opportunity to push her a little bit more. Maybe if you tease her enough- not in the middle of the book club, that's getting a bit dangerous, but during the flight home- you can draw her into being the one to kiss you, this time. The more she participates in this, the sexier she's going to find the idea of cheating on her boyfriend with you.

- Success chance: 80%

- General results: Taylor will attend Victoria's book club again, and encourage Victoria to fly her home. May result in a scene in which Taylor and Victoria kiss again, despite Victoria being forewarned of Taylor's intention to get her to cheat on Dean.

- On a success: Victoria will find the idea a little sexier, initiating the kiss and allowing Taylor to take the kiss a little further. The first step on the line to getting Victoria to break her second rule and show Taylor her nude body.

- On a failure: Victoria unfortunately got in a fight with Dean today, and has to be encouraged into fooling around with Taylor. Only receive the base scene.

] Go and attend to Victoria's book club. She seemed a little upset about something last time. You don't know enough about her personally to push her, but you have been distracting her lately. Maybe you could stand to stop pushing her so hard sexually and just take some time to enjoy each other's presence?

- Success chance: 70%

- General results: Taylor will attend Victoria's book club, playing only lightly sexually with Victoria and actively initiating a discussion with Victoria as she rubs Victoria's again-unclothed pussy. Afterwards, Taylor will lie about needing to pick up a book from the library so Victoria will take her there and they can spend some time talking about books.

- On a success: Victoria gains 1 affection. Victoria will pick up on the hint, and will happily engage Taylor in conversation outside of their sexual relationship. The first step on the line to getting Victoria to break her fourth rule and fall in love with Taylor.

View in Thread

Last edited: Jul 13, 2016

Jul 13, 2016 ReportLike

Jep Gambeson, Fred Flintstine, PanDron and 191 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.16

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: 70%.

Necessary roll: 30. Rolled: 44. Success.

You still keep up with your running on Saturday, but you don't bother getting up quite so early. You don't have to be ready for school a little after right, so you can afford to sleep in until seven and take your time getting ready. You still don't drink any coffee- the air outside is cold enough to wake you up anyway- but you do eat a small bowl of some of Dad's weird nut-and-berry cereal and wait half an hour before heading out.

It's only been a few days, so the sight of the same few blocks around your house haven't quite worn out their welcome yet. You try to vary it as much as you can, criss-crossing through up and down the paths, in the hopes that it'll help you stave off the boredom for as long as possible. You're pretty sure that boredom is eventually going to start frustrating you, though. You'll have to consider some way to liven things up... later.

For now, you just return to your house, absently noting that it's already approaching nine. Dad's awake and standing around in the kitchen when you get back inside; he greets you with a "Hello" and a quick hug around your middle, but otherwise doesn't react much to your entrance. You frown a little, at that. You're pretty sure that most fathers are meant to have more of a reaction than that to their daughters going running in unsafe neighbourhoods.

You're not going to complain, but you frown unsettled at his back. You hadn't thought he was that upset by your refusal to talk.

You shake your head, trying to dismiss the sudden worry that rose in the pit of your gut. It's not like there's anything you can do about it, anyway. You're certainly not going to start talking about that kind of stuff. Dad still loves you anyway, even if you ran away from him... after he opened up and tried to talk about something clearly important to him.

You're pretty sure he does, anyway.

... Then again, you'd thought about Emma too, and look where that'd got you.

Shaking your head furiously, you try to dislodge the doubts suddenly swarming you. No, Dad isn't Emma. One conversation isn't enough to kill your relationship with him.

Maybe you should make an effort to try and do stuff with him again, though. Just in case. It can't hurt to be too careful.

You head to the phone, trying to ignore the sudden unpleasant gnawing in your stomach. It's not something you can do anything about right now, so you should focus on things you can do, right?

The phone rings through, dialing for long enough that the answering machine rings through. You're about to hang up when you hear a soft click, and the harried tones of Madison's father echo over the line. "Hello?"

"Er, hello," you say weakly. "It's Taylor. I was just wondering if I could speak to Madison?"

There's a pause, but when Rick finally replies, his voice is much lighter than it was before. "You're seeing her more than we are these days, it feels like," he says cheerily. "That won't be a problem, Taylor. Hold on, I'll just go give the phone to Madison."

He hurries upstairs, the slap of his feet loud enough against the wooden stairs that you can hear them through the phone line. Eventually, you hear three loud knocks on a door and a short murmured conversation before there's the fumbling sounds of a phone changing hands and Madison's happy voice issues from it.

"H-hey, Taylor," she says faux-casually. "It's nice to hear from you." Warmth practically radiates from the phone at her tone.

Your mouth turns up in a grin at her words and the way she says them. "I know the feeling," you reply, grinning wider at the dopey giggle she lets out at that. "I missed you."

"You just saw me yesterday," she teases you. Then her voice becomes a little more serious, and she admits, "But I missed you too. Do you want me to come over today?"

"No," you say quickly. Then, realizing how that sounds, "I was actually wondering if I could come over to your house today. Unless that's not okay, if you have something else on, then I can just stay home-"

Madison reacts very quickly to that. "No! No, um. Well, yes, actually, but no. I do have something else on, but it shouldn't take all day." Her voice goes quieter, as though she's a little ashamed. "Dad invited Emma's dad over for lunch today. I know you probably don't want to see her, so maybe you could come over after that instead?"

Well, that spoiled your mood quickly.

"Yeah," you reply quietly. You're aware that Emma's been trying to get into contact with you again, of course. Emma wouldn't be Emma if she didn't. You've just steadfastly ignored her efforts. "What time is she leaving?" you ask, at least attempting to sound casual. You're not sure if Madison understands, but you hope she appreciates your efforts anyway.

"Um, she should be gone by around one, but maybe you shouldn't come around until two anyway, just to be safe." You've never heard Madison sound so small before. "I'm really sorry about this, Taylor-"

"Don't be," you say, a little more harshly than you intended. "Don't be," you say again more gently. "You haven't done anything. You've been a good girl. Don't ever think I'm mad at you for something outside your control, okay?"

"Okay," she says hesitantly. "I really am sorry, though. I wish she wasn't coming over so you could come here now."

"Mmm." You make a noncommital noise. As much as you appreciate the thought, you wouldn't want Madison's father to be unable to invite his friends over for lunch just so you could fondle Madison without feeling uncomfortable around Emma. That would be awful of you. "It's really fine, Madison," you say gently. "I'll just do some work until I can get Dad to drop me off around two, okay?"

"Okay," she mumbles. "I'll see you at two then."

As you hang up the phone, you tighten your hand around it and let out a long sigh. You wish you weren't paranoid enough to think it, but as soon as Madison had mentioned Emma, you'd wondered if she'd manipulated things to try and get herself in a position to see you. Again. You can't dismiss the thought as ridiculous, because that's exactly the kind of thing she'd try.

Shaking your head in annoyance, you brush past Dad on your way again, almost causing a piece of toast slathered with jelly to fall to the floor. You hastily rebalance the plate on the bench, giving him a perfunctory "Sorry" as you head over to the computer and boot it up. At least doing some research might calm you down, you think to yourself with an annoyed pout.

Indeed, doing some research had born fruit.

In your notebook, you'd written separate sections for each of the capes you'd looked up. Originally, you'd tried to write the information down as you'd found it, but the pages you'd scribbled information down on quickly became an incoherent mess. Instead, you'd clearly delineated where each section began and ended so you could refer back to it quickly.

You'd started with the cape you needed to know the most about: Rune.

Rune

You already knew that Rune is a Brotherhood cape, and that she's one of the primary people responsible for the current state of Winslow, but that's as much as you'd known. Now that you've spent some time researching it- well, you're pretty glad that you did. It would have been nasty to run into Rune without knowing what she's capable of.

Rune is, as far as you can tell, a younger girl. You think this partially because of a short tangent in Rune's thread on PHO, quickly cut short when a moderator stepped in and cut the discussion short, and partially because of the girl's height and stature. She didn't carry herself as an adult did, walking with that cocky arrogance common to so many of the Brotherhood teenagers in Winslow. In fact, if you had to guess, you'd guess that Rune might even be a bit younger than you, although that's pure speculation. You kind of hope so, though.

Rune is, apparently, one of the Brotherhood's biggest pushers- the people who actually go out and interact with people, trying to push them into following the Brotherhood's goals and get embroiled in with them. A lot of the Brotherhood's capes don't have powersets suitable to this, as their powersets are either too combat-focused or won't let them hold out for long enough to make an escape; they mainly rely on a small subset of their overall cape force to do that, and are forced to rely on unpowered members of the gang to a significant extent.

She's also a cruel person. There are several mentions of her having personally assaulted people, both minorities in the Bay and members of the Brotherhood. The minority bashings all seem to have been fairly chaotic- likely done on impulse, a PRT Agent on the board notes, crimes of opportunity- but the assaults on Brotherhood members sound painful. A woman in the thread, someone who claims to have gotten out from under the Brotherhood's thumb thanks to the Protectorate, claims that Rune likes to punish people who fail her. These punishments are often rather... cruel. Sometimes, they're as simple as beatings, usually reserved for when people lose substantial amounts of money or drugs under her watch. Other times, she likes to humiliate people. One person in the thread recounts a memorable instance in which a Brotherhood member was forced to hospitalize himself in order to get not one, but two dildoes removed from his rectum. Those, apparently, are saved for when people really irritate Rune. Physical punishment and humiliation all in one.

So far as the people on PHO can tell, Rune is able to telekinetically move objects. Weight may come into play on it somehow, as she seems to move heavier objects slower. Weight or size, but the general thread consensus is that it's weight, else the city would probably see her carrying around things like metal darts to take advantage of her capabilities. Sometimes, she uses her powers for offensive purposes, but just as often, she uses larger objects as transport, mimicking flight capabilities (something none of the city's Protectorate members had been capable of until Dauntless, a fact Rune takes full advantage of) or providing herself with mobile cover and shields. Not the kind of power you want to have to take on alone.

If you're going to fight Rune, you think, you're probably going to want Victoria along. Not just to help you by drawing fire without risk to herself, but also for her flight capabilities. Without her, you can't follow if Rune just drags a chunk of concrete up and flies away on it. You could try to run after her, but she has a lot more stamina than you do.

You briefly consider getting someone who has some form of ranged attack, as well. Closing in on Rune might prove problematic unless the person doing it is a speedster, as Rune's attacks are effective both at short and medium range. If Glory Girl is around to draw fire, and you have someone who can blast her from afar...

But then again, it might be best if you didn't fight her at all. You're not quite sure how you'd manage that, though. Maybe there's a way you can approach Rune without risking combat? That might not be the greatest idea in itself, though- you're pretty sure that the only ways to do that would be to either find out who she is outside of her cape identity and seduce her non-cape identity, or put yourself in the Brotherhood's eye in order to draw her out. Neither option appeals to you very much.

Iron Rain

Iron Rain is, of course, the Brotherhood's leader. You knew that much before you got into this. That's also the extend of your knowledge on her; you know she exists and leads the Brotherhood, and that's about it. Given the Brotherhood's influence in Brockton Bay, and in Winslow specifically, you need to correct that. You almost wish you didn't when you finally do.

Unlike her brother, Kaiser- someone else you'd tried to look up, but you hadn't had much luck in trying to find information about him; apparently, he likes to avoid the public eye- Iron Rain doesn't seem to care about keeping a low profile. She takes care to avoid killing heroes, with speculation in her thread being that she avoids doing so for fear of drawing in out-of-town reinforcements, but doesn't seem to show much reluctance in fighting off anything short of Brockton Bay's entire Protectorate or Lung himself. There are many, many videos demonstrating her powerset and attitude. She wears a full-bodied... what is essentially a set of plate armour, complete with a helmet that entirely conceals her face from anyone looking. It's vaguely reminiscent of a knight's armour, which weirds you out for a moment until you remember that of course she wouldn't think of herself as evil.

As expected of the Brotherhood's leader, Iron Rain is a very nasty and vindictive woman. Reports flood in constantly throughout the thread of Iron Rain encouraging prejudice against minorities or outright leading attacks on them. She pushes drugs through the city, some of the relatively harmless kind (such as marijuana) and some of the much more harmful kind (starting at crystal meth and working her way up the chain from there). She extorts businesses, and has been linked to several arson cases where businesses failed to pay her. There are sundry crimes on her list. Overall, she seems to be a very... okay, you'll say it; she's a bitch.

But she's a deadly bitch, and that's what has you scared.

Iron Rain's power seems similar to Hookwolf's, inasmuch as she's able to summon and control shifting masses of metal. That's about where the similarities end, though. Where Hookwolf summons metal over his own body and essentially uses it to "shift shape", Iron Rain is able to summon pieces of metal in the air, and even rain those pieces of metal down as she pleases. She's demonstrated some form of magnetic control, as she's shown herself to be able to control the direction and speed of the falling pieces of metal. She does seem to be limited in how fast they can go, and she doesn't seem to be able to make them rise in the air, but that hardly makes her any less deadly.

If you're going to face her in combat- well, you're not. There's no way you're ready for somebody as ridiculous as that. You feel like you'd need half the capes in the city on your team in order to tackle somebody who can, quite literally, rain death from above.

No, you think you'll stay right the hell away from Iron Rain for the time being. If you encounter her, try to stay under cover as much as possible, and just get the hell out of there as soon as possible.

Vista

Vista is somebody you've been a little bit interested in for a few months now. Not because she's a powerful cape, although she is that, and not because she's an experienced one, although she is that, too. No, you're interested in Vista because she's just so pretty. She reminds you of Madison, in that you don't think you'd mind staring at her for hours on end.

You're pretty sure that Vista is the youngest member of the Wards in Brockton Bay, although you can't confirm that. She's definitely the shortest, though, and the most petite. Her costume almost seems designed to obfuscate her age somewhat, but she's been active as a cape for too long for that to really be effective. There are images of her as a cape stretching back for years, which actually vaguely horrifies you a little. She looks to be younger than even Rune did, although you're pretty sure she's at least a teenager now, if not far into her teens. Thirteen or fourteen. If she's thirteen or fourteen now, and she's been in the Wards for literally years, then she must have been as young as nine or ten when she first joined. And her time in there hasn't been entirely inactive, although from everything you can see, the older members of the Wards and the Protectorate members have made every effort to keep her out of combat where they can.

It makes you feel a little perverted to admit it, but Vista really is an attractive girl. Your hands shake a little as you consider her. She actually is really young. The knowledge that you're seriously considering seducing someone who's barely into her teens... turns you on, actually turns you on quite a lot, but makes you feel a little queasy too. At least, when you look at a picture of Vista from two years ago, it doesn't stir the same feelings inside you. You're not sure you could handle being attracted to a prepubescent girl. Even if you'd never act on it either way, at least you can reassure yourself with that thought.

Your feelings on Vista are a little complicated, you have to admit. There's a faint thread of revulsion in your stomach even now, even acknowledging that she's actually in her teens, but it's drowned out by faint feelings of lust- and, more strongly, feelings of protectiveness. What kind of fucked-up person could hurt a child, even if that child is a cape? Then you check yourself. Do you really have any room to talk, considering the thoughts you're having about her?

Either way, you shelve your notes on Vista at that, stomach roiling with nerves. Maybe, maybe that's another thing you can just... push off for future Taylor to deal with. Not dealing with being attracted to Vista sounds like a perfect idea to you right now.

Parian

Parian is somebody you're interested in for an entirely different reason to your interest everyone else. It feels a little weird even to you that you have to make a distinction between people you want to seduce and people you actually have a legitimate interest in you, but it's not a bad kind of weird. Just the same kind of weird you experience when Dad accidentally buys low-fat milk instead of full-cream milk. Like you'd gotten used to something and had it suddenly change on you.

Parian is quickly becoming a famous name in Brockton Bay. The Bay doesn't have a lot of rogues in town; most of them tend to head to the bigger towns like New York, where they have substantially larger client bases and there are a lot more heroes in town to help protect them. Nobody is quite sure why Parian set her business up here, but the mayor was certainly grateful for it when she announced her decision.

Her store's website advertises her as a fashion designer and clothing maker. There's an entire separate page on her prices for costumes for parahumans, but you're not particularly concerned about those at the moment- you don't have anyone you need costumes for, and you're pretty sure any prices that justify making an entire page for themselves are so far beyond your reach that looking at them will depress you. No, you're interested in something rather different.

It's not a use you would have considered, but a part of the rogue's powerset involves the control over thread- at least, as far as anyone on PHO can tell. You'd think this would limit her to just sewing, but there are applications of that that you hadn't considered. For example: lace. The problem with the production of lace has never been the production of the raw materials, just how difficult it is to actually make the lace. Once upon a time, people had used needle and thread to sew lace. Nowadays, it's usually done via machine, but it doesn't usually end up as good as it used to look. Parian's power, however, is perfect for exactly that. And, utilizing exactly the same thought process you immediately leapt to, she moved on to creating the perfect items with her lace production capabilities; that is, lingerie for women.

You don't click on the page to open it, because you happen to know that one of the models Parian utilizes for her catalogue is Emma, after a lengthy negotiation with Alan regarding the legality of minors modeling underwear. Your feelings about Emma are complicated enough- you don't need to feel the urge to masturbate to images of her in lacey lingerie on top of all that.

Her address is listed prominently on the website, though, ostensibly so customers could physically visit her shop and view her wares. You write the address down in your notebook, and make a physical note, letters thick and underlined- Take Madison to visit Parian!

You're forced to close your research hurriedly when you eventually look at the time and see the clock reading twelve past one. Hurriedly rushing to the bathroom, you yank a towel out of the hallway closet as you go, ignoring Dad's bemused expression as you run past him.

One quick shower later, you run out of the bathroom clad in nothing but a towel and skid over to your room, searching madly through your underwear drawer. So much of your underwear is so boring. And by so much of it, you mean all of it. Dad buys your clothes, and you're not going to ask him to buy you sexy lingerie. That's weird. In the end, you throw on just a pair of green panties, then hurriedly get dressed in the first t-shirt and pair of jeans you can find so you can run out to the living room, where Dad just raises an eyebrow at you.

"Dad!" you say urgently. "Can you drive me over to Madison's please?!"

He gives you a slightly alarmed look. "Sure," he says cautiously. "Is there something wrong, Taylor?"

You shake your head wildly, your hair spinning around and throwing little droplets of water everywhere. "No, nothing's wrong, I just told her I'd be over at two and I lost track of time. I'm going to be late, come on, come on!" You run over and try to tug on his wrist to get him to stand up further, but he just grins at you and continues to sit passively, watching your efforts to get him to stand up. "Come on, Dad!" you whine.

He chuckles and stands up. You let go of his wrist and pout at him from behind as he ambles slowly over to the kitchen and retrieves his car keys from the fruit bowl in there, then drags his feet out to the car. "Daaaad," you moan when he's halfway there. He just throws you a cheeky grin and pokes his tongue out at you when he finally gets in the car. You hurry over and climb in the passenger seat beside him, just he turns and raises an eyebrow at you.

"What took you so long, Taylor?" he asks. You just groan and let your head fall against the console of the car.

You arrive at Madison's house a little after two, looking anxiously around to make sure that Alan's car isn't still here. It's not, but you do notice Madison looking down at you through her window in her bedroom on the second floor as you approach. She disappears, and a few moments later, the door swings open, revealing your girl standing behind it.

Throwing out a quick "Thanks Dad!" behind you, you hurry over and pull her inside, closing the door behind you. There, you pull Madison into a tight hug, ignoring Terry standing behind her and making gagging noises as he pretends to vomit over the floor.

"Ew, girl hugs," he says with a shudder, and toddles off towards his bedroom.

Eventually, you pull back from Madison so you can peer down at her and see her shining eyes. "Come on," you say, and you grab her hand and lead her up to her bedroom.

There's a lock on Madison's door that wasn't here last time you were here. When she sees you looking, she blushes and looks down, but you can see she looks a little proud of herself. "I put that on there," she says proudly. "In case, um. Well, so nobody can walk in on us."

You pat her ass gently. "Good girl," you purr, and lock the door before you pull her over to the bed. She follows you over, still blushing heavily, and attempts to pull herself into your side, but you hold her away and look her over critically. She's dressed in a skirt today, which is good, but she's dressed in a t-shirt. Less good.

"Take your shirt off," you instruct her. She immediately obeys your command, folding the t-shirt nicely and placing it gently on the edge of her bed. "Good girl. Now, where do you keep your shirts?" She points silently at a dresser over against the far wall, a mammoth thing easily twice the size of your own. You're a little jealous. "Good girl," you praise her again, and she preens a little. "Now, I'm going to find you a shirt more suited for you today. Is that okay?"

She nods, giving you a happy smile. "Yeah, okay," she agrees readily. "If you want me to wear something I will, that's fine."

You nod sharply. "Good," you say. "Take off your bra and panties while I find you a shirt."

Madison has a lot of shirts, but it's not hard to find one that suits your needs. You only need to find one that buttons up at the front, after all. When you turn back, you find her neatly folding her panties atop her shirt; when she's done with that, she sits straight back up, revealing that she's also taken her bra off. Her nipples are pebbling in the cold air, and you have to resist the urge to go and warm them up for her.

You walk over and reward her with a kiss, which she returns eagerly, then step back and hand her the shirt. She takes it and begins pulling it on, but when she moves to the first button, you grab her hands and pull them to the side. Quickly, you turn and make sure- yes, you'd remembered to lock the door- and kneel in front of her, raising yourself high enough that you can still almost look her in the eyes even from your seated position. She shifts, and you lift her skirt and bend your head to gain visual confirmation that, yes, she has taken her panties off.

"Good girl," you praise her again, and give her another soft kiss. She smiles, and you lean forward and press one swirling lick to each of her nipples before you raise yourself and sit beside her on the bed again, loving the way she shivers as the cold air hits her nipples after you're done with them. "Now, I'm going to tell you to do something. If it's not okay with you, you can tell me no now, and I'll drop it. And if you're ever uncomfortable doing this in future, all you need to do is tell me so and I'll understand, okay?"

She nods hesitantly, licking her lips. "Um, okay," she mumbles. "I probably- okay."

You nod, pressing a kiss to her neck. You're glad she didn't actually say that she probably won't say no to anything you ask of her. You love that she's so submissive towards you, but you don't want her to follow everything you say religiously. Her desires are just as important as your own here. If she would feel uncomfortable doing something, regardless of how much you want her to do it, it's important that she knows that she can tell you no.

"Good," you murmur. "Now, every time you know we're going to be alone like this in future, I want you to take your panties off beforehand, and show me that you've taken them off when we're alone. Is that okay?"

She considers it seriously for a moment. Then she licks her lips. "I don't mind," she says quietly, "but, um, would you mind if I only did that when we're at home? I don't think I'd be comfortable not wearing panties in public. Somebody might see."

You nod. "That's okay. Thank you for agreeing to do that for me, Madison."

Madison nods, then edges towards you, pouting slightly. You recognize the sign for what it is, and slip your arm around her, drawing her in to a hug that she happily settles into.

Before now, you hadn't actually put a lot of thought into what you were going to do at Madison's. Casting your eyes over her room, your eyes fall on two things; she has a small TV in her room, complete with... you're not sure what console that one is, but you think it's one that plays DVD's too; and she also has a narrow bookcase, filled with what you recognize as trashy young adult romance novels. You level a soft glare at the bookcase and turn away before you offend your girl by insulting her taste in books.

"Okay, Madison," you murmur. "What movie do you want to watch?"

She hums quietly. "You can put on anything you want. I don't mind as long as you cuddle me through the whole movie," she bargains.

A soft chuckle escapes from you. "Sure, I'll take that deal," you say, and reluctantly release Madison so you can walk over and browse through the DVD's she has stacked off to the side of the small TV.

She doesn't have much of a variety- some romances, some comedies, some rom-coms, and- you turn to her with a raised eyebrow when you pull out three DVD's, a copy of each of the three Rambo movies. She just shrugs at you in response, causing some interesting movements in her chest that distract you from questioning her further.

More out of morbid curiosity than anything, you put in a copy of the first movie- First Blood- and pull Madison down on the bed so you can spoon her from behind.

In the end, the movie isn't really very exciting. Madison seems to like it more, although at times you have trouble telling whether she's hissing in excitement or hissing because you're playing with her breasts throughout the movie. You make a game of finding out, but you're pretty sure she figures it out, because as soon as you start gently tugging at her nipples through all the action scenes, she stops hissing entirely and just bites her lip. Which is fine. There's something incredibly sexy about Madison biting her lip.

Eventually, you're forced to reluctantly let go of Madison's breasts so you can get up and put the second movie in. You hurry back as quickly as you can once it starts, carrying the remote so you don't have to wait over there and hit play like you did the first time. While you wait for the movie to load and play through the opening segment to get to the title screen, you idly amuse yourself by gently rubbing the remote between Madison's breasts, allowing the buttons of the device to rake over the flesh there.

Finally, you can hit play and put the remote down. Playing with toys is fun and all, but there's something so much more satisfying about being able to actually feel your girl's body with your hands. Especially her breasts, which are almost perfectly sized for you to hold in your hands- when you cup her breasts in your hands, they're sized just right for you to be able to run your thumbs all over her nipples and areola as you like. It's amazing. You're able to content yourself through the entire duration of the movie just playing with them.

When the movie finishes, it's not quite time for you to go home yet- only a little after five thirty, and Dad won't expect you to ring until around six. Which is fine; as soon as you hit stop on the movie, Madison rolls around in your arms and presses a hot kiss to your mouth. Somehow, you're fine with that. You're even fine with raising your shirt as high as it'll go when she nervously tugs at it, seeking permission; she sighs happily at that as she rests her nude chest against your own and waits pliantly for you to kiss her.

You get so embroiled in your make-out session that you almost miss the clock hitting six. Unfortunately, you have to break away for air at one point, and you see the watch on Madison's wrist as you grab her hands and hold them above her head. Not that you move to stop immediately- you go back in again, and then again, spending just a few more minutes exploring Madison's mouth with your tongue.

Worth it, you think smugly when you finally pull away and tug your shirt back down. By the dazed expression on her face, Madison obviously agrees.

Madison is, thankfully, coherent enough to remember to take off the new shirt and put her old bra and shirt back on before the two of you head down; you're pretty sure you would have forgotten that, otherwise, and had her wander down in her new shirt. How embarrassing. You can't hide her mussed hair, though, and Rick gives you a knowing look, causing you to flush and shrink down in embarrassment as you pick up their phone and call Dad.

He doesn't arrive for another half an hour. You amuse yourself by kneeling down at the coffee table in the living room and watching Terry madly colour in what you're fairly sure is meant to be a tyrannosaurus rex, although you're not sure you remember them being quite this shade of hot pink in the documentaries you watched as a kid. Madison kneels down beside you and begins to colour in herself, a practice Terry clearly welcomes by the blinding smile he gives her.

When Dad finally arrives, you see him blinking in surprise at you. Your smile falls off your face. What? You hadn't been doing anything wrong.

Madison gives you one last hug goodbye, unseen by either of your fathers, before you head back home to your quiet house.

The air is still awkward between you and Dad when you wake up the next morning. Neither of you had broached the topic of whatever had caused that look on his face when he picked you up last night. You just chalk it up to one more way you've let him down and move on.

You have other things you need to focus on, anyway. Like Victoria.

Victoria meets you at the entrance to to the bookstore as normal come noon on Sunday, scooping you up happily into a hug. You find yourself instinctively reaching for your power to search through her emotions and find out how she's really feeling about you and your relationship with her now, but you hold yourself back. It'd be nice to know what she feels about you, but... you've already manipulated her this far with your power. You'd like some of your relationship to be based on something real, even if her lust is manufactured. Wow, that sounds way more screwed up when actually said out loud.

You have to actively stop yourself from leaning up and claiming a kiss from the girl, reminding yourself that the two of you are in a public place. You're pretty sure she's in the same predicament, judging by the way her eyes keep flickering down to your lips.

"Come on." You take her hand, attempting to pull her forward. You're stuck for a moment, and you're viscerally reminded that Victoria is just... stronger than you can hope to be, but then she seems to hover off the ground just slightly, and suddenly it's no harder to drag her around than it is to drag Madison around. You do have to ignore the affectionate look she gives you as you drag her up the stairs, though.

The usual ritual unfolds; Victoria takes her heavy jacket off when the clock rings and everyone busies themselves taking items out of their bags, revealing her fetish outfit to you, but not to the rest of the table. Your hand immediately snakes its way down to her leg and up her skirt. You don't tempt fate today by trying to lift the skirt to get a good look at her bare snatch- not in public, not in public, you keep reminding yourself; you'll just have to find a way to get her over to your house without your father being any the wiser soon. You do, however, immediately begin playing with her. She just spreads her legs a little wider, giving you easier access.

For the first time since you've started coming here, you turn to Victoria's book and try to actually pay attention to what everyone is saying. To your surprise, they're reading an entirely different book today- a book called Stardust. You've never heard of it before, which makes it a bit difficult for you to try and follow along with the conversation, but you give it a valiant shot- as best you can when your mind is half-focused on caressing a superhero's bare pussy in front of an unknowing crowd of her adoring fans, anyway. Honestly, you don't think anyone can blame you for being a bit distracted.

Now that you're actually paying attention, it's impressive how composed Victoria manages to appear. You can feel how wet she's growing as you play with her, but the only visible signs of what you're doing to her are a faint red tinge to her cheeks and the occasional soft gasp when you hit a particularly sensitive spot. Even people who look directly at her aren't able to tell what's going on. That's very impressive. Idly, you wonder how well she'd be able to hold on to her composure if you actually stuck your fingers inside her and fucked her in front of her fans. Would they be able to tell what was going on, or would Victoria be able to hold on and prevent herself from moaning or jerking around in the throes of an orgasm? Would she even care, or would the pleasure overcome her so far that she would beg you to continue even as people would inevitably take their phones out to record her?

Sadly, you won't be testing that today. Even if she'd let you, which you're not sure she would yet, the fantasy just isn't worth the problems that would ensue. At the very least, you'd lose the even greater erotic potential of chaining Victoria to you romantically while she's still dating her boyfriend.

If you ever need to break Victoria and her boyfriend up, though- well, there's an idea on how to do it.

You content yourself by just hanging on to Victoria's words, occasionally offering up your own thoughts on the book's technical writing when they talk about a page you can actually read, until the bell chimes two and everyone begins to pack up to head home. Once more, Victoria quickly shrugs her jacket back on and waits for everyone else to head home before gesturing for you to lead the way down, causing you to scowl a little. As though you need to be told to lead the way. She just chuckles a little, causing your scowl to melt into a scolding frown.

She doesn't actually let you lead her down the stairs, though. When you near the top, she pulls you back to her, pulling you close. Almost nose-to-nose.

"Need a lift today?" she asks softly. In response, you kiss her, grinning impishly when you feel her lips move into an annoyed scowl for a moment before she softens and kisses you back. Honestly, what did she expect, putting such tempting lips so close to you?

You part soon without even attempting to stick your tongue down her throat... more than once. You lick your lips, savouring the taste of her watermelon-flavoured lip gloss, before you reply. "If you wouldn't mind," you say, "but I actually need to go to the library before I go home."

"And so begins my life as a taxi," Victora sighs long-sufferingly. You stiffen and open your mouth to reassure her that you don't mean to demean her or her offer, but she just smirks at you when she sees it, and you snap your mouth shut. Well, you suppose you can allow her to verbally tease you this once. You did just spend two hours teasing her, after all.

You lead her down and outside, where she scoops you up in her arms again and flies you off to the library. You're tempted to kiss her again on the way there, but you refrain- there are too many people with cameras around, and while it's unlikely that anyone would be able to see what you're doing with her, let alone take a picture of it, you'd prefer not to gamble on that.

Eventually, she finds her way to an alley just outside of the library, in fact partly curling behind it. You note absently that she seems very familiar with this alley- she doesn't even bother to look where she's going before she descends- but before you can put much thought into it, she pulls you into a hot kiss of her own. When she pulls back, you're left feeling a little dazed until you see the impish smirk on her face; in turn, you dart forwards and press another kiss to her lips, then dance away with a teasing grin. She growls, but you just chuckle and jog out of the alley, knowing that she won't risk chasing you too fast where the public can see it.

She catches up to you, actually landing on the ground, when you make it out of the alley. The two of you walk up to the library, hands occasionally brushing against each other as you go. You're tempted to hold her hand, but- no, no, public issue. Man, this whole cheating thing is way more complicated than you'd thought it would be.

When you get in, you move immediately to the fantasy section. Victoria follows you along, looking a bit confused until you clarify, "I have a school assignment." Then she nods her head knowingly.

"What's it on?" she asks. "Maybe I could help."

"Uh..." You look around briefly, stalling for time. You see her smile out of the corner of your eye. "Uh, it's about how writers write about family!" Yeah, you immediately regret that one.

She hums. "Oh, is that so? Maybe I really can help you, then. I do happen to know a couple of excellent series where the author featured family ties very strongly. Maybe I could show you?"

"Oh, that'd be great!" your traitorous mouth says without your permission.

You and Victoria end up wandering the library for well over two hours, holding hushed discussions about your favourite series and what they're about. Victoria, you learn quickly, does not hold her book clubs just so she can bask in the idolization of her fans; she actually is very cluey about her books. "My sister reads them a lot," she informs you quietly at one point. "We don't have much in common, so I try to at least keep reading so we have something to talk about when she gets depressed."

By the time the library closes at five, you and Victoria are engaged in a lively discussion about the themes of one of the recent series imported from Earth Aleph, the Harry Potter series. You've never read it, but Victoria swears by it. "It has a weak ending," she tells you, "but the author is really good about setting up the book's aesthetic. It's probably the best fantasy world in any book I've read just for how it makes you imagine its world."

You nod along, content to just listen to her rambling on about this series as she casually flies you home. By the time she lands, you're actually a little interested in reading the series. Sadly, there's no way you could afford them- Earth Aleph imports are just way too expensive, and companies here won't receive publishing rights for at least another year or so until negotiations have gone through with the author.

Once she lets you go, you lean up to give her a kiss goodnight. She returns it, and surprises you by being the one to brush her tongue against your lips first, not that you're complaining. You open your mouth and draw her tongue in, eagerly sucking on it for a few moments before she reluctantly disengages.

"Seeya later, Taylor," she grins, and with a wave, she flies off. You wave to her as she moves, then shove your hands in your pockets with a weary sigh.

Well, that was a fun- and productive- day. Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end. You trudge home, mind already filling with plans for the week ahead of you.

In the end, your list of responsibilities just keeps on growing. You've got to tutor Madison, you're pretty sure you have a job now, you've got whatever this thing with Sophia is, you've got to try and keep Madison from worrying about your relationship, and now you've got to worry about your Dad and Emma, too.

There's only so long you can hide from them, though, and you're pretty sure that if you put that off much longer, it's going to bite you in the ass. Gah. Fine.

In the end, you decide to spend the next couple of days... [Pick two. As usual, tutoring Madison is already locked in.]

] Getting involved in a Chemistry project with Sophia, in the non-flirty sense. You're feeling good enough about your relationship with Sophia that you're willing to extend a hand to her outside of school and invite her over to your house to work on a newly-assigned Chemistry project- conditional, you're going to have to inform her, on her listening to you and conceding victory over whatever this thing with her is. She used to bully you, and she's going to have to accept that at the end of the day, that's going to have consequences on your relationship.

- Success chance: 75%

- General results: Sophia will be invited to come over to Taylor's house to work on their Chemistry project. Will introduce Sophia to Danny. With Sophia's "track meetings", her hours may be unpredictable. Will only be available this week, as they will otherwise complete their project at school.

- On a success: Sophia will willingly accept Taylor's restrictions, although she will tug at them when she thinks she can get away with them. Succeeding on this will enable future choices in which Taylor is able to convince Sophia to concede more control to her, encouraging Sophia further down the path of bondage.

- On a failure: Sophia will accept Taylor's restrictions, though she will also chafe at them. She will lose 1 Intrigue, and will be less happy about visiting Taylor in future.

] Take some steps to deal with... gah, with whatever Emma wants. You can't hide from this any further. You'll... get someone, maybe Charlotte, to give her a message. You'll meet her on neutral ground; if she pays for it, you'll meet her at a restaurant and have dinner with her. Once. She can explain what she wants there, and it had better be good.

- Success chance: 60%

- General results: Emma will... be Emma. Taylor will be Taylor. Things will happen.

- On a success: Those things will be somewhat pleasant. Emma will do her best to apologize for how she fractured their relationship, and Taylor will... understand the note of reconciliation in there, even if she's not entirely willing to accept it yet. The first step to mending her relationship with Emma.

- On a failure: Emma will do her best to apologize for how she fractured their relationship, but Taylor's social stunting is Taylor's social stunting. Emma is a complicated person at the best of times. Will result in their reconciliation being pushed further back. Note that this will not permanently harm their chances of reconciliation, even if failures are made consistently in the future; Emma will just grow more desperate.

] Take Madison out on another date, this time in the middle of a school night. You're pretty sure even Rick won't be happy with it, but by visibly sacrificing something that's important to you- your sleep time and your study time- to spend time with Madison, you'll settle a few of her doubts about your relationship with her for good.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Taylor will ask Madison out on a late-night date to sneak in to a local outdoor theater and watch a newly-released film. It will be a cozy date complete with Madison cooking dinner and the two sharing a thermos of coffee and a blanket. However, neither of Madison's parents will be happy with her. Effectively, a trade in somewhat securing your relationship with Madison in exchange for somewhat widening the gulf between Madison and her parents.

] Sit down and talk with Dad about... stuff. There's stuff you're not willing to go into. A lot of stuff, actually, starting with Mom's death and going up to your powers. You'll make the effort to reconcile with him by sitting down with him and discussing your relationships with him, at least. By showing that much faith in him, your relationship with him should heal up a bit, right?

- Success chance: Cannot be failed. 80% 50% 25% 15%. You hate everything about this idea.

- General results: Taylor will try to sit down and explain to Danny about her relationships. The first step in closing that gulf that has grown between her and her father.

- On a success: Taylor manages to articulate herself well enough to explain about her polyamorous tendencies, and successfully gets across that her partners are okay with this idea. Taylor does not, of course, explain that Victoria is also cheating on her boyfriend with her, or that Madison is as submissive as she is, or... Taylor just generally pretends it's all a lot less sexual than it is.

- On a failure: Taylor chickens out. She gets as far as telling her father that she's a lesbian, then flees for her room. Worsens Taylor's stress by a small amount, and makes only a small step towards reconciling Taylor and Danny.

View in Thread

Last edited: Jul 14, 2016

Jul 14, 2016 ReportLike

Kmate, Fred Flintstine, PanDron and 190 others like this.

Threadmarks: Minor Vote- Critical Roll

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Hymn of Ragnarok said:

laughs and laughs*

Question, are those rolls for Sophia and Emma, or is one for tutoring Madison? Cause that would be a welcome success considering its high DC.

Well, actually, I hadn't rolled that one yet, I usually roll it at the end of the update so I can just write the scene after if it occurs, but, let's see.

rolls*

Roll: 35

Okay, given that I don't think I'm going to get this update out today(given the complexity in writing any Emma scene), I think I'll put up another vote about which options to apply these rolls to. In the meantime, I think I'll try and write something from another character's perspective for a change, to give you another view on Taylor.

So, without further ado; who do you want to apply each roll to?

You'll apply the roll of 100 to;

] Emma.

- Emma's stressing over her attraction to Taylor and growing regret for her previous actions will be reflected visibly in Emma's appearance, resulting in Taylor growing a little more sympathetic to her. Emma's apology will go a little better, and Taylor won't feel as bitter afterwards.

] Sophia.

- Sophia will have a bad morning before coming into school as her stepfather comes to visit again, leaving Sophia reeling. Taylor's visible distress at the thought of Sophia pushing her in Taylor's sanctuary will strike a chord with Sophia. Sophia won't push Taylor as hard, and will give more thought to Taylor's control issues in future.

] Madison.

- Madison's tutoring sessions with Taylor have been going swimmingly. There will be an additional scene where Taylor mostly non-sexually rewards Madison for being such a good student. Madison will grow a little more content in her role as Taylor's sub, and the visible success of Taylor's tutoring will make Madison feel even better about her tutoring with Taylor.

You'll apply the roll of 97 to;

] Emma.

] Sophia.

- Sophia will have a bad morning before coming into school as her stepfather comes to visit again, leaving Sophia reeling. Taylor's visible distress at the thought of Sophia pushing her in Taylor's sanctuary will strike a chord with Sophia. Sophia won't push Taylor as hard while she visits her at her house, and will concede more with regards to her control over the situation.

] Madison.

- Madison's tutoring sessions with Taylor have been going swimmingly. There will be an additional scene where Taylor non-sexually rewards Madison for being such a good student. The visible success of Taylor's tutoring will make Madison feel even better about her tutoring with Taylor.

You'll apply the roll of 35 to;

] Emma.

- This will result in a failure of Emma's scene. I don't really expect anyone to pick this.

] Sophia.

- This will result in the rewards described in the previous update.

] Madison.

- Madison's tutoring will resolve, but the results will be average, not exceptional. The special roll will fail and you will not receive Madison's bonus from it.

View in Thread

Jul 15, 2016 ReportLike

PanDron, TheBigMole, Some_guy_161 and 92 others like this.

Threadmarks: Interlude 1- Doctor Fitzpatrick

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Some days, Kirk wishes that he'd gone into journalism, as his then-girlfriend had once urged him to do a good... god, it was over thirty years ago now. At the time, journalism had just seemed boring to him. "What good could I do the world as a journalist?" he'd asked Anne once. In retrospect, probably not the wisest thing he could have said to someone studying journalism herself. He's pretty sure that was one of the biggest factors that had played into the end of their relationship.

Medicine seemed so much more glamorous back then. He'd been lured in by the promises of respect amongst his peers, the size of the paycheque it seemed everyone in medicine got, the idea of physically helping people, day in and day out. Nobody had prepared him for the reality of it all. Nobody had explained to him how to cope with failing his patients. Nobody had sat him down and explained to him that sometimes, you just can't save a patient.

Even if someone had, though, there is nothing that could have prepared him for working in Brockton Bay.

Across the table, Amy Dallon sits behind her foster mother, glaring sullenly at her mother from behind her back. There are shallow bags beneath her eyes, and her face is sallow. Sleep deprivation, if he had to guess. Mild symptoms. Two to three days of eight to nine hours of sleep and the symptoms would clear up.

He turns his attention to Carol, who is still searching through her briefcase. In front of her is stacked the pile of forms he had just handed to her. Requisition forms and receipts, mostly; the documentation regarding how he was spending New Wave's funds. He has to fight down a queasy feeling at the sight of them.

Carol makes a small noise when she finally finds the sheets she's searching for. Kirk's eyes close in resignation when she pulls out a thick sheaf of papers headed with the stylized grey-and-blue logo of the Brockton Bay Parahuman Response Team. "Here you are," Carol says smoothly. "Director Piggot asked that I pass these on to you while I'm here."

He takes them and puts them to the side without looking at them, already knowing what they are. It looks like he won't be making it back home in time for dinner tonight, either. Hopefully Renee would forgive him.

"Thanks," he replies. "Is there anything else you need from me today?"

Instead of answering, Carol turns to Amy and jerks her head towards the office door. Amy seems to stifle a sigh as she climbs to her feet and exits the room, turning back to give him a conspiratorial eye-roll before she closes the door behind her. He raises his hand to his mouth and pretends to cough to cover his smile at the girl's antics.

Carol removes her briefcase from the table and puts it down to the side, pinning him with an intense look. Her eyes bore directly into his, not flinching away from his own returned gaze. After a moment, she relaxes. Kirk has passed whatever test of character she set out for him.

"How is Amy doing?" she asks quietly.

He blinks. "Here, or in general- never mind." Stupid question. "She's not doing as well as we'd hoped. Barring her from practicing after seven has annoyed her, I think."

That doesn't seem to be what she wanted to hear, but apart from a displeased frown, she doesn't try to fight what he said. "I understand. Has she been socializing?"

He shakes his head for a moment, then pauses. "Most of the staff members feel she's unapproachable, but several of the volunteer staff have made attempts at talking to her," he recalls. "Amy has rebuffed most of them, but there are a couple who she seems not to mind too much."

Carol nods, her shoulders softening. "I'm glad to hear she's talking to someone, at least," she mutters. He almost shakes his head, but stops himself from saying anything about it. "And you? How has the hospital been treating you? Is there anything else you need?"

He shakes his head. "I don't suppose you've decided to reconsider my proposal for increased security measures around the clinics?"

She shakes her head. "I've considered it, but it's just not feasible. Between all the clinics, we'd be paying nearly a million out of hand, and two million a year beyond that to hire the additional guards. We're doing the best we can, but we don't have that kind of money to spare.

"Okay." There's no point in fighting it any further. It's never gotten him anywhere before now. "The PRT officers stationed in the lobby have done a lot to help ease patient concerns, so I'll have to thank Director Piggot for that." His hands twitch down towards the lowest drawer of his desk. "Nadia is liasing with the university, but most of their students prefer to go to the hospital directly for their work experience, but there's not much anyone can do about that."

She sighs. "Okay. I'll try to send Amy by a few more times this month. Thank you for trying to get your staff to talk to her. None of the other clinics have bothered," she adds with a sour twist to her mouth. "I'll be out of town next week, I've been hired to represent someone out of town. If you need anything, call Sarah or Neil."

He nods. "I will."

Carol doesn't get up immediately, instead resting her head on her hands. He refrains from offering her some painkillers for the headache he's fairly sure she's feeling right now. She never took well to people offering her medication. It reminds her too much of her husband, is his guess. Painkillers aren't antidepressants, but they're drugs all the same. He's seen how the side-effects have affected her family; he can't blame her for wanting to stay away from medication after that.

Eventually, she shakes her head and moves to stand. "Thank you, Kirk," she says, offering her hand out. He shakes it. Her grip is stronger than his own. He's pretty sure that that's meant to offend his masculine pride. Lucky he doesn't have much of that left.

"No, thank you, Brandish," he says seriously. He refrains from saying anything further. The more he talks, the more she will draw him into saying.

She flickers a half-smile at him, then turns. Her stern and reproving mask is already sliding back onto her face by the time she turns completely away from him.

He waits until she's gone, her dry "Come on, Amy" hanging in the air between them as Panacea stomps after her foster mother, scowling at everything and everyone, before he allows his own sigh to escape him.

What a mess.

He waits for a few minutes, just in case she forgot anything and comes back in, before he pushes his chair back and opens the bottom drawer of his desk. He ignores the bottle of whiskey sitting in there, resisting the temptation to break a five-month streak of sobriety, and pulls out the thick bundle of papers in there. Placing them on his desk, he pulls out his pager and hits a few buttons.

After shuffling papers around his desk for a few moments, Harry finally walks in, smoothing down his wig. The kid's been obsessed with it ever since the chemotherapy was successful, despite how the platinum blonde of the wig clashes with his dark skin. "Yes, Doctor Fitzpatrick?" he asks.

Kirk silently hands the stack of papers over to the boy, trusting him not to read them. Not that it mattered- the boy already knows that it's the unedited version of the papers he'd just given to Carol.

He'd once thought it'd stop stinging so much to do this, but he can still feel the shame of betraying New Wave's trust.

"Tell Lung he'll be getting his money this month, too," he says quietly.

He hates lying to them. But he's a doctor, and his job is to ensure the safety and well-being of his patients. If that means lying to a hero and making deals with a gang to keep the Empire out of his hospital, then he can live with that.

His hand twitches down to the lowest drawer of his desk again.

View in Thread

Last edited: Jul 15, 2016

Jul 15, 2016 ReportLike

Fred Flintstine, PanDron, TheBigMole and 212 others like this.

Threadmarks: Interlude 2- Matthew Walsh

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

"They're back again."

Matt looks up from the computer, glancing out the window at the two girls who were just walking into the library hand-in-hand. They disappear deeper into the library, walking out of sight of the office windows and moving to one of the tables placed in a cozy place behind the stacks.

"Huh," he grunts. "Four weeks now. Good for them, I guess."

"I think it is." Jerry grins at him, hands still busy folding a sheet of protective plastic over one of the new books. Matt is briefly fascinated by the light shining from the man's bald head over the dividing screen between them, separating their workspaces from each other- and, more importantly, hiding the TV and DVD player they had stashed back there from prying eyes. "Good to see someone's getting some use outta the place. Might get them outta this shithole and into a place worth something, you know?"

He shrugs. "Not my daughter, not my problem," he replies. He does pull the register over to him and begins filling out the attendance sheets, though. Attendance to these after-school sessions is sparse enough that he can't afford to miss a single participant. Hard enough to get Blackwell to agree to pay the two of them to stay after-hours when there's only five people who attend them regularly. She'd probably just cut the hours entirely if he didn't mark down two of the five.

His computer chimes, drawing his attention to a notification on one of his taskbar icons- his email program. He groans when he opens it to find it's from Blackwell again. Another notification that the Wards bitch is going to be conducting one of her "regular searches" of the school's facilities over the week. The library is scheduled to be looked over... on Wednesday, apparently. Not that the girl actually does it as regularly as Blackwell claims- it's just another one of the tools she likes to use to try and keep everyone in line.

"Hey, Larry," he calls over his shoulder. "Blackwell says Stalker's gonna be doing another sweep of the library on Wednesday. Might want to get Kev to move his stash."

The bald man lets out a barking laugh. "God, that's what, the third one this month?"

"Second." He shakes his head. "One before that was at the end of last month. Still a pain in the ass, though."

"Yeah, you're tellin' me." Larry lets out an aggravated puff of air. "Kid's gonna move his stash if we keep makin' him move his stuff like this. Who're we gonna get our supplies from then?"

Matt shrugs. "There are plenty of dealers around the place," he reassures him. "I've been thinking of trying to find another dealer anyway, since Kevin keeps jacking up his prices."

"Dunno about that." The man tears a piece of sticky tape off the roll, placing it down on the final loose bit of covering on the book and triumphantly placing it in the completed stack. "From what he's been sayin', doesn't sound like there're many dealers around still gettin' a good supply goin'. Brotherhood's been havin' some issues with the ABB again, Lung keeps hittin' their suppliers or something."

Matt rolls his eyes in response to that. "So get another supplier," he returns. "Or not, I don't care. Fuck, whatever, prices'll fix themselves eventually. Just get Kev to move his stash so he doesn't get taken out like Oliver did, yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Larry replies dismissively. "Fuck, this is annoying. Wish Rune'd pop that bitch a good one already."

Unseen by Larry, his eyes narrow at that, actually offended. "Oi," he shoots back, trying to keep the annoyance from leaking into his voice. "Get off it, dude. You know she's doing our kids a favour keeping them away from this shit."

"Fuck," Larry says reluctantly, annoyance clear in his tone. "Yeah, god, fine, yeah, don't want Rico anywhere near this crap. Still a pain in the ass for us, though."

"Won't argue with that." Matt turns his concentration back to the email, ignoring whatever inane crap Larry's spouting now. He casually turns his head to check that Larry's still behind the divider, then hits the 'New E-Mail' button and types in an email address from memory.

Hey, it's Matt. Got Kevin to move his stash tomorrow as requested. Olivia's given him detention, so he should be up here between second and third. Cameras are set up if you can't make it. Hope this helps.

Hitting 'Send', he leans back in his chair and cracks his knuckles. "There we go," he replies, satisfied. "Told her Wednesday's all good for us. Work for you, Larry?"

There's the soft clump of another book being placed on the completed pile. "Yeah, sure. Ain't like we got much else to do, huh?"

Matt chuckles. "Well, I dunno about that. Yvette's brought me back some new DVD's from her trip up to New York. Ever heard of a movie called Transformers? Apparently a big thing over in Aleph. Cars that transform into fucking huge robots or some shit, blowing shit up all over the world."

"Huh." Larry sounds thoughtful. "Sounds like my kinda movie then. Guess it'll give us somethin' to do tomorrow after we finish cataloguin' these books, yeah?"

Matt's eye is caught by another email flashing on his computer, marked as being from '. He checks again to make sure Larry's still occupied putting covers on the books before pulling it up.

Your message has been received and approved. It has been sent on to the appropriate parties.

A copy of your message has been sent to Director Piggot of the Brockton Bay Parahuman Response Team for archival and review purposes.

Thank you for your contributions to our efforts here in Brockton Bay.

- Agent Daniels, PRT Identification Number 22147.

Do not reply to this email. If you have any further inquiries, please contact the Parahuman Response Team on one of the phone numbers provided.

"Yeah," Matt replies. "Sounds good, Larry."

View in Thread

Last edited: Jul 16, 2016

Jul 16, 2016 ReportLike

Kmate, Fred Flintstine, PanDron and 174 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.17

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Monday morning rolls around, bringing with it another wave of frost. The footpaths are slippery when you go for your jog that morning, forcing you to pick your path carefully so you can avoid slipping and falling painfully on your butt. Again. You've done that one too many times before.

The chill in the air does a good enough job at waking you up that you're not feeling tired by the time you stumble back home at seven, at least. Admittedly, you're pretty sure that your fingers are actually frozen now, and you're probably going be nursing your left hand for the rest of the day after you go to pick up your cup of coffee and realize it's actually really freaking hot, but it's almost worth it.

Still, even after showering and changing into your school clothes, you still feel half-frozen. You slide a jacket on over your clothes. It helps somewhat, but not as much as you'd like. At least the bus has a functioning heater half the time.

When you arrive at school for the day, nearly ten minutes earlier than normal (the bus driver was grumbling the whole time about someone called 'Will'; you're pretty sure they have a new boss who's pushing them to get to their routes on time) you're back to freezing your butt off. Winslow does have a heating system, but it's not perfect. It works about half the time during the day, and it's only really the classrooms that get warm. The hallways always end up freezing. Everyone just rushes through them as fast as possible to get to their next class.

The good thing about being so early for once, you discover, is that Madison doesn't have enough time to open your locker and slip your lunchbox inside before you can sneak up on her. The bad thing about that is that you're pretty sure she messes up your lunch when she shrieks and tosses your lunchbox in your locker after you slip your arms around her. But you find it hard to care about that, because- "Oh my god, Maddie," you exclaim. "How are you so warm?"

She relaxes after hearing your voice, turning around to look at you and wrap her own arms around you. The hallways are clear enough this early in the morning that it should be safe to hug for a few minutes, you decide. "I just wear warm clothes," she declares against your neck. "Like all not-silly people do."

You don't even care that she just called you a silly person. "No, but seriously, you're so warm," you say, amazed. "You're like a little space heater. I want to drag you around with me all day."

Her face heats up against your neck. You're not even a little ashamed.

"That might be hard," she says, "but I'll do my best and be a good little heater for you at lunch if you want."

You laugh quietly against her ear, causing her to redden even more. Interesting. "I'll make sure to hold you to that," you tease her. "I'll wrap us both up in your jacket so we can be even warmer."

She gasps. "Can you actually do that?!" she exclaims. "Taylor, if that's possible then we have to do that one day, okay?"

You laugh again, and she gives you an adorable smile. Your heart does a little flip, and you can't stop yourself from leaning down to give her a little kiss on the nose right there in the middle of school. Her face flushes, and she grins at you even wider. "Maybe one day," you assure her. "I'll take you out somewhere nice and private, and it'll be cold enough that we'll have to share my jacket. Might be a tight fit, though, we'll have to take our shirts off first so we can make sure we both have enough room in there..."

She's blushing so hard even her neck is turning red. Her expression is a little dazed as she tells you, "Taylor, this needs to happen."

"Okay," you agree easily. "If you want it, then I'll make it happen." You don't think you actually have a jacket large enough, but you're starting a new job tomorrow morning. You'll just make sure that's one of your first purchases. It's a weird fantasy for her to get hooked on, but you've had weirder, and if she gets off on it, then you don't see a reason not to do it for her.

She nods and tucks her head back against your collarbone. "Good," she murmurs. Then she stiffens and half-turns back to your locker. "Oh no, I think I ruined your lunch," she gasps.

"It's fine," you tell her. "I have something more delicious to occupy myself with now anyway." And you give her a quick lick on the neck to make it clear what you're talking about. She shivers, but still looks sadly at your locker.

"I spent so long on that brownie," she says mournfully. You chuckle and give her a quick kiss on the neck before reluctantly releasing her from your arms. Even more reluctantly, she lets you go, allowing you to take a step back and away from her.

"I'll see you in class, Maddie," you tell her. She nods, looking a little depressed. You're immediately tempted to step forward and wrap her in your arms again, but this time, you actually have to refrain.

At least it doesn't take long for class to arrive, less than twenty minutes. Madison greets you at the door with a thrilled little hug and allows you to drag her over to your seats, where she cuddles up to your side. The teacher rolls his eyes when he sees the two of you again, but he just lets out a long-suffering sigh and ignores the two of you. He must have something more important occupying his mind. It's nice to have your own little personal heater through the class, and Madison definitely doesn't mind you holding on to her. With Sophia sitting behind you, nobody dares say anything about the two of you in here.

Unfortunately, first period doesn't last forever, and you're eventually forced to let go of your little heater. She pouts at you as the two of you are dragged off to your next class, where you're forced to sit and freeze your butt off again.

Okay, maybe not freeze it, but damn it, it's just not warm enough now.

This uncomfortable state of affairs lasts until fourth period, where the presence of Sophia beside you is enough to drag your attention away from the frigid temperatures.

You're pretty sure that Sophia is actually taunting you. Ever since she was assigned to sit beside you, she's been wearing more and more provocative clothing every day you have Chemistry. It's a subtle thing- one day, her shirt was cut a little lower than normal, and the next day, she was wearing a skirt cut half an inch higher- but damn it, it's working. Every time you look at her, all you can see is the teasing glimpse of thigh disappearing up her skirt, the curved swell of her breasts, and the shape of her lips as she smirks at you. Damn it, damn it, you're going to have to concede this one to her- there's no way you can compete with her in the looks department, even if you started actually wearing skirts.

Idly, you wonder if there's a way you can lure her into a disused bathroom again. You want to get a proper taste of her, not some teasing kisses and nibbles that leave you as horny and unsatisfied as they do Sophia.

You're brought back to reality when she speaks. "You should probably pay attention to the lesson, Hebert." She smirks at you again when you blink, processing what she said.

You grin lecherously at her when you get the message. "But you're so much more interesting," you say in what you hope is a flirtatious manner.

She scoffs lightly, but she seems happy with your comment. "Yeah, trust me, I know that. It's actually pretty important today, though," she tells you. "I snuck a look at Knopf's lesson plan. She's got a group project planned for us."

"Ah." You slump down and lightly frown at her. "Well, fine. But if I have to pay attention now then you'd better give me something good to look at later."

Sophia crinkles her nose a little. Your scowl immediately falls off your face at the cute look. "Fine," she says crankily. "Just listen so you can get us both a good grade, Hebert." You raise an eyebrow at that- but, fine. If she wants to trade sexual favours for grades, well, you'll happily take that deal. She seems to realize the direction your thoughts take, because she rolls her eyes hard, but she doesn't try to take it back.

Sure enough, Mrs Knops does bring herself to stand in front of the class. "Good afternoon," she says calmly. "I have a project for you all today. It's a group project that I expect each of you to complete in your own time. If you need materials, see me after class. If for some reason you can't negotiate with your partner to meet after school, I've also booked the anteroom off the library after lunch each day. I expect you will need to work hard if you wish to complete your project during lunchtime."

It's not a particularly difficult project, you're glad to see. It's just a complicated list of questions about different reactions, referencing parts of the chemistry textbook most of the class hasn't read through yet. There's just enough of it that you can't reasonably expect to do it on your own- likely an intentional decision by Mrs Knopf, given her frequent complaints about students who don't work hard enough in her class. If you can't do it on your own, then quite a few students in here are going to have trouble completing it without working harder than they normally do.

This project does raise one sticking point, however.

Either you're going to have to sacrifice your lunchtimes with Madison, or you're going to have to invite Sophia over to your house. And you don't want to sacrifice your lunchtimes with Madison.

You sigh, resting your head in your hands. Damn it. And you'd had such a good day up until now, too.

"Right," you groan. "Sophia, do you have the time to do this project during lunch?"

She's already shaking her head by the time you finish your sentence. "Nope," she says. "Got track meetings tomorrow and Thursday, and I've got to see the principal on Friday. Only days I could do it are today and Wednesday."

"Damn it," you hiss. Briefly, you consider asking her if you could go over to her house, but- going over to Sophia's house? Placing yourself as Sophia's mercy? You toss that idea in the discard pile. "Damn it."

"Hey, it's not that bad." Sophia knits her brow. "We can just go after school and do it, track doesn't start until five-"

"I tutor Madison until five," you interrupt her. "And she needs the help. Damn it. And the town library closes at six."

Sophia shrugs beside you. "So come over my house, or I'll head over to yours. It's not that big of a deal-"

"Not that big a deal?" you repeat, faintly incredulous. "No, I'm not doing that, Sophia. No matter how hot you are."

She stares at you. "Fucking hell, Hebert," she swears. "Don't do this to me. I need my grades to stay up."

You grit your teeth. Unfortunately, it's true, and you know it. Sophia is intelligent enough, but she's not the kind of student who works well in an academic context- like Madison. Back when they'd still been actively bullying you, one of the few measures of reassurance you'd had was keeping an eye on their grades so you could assure yourself that at least you had that over them. That was when you'd started staying up so late studying, so even when they sabotaged some of your assignments, you were still able to keep your grades up. Sophia isn't able to do that, though- she consistently gets C's and D's, with only the occasional B. An important assignment really could be enough to throw off her grade average.

"Shit," you hiss. "Okay. Okay, Sophia, fine. We can work on it over at my house. But- you can't- you have to do what I say there. "

She stares at you for a moment. Her eyes dart over your face, as if she's searching for something. You're not sure if she finds it, but when she next speaks, her voice is softer. "Fine, I can respect that. Your house, your rules. But nowhere else. We're at school, or we meet in town, I do what I want. And if you ever come to my house, then you follow my rules, no complaints, no working around it, same as your house. Deal?"

You offer your hand. "Deal," you say firmly. You can live with those, you think. Besides- it's not like her restrictions matter. By the time you plan on going over to her house, Sophia is going to be begging to follow your rules. "When can you come over, then?"

She taps her fingers over her thighs. "I'll be busy today and tomorrow, but I should be free from seven from Wednesday on. That good for you?"

You nod. "Sounds perfect," you reply.

That afternoon, you head on over to the library with Madison. You'd spent a delicious lunch with Madison, eating a thoroughly stirred salad and a brownie that probably wasn't meant to be partially covered in balsamic vinegar. Okay, so maybe it hadn't been such a delicious lunch. You'd still spent the time with Madison, which makes it more than worth it.

Madison has a secretive smile on her face, as though she knows something you don't know. Madison can't actually keep a secret from you for her life, so you're content in letting her hold on to whatever she knows for now.

Sure enough, when she sits down at the table besides you, she quickly pulls a rolled-up letter from inside her jacket. "Taylor!" she squeals. "Guess what, guess what! We had a surprise test in Home Economics, and I got my results back?"

"Oh?" you ask. Judging by her reaction, she's done pretty good. And, indeed, she has- much better than you thought she'd been doing, actually. She unrolls it in front of you, proudly displaying the read 'A' scrawled in red marker up the top.

"It was pretty hard," she rambles, "but I managed to get it all down. It was all about cooking and stuff, which helped, but I wouldn't have remembered it all if it wasn't for you helping me as much as you have." She smiles sweetly at you, then leans over to give you an affectionate hug.

You take it a step further, and push out your chair so you can pull her up into your lap. She lets out a happy squeal as you hold her in place and pepper her face with affectionate kisses, scrunching her nose as your hair tickles her face. She holds her face up, non-verbally asking you for a kiss; you're happy to oblige.

When you part, you lean in and steal another one from her before speaking. "Good job," you praise her. She closes her eyes again, preening at your compliment. You give her a kiss, then another, then another. "But don't give me the credit here, Madison. You're the girl who was smart enough to learn this stuff."

She giggles and holds her face up for another sweet kiss. After you give it to her, she shakes her head a little, accidentally rubbing her nose against yours in the process. It kind of tickles. "I learned it, but it's only because you taught me, Taylor. Thank you, thank you."

You chuckle again. "A teacher's only as good as their student," you inform her. Then, before she can try and refute you again, you lean and deliberately place a kiss along her jaw, just beneath her ear. She shudders against you, her argument dying off as she sucks in a shaky breath. You place another kiss there, then slowly trail your lips down, leaving a trail of wet kisses down to her neck, then her collarbone, then her shoulder. You look up and give her a devilish grin as you continue kissing even lower on her body, kissing down the front of her shoulder, then over her chest; her eyes flutter as you tug on her shirt, then her bra, freeing one of her breasts for you.

It's risky, playing around in here like this, but she deserves a reward for all her hard work.

You kiss lower, suckling your way down her breast until you're able to take her nipple into your mouth. You tug on it a few times with your teeth, thoroughly enjoying the way she tries to hold her moans in, then release it so you can finally reach your actual goal. There, you begin pressing wet kisses all over the side of her breast for a moment, before you lean in and begin sucking on it, hard. She lets out an actual moan at that, then quickly clamps a hand over her mouth to prevent another one escaping her. You don't stop, though, continuing to suck at her breast until you're sure a bruise will form. Then, and only then, do you tuck her breast back into her bra for her and lean up to give her another kiss on the mouth.

There; you're pretty sure she'll be satisfied with that as a reward. Being physically marked by you, the soft pain a reminder of the fact that you've claimed her as your own- well, you think the heaving of her chest and the wetness on your thigh as you spin her around to sit facing the table tells enough of the story.

You can't resist one last little promise, though.

"Keep getting good grades like that," you murmur in her ear, "and I might not be able to stop myself from doing that every time." To punctuate what you're saying, you give her a little nip on the neck.

She turns her head, giving you a sweet little smile. "You promise?" she asks.

"Of course." You nip her neck again. "I'd want everyone to know that such a smart girl is mine, after all."

She turns back to her work. Her happy smile doesn't fall off for the rest of the day.

The start of the next day also happens to be the first day at your new job. You get up even earlier than normal so you can wash yourself and still catch the earliest bus there.

You're not even sure how you'd fallen into the job, not really. You'd mentioned to Doctor Fitzpatrick last week that you were looking for a job to help out with the family finances, and he'd told you that one of his friends ran a movie theater and was looking for a casual assistant to work around the area. He'd offered to bring up your name, and you'd accepted. The next day, you'd come home to a phone call offering you a trial position at the theater. You'd accepted, of course, but that was it- a phone call and a notification that you'd be starting today.

The owner of the theater turns out to be a haggard man in... his late fourties, you would guess. He's dressed in a tailored suit, but his beard looks like he hasn't trimmed it in a few days. That's even grosser than a normal beard. He introduces himself as 'Mr. Harding', but hurriedly excuses you, leaving you with vague directions to go clean the place up a bit.

The job itself isn't very exciting, but you didn't really expect it to be. Mostly, you walk around with a long-handed dustpan and broom, sweeping the floors and picking up the trash left over from a midnight screening last night. You arrive at seven, and you're done by eight. One hour's work, at ten dollars an hour, a generous rate. Two to three mornings a week, and afternoon work on Mondays until eight. Four to five hours a week. It's not great, but it's something- and it could potentially lead to more. Plus, discounts on movie tickets. Always helpful.

You're content enough with it, in part because nobody tries to speak to you- not that there's anyone to speak to you, there's only two other workers working right then and there are virtually no customers- and in part because the work is finicky enough to require you to actually pay attention. You have to get in behind chairs and up the stairs, you have to clean in the aisles and try and get gum off the handrails, and all other sorts of weird places. You're not sure why people leave this kind of rubbish behind, but they do.

Mr Harding is kind enough to let you use the restroom to change out of your uniform and into your school clothes when it hits eight. He shows you to a locker with a blank white sticker on it, and asks that you keep your uniform in there when you're not using it. He has a contract with a dry cleaner, and will get them dry-cleaned every Sunday, when the theater isn't open.

You're content enough with the job. It's not exciting, but it's good money for the hours, and keeps you busy.

There's a bus running between the theater and school, but school's close enough that you don't feel you need to worry about it. You just jog there instead, and make it just in time to see your regular bus pull up- and, yes, the bus is on time again. Huh.

You're actually in a pretty good mood, right up until the point you walk up to your locker and find Emma leaning against it. She sees you at roughly the same time as you see her. You're tempted to just turn and walk away, but- you have to get to your locker eventually, and she knows it. She's never been one to be scared of cutting the first few minutes of class, either. Shit.

You take a deep breath and try to square your shoulders as you move towards your locker. It's not a very successful attempt.

"Emma," you greet her flatly.

"Taylor," she replies. "It's nice to see you."

You can't help but roll your eyes. "Yes, well. Could you move, please? I need to get to my locker."

She doesn't move. "Actually, I was hoping we could talk," she says.

You look around the halls, taking in all the people surrounding you- there are at least seven or eight people in the halls. None of them are close enough to hear your whispered conversation, but, yeah, no."

She grimaces. "After school," she compromises. "We can meet up at your house- or, no," she corrects herself hurriedly when you scowl, "my house? No? The library- look, just pick a place," she says. There's a faint note of exasperation in her voice, but also a pleading note in there. "Please, Taylor."

You scowl, but-

- you can't put this off forever. You know you can't. You created this entire damned plan of yours to get the entire Trio down on their knees before you. Sure, you've adapted some, compromised some- you won't be forcing Madison to do anything like you'd originally planned for her to do any time soon- but there are aspects of that plan that are kind of vital. Emma being one of the Trio is kind of the most intrinsic one of those.

And, you know Emma well enough to know that she won't give up. When there's something that she wants, she reaches out and she takes it. The fact that you don't want to talk to her won't deter her.

"Fine," you say bitterly. "I'll call you this afternoon and tell you where we can meet up. Bring your wallet. I'm not paying for it."

"Okay." She nods resolutely. "Okay. Please don't back out on this, Taylor."

You sigh. "Just get away from my locker," you mutter.

You can't even have two nice days in a row, you grumble to yourself. Something always comes along to spoil your fun.

The restaurant you chose is a small one, not too far from your house. It's called 'Moretti's Dining'. When you were a kid, it was called 'Mama Moretti's'. At some point, the woman who ran the restaurant died, and her children renamed it to what it's called now.

It's a small, cozy restaurant. Dad's taken you out here before. The prices are low enough that the two of you can afford to go out a couple of times a year, usually for each of your birthdays. The food is good, the atmosphere is friendly enough, and it's in one of the better parts of the district you live in.

The waiter- a man in his very early twenties- recognizes you as you walk in, bringing a small warmth to your stomach. "Aha!" he greets you. His nametag tells you his name is Trey. "It is good to see you again, Miss..."

"Taylor."

"Miss Taylor. You're not with your father today?"

You shake your head, clutching the sleeves of your jacket together. "No," you say quietly. "I'm here to meet with, uh, a.. a girl. Emma. Emma Barnes. Is she here yet?"

"Hmm," he hums. "There have been a lot of girls coming in tonight. Can you describe her to me?"

"Um. She's got red hair. Around my age, pretty-"

"Yes, I see," Trey interrupts you. "Yes, I think I know who you're talking about. If you follow me, I'll show you where she's sitting."

He leads you through the restaurant, which is surprisingly crowded considering it's not even six. You draw your shoulders in more, trying not to draw any attention to yourself. Most of the people aren't paying attention to anyone beyond their own tables, but some of them glance curiously at you as you follow Trey in. You retreat further into your hood and shy away from them.

"Here we are," he murmurs eventually. He's led you to a table up at the back end of the restaurant, one with faux-bamboo dividers around it as though to provide the people inside with some privacy- or trap them inside. Instinctively, you take a step back, but then Trey steps aside, and you spot Emma inside. Your feet die, and your throat closes up. Trey seems to sense that something is wrong, because he hesitates from where he was standing just before, where he was beginning to move away as though to resume his job, and steps forward to clasp you on the shoulder. "Good luck," he whispers softly, a message for you alone. You watch forlornly as he strolls through the building again, casually weaving his way through a mess of toddlers with practiced ease.

You turn back to Emma, who's watching you with guarded eyes. She looks... like you imagine you do. She's wearing her own jacket, a heavy maroon thing with thick black buttons at the front. On her head sits a woollen beanie, and the hands clutched around what you think is a hot cup of tea are clad in thick black gloves.

But it's not her clothes that draw your attention. Reluctantly, you drag your gaze up to her face, taking in her expression. She looks... guarded, fearful. Similar to how you feel. Her eyes are sunken and bloodshot, as though she hasn't been getting enough sleep for the past few weeks, and she's barely wearing any makeup, just some lip gloss. You can't remember the last time you saw Emma without any makeup on.

You slip inside the booth to the seat opposite her. Her eyes watch you warily as you slide inside, and her grip tightens on her mug.

"Hi," she says quietly.

"Hi," you reply. You wish you didn't sound hesitant and fearful saying it.

Neither of you says anything more for a few moments. Emma opens her mouth a few times as though to say something, then visibly bites back whatever she's going to say and closes her mouth, only to repeat the process seconds later.

Your hands start shaking beneath the table. You wish she'd just say whatever she wants to say. Let you get out of here. Let you run away. Again.

But instead of saying that, you just clench your jaw and dig your hands into your thighs.

Before you can help yourself, your power snaps out, settling over Emma's mind. You quickly try to reel it back, but it's uncooperative. It's a strange feeling, like your power is mentally dragging its heels.

Or, no. You can't blame your power for this one. It's not your power that wants to stay there. It's you. You hate not knowing what she's feeling- no, that's not right. You just... You want, you need to know what she's feeling. You can't- you can't sit here, right across from Emma, and just trust that she's not going to hurt you. You don't- you can't trust her like that.

It's a double-bind situation. You can't sit here, not knowing what she's feeling. But you can't use your power on her, either. You can't trust her because she might be toying with you, but you can't not trust her, because if you use your power to verify that and it turns out she is, you... you can't trust yourself. You don't know what you'll do.

(Yes you do. You just can't admit defeat to yourself. Can't admit that you'd rather run away and cry than admit that Emma beat you, again. Can't admit that you're not sure what your power will do if you're using it in a situation like that, what effect it'll have on her if you use it when you're stretched out to breaking point.)

You pull your power roughly back, before you can get a taste of what she's feeling. There are other people around, you tell yourself. She can't do anything here.

There are other people at Winslow, too.

"Do-" Emma says, then stops, shock spreading over her face, as though she's shocked that she managed to say anything. "Do you want a drink? There's tea, if you-"

"I don't drink tea any more," you interrupt harshly. You haven't drunk tea since Mom died. Emma should remember that. She remembered enough of the other little details about you.

Emma pauses, then subsides. "Sorry," she mutters. "There's coffee, too. Or juice, or milkshakes, or, I don't think they'll give us any wine, but-"

"Just water." You shake your head briefly, trying to interrupt her flow of words. "Water's fine."

"Right." She stares at you for a moment, a forlorn expression briefly making its way over her face before she turns away from you and waves a waiter over. You're left waiting for a minute or so, the nearest waiters busy with other tables already, but soon a waitress comes over- a different one, this time, a girl named Violet. She's a cute girl. College-aged, most likely. She has a generous bust, with a streak of her hair dyed violet, contrasting well with the rest of her platinum-blonde hair. "Could we grab a drink of water, please?"

"Sure," Violet replies. "Anything else?"

You look over at Emma, who quickly drops her hand away from her own hair with a faint blush. "Do you know what you want for dinner?" she asks you.

You're tempted to go for the most expensive things on the menu you can, just to spite Emma's wallet a little, but you refrain. You need familiarity more than you need to win one over her right now. "Just a bowl of minestrone," you tell her. "And some herb bread."

Emma nods as Violet writes down your order. "I'll have some insalata caprese," she instructs the waitress. "And another side of herb bread."

"Sure," the waitress agrees easily. "That'll be about twenty minutes." With that, she turns and walks away, giving you a great view of the girl's tight ass.

Emma coughs, and your attention is drawn back to the other girl, who is currently trying to hide an annoyed expression. You can't hide the flicker of annoyance that flows through you, and the annoyance fades instantly from her expression as she almost flinches back.

"Sorry," she mutters. "A bit of tea went down wrong." She hasn't touched her tea since you sat down.

"It's fine," you mutter.

Awkwardness stews in the air between the two of you now that your distraction has left. You don't attempt to say anything. What can you say?

Emma slowly retreats more into herself as the quiet stretches on. You let her.

A few minutes after Violet rushed off, another waiter- this time, a guy named 'Andrew'- comes over with your glass of water. You take it, thanking him quietly, but don't take a drink. You just clutch the glass tightly in your hands, watching the water inside ripple as your hands shake.

The silence stretches on for long minutes. Occasionally, you glance at the watch on Emma's wrist to watch the time tick past, but that's as far as you dare to look at the girl.

Twenty-five minutes pass from the time the waiter brought your water over before you see someone heading over, bearing a bowl and a large plate. It's Trey, you recognize when he gets closer.

"Alright, here we are," he says faux-cheerily when he finally makes it over to your table. "One plate of insulata caprese for the fine lady over here, and one bowl of minestrone for the lovely lady over here." You suck in a breath at the comment, but let it go in a sharp exhale when he just smiles pleasantly at you, not a hint of flirtation in his manner. Good.

"Thank you, Trey," you mutter. His grin grows a little more genuine, and he pats you on the shoulder as he stands and leans in.

"Don't stay quiet too long," he murmurs into your ear. "Women like that, you have to catch their interest and hold it if you want them to stay around." He winks at you as he stands, and you can feel heat burning in your cheeks.

Emma gazes between the two of you, a light frown on her face. "Thank you," she says loudly. "That's fine, thank you for bringing our meal." She straightens her posture, clutching her fork tightly.

Trey gives you another wink as he before he turns to walk away from you, then spinning back momentarily and mouthing the word "JEALOUS" in an overly-exaggerated manner. Your cheeks burn hotter, and you shrink back down into your chair. Yes, you already know that Emma is a jealous woman, does he really have to point it out so obviously where everyone can see?

You pick up your spoon and try to eat a mouthful of the minestrone, but your hands are still shaking slightly. Most of the minestrone just splashes out of the spoon and back into the bowl. Across the table, Emma gazes at you with concern written over her face, but she doesn't say anything. Good. Instead, she just pushes her plate of food over to the side, not caring at all about the meal set in front of her, and seems to gather herself for a moment. You drop the spoon into the bowl. You're not hungry any more.

"Taylor..." She closes her eyes and gathers her courage. "Thanks for coming today."

You scoff. "Yeah, well, you're not leaving me with much choice," you say a little harshly. You immediately regret it when you see her stiffen again and retreat into herself. Not enough to apologize, though.

She visibly has to gather her courage again. You can't help but feel a little impressed despite yourself. You're pretty sure that if you were in her position, you'd have just left. Not that you'd mind if she did. Then you could leave, too.

"Yeah," she says. "I wouldn't do this if it wasn't important, Taylor. You know that."

You don't know anything about her any more, but you refrain from saying that.

If anything productive is going to come out of tonight, you get the feeling that you're going to be refraining from saying a lot of things you really, really want to say to her.

"Okay," you say instead, not agreeing with her, but not fighting over it, either. "Well, I'm here. Say whatever you asked me here to say."

She shakes her head for a moment, then lets out a huge sigh. "Great," she mutters, quietly enough that you're pretty sure you aren't meant to hear it. "Isn't this going swimmingly. Alright." She says the last word louder. You're meant to hear this now. "I need to tell you that I'm sorry."

Anger rises in your gut for a moment, quickly fought down, shoved into that same place you've been shoving your simmering anger since you decided to talk to Emma this morning. You can't help but scoff again, though. "Yeah, right." You shake your head disbelievingly.

"Taylor-" On the table, you can see her hands beginning to shake. Absently, you note that your own are still shaking, harder this time. You're not sure whether you're shaking with anger or fear, now. Maybe both.

"No," you cut her off. "You're sorry? That's what you asked me here to say?"

She shakes her head quickly. "No," she says, an undercurrent of fear in her tone. "No, that's- I just- I needed to say that. First. I needed to say that first. In case you walked out. In case I don't get to say anything else tonight, I wanted you to hear that."

You subside somewhat, but don't say anything, choosing to pick up your glass of water and raise it to your mouth. It's difficult to swallow any with your hands shaking this badly, but you give it your best shot.

"Right," she breathes. "Well, um. I guess you want an explanation then, huh?"

You roll your eyes. "It'd be nice, yeah."

She nods to herself. "Right, um. Where should I start. Okay, um. Do you remember that summer you were away at camp? A year after your Mom died?"

You nod. How could you forget? That was the last time- well. You'd enjoyed that camp, enjoyed the chance to get away from Dad's misery for a while and go to a place where people legitimately seemed happy in your presence.

And then it'd all gone to hell when you returned.

"Good," she mutters. "That- It all started when, um. It all started... Sorry. It's hard to talk about this."

You give her a curt nod. It's hard to not feel sympathetic for her when she's blinking away tiredness from her eyes and cringing into herself.

"Do you remember that phone call?" she asks. "The last one we had, where I hung up on you. It started that night. I hung up on you because we'd driven into a bad part of town, and Dad started getting nervous when he saw someone had blocked our path with a dumpster..."

Over the next five minutes, neither of you touch your food as she haltingly describes a horrifying tale of what you can only assume was an attempted assault on her person when a group of gang members- she doesn't know what gang they're from, doesn't care- stopped their car and violently dragged her out. Her voice trembles, and at times falters entirely for long moments, as she describes how she felt through it all- the way she almost went into shock, the way her thoughts spun away from the situation, the way she could only distantly register the pain and the horror until they actually started in on her- and, yeah. You know exactly how she felt through all that. It's not how you'd felt when she'd dragged you out of that shower and shoved you in that locker, but, it's close. You know that helplessness, that fear, that sense of the world slowly slipping away from you as you struggle helplessly against it.

You look up at her. She stares back at you with a fragile expression. Her hands tug nervously at a frayed thread on the cuff of her jacket. There's a small pile of broken threads on the table in front of her.

Your hand is tight enough around your glass that you're afraid it might break.

You don't let go of it.

"Emma," you say evenly, "could you pass me the pepper?"

She pauses in her recollection of her tale, looking down at the table. The pepper is in easy reach. You could just reach out with your free hand and pick it up. She knows it. You know it.

She looks at you, at the rigid set of your shoulders, at your hand tight around the glass. You wonder, absently, what you look like. Do you look angry? Scared? Defensive? All of the above?

Emma lays a trembling finger on the pepper shaker and pushes it over to you. Your shoulders relax, just slightly.

"Thank you," you say, voice still carefully even. You don't pick up the pepper, though. You just let it sit there, your gaze focused on it. Your hands stop shaking quite so hard. "Keep going."

You can feel her looking at you, but you don't let your gaze rise from the jar of pepper. After a short pause, she picks up where she left off.

She goes on, voice going scratchy as she describes how she'd tried to fight them off, how she'd struggled and hit them and it was useless because there were more of them and they were bigger than her, stronger than her. She tells you- and, you note absently, it's only here that her voice regains some strength- about how it was only the intervention of a hero that had saved her- Shadow Stalker- and how Shadow Stalker had proceeded to attack the men assaulting her, how Shadow Stalker had broken them and driven them off and saved her.

"I stayed in my room for days after that," she recalls. "I was too- too terrified to come out. Mom tried to get me to come out, but I couldn't. I thought- it felt, I don't, I don't know-"

You help her out.

"It felt like everyone knew," you say. Your voice sounds dull, almost emotionless. You don't look away from the pepper shaker. "Like everyone could look at you and see what had happened. Like there's a mark on your body, and everyone could see it. Nobody got to touch you, but they made you feel helpless. Like they were in control, and they stripped that away from you, made you feel like a toy for them to play with, like you didn't matter. Only they're important enough to matter. Them and what they want. And every time you went outside, you could feel their eyes on you. You can feel them looking at you, judging you for not getting away. You hate it. You try to tell yourself, it isn't my fault. But you feel weak anyway. Worthless. Like every time they look at you, you're a victim all over again, and all you want to do is go back inside and hide."

You finally look away from the pepper shaker, looking at Emma instead.

Her face has paled. She looks stricken.

"I understand," you say as calmly as you can. "Thank you for dinner, Emma."

And you move back out of the booth, ignoring her attempts to reach for you, and run away.

Dad greets you as you walk back in the front door. "Taylor?" he says, sounding a little surprised. "I thought you were going out to dinner with Emma. Did something happen?"

You ignore him, barrelling straight through the house and into your room, slamming the door shut behind you. He follows you and knocks loudly. You ignore him. You can't deal with him right now.

It's nine oh-one PM.

Your room is a mess. Your bedspread is ajar. Your notes are spread across your desk. Your books aren't in order on your bookshelf. Some of your clothes aren't folded. Your breaths are coming more rapidly. You shouldn't have run home.

Your room is mess. Disorganized mess. You hate it. Why did you let it get like this? Why didn't you realize what a mess it was before?

With shaking hands, you move over to your bed and begin smoothing it out. You don't stop until it's perfect, until every wrinkle is gone, until your bed is exactly as it should be. Exactly as you want it to be.

It's nine forty-two PM.

You move on to your desk.

Slowly, methodically, you work your way around your entire room, bringing to it a sense of order. You arrange your books, first by alphabetical order, then by colour, then by size, then back to alphabetical order. You tuck your notes together, ensuring all the pages line up neatly together and rest exactly in the corner of your desk. Your pencils sit in a straight line against the wall, arranged so you can reach them with minimum fuss. You fold your clothes; then, unhappy, unsatisfied, you take out your entire closet and begin refolding your clothes, item by item. You arrange everything carefully in there, top to bottom. Jackets, then shirts, then underwear, then pants. You take them out three times, sorting them differently. By size, first. Then by style. Then by colour. You're satisfied, eventually, with the colours. Black on the left, white on the right. Dark to bright.

Your hands are still shaking.

It's four fifty-five AM.

Your bedroom is in order now. Everything is where you need it to be.

You climb into bed, and watch the minutes tick down.

You're going to have to make a decision soon, you know, as you watch the clock tick closer to seven. You can stay home, hide until Dad leaves, and put up with it when the school calls later. Maybe staying at home will calm you down. Maybe it'll make it worse. You don't know. It sounds tempting. Or you can go to school. Sit down and try to pretend nothing happened last night. Pretend you didn't just describe to Emma the way in which she victimized you. Pretend that you don't walk through the halls with your arms tucked in defensively. Hug Madison. Hug Sophia.

The clock ticks down. Your deadline approaches. What do you choose?

] Stay home. You can't deal with going to school right now. Just... hide from it all. Or, well. Don't stay home, because Dad will find you, but don't go to school, either. Do something, somewhere else. Somewhere quiet. [If you pick this, pick one of the below options.]

- Results: Taylor will skip school for the day. Madison and Sophia will grow concerned, and Madison's tutoring sessions will be interrupted. Taylor will be home in time to commence studies with Sophia, but Taylor will eventually be forced to disclose what happened to Madison. The knowledge that the bullying hurt Taylor more than she let on will cause emotional harm to Madison. Danny will be notified that Taylor skipped school. Taylor will put off her breakdown some, allowing her to deal with it more gradually.

] Go to the library. Somewhere nice, quiet. Read a book. Read three books. Didn't Victoria recommend a series? Maybe you could read that. Nobody should pay attention to you in a library, right?

- General results: Taylor will head to the library for the day and begin reading the Harry Potter series. This option will begin the path to opening up early recruitment of Tattletale.

] Go to the clinic. Not a quiet place, but nobody pays attention to you there. What are the chances that Amy will be there, anyway? Low enough that you're willing to risk it.

- Success chance: 50%.

- General results: Taylor will head to the clinic for the day and immerse herself in her volunteer work. Will result in Taylor being assigned more interesting duties related to cataloguing supplies, engaging her more than her menial duties have so far.

- On a success: Amy will gain 2 Affection for Taylor without Taylor using her powers. Taylor will meet up with Amy on one of Amy's lunch breaks. Sensing Taylor's emotional distress, Amy will not push Taylor, but will invite her to sit down and talk about books for over an hour. Doctor Fitzgerald will note of their growing friendship. May provide an opportunity to begin early recruitment of Brandish soon.

- On a failure: Taylor will immerse herself in her work. Amy will not be present at the clinic that day.

] Write-in. Please justify how it will help lower Taylor's stress level.

] Go to school. It's important to keep up appearances, even if you're pretty sure you're still in the middle of an emotional breakdown. It'll be fine. You'll just- cling to Madison. Or maybe Sophia. [If you pick this, pick one of the below options.]

- Results: Taylor will go to school despite her breakdown. Will substantially increase Taylor's stress level, but the opportunity to interact with Madison and Sophia will end the breakdown early.

] Just try and act normal in school. If you don't let on that anything's wrong, then nobody will think anything's wrong. If nobody thinks anything's wrong, then nobody will ask questions. The problem solves itself.

- Results: Taylor's stress levels increase further, but does not risk anyone else finding out.

] Cling to Madison. She's- yours. She's yours. If you tell her to skip class for you, she will without hesitation. Maybe that's enough reason for you not to do this.

- Success chance: 50%

- General results: Taylor will ask Madison to skip class with her, and she will oblige. Madison's grades will suffer a little, but the two of them will hide on the roof of Winslow for the day.

- On a success: Taylor deflects Madison's questions successfully, interrupting her with lots of loving snuggle times. Taylor's stress levels decrease some, and Taylor and Madison get to spend an entire school day together doing naughty things. Encourages Taylor to bury her emotional problems by seeking comfort in the arms of her women.

- On a failure: Taylor is forced to disclose to Madison what happened last night. Taylor's stress levels remain unchanged, moving both positively and negatively thanks to the interaction. Madison will be emotionally hurt by the revelation that Taylor lied about how much the bullying affected her, and by the revelation that she hurt Taylor this badly.

] Ask Sophia to skip class with you today. She's not ready for this. Not yet. But you can make her ready for it. Without even damaging her, probably.

- Success chance: 80%

- General results: Taylor will ask Sophia to skip class with her, and she will oblige, only leaving Taylor when Taylor goes down to have lunch with Madison. Taylor's stress levels will decrease slightly. Taylor will deliberately use her power on Sophia to make her okay with staying with Taylor, shifting Sophia's outlook on certain things in her life, especially how she views those close to her.

- On a success: Sophia's Lust and Loyalty increase by 1. Taylor manages to retain total control over her powers, and only influences Sophia far enough to shift her outlook to get her to want to keep Taylor safe. Taylor and Sophia will spend much of the day either playing around or "playing around".

- On a failure: Sophia's Affection increases by 2 and her Lust increases by 1, but the general state of alarm increases by 2. Taylor's control over her power slips somewhat- or, perhaps, she is not as in control of herself as she seems- and she influences Sophia further than she means to. Sophia's outlook on life is altered more substantially. May have substantial impacts on Sophia as a character.

View in Thread

Jul 17, 2016 ReportLike

Fred Flintstine, PanDron, TheBigMole and 205 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.18

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: 50%

Necessary roll: 50. Rolled: 63. Success.

You rise from your bed the second the clock hits six o'clock. You refuse to look at it, knowing that if you see it now, you're going to spend the next half an hour straightening it. Instead, you head over to your dresser and quietly pull out some clothes suitable for running, then strip, pull the clothes on, and walk briskly out of your room.

Dad isn't awake out there. Good. You pass straight to the door, pausing to make sure the spare key is still there- it is- before you head out into the streets and begin jogging. You realize quickly that you forgot your water bottle, but- you'll live.

Your shoes slap against the asphalt of the roads, the sound seeming louder than it should be thanks to the stillness of the houses around you. You concentrate on your breathing, a basic rythm you'd picked up from Sophia. Two steps, left, right. Inhale. Two steps, left, right. Exhale. Two steps, left, right. Inhale. Over and over. The minutes blur by, but you're barely cognizant of them. You just jog. Left at Baker. Left at Kappel. Left at Elm. Left at Terracotta. Back home. Left at Baker. Left at Kappel.

Your legs burn, but that's okay.

Eventually, it's seven. You keep going. Seven fifteen. Seven thirty. Seven forty-five.

By eight, your legs are aching, your lungs are burning, and your throat feels parched.

Oddly, your thoughts feel freer. Clearer.

Sophia was right. Jogging does help. The simple rythm of it, the way the world falls away around you- yeah. You can see why she does this.

Dad is gone by the time you return home. He left you a mug of coffee sitting on the table, and a small piece of paper. A note, you think at first, telling you to go to school. But when you pick it up, the message is simpler than that. Warmer than that.

I called the school and told them you might not be in today.

Talk to me when you're ready. I'll be here for you.

I love you.

Your chest aches, but it's a good ache this time.

With Dad's implicit permission to skip school, you feel assured about your decision to skip school for the day. You feel bad about leaving Madison alone- actually, you feel really bad about that, and kind of lonely- but you can't deal with Emma today. You need some time away from her, some time to process what she said last night.

Instead, you head back to your room and get another change of clothes, then head to the shower. You're covered in sweat. It feels a little gross, even if you're pretty sure you don't stink too badly. Once you're in there, you take your time, luxuriating in the heat of the shower and allowing the water to run down and soothe your aching legs. You're tempted to take care of another ache while you're in there, but... maybe now isn't the best time. Not so soon after last night.

You climb out and towel off, getting dressed in your clothes. They're not very exciting, but you're not planning on doing very much that's exciting today. You just need to distract yourself. You're feeling a little better already. The jog, and the following shower, definitely helped.

The change jar isn't getting any fuller, but you reach in and pull out some coins anyway. Dad won't mind, and you know that he'd prefer you take the bus to the clinic rather than try to walk there yourself. It's not safe to walk through those parts of town, especially not for a young girl like yourself.

... Not that it feels much safer to drive right now, given what Emma told you last night. Still, buses aren't cars. They have security cameras, and there are more people on them. They should be safe, right?

You walk to the bus stop. When the bus arrives, you hide in the seat closest to the bus driver, and make sure you're in view of the security camera at all time.

Luckily, you do make it to the clinic safely. The bus driver gives you a little wave as you step off the bus; you wave back, but don't smile at him. He closes the door in your face. Rude.

Shaking your head, you turn and head over to the clinic. It's not that far away from the bus stop, so it doesn't take you long to arrive. According to the clock hanging at the back of the room, in fact, it's not even nine thirty when you get in.

The receptionist- a different one, today, a man with darker skin and a wig- gives you an odd look as you approach the counter and pull the sign-in book over to you. "Aren't you meant to be in school right now?" he asks. His voice is deep, and there's a strange coarseness to it, like he's inhaled too much smoke in his life.

You shrug half-heartedly, but before you can work up the willpower to answer, you're distracted by the sound of someone calling your name behind you. You turn, and are immediately confronted by a man in a long white labcoat- Doctor Fitzgerald. He's actually wearing doctor-y clothes today. Do doctors really wear coats like that? Huh. You'd though that was just a TV convention.

"Isn't today a schoolday?" he asks. You just nod and half-shrug your shoulders. "... Does your father know you're here, at least?"

"Yeah," you reply. "He, um, rang the school and told them I wouldn't be in today. I needed to, to do something else. I can't go in today. So I came here. That's okay, isn't it?" You can't help the fact that you're pleading with him by the end of your sentence.

He looks at you searchingly. Whatever he finds in your face, he seems to come to a decision as he steps forward, past you, and moves to the sign-in book. For a moment, your heart falls when he picks up the pen and scribbles your name out, but then he turns to you with a gentle expression on his face.

"We can't have a minor volunteering during school hours," he begins. "I'd be forced to report you for truancy if I knew you were here. But I don't know you're here, and I'm going to be very surprised when I walk into the storeroom later today and find that someone has inventoried all our supplies for us. Okay?"

You nod, your jaw set. Yeah, you understand. He's bending the rules for you. You don't understand why- you'd been hoping he just wouldn't find out- but you're not going to argue. "Yeah," you say. "It's weird how that happens sometimes."

"Good." He stands, then hesitates. "Did you bring lunch?" Shit. No, you didn't. He must see the answer on your face, because he continues, "No, that's okay. Take your lunch break at one, and tell Claire I told you it's okay to have one of the sandwiches in the fridge."

"Okay," you say. Then, impulsively, you lean forwards and give him a quick hug before rushing off to the storeroom.

You've been in here before, but you weren't really paying attention to just how much stuff is in here when you were last here. You'd just been focused on cleaning it up. Now, you look around, and you marvel a little. You had a vague idea before now of how many supplies a clinic or hospital needed to run, but now you can really appreciate it. There are eight stacks in here, each with five shelves on them longer than your forearm. And there aren't many empty spaces on them.

Inventorying the room is going to keep you busy, at least. Just as you like it.

Spotting a clipboard containing a thin sheaf of papers hanging on the side of the stacks, you grab it off and check that they're the right sheets. They are, and so you get to work.

When you emerge a good three and a half hours later, you've done a very solid amount of work. Five shelves have been fully inventoried. Along the way, you've been checking the seals on the boxes, marking down which ones have been opened and how many supplies have been removed from each box. You don't know if it's helpful, but if anyone's stolen supplies, at least Doctor Fitzgerald will know.

Doing this has... helped, you think. It's calmed your mind, at least. Your thoughts aren't jumping from place to place, now, and you're not feeling quite so miserable. You're not feeling perfect, but you can deal with that. You're used to not feeling perfect.

It's actually a little past one when you make your way out to the break room. A handful of nurses are still trailing their way out of the room, some of them clutching cups of vending machine coffee in their hands. You tilt your head, considering- but, uh, yeah, you haven't even received your first paycheque yet. Yeah, you'll avoid buying any for the moment.

There aren't a lot of people in the break room when you make your way in there. There's a woman with shoulder-length hair, as black as your own, two men sitting down at a table- you note their clutched hands beneath the table; your chest feels warm again at the sight- with empty mugs sitting before them, and-

"Taylor?"

- Amy is sitting in what looks like an awfully comfortable little lounge at the back of the room, clutching another styrofoam cup in one hand and a book in the other. She's giving you a bewildered look, which you return. What? You're not that surprising, you think...

"Aren't you-" She climbs out of her chair and moves closer to you, but her words trail off when she gets close enough to get a good look at you. She shuts her mouth, raising her cup awkwardly to take a sip before she says anything. "Um, never mind. Are you on break right now?"

You nod. "Yeah. Doctor Fitzgerald told me I should take a break now, and ask, uh, Claire? For a sandwich."

She snorts. "A sandwich. God, that man. Okay, no, come on." She grabs your hand, but- no. You dig your heels in, refusing to move.

"Where are you trying to take me?" you ask steadily.

She pauses and looks back, giving you a scrutinizing look. "Just to the cafeteria," she says slowly. "My f- New Wave funds it. This coffee tastes awful anyway, so I was going to get myself a better one. I'll buy you some lunch and we can talk."

If warm feelings keep bubbling up in your chest like this, you're not sure how you're going to stay angry even at Emma for long. You discard that thought as quickly as it floats through your head, choosing instead to waggle your eyebrows at Amy. "Buying me lunch already? That's moving a bit fast, but okay..."

She splutters, and you grin, darting past her. She follows you, still attempting a denial. "That's- that's not what I mean, Taylor!"

You stop, schooling your face into a pout, and turn to her. "Oh," you say, trying your best to sound dejected. "You don't want to have lunch with me?"

"I- I-" Her face goes red. You can't help the grin that takes over your face, and her pleading expression quickly turns into a scowl. "Taylor!" she groans. "Stop teasing me."

"But I'm not teasing you. You just want to go on a daaate~" you say in a sing-song voice. Her face goes even redder, and all she can do is gape at you for a moment, before she groans and buries her face in her hands.

"Argh," she growls. "Call it whatever you want. Keep teasing me and I'll make you pay for your own lunch."

Ack. You pout at her. "Fine, fine," you say. You don't actually know where the cafeteria is, so you let her show you the way. You don't actually follow her, though- you remain in front of her, turning your head just enough that you can see when she's about to turn. You almost trip over twice. Worth it.

You haven't actually been in the cafeteria before. It's not a very large place, just a small place with a counter at one end and half a dozen tables at the other.

"Yeah, it's not very big," Amy tells you when she sees you looking. "It's more here so the families of the people who come in to get treated can get something cheap to eat. Um, is a pie okay? They have beef or chicken. And a drink, maybe..." She deliberately sweeps her eyes up and down your body, and says in a sweet tone, "A chocolate milk?"

You smile at her, probably showing a few too many teeth. She looks far too proud of herself for managing to tease you in turn. "Why, Amy, I didn't know you were into that kind of thing."

"There's a lot you don't-" she says instinctively, then stops and recoils when she realizes what she is about to imply. "Uh. Uh, never mind! I'll just get you a Coke. Be right back!"

You snort as you watch her run off. Teasing Amy is hilarious.

She comes back a couple of minutes later bearing three large paper bags, two bottles of Coke, and a face that's finally cleared of its redness. She places two of the bags in front of you, then eagerly tears open the other one, revealing a slice of marbled cheesecake. "I know I shouldn't," she says matter-of-factly, "but Idra makes some really good cheeesecake." And she takes a large bite of it. You can't help but watch, fascinated- not by her eating, but by the way her eyes flutter closed, by the smile that steals across her face, by the way her little pink tongue darts out to brush off a few extra crumbs and wow, you're actually feeling jealous of a cheesecake. That's a new level of weirdness, even for you. You're going to have a new image for tonight, you think, although the kind of eating you're imagining is rather less literal.

Her eyes flutter back open, and she freezes when she sees you staring intensely at her. "Wh- what?" she asks, her face heating up again. That didn't take long.

"Nothing," you hum. Probably a bit too early for you to be sharing those thoughts with her. "So what kind of pie did you buy?"

She gives you an odd look, but drops it. You do see her looking consideringly down at her cheesecake, though. "Chicken," she says. "I didn't know which you'd prefer, sorry."

"No, it's okay," you assure her. "Thanks for buying me lunch, Amy."

She shrugs. "Thanks for having lunch with me. Most of the people here wouldn't dream of it."

"Yeah, well, that's their mistake," you say, and smile at her. "They're really missing out, but I don't think I'll tell them. I want to keep you all to myself."

Her face turns red again, but oddly, she looks pleased rather than flustered. Damn, your teasing must be off. You're not getting the right reactions from her now. "Thanks," she mumbles. "So! Um, um. Oh! I was reading a new book. It's an Earth Aleph book, my cousin gave it to me, said she thought it was sexy, she's always been a bit weird... It's called, um, Twilight, I think. It's a bit creepy, though..."

You and Amy end up being drawn into a discussion for well over an hour. A little after two, you see Doctor Fitzgerald stick his head into the cafeteria with a harried look on his face, but Amy doesn't notice, and when he sees the two of you talking animatedly, he stops, then quickly retreats, an odd look on his face.

Eventually, enough time passes that Amy actually yelps when she casually glances at her watch. "Three?" she shouts. "Oh man- Taylor, I'm sorry, I have to get back to work. Um, I'll see you again, hopefully?"

You nod firmly. "Definitely," you vow. If nothing else, you're going to keep coming back just to see her, and that cute little tongue of hers. And the cute rest of her, but you're fascinated by that tongue. The fact that she actually has good taste in books, well- that's just an added bonus, you think.

It's with that positive thought that you go back to inventorying, barely aware of how much your mood has improved since last night.

It hits four when you finally prepare to go home. You only need to be home by six, but you don't think Amy's going to be coming back down, and you need to prepare for Sophia's arrival.

More than that, though, you sieze the bus ride as an opportunity to begin writing down your plans for the next couple of days. You blew today- and you're pretty sure you're going to have to make up for that- but there's still two more days in the week after you finish up with Sophia tonight.

You plan to... [Choose two of the options below.]

] Make it up to Madison. Yeah, okay, it was one tutoring session. You still missed it, and you hate seeing that disappointed look on Madison's face. You can't do any of the things Madison wants you to yet, but, maybe something else? [Write-in a date Taylor can take Madison on. Please keep in mind that Taylor currently has no money and no transport.]

- General results: Taylor will take Madison out on a date. Results will vary based on location, but taking Madison on a date will soothe Madison's anxiety at not seeing you yesterday.

] Work late at the theater on Thursday. You already have to cut off your study session with Sophia a bit early so you can make it there by eight thirty, but you know there's another midnight session that night. Mr Harding might be willing to let you work a few extra hours off the record to keep everything clean. You'll be tired the next day, but you'll have some extra cash, and prove yourself to Mr Harding to boot.

- General results: Taylor will get a little extra cash in hand for the weekend, allowing her an additional cheap purchase for the weekend. Proves Taylor's work ethic to Mr Harding some; if Taylor proves herself at least two more times within the next four weeks (starting next Monday), Taylor will gain the option to work long hours on weekends for greater pay.

] Work around the hosue a bit. You already do a lot of the housework, but... you can't face Dad yet, but you think you can do this, at least. Some of the doors are squeaking, and one of the tap handles is a bit loose, and... there are a few other jobs you think you can do. Maybe that'll make his life a bit easier.

- General results: Danny will recognize and appreciate Taylor's efforts around the house, smoothing over the rough edges in their relationship incurred by Taylor's breakdown.

] Push things just a little further with Sophia. Honestly, this Chemistry work is boring. Like, super boring. Some people might consider it blackmail, but you think it's more bribery. You'll make a deal with Sophia; you'll pull in enough work to guarantee her an A, if she performs sexual favours for you.

- Success chance: 20% increments (20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%).

- General results: For the promise of an A on an important test in a subject she's struggling in, Sophia will agree to Taylor's terms.

- On a success: Each increment will allow Taylor to push Sophia's sexual favours further. Starting at kissing, and eventually working its way up to semi-nude fondling.

View in Thread

Jul 18, 2016 ReportLike

Fred Flintstine, PanDron, TheBigMole and 186 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.19

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: Incremental.

Rolled: 29. Two increments.

The sky is showing the faintest hints of darkening by the time you get home around four thirty. There's still a couple hours of light left, but you can tell you're still in the colder portions of the year.

You head inside, giving Dad just a small wave as you head inside. He gives you a small nod and a warm smile from where he's sitting in the living room, but doesn't try to get up and give you a hug, which you're very grateful for. You don't know how you'd take it, but you're pretty sure it wouldn't be well- you're not in nearly a good enough mood at this exact second to accept spontaneous hugs.

Oh- wait. You stop. "Um, Dad, I have a friend coming over around seven. We're working on a Chemistry project together."

He raises his eyebrows. "Your Chemistry teacher is giving you a lot of work," he notes. You fight down an instinctive blush. "Okay. Do you need me to cook dinner for her?"

You think about it for a second, then shake your head. "No, don't worry about it. In fact, just cook yourself something, I'll make Sophia and I something to eat after she gets here."

He accepts that easily enough. "Okay. If you need anything, come get me."

You're glad he's not standing close enough to see the way you instinctively try to shake your head before you manage to stop yourself. "Uh, okay. I will." No you won't.

With Dad notified, you feel safe in moving to your bedroom, where you stand.

... It might have been done during the middle of a breakdown, and you probably shouldn't feel good about it, but your room is so clean.

You shake your head, then move to your bag. You pause for a moment when you don't find them in there, but- oh. Now you remember. You'd taken all your textbooks out of your bag and placed them in your bookshelf when you'd needed more books to fill the spaces in your bookshelf.

You grab your Chemistry book from the shelf it's on- filed under T for Trudgett, the last name of the author- and place it on the book, then go back to the bookshelf and begin pulling out all your other textbooks from on there. You grumble a little as you do it- it's inconvenient, but your bookshelf is so neat with them on there- but it's over with in a couple of minutes.

Then you sit down in your chair and actually go over your Chemistry work for a bit. And, yeah, you were right in your first impression of it. The questions aren't complicated; they're just involved, time-consuming. You imagine that if someone had to actually sit down and read through the textbook to answer the questions, it might actually be hard. Score one for reading ahead.

You go through and organise yourself for the study session ahead, grabbing a piece of paper and tearing chunks of it away to bookmark sections in the textbook relevant to the assessment. It's a bit hodgepodge, but there's not much else you can do without post-its, and given you only borrowed this textbook from the school library, you're not going to risk tearing the page with shoddy post-it notes.

When you're just about done, you hear a loud knock on the door. Quickly, you scramble to your feet and rush out, just managing to beat Dad to the door. You swing it open to find Sophia standing there holding a duffel bag. She's wearing her track uniform and her customary scowl.

"Hey, Sophia," you say. You don't smile. There's something inexplicably weird about Sophia standing on your front porch.

She grunts. "Hey, H- Taylor," she amends, noting your Dad's presence behind you. "Can I come in?" You're surprised for a moment, as you'd assumed she'd just barge in, but- right. Your deal with her; you're in control while you're at your house. Okay. Good to see she remembers. Apparently better than you did.

"Yeah." You hold out your hand, and she automatically reaches out and takes it. The two of you stare down at your entwined hands for a second, before you look away, your cheeks reddening a little. "Come on, I'll show you to my room. Have you had anything to eat?" You try to pull her in, but she resists for a moment.

"Hold on a second," she says. You can't quite identify her tone- she sounds a little breathy, but maybe a little annoyed. She steps past you, coming to a stop in front of your Dad. "Hi. I'm Sophia." She extends her free hand out to him, and he takes it with a little stunned look on his face as he looks at your entwined hands. Then his face splits into a silly grin, and you roll your eyes. Great. What kind of weird thoughts is he having now?

"Danny," he introduces himself in turn, shaking her hand. "Okay, Taylor, there's food in the fridge. If you need anything, you know where I am."

"Yeah," you reply. Then finally, mercifully, you're able to pull Sophia away and towards your room, where you tug her over to your desk and let out a long sigh. "Geez," you mutter. "Okay, do you want something to eat before we start?"

She shrugs, then lifts her duffel bag off her shoulders and looks at you questioningly. You gesture beside your desk, where there's enough empty space for her to drop it. She does so, then sits on the edge of your bed and raises a questioning eyebrow at you. You- metaphorically- drool a little.

Your throat is suddenly dry. Sophia smirks at you, as though she knows exactly where your thoughts have gone, but rather disappointingly she doesn't even try to tease you.

"Um." You cough lightly, and her smirk grows bigger. "Right. Um. This Chemistry assignment. I know we're both going to be pretty busy- actually, I have to cut things short tomorrow so I..." You trail off. Okay, look, nobody could blame you. If they had a Sophia reclining on their bed, they'd probably have trouble trying to focus on their schoolwork, too. But they don't. Nobody else can have a Sophia. She's yours. "... Um, I bookmarked the sections of the textbook that have the information we're after. Hopefully we should be able to do it in the time we have left. But, um, I'm going to be working later tomorrow, I hope, so I might not be available for as long. I'll loan you my textbook-"

"Won't you need it?" she interrupts, then shakes her head. "Wait, sorry. Forgot I shouldn't be interrupting."

It's so tempting to give her a pat on the head. "No, it'll be fine. I already know most of this stuff, so I shouldn't need anyone the textbook to answer the questions."

She lifts an eyebrow. "You already have the answers, huh? You should help me write mine then," she jokes.

You consider it for a moment. "I dunno," you say doubtfully. She opens her mouth, but shuts it again, looking annoyed. "I mean, I could, but then I'd have to spend time over the weekend doing my answers, and I have stuff I need to do over the weekend. That doesn't seem like a very good deal for me."

She rolls her eyes. "It was just a joke," she says. "Don't worry about it."

But you just shake your head. "No, it's, hm." You look at her consideringly. It's probably a bad idea, such a bad idea, but- you really need to get some relief soon. You can't believe you're actually seriously considering doing this. "We could make a deal," your traitorous mouth says.

Sophia gives you a look. "A deal?" she asks.

You nod, silently cursing yourself. "I don't mind spending some time over the weekend doing my assignment, but I'll be losing some sleep to do it," you tell her. No need to tell her that you'll be losing that sleep anyway, you think. This weekend is probably going to be a busy one. "So I'll help you now, but only if you make it worth my while."

For a moment, she pauses. Then she chuckles. Actually chuckles. "Well, well, Hebert," she says with a wide grin. "Never thought you'd be that bold. Alright, I'll tell you what. Tell me what you want, and I'll consider it."

Huh. Honestly, you'd kind of expected to be slapped for that one. Sophia is weird.

"I want..." You consider it for a moment. "I want- I want a kiss," you declare. "No- no wait. Two kisses." She doesn't look angry. Maybe you can push it a bit further. "No, uh, more- five. Five... ten. Ten minutes of kissing. Per day I spend helping." She waits, so you push on. "A- and I want you to take off your shirt," you finish in a rush, stumbling over your words. "Um, not your bra. Unless you want to. I'd be happy with that. But you don't have to. For- for the whole session. Every session."

She considers it. She actually does. You can see her thinking it over.

"And if I let you do that, you'll help me?" she checks. "And I don't mean just getting the answers here, Hebert. I want you to help me get them good. I need good results here. A plus, not a B, not even an A. An A plus. And you have to get the same, this is a group project."

You think about it. You really do. This weekend is going to be a busy one, but- you're pretty sure you can manage. And if not, you can always just skip sleeping on Sunday. You'll be half-dead come Monday, but you can do it.

"Yeah." You nod determinedly. "I can do that."

She lifts an eyebrow, but she doesn't even seem angry. "You're a bit of a perv," she notes. "You know that?" But despite her words, she doesn't seem even a little hesitant when she pulls off her shirt, revealing her bra beneath it. You'd expected her to be wearing a disappointingly covering sports bra, but she's actually wearing a delightfully revealing little white number, decorated with frills of lace. The pale material contrasts deliciously with her dark skin. You're tempted to lean down and lick around the bra to see if she tastes like chocolate. You refrain, though. You want this to happen again, and pushing her like that is an excellent way to ensure you can't.

She crawls up your bed, arranging your two pillows so that she can lay on your bed comfortably and still raise her chest high enough for you to have a good view of her bra.

"Alright," she says. Despite the words coming out of her mouth, even you can hear the undercurrent of arousal in them. "Come on, then. Let's get this over with."

You stumble over to the bed, then stalk forward on all fours until you find yourself leaning over her. You can't resist raising one hand to brush at her bra for a moment. She watches your hand closely, but doesn't try to push it away. In fact, she just closes her eyes as you brush your thumb over the bumps in her bra where her nipples are straining against the material.

You keep your hand there, balancing yourself on only your left hand as you lean down and kiss her hungrily. Her mouth opens as your lips touch hers, and you waste no time in meeting her tongue with yours. Even your eyes flutter closed for a moment as the two of you kiss.

You don't know what her skin tastes like, but her mouth tastes like chocolate. There's a flare of jealousy in your stomach for a moment- who's been trying to seduce your Sophia with treats?- but you fight it down like the absurd thought it is and just focus on the all-too-thrilling sensation of Sophia gasping against your lips as you suck on her tongue. Her hands wrap, almost unconsciously, around your waist, holding you against her. In turn, you stop holding yourself up so high, and press your arm down over hers, forcibly preventing her from moving it. She loses it for a moment, then- if you were more inexperienced, you might have mistaken the pleased shudder that runs through her as a mini-orgasm. Even now, you're not sure it's far off. You've felt Madison make that little shudder too many times to mistake it for an actual mini-orgasm, though.

She tries to retaliate for that once she regains her senses a little, but you don't let her. You squeeze her nipple through her bra, drawing a low moan, which you take advantage of to swirl your tongue around her own. She tries to fight it for a few minutes, tries to press back and regain some control over the kiss, but you don't let her. You just lean further down over her, allowing your weight to gently press her down into your bed, and continue to dominate the kiss. Her resistance grows weaker as you dart in again and again, exploring every inch of her mouth and claiming it- claiming her- as yours.

Eventually, she's no longer even pretending to fight it. Every time you draw away to take a breath, her breathing is more ragged. She occasionally makes weak attempts to slip her tongue into your own mouth, but she yields easily when you just lick and suck at it.

By the time you draw away from her, a good eighteen minutes after the kiss started, you're barely able to keep yourself from just dry-humping her thigh until you come. By the weak jerking of her hips, she's trying to fight the same desire.

You roll over, your body trembling slightly as you lay on the edge of the bed beside Sophia. "Jesus," is all you manage to whisper. She nods shakily.

Maybe it's a good thing she didn't take her bra off, you think dreamily. If you'd been too focused on her breasts, you wouldn't have been able to do that to her. Of course, then you'd have been able to tug at her nipples as you held her down... Mm. Another time, maybe.

The two of you lay there, trying to recover, for another ten minutes before Sophia draws herself up, body still trembling slightly. "Alright," she says hoarsely. "You had your fun, Hebert. Now hold up your end of the deal."

You do, of course, although it takes a bit longer than you'd expected. Maybe you should have kept yourself under control a bit better- haha, nah. Sophia doesn't seem to be in too much of a hurry to return home, and you're fine with the thought of skipping studying for one night, so it doesn't bother you too much that Sophia stays at your house until well after ten. Besides, she holds up her end of the bargain and doesn't put her shirt back on, allowing you to perv at her bra all you want. Why would you complain?

When the time hits ten thirty and she starts tugging her shirt on, you do impishly lean forwards and steal another quick kiss from her. She freezes, which causes you to smile a bit; then she scowls and throws a pillow at you. You're pretty sure that breaks the terms of your agreement a bit, but you're fine with that. She didn't agree to have you kiss her whenever you want; you think you can take a pillow to the head for it. Besides, it's one of her soft scowls. She doesn't mind much.

There's a car waiting for her out the front when you walk her to the front door. It's a nicer car than you'd expected- a white car in a newer style. You've seen ads for it just a couple years ago. Her parents must be more well-off than you'd assumed.

"Thanks, Hebert," she says when the two of you get to the door. "I'll see you at school tomorrow." You're tempted to lean in and give her another kiss before she leaves, but you don't want to push your luck- and you definitely don't want to out her in front of her parents. You settle for just giving her a wide grin.

"Definitely," you agree. And with a little wave, you watch her leave.

You don't get much sleep that night, mostly because you stay up way too late with your fingers buried inside your wet pussy. Look- it's not your fault that all the women around you are so hot.

You regret it the next day, a little. Just a little, mind- it'd been a really pleasant way to end the day. You're tired, but not so tired that you can't function at school the next day. A quick shower wakes you up, as does the frigid cold when you go for your run.

The bus is, again, on time at school. This time, you're sure of it- they definitely must have new orders from upper management. As you wander inside the halls of Winslow, you wonder how long it'll last.

Madison greets you at your locker, where she's waiting anxiously for you. When she sees you, she lets out a huge sigh of relief, and practically attaches herself to you when you get close enough for her to hug. "Taylor," she moans quietly. "I missed you yesterday. Where were you?"

You hug her tightly against you, sighing softly. You really had missed the feel of Madison against you. "Sorry," you murmur. "Some stuff happened, and I had to take the day off. I'm sorry I didn't call. Let me make it up to you?"

She nods, then tucks her head against your collarbone. "Okay," she mumbles. "Whatever you want. Just let me hug you."

"Of course." You hold her tighter against you. "For as long as you want." And you remain true to that, allowing her to cling to you like a limpet despite the sneers it draws from some of the people who stalk through the halls prior to the bell. Even after the bell rings, she doesn't let go of you; you just shuffle slowly through them, keeping your hand pressed gently around Madison's back. When you get to the classroom, the teacher just heaves a world-weary sigh and points you to your shared desk. At least nobody can sneer at you here, with your other girl sitting behind you, sharp glares promising violence at anybody who looks at you and Madison wrong.

She seems somewhat appeased by the time the bell rings and you have to part for your next class, which is good. Her reaction is somewhat exaggerated anyway, you know- she did miss you, but you're pretty sure she just wanted an excuse to hug you for longer than normal, too. You know she's grown somewhat dependent on you, but if she was so dependent on you that she couldn't let you go after just a day spent apart, you'd have to - well, you're not sure what you'd have to do. Stage an intervention, maybe. Or just quit school and stay at home all the time with her. If Sophia and- and Emma weren't here, then- well. No use considering that.

Chemistry is similarly interesting. You slide in beside Sophia, who blushes- actually blushes- when you deliberately brush up against her arm. It's a delicious sight, watching her already dark skin grow darker. Still, she doesn't back down. Even after having surrendered to you once already, she still pushes at you in class. It's hard to fight off your smile when she does. There's something almost relaxing about this familiar push-and-pull with Sophia, now that you know that when push comes to shove, she's willing to lie down and let you take over.

This is another relationship you could get used to, you think. Pushing comfortably at each other in public, and holding her down and having your way with her in private- yes. Yes, you're fine with that image.

... Not that you're there, just yet. You shouldn't get too far ahead of yourself. It's a nice fantasy, but if you're going to make it reality, it's going to take some work yet. She still thinks this rule only applies at your house, after all.

You float happily through the rest of the day. Sophia gives you looks through the day that stir something hungry deep in your gut, while you spend the rest of your time with Madison, basking in the warm glow she exudes whenever she's around you. Morning, lunch, and tutoring- if only she lived with you, you could basically claim her all day.

Things continue contently even after school. Looking at your finances, you're pretty sure that you can't actually afford to take Madison out anywhere very special just yet, even with the work you're doing now. Still, you can take her somewhere, which is more than you could do before you took this job at the theater.

Speaking of.

You're forced to apologetically cut short your study session with Sophia that day. She shrugs nonchalantly, looking down at her sheet- and, yeah, you are already nearly two thirds done. "It should be good," she tells you. "Don't make a habit of it, though."

This time, she doesn't throw a pillow at you when you steal a kiss before you escort her to the door. She does roll her eyes. Still, progress.

You head off to work, sticking your head in quickly to let Dad know where you're going. He gives you a quizzical look- you know what he's thinking; since when did Taylor get a job?- but you don't stay to give him an explanation, knowing that eventually he'll come to accept it.

It's a little after eight thirty when you arrive. You don't actually start until nine, but it's best to make a good impression.

Mr Harding greets you when you arrive. "Hello, Taylor," he says when you get there, still not even dressed in your uniform. "Thanks for coming in- Trent and David are both off sick for the week. This is off the books, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone. It's illegal for me to hire you this late-"

You nod. "Yeah, I understand," you tell him. "Don't worry, Mr Harding, it's all okay. Just give me the cash tomorrow and we'll call it even." You grin at him, and he gives you a tired smile.

"Thanks," he says simply.

You do understand. The movie scene in Brockton Bay isn't doing too well. Movie tickets are a moderately expensive luxury, and with the town's economic crisis, not a lot of people are treating themselves. It's hard to afford yet another casual worker, especially when he can't be assured that the people he hires will actually do the work he needs them to. Unfortunately, it's just one of the problems that arise when gangs effectively rule large portions of the city.

You don't end up working the cash register tonight, busying yourself behind the counter getting all the food people order instead. Aiden handles that instead- a college-aged guy, working part time to help pay for accommodation, he tells you. By the time midnight rolls around, all you can smell is popcorn. Buttery, rubbery popcorn. Even when you walk away from the stand, it's all you can smell.

The movie finishes around one-thirty, so Aiden and you busy yourselves cleaning it up afterwards. Between the two of you, it takes a solid half an hour to get the theater presentable- not perfect, but good enough.

Thus, it's two by the time you two finish up for the night. Aiden offers to drive you home, an offer you gladly accept- you hadn't actually considered how you'd get home that late- and you stumble up to your bed, passing out almost immediately.

And then you wake up four hours later to the beeping of your alarm clock, swear loudly, and do it all again. You're tempted to just skip your jogging for the day and sleep in, get that extra hour's sleep, but- no, you need the exercise. It's not good to ruin your developing habits this early.

By the time eight o'clock rolls around, you're feeling thoroughly miserable, in the sleep-deprived sense, rather than the depressed sense. It seems everyone around you can tell when you finally arrive at school, because the first thing Madison does when she sees you is draw you into a hug. You pout against your girl, then try to hide your trembling lower lip against her neck. It's an awkward fit, but you manage. You wrap your arms over her shoulders, completing the hug.

"I'm so tired," you whine to her. "Maddie, I'm so tiiired."

"Poor Taylor," she coos. "It's okay. It's okay. You can go to sleep at lunch, if you want. I'll wake you up for class."

You groan. "That's not enough," you complain. "I just want to sleep nooow."

She pats your back sympathetically. "I know," she says placatingly. "But you can't. You can sleep now, and then you can sleep during tutoring, I'll work on my own today. Okay?"

You pout harder, letting out a wordless whine. "Fiiiine," you eventually manage. "But only 'cause you're so comfy."

She chuckles, blushing a little. "You're so sweet," she coos again. "Come on, Taylor. Let's go to class."

You wander around for the rest of the day in a sleep-deprived haze. Madison seems to find it cute, which is good, because you're pretty sure that if she found it annoying you'd have to push her harder than you're capable of right now to use her lap as a pillow. Or maybe not, but you don't really want to find out.

By the time tutoring finishes for the day, you're feeling a little better, mostly because you fell asleep on Madison's lap for the full hour and a half. She really does make for a comfortable pillow, you note. You make sure to give her a very thorough kiss afterwards, to make it clear to her how much you really appreciate it.

The nap leaves you just alert enough that you're capable of paying attention when Sophia comes over that afternoon. Which is good, because as it turns out, Sophia is wearing a different bra today- a thinner one, and a smaller one. It's not quite small enough for you to see her areola, but it reveals enough of her breasts that you're pretty sure it's meant to tantalize you. Or maybe she just doesn't have that many bras that cover her up. Who knows? Either way, you're glad that you're awake enough to appreciate it.

After your requisite "ten-minute" make-out session- today, it lasts for a solid twenty-three minutes- you get stuck into the assessment. It's honestly a little amazing how quick Sophia is to adapt to the material once you explain it to her. You revise your assessment of her intelligence a little- she's smarter than you gave her credit for before, and you hadn't thought she was dumb then. Honestly, you're not sure what her problem is. As far as you can tell, she just doesn't seem to be there half the time, and has no time to devote to her homework. It's weird.

She finally finishes the assessment up a little after eleven. Nearly ten hours of work, but by the expression on her face, you can tell she'd expected it to take even longer.

"Wow, Hebert," she says, looking down at the sheets of paper she'd written her answers on. "I have to admit, I'm actually a little impressed. You're a good teacher."

You hum. "You're just smarter than you give yourself credit for," you politely refute her.

She smirks and shakes her head. "Whatever, don't take the compliment, then. Look, I have to admit, this is actually a lot better than I thought this'd turn out. You definitely held up your end of the bargain." For a moment, she hesitates. Then she bites her lip for a second and leans back on your bed, causing her breasts to wobble a little. Releasing her lip, she continues, "Alright. What do you think about continuing this little arrangement?"

"Huh?" you ask intelligently.

Sophia gives you a condescending smirk. "This arrangement- you helping me out with Chemistry in exchange for this." She gestures down at her bra-clad chest. "We keep this up, you keep helping me with Chemistry." She pauses. "On a Friday, at least. I don't think I can keep coming three days a week. Tutor me on a Friday, I'll keep letting you perv on me. Sound like a deal?"

] You can't do that. You'll apologize to Sophia as best you can, but- you have things around the house you need to do on a Friday, and they're too important. You gave them up this Friday for Sophia, but you can't do that regularly.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Sophia will be disappointed, but understands the desire to help Danny around the house. The sessions with Sophia will end. Will not provide any progress in mending the relationship between Taylor and Danny.

] Hell yeah! You don't do anything really important on a Friday after tutoring Madison, anyway. It's one day a week you can't visit the clinic, but you're willing to give that up in exchange for having guaranteed access to makeout sessions with a shirtless Sophia.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Raises Sophia's Affection by 2. Lowers the chance to find Amy in the clinic during the second half of the week by 10%, but provides guaranteed access to makeout sessions with a shirtless Sophia on Fridays evenings. Sophia will do a bit better in Chemistry.

] Push it a bit further. You'll agree- but only if she agrees to take it a little further.

- Success chance: Depends on how far you push it.

] You'll do it, but only if she takes her bra off, too. Same rules as otherwise- kissing restricted to above the shoulders, fondling above the waist only. [Success chance: 80%.]

] You'll do it, but only if she takes her skirt off, too. Same rules as otherwise- kissing restricted to above the shoulders, fondling above the waist only. [Success chance: 70%.]

] You'll do it, but only if she takes her bra and skirt off, too. No touching below the waist, but her breasts are fair game for both touching and kissing. [Success chance: 50%.]

- On a failure: Sophia will refuse, keeping the rules as they are. Sophia's Affection will decrease by 1. Taylor will still tutor Sophia on a Friday, and Sophia will continue to do a bit better in Chemistry.

You're also going to have to plan your weekend out. You know this, and you've been preparing for it- in fact, once Sophia leaves, you're planning on collapsing immediately to try and catch up on as much sleep for it as possible.

This is your first weekend in which you actually have disposable income. It's a big moment for you.

So what do you plan to do over this weekend? [Pick up to four options.]

You currently have enough money for four small expenses, or one large expense and one small expense.

] You have a promise to keep- one that you rather think you might enjoy keeping. Madison has a particular fetish she wants fulfilled, in which she wants you both to share the same jacket while otherwise topless. There's a thrift store near your house where you think you can pick up a large enough jacket, and there's an outdoor cinema playing reruns of old comedies. Nobody will be there. It's the perfect place.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Costs 1 small expense. Raises Madison's Affection by 1, up to a maximum of 8, applied on Saturday morning. May result in a scene in which Taylor and Madison share a large jacket and Taylor fondles Madison in a public- albeit otherwise deserted- area.

] You owe Madison an apology. A romantic apology, not a sexual one, although the lines are blurred for you two. She doesn't show it, but you know you upset her by skipping out on her on Wednesday. You're going to make it up to her with a date. A cheap date, yeah, but a date. [Please write-in a date you want to take Madison on. Keep in mind that Taylor only has a small amount of money. Any date should have expenses totalling only around 25.]

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General result: Costs 1 small expense. Results vary based on write-ins.

] Your relationship with Madison has progressed a lot. So far, in fact, that you're willing to take it to the next step. Your relationship with Madison has been very sexual so far, but now you're going to take it to the next level by actually having sex with Madison. She's been a good girl, and you've been teasing her for weeks now. She deserves to finally have you show her how much you've come to care about her.

] You're going to take her over to your house to do it. Dad's staying overnight, supposedly at work to have a meeting- in reality, you're pretty sure he's just staying overnight with a girlfriend. Either way, you have the house to yourself. You're going to fuck Madison in your bed, surrounded by your scent, surrounded by things your own. She's going to know- she belongs here. She belongs with you.

] You're going to take her at her own house. You're going to have to gag her, probably with her own panties- it's not as romantic as you'd like, but you can't have anyone hearing. You're going to stay the night, and you're not going to tell Rick what you're doing. And then, you're going to fuck Madison in her own bed. You're going to take her, claim her innocence and her virginity, while she's surrounded by the reminders of her innocence.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Raises Madison's Affection by 2, applied on Saturday night. Taylor will fuck Madison, focusing on Madison's own pleasure over her own- although she will be satisfied, too. Madison will continue down the path of falling head-over-heels for Taylor.

] You finally have some money, so you're going to do something you haven't had the opportunity to do until now; you're going to buy one of your girls a present. Only Madison will recognize it for what it is, but that's okay; the other girls don't need to recognize that it's a mark of ownership for it to be one. [This vote can be chosen multiple times. Write-in what present you are going to buy, and who you are going to give it to out of Madison, Sophia, Amy and Victoria. Keep in mind the present should only cost up to 25.]

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General result: Will cost 1 small expense. Taylor will get off a little on marking whichever character the present is given to as her own. The present may not be given immediately. Results may vary depending on what the present is and how the character appreciates it.

] You now have enough money to afford something you've wanted for a long time; a cellphone. You can afford, just, to buy a cellphone capable of recording videos and sending multimedia messages. You'll also purchase enough credit to be able to send messages for a month.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General result: Will cost 1 large expense. Taylor will finally own a cellphone, which she can use to text girls she has recruited, so long as they also own a cellphone. If chosen alongside a Victoria option this weekend, will result in Victoria breaking the second rule of her relationship with Dean early as she reveals her breasts (and possibly more) to Taylor to allow Taylor to take nude pictures of her. Removes the success chance of finding Amy at the clinic after the next time the two meet up, as Taylor will be able to text Amy and ask when she's working.

] You made some progress in your relationship with Victoria last week. You should keep that up. You're pretty sure that the library was a good starting place. Maybe you should head back there with her and keep up the discussions.

- Success chance: 80%.

- General results: Taylor will continue to sweetly, sweetly romance Victoria. Victoria will continue to willingly indulge in this cheating.

- On a success: Victoria's Affection will increase by 1. Taylor will agree to read Victoria's copy of Harry Potter, making Victoria happy as Taylor reads her favourite series.

- On a failure: Nothing extra happens.

View in Thread

Jul 19, 2016 ReportLike

Fred Flintstine, PanDron, TheBigMole and 186 others like this.

Threadmarks: 1.20

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

You can't contain your enthusiastic grin as you consider Sophia's offer. For a moment you wonder if you could push her further, but- that'd be, maybe not an awful move on your part, but certainly not a nice one. There's a line between sexually harassing Sophia like you did in the school bathroom, you think, and blackmailing her with her chances at improving her grade in Chemistry. A strange line to draw, sure, but you're growing accustomed to that.

"Yeah, sure." Sophia's smirk changes into a more gentle grin as you agree. "On Fridays, then."

She nods. "Could change sometimes, but I'll try and let you know before if I can't make it on any particular day," she says. "Thanks, Hebert. Appreciate it."

You grin lewdly at her, raking your eyes up and down her body. "So do I."

Sophia doesn't end up staying for long after that. Today, when she leaves, she pulls away on a bike- a regular cycling bike, not a motorbike. You wonder about that, but then, as tough as Sophia is, you kind of doubt that even she could take on a whole gang of people loyal to the Empire on her own. She probably rides it just so she doesn't have to run through their territory.

You collapse into your bed a couple of minutes later. It's already nearly eleven. Absently, you look towards the brochures on your desk- just junk mail Dad had picked up from the mailbox. You look through them occasionally so that you can look through the specials, lately with less of an eye towards groceries and more towards, well, some places you could take your girls out.

Those thoughts swirl through your head as you you fall asleep, plans running through your head all night.

When you wake up, it's nearly eight. Excitement bubbles up in you, and without even stopping to get your clothes out of your dresser, you run straight out to the living room and switch on the computer and modem. The modem screeches loudly as it connects, but you're too excited to care much- it's late enough that Dad should already be awake anyway. You wait impatiently for everything to boot and load up, then begin typing madly.

Internet banking has come a long way in the last few years, since some of the big companies in your world have begun sharing information with their Earth Aleph counterparts. Not all of them, just the ones with counterparts, but a couple of banks were among the first wave to initiate contact with people on the other side of the portal. Some Earth Aleph fads didn't catch on- honestly, a lot of them seem really weird to you- but they did have some neat ideas, like smartphones, and internet banking. The ability to do your banking from home was a big hit, especially in Brockton Bay. Other banks were forced to scramble to catch up, and so online banking became as easy as it is today.

The bar inches up, the little wheel around the mouse spinning for long minutes, and- and- yes! You let out a little cheer as your account finally opens, the bolded letters '52.44' sitting happily in there. There's a fifty sitting in your pocket that Mr Harding slipped you yesterday for working through the midnight screening. Over a hundred dollars. And it's yours! You can do so much more stuff now!

Your plans spin roughly in your head for a moment, before you sit firmly down. No, you know what you need. There are two things you need to get most urgently, and as much as you might like to buy a choker for Madison to let everyone know she's yours or a butterfly vibrator for Victoria for her to wear during her dates with her boyfriend, you have a promise to keep, and a more urgent desire to fulfil.

Dad's just stumbling out of his room when you run back into your room to gather your clothes, then careen into the shower. You're done in record time, and you might even still have some shampoo foam in your hair but you don't even care because now you have money.

... Okay, you do actually care. You run your fingers through your hair carefully before you head over to the phone, making sure that you don't really have any shampoo in your hair. You don't, which you confirm by carefully looking your fingers over as you pick the phone up.

The dial tone rings through only twice before there's a soft click, and childlike giggles echo through the line. "Hullo!" Terry hollers through it. "Who is this coz this is Terry's house!"

"Hey, Terry," you say, chuckling a little. "It's Taylor. Could you put Madison on the phone for me?"

"Yep! Yep! Yep!" You can hear him scampering through the house chanting 'yep' as he runs. He stops fairly soon, then knocks loudly on a door. "Maddieson!" he shouts. "Guess who's on the phone 'coz it's TaaaayTaaaaay." A naughty giggle escapes him. You're a little confused. Why did he say your name like that?

You hear a loud whoosh over the line, then the sound of someone grabbing the phone. "Thank you, Terry," you can hear Madison say. "Go play in your room, okay?"

"Okay!" he shouts distantly.

Madison sighs into the phone, and you can hear the sound of a door closing. "Good morning, Taylor," she says tiredly. The sound of springs squeaking is loud enough that you can hear it over the phone. "Sorry about Terry, he's been a little hyper lately. He kept waking everyone up last night."

"Aww." You want to give her a sympathetic hug, but you can't. Damn. "Well, I might have something that can help you with that." You're actually glad she can't see you, because your naughty grin probably wouldn't make her feel better in the way you want her to. "Are you busy today, or can you come stay over tonight?"

"S-stay over?" she asks. "Um, I don't- no, I'm not." Her voice turns determined towards the end. "Um, I can be at your house by six-"

You interrupt her. "No, you don't need to do that," you say. "We'll head back to my house later, but I want to take you out somewhere first."

"Oh." There's an embarassed pause. You wish you were there so you could see her red cheeks. You love making women blush. "Um, okay. Do you want me to wear anything in particular, or...?"

You shake your head, even though you can't see her. "No," you reply. "Just wear whatever makes you feel comfortable. Although," you can't resist adding after quickly checking if Dad is close enough nearby to hear you, "you probably don't need to bring any pajamas with you. Dad won't be home tonight. You can wear my clothes tomorrow if you want."

Suddenly, there's a loud thunk, and the sounds of someone swearing high above the phone. There's a few more susurrations, and then Madison picks the phone back up. "Sorry," she squeaks. "I dropped the phone. D- do you mean that we're going to-" She just makes an incoherent noise after that.

You check again for Dad's presence before you say anything. "Yeah," you confirm. "Unless you have any problems with that. Do you?"

You can almost hear her shaking her head over the phone. "No!" she says instantly. "No, I've been, um. I've been watching some- some videos to try and learn how to, um, yeah. Oh no, this is so embarrassing..." She actually sounds a little upset. You intervene immediately.

"No, don't be embarrassed," you tell her. "It's my first time too, Madison. I don't think either of us really has any experience. We'll just do our best together, okay?"

"O-okay." Her tone has gone to determination now. "Where do you want me to meet you?"

"There's an outdoor movie downtown," you begin, then give her instructions on how to get there. Eventually, you end with, "You should get there around five, because that's when the movie starts."

"I'll be there," she vows.

You're soon sitting giddily on the bus, clutching your purse beside you. You've carefully tucked the change from your fifty dollars into it, and your card rests in its usual compartment, so you think you're all set.

The bus arrives Downtown fairly quickly, although you're not sure why you're surprised about that- it is the safe route, after all. It's not even ten by the time you get off. You set off into the mall, clutching your purse- your money, your money- eagerly to your side.

... And then you immediately regret not doing any research on the topic.

As it turns out, there are a lot of cellphone providers. A few big ones, and then it seems there are a handful of smaller ones, too. Different people offer different plans, and there are different phones that do different things, too. Earth Bet's cellphone production is a long ways behind Earth Aleph's- from what you understand, Earth Aleph has some horribly exploitative business practices involving people from third-world countries; Earth Bet couldn't do that if it wanted to, which you sincerely hope nobody here ever does, given the problems in most of those regions- but the trade between the two Earths is picking up, and apparently one of the big commodities Earth Aleph has been selling has been cellphones.

Most of the smartphones in the store have more processing power in them than your computer at home does.

You end up spending most of the time you'd allotted for searching for a plan just moving around all the different stores, trying to compare the phones in them. A lot of them just aren't very good, having low-quality cameras (and really, what's the point of buying a cellphone with a bad camera? You wouldn't be able to use it for anything fun then) or having really bad storage. Most of the better ones are right out of your price range, although there are a handful you note down for later- ones that can connect to the internet on the move somehow as long as they're within certain regions, mostly. Very useful.

In the end, you settle on a simple one. It's got an alright camera- you make the clerk demonstrate it for you- and it's got nearly an entire gigabyte of storage, a concept that would have boggled you a little before you'd started looking at some of these smartphones earlier. It sets you back fifty dollars even, and a purchase of twenty dollars pay-as-you-go credit devastates what's left of your finances. But now you own a cellphone!

You play with it as you walk over to the thrift store, casually setting up a system in it. You make a folder innocuously called 'My Treasures', then go in there and start making sub-folders for each of your girls. Or, at least, Madison, Sophia and Victoria. It doesn't feel right to do that to Amy yet. Kind of like you're pushing her, sexually, even though there's no way she could know about it. In fact, the fact that she couldn't know about it makes it feel worse, somehow. You'll just wait for her.

The system is all set up by the time you get to the thrift store, and you pocket your phone once again as you head in. This particular thrift store is one you've been to a lot, although nobody in there recognizes you. A lot of thrift stores like these are partially run by volunteers, and volunteers drop in and out all the time.

For a moment, you're tempted to head over to the book section here- maybe you could pick something up for Amy, find something for her to read and give the two of you something to discuss over at your house?- but you shake your head. No, you'll hold off. Maybe next week. This week, you have something more important.

You bypass the women's section, heading straight to the men's section. You don't like your chances of finding a jacket large enough over in the women's section.

It still takes a fair bit of searching around to find a jacket that's suitable. Some of them are too small, not big enough for both you and Madison to crawl into, while some of them are actually too large. Yes- you don't want one that's too large. You want it to be just large enough that both you and Madison can fit into it, but also just small enough that the two of you will be pressed tightly against each other within it- just small enough that you'll barely manage to fit your arms inside, small enough that Madison is going to feel herself be unable to resist you playing with her.

Not that you intend on doing anything with that, but nobody said you couldn't wear it with more than one of your girls. And while the concept of tying Madison down and fucking her doesn't appeal to you very much- Madison is more than willing to let you do whatever you want to her- you really love how crazy it drives Sophia when you stop her from being able to move, from being able to do the first damned thing to resist you from doing every perverted thing you can imagine to her.

Eventually, you do manage to find one that's suitable. It'll be just a little loose around you and Madison, you think, which means it'll be the perfect size for you and Sophia. Eventually. It doesn't even cost too much, which is good. It costs fifteen dollars, leaving you with just enough for you to take the bus to the, and then for you and Madison to later take a bus home, with just a little change left over.

It's not quite time for that, though. The movie doesn't start until six, and it's not quite twelve. And as much as you're looking forward to what you're going to be doing to Madison later today, you have another girl you're quite eager to meet up with today. Last week, you'd half-seen an announcement on the door to the book club, announcing that the club would be meeting on Saturday this week, not Sunday.

In fact, that's why you'd chosen this particular thrift store, and from there this particular area of the mall and its surroundings. You'd known that they'd be close enough to the bookstore that you could jog there.

Victoria greets you as you arrive, as usual. You move immediately over to her and give her a hug, then- ignoring her surprised face- you gleefully pull out your new trophy.

"Look what I have!" you babble excitedly. "It's only a cheap one, I know, but I have a cellphone now!" You wave it around in front of her face, making sure she can see it.

She laughs lightly. "I can see it, Taylor." She sounds amused. "You didn't have one before? You should have asked me. I would have bought one for you."

Before you can even think about it, you're shaking your head. "No," you say firmly. "I-" Then you clamp your mouth shut hastily and glance around. Luckily, there is nobody around, but nonetheless you make sure your voice is quieter when you begin talking again. "I'm not going to ask you to give me anything," you say, quietly but firmly. "The only thing I want out of this relationship is you, Victoria. Not your cellphones or your probably ridiculously expensive cellphone plans."

She gives you a befuddled look, which quickly turns into an appreciative shake of her head. "I don't think that's what people usually say, but okay. Come on, let's go upstairs. I'll give you my number once we're up there, okay?"

You nod and take her hand, pulling uselessly at her for a moment before she stops resisting and allows you to lead her upstairs. There, the two of you enact your now-familiar ritual; as soon as the clock hits twelve, Victoria strips her jacker off her and sits down, spreading her legs for you. The only difference is, today, you have a cellphone. And that's a very big difference.

She silently takes your cellphone when you offer it to her, fingers rapidly darting over the keys as she enters in her details to your contacts. Soon, she hands it back, and you have Victoria's cellphone number- or at least her contact list. You can't be sure about whether it'll work, so better safe than sorry, you think.

Shoving your phone down to your lap, you continue to lightly play with Victoria's pussy as you type out a message.

[Taylor] You're really wet today.

She really is.

Her phone chimes, and she looks down at it, then glances quickly over to you before rapidly typing out a response.

[Victoria] knew ud b comin 2day

Your nose crinkles at her atrocious grammar, but you don't comment on it. Beside you, her lips pull up into a grin as she watches your expression. In response, you type out a new message.

[Taylor] Your grammar is atrocious.

Her grin turns into a smirk when she reads the message.

[Victoria] only 4 u bby 3

In response, you press down on her clit, hard, then continue . She jerks at the sudden movement and lets out an involuntary hiss of pleasure.

[Victoria] Sry. I dont have unlimited txts tho. Gotta watch char limits

You ease up on her clit at that, but don't quite stop your assault on it. She squirms a little.

[Taylor] I think you can do a little better than that.

She bites her lip as she sneaks a glance at you before responding, trying not to shudder too obviously in front of everyone.

[Victoria] Okay Ill try

You don't know what consequences that might have. She might be running up against her message cap on a fairly constant basis, or even be running over it anyway. Unsurprisingly, you're okay with that. If she has to stop texting people quite so often, or even cut down on the number of texts she sends to her boyfriend, in order to satisfy your grammatical demands- well, you're more than fine with that. In fact, now that you think about it, you kind of want to do that- kind of want to push her into texting you more so that she has to push away from her boyfriend to keep up with you. But, maybe not today.

With a promise to stop her assault on grammar extracted, you give her clit one last flick, then go back to playing with her pussy lips. Her cheeks are a little red now, which you point out to her with a text- Are you blushing now? I thought we were past that.- and watch as the blush grows a little deeper.

For the rest of the two-hour session, the two of you exchange flirty little texts like that. It's an odd feeling, to have one hand up her skirt against her bare skin while you're busy sending her lightly flirtatious texts with your other hand, but you can't say that you mind too much. Even by text, Victoria is a good conversationalist.

The sound of the clock ringing out at two abruptly bursts the little bubble you've built around the two of you. You jerk a little, causing Victora to let out a soft groan before she yanks your hand out from under her skirt so she can hurriedly take her jacket off the back of her chair and pull it on.

When everyone else has gone, their murmurs fading from the shop's space, you allow yourself to give Victoria a lecherous grin. She shakes her head disapprovingly at you, but she can't stop a smile from spreading over her face.

"Come on," she sighs, and offers her hand out to you. You take it and lead her down through the bookstore. When you get outside, she pauses- bringing you to an ungainly stop when you try to take another step forward and find yourself abruptly unable to move- and looks at you. "Do you want to go home, or do you have something else you want to do first?"

Shrugging, you shake your head. "I've got a date in town later, so I can't go home just yet," you tell her. "I was hoping we could spend some time together first. Maybe we could head back to the library first, unless you have something else you wanted to do?"

She shakes her head, scoffing playfully. "Two girls in one day?" she asks playfully, giving your shoulder a little bump. "Somebody's a busy little bee. But yeah, sure, I don't have anywhere to be until I pick my sister up at seven, so I'm yours until then. Still gotta get you to read those books anyway."

You don't complain as she scoops you up into her arms, just lean up and bite her earlobe reprovingly when she's high enough that nobody can really see what you're doing. You're doing the best you can to keep everyone happy. It's not nice to make fun of you for trying to make time for her instead of just taking Madison out today. She laughs brightly in response.

The flight to the alley outside the library doesn't take too long, which is good, because it's surprisingly cold up here. You're not quite sure if Victoria feels the cold as badly as you do- does her forcefield protect her from temperatures? You haven't seen enough footage of her fighting to have seen if she's been hurt from fire at any point. But, you think you'll just avoid asking her that. Probably not the greatest conversational topic.

You're thankful when she sets down, though. It's slightly warmer down here, especially since the wind can't really reach you. And, of course, it lets you participate in your time-honoured activity by leaning up and giving her a quick kiss before you climb down from her arms. She steadies you as you stand, allowing you to lean in and draw her into a longer kiss this time, something she happily participates in. It still only lasts a few moments, and then the two of you are heading inside the library.

Once you're inside, you lead her over to a desk and shift your chair as close as you can to hers so you can lean your head against her shoulder. You can't see her expression, but you swear you can almost feel her raising her eyebrow at you. "Feeling a bit cold?" she asks, amused.

You shake your head in response. "No," you tell her truthfully. "Just trying to get a look down your shirt, but your jacket's in the way." You pout mournfully as you play with the buttons of her jacket.

She chuckles. "Maybe later. We're in the middle of a library anyway, Taylor."

A great sigh heaves its way out of your chest. "Yeah," you mumble. "I know." Reluctantly, you move your chair back away from hers. You do make sure to grab her hand beneath the table, though- you'll compromise, but not that much.

For the next little while, you and Victoria just sit around talking about books. It's nice, you think. Books are something you know a lot about, and there haven't been a lot of people at Winslow who know very much about them. Madison tries her best, and you appreciate her a lot for it, but her taste in books doesn't line up very well with yours. She's more the young-adult romance kind of girl, while you have an appreciation for the classics and their like. It reminds you of Amy, you think absently. Maybe you should introduce the two of them. Or not. You do like hoarding Amy to yourself.

Eventually, it's nearly four. Victoria yawns and stretches back, drawing your attention to her marvellously toned arms for a moment before you drag your attention back to her.

"Okay, nearly time for us to go," she says. "We- wait, yeah. Hey Taylor, are you still interested in reading Harry Potter?"

What- oh, yeah, now you remember. That series you and Victoria had talked about last week. "Yeah, but I can't afford them," you tell her. "And someone's borrowed the library copies."

"Aha!" She snaps her fingers, then pulls her bag up. "I actually thought that might have happened, so I brought my copies of the first two books with me today." From deep within her bag, she draws out two books, emblazoned with the large letters 'Harry Potter' on the top. She places them down too quickly for you to read them. "I'll let you borrow them for the week, if you'd like. I'll need them back by next Sunday, though, my sister wants to borrow them then."

"Okay," you reply, and give her a warm smile. "Thanks a lot, Victoria."

She sways a little forward as though moving in for a kiss before she remembers where you are. "Right," she mutters to herself. "Don't worry about it, Taylor, it's fine. I have another book I need to read for book club anyway."

You shake your head. "No, I do appreciate it." You tug the books over to you, glancing down at the covers before tucking them down in the bag with your jacket and cellphone case. "I know how hard it is to lend out books that you really like, so I really do appreciate it that you're loaning them to me."

She shakes her head, but doesn't disagree. "It's not that big a deal," she insists. "I like having stuff to talk with you about, Taylor, and I'd really like to talk with you about my favourite series. I don't mind loaning you my books anyway. I know you'll give them back."

"Of course," you affirm, even though she doesn't look like she needs the reassurance. This time, it's you who has to remind yourself that you're in a public space. Victoria just looks so kissable. All the time, really, but especially now. She seems to catch your expression, because this time she's the one to give you a lecherous grin.

"Alright," she says, standing. "Come on, Taylor. It's getting late." She stands. For a moment, she goes to offer you her hand, but you're already holding it. She looks down, a little consternated, as though she'd gotten so used to holding your hand that she'd forgotten she was doing it. You give her a small amused grin and begin tugging her towards the library's entrance.

It doesn't take long to lead her to the alley. You don't make any move to try and climb up into her arms, though. Instead, you pull her deeper in- back around the bend, so nobody passing by on the street can see- and begin trying to undo the buttons on her jacket.

"And what do you think you're doing?" Despite her words, Victoria's tone is amused, and she's not making any moves to try and stop you. Still, you look up at her and pout as you try and undo them.

"You said you'd show me later," you whine a little.

"I said I might," she corrects you. "It's getting dark in this alley, Taylor. What do you even think you'll see?"

You consider it. "I don't care," you declare eventually. "I just want to look at you. You're pretty," you add with what you hope is a seductive fluttering of your eyelashes.

Victoria rolls her eyes with an amused huff of a sigh. "Fine, but we don't have long." She brushes your fingers away and deftly begins to undo her own buttons. You stand there for a moment, watching eagerly, before her fingers pause and she grins tremulously at you. "You're only going to look, right?"

You shiver slightly and nod. "I didn't want to pressure you," you say, but you gladly place your bag down, tucking it against the alley's dirty wall. When you look back, you can't help but let out a gasp.

While you weren't looking, Victoria has taken off a lot more than just her jacket. She's holding her shirt and bra over one arm. As you watch, she nervously tucks her other arm across her chest, incidentally pushing her beasts a bit higher.

She swallows. "I-" Then she stops and shakes her head. She tries again. "I... hope you like what you see," she says with a nervous smile.

You rest your gaze on her nervous smile. "I do," you say softly. "Of course I do."

Her smile turns a bit softer, more wistful. "Good," she says simply.

You spend a few moments running your eyes down her body, allowing yourself to thoroughly appreciate the fact that she's now only wearing an indecently short skirt and a pair of shoes, before you drag your eyes up to her face and step closer. This is a big step for her, and as much as you want to raise your camera up and take some pictures of her or leer at her for the next half an hour, that's not something you can bring her to do. Instead, you step forward and bring your arms around her in a hug, resting your hands against her warm back. She settles into the hug.

You don't know what prompted her to do this- it could have been a lot of things; giving her your number, your comments about not wanting her money, going on a mock-date with her before your date with Madison, even just appreciating her gift of her copy of her books. You do know, though- even without your power- that this isn't something she'd do on a little whim.

This is, after all, her breaking another of the rules of her relationship with her boyfriend. Kissing is one thing, it's long since happened, but letting you look at her bare breasts- a sight that is supposed to be reserved for her boyfriend exclusively- is another betrayal. One she made for you. You don't want to spoil that acknowledgement of her relationship with you with sexual antics, no matter how much of a turn-on the thought of Victoria cheating on her boyfriend with you is.

Instead, you just hold her against you, gently tracing figure-eights over her bare back.

After a few minutes, you part from her, giving her a gentle kiss as you withdraw. She looks back at you with lidded eyes, seeming to have regained some of her courage.

"Thanks, Taylor," she breathes. You nod, and she gives you a flirtatious grin. "You're not going to take a better look?" she asks teasingly.

More seriously, you shake your head. "Not today," you tell her, and lean in to steal another kiss. "Another day, yeah, but I don't want to spoil it today by perving on you."

Her grin is softer again this time. "You wouldn't spoil it," she protests, but you note that she does look a little relieved as she begins to pull her bra back on. "I did choose to show you, after all. You could have looked more."

You just shake your head. "Another day," you repeat.

She gives you a warm look, then clips her bra back on and pulls you over to her. You allow her to move you, although you're pretty sure that if she put any strength into it you would've been forced to go regardless. She leans down and gives you a kiss, one you eagerly return. When she parts, it's with a happy look on her face, and slightly flushed lips. She licks them before she says anything. "Well," she says huskily, "I'm busy most days, but if you ever want me to come over and give you another look, I have a standing date with Dean on Wednesdays. I'll drop it and come over to your place if you want me to."

You hum and give her another kiss, not saying anything.

You're pretty sure you'll take her up on the offer, though.

The two of you retain enough presence to not get too caught up in each other. You mess around for a little, letting her pull on her shirt and kissing her enough to smear her lipstick, but you're careful not to get drawn into it enough that you're late for your date with Madison.

At about twenty minutes to five, Victoria gives you a final kiss and pulls her head away with a regretful sigh before scooping you up into her arms. You make sure to pick up your bag, then give her directions to a street near the outdoor cinema, where she sets you down in the closest alley. She gives you one last kiss before tapping at her watch and smirking. "You have my number," she reminds you. "Call me or text me any time you want."

You wave goodbye at her, then begin trudging off to the theatre.

When you get there, two minutes before five, you find Madison already standing at the entrance, rubbing her bare arms. Her face lights up when she sees you, and she waves energetically at you.

"Hi, Taylor!" she says happily when you get close enough to hear her over the cars passing by. "You made it!"

"Of course I did." You let go of the bag with one hand, then reach over and pull her into a hug that she happily settles into. "I'm not going to miss out on a date with my Madison, am I?"

She shakes her head. "Noo," she moans a little teasingly. "Never." You tighten your hug around her, pleased that she understands, then guide her over to the entrance.

The clerk waves you through with a bored expression. It is a free showing of the movie tonight, after all- something you're pretty sure the cinema has designed to try and draw people in. It would probably help if they picked more popular movies to show, though, you conclude when you finally head in. There's only a couple of people in here alongside you, each of them sitting in their cars and more focused on the people in the cars with them than anything else around. Which is good, because it'd be hard to do what you have planned if everyone was watching you.

You lead Madison to the most secluded place you can find- an area behind a small tree, one of five that dot a line across the back of the area. Once, they might have formed an attractive decoration, but they haven't been trimmed or cut back in years. Their branches reach out, detracting from the movie theatre's appearance.

Still, it suits your purposes. You move behind it, then sit down and spread your legs. Madison goes to take her seat without prompting, but you hold up your hand, forestalling her. "Hold on," you say. "I've got something for you." She looks at you curiously, but her curiosity morphs to shock and happiness when you pull out the jacket you'd purchased earlier.

"Taylor!" she squeals happily. "You bought it!"

You nod confidently. "Of course. I told you I would, Maddie. Now, are you ready?"

She bites her lower lip, looking anxiously around the park. Then, she seems to gather her courage. "Yeah," she squeaks out, and promptly begins to take her shirt off.

Before you take your own shirt and jacket off, you reach into the bag and take the jacket out. Then you take your own jacket off, folding it neatly and placing it in the bag, and take your shirt off, doing the same with it. By the time you're done, Madison is shivering in front of you, holding her own neatly folded shirt and bra out. You take them, placing them in the bag, then spread your legs again. She quickly takes her seat, and you press a kiss against the side of her head. It's nice to feel Madison's warm back pressed against your chest.

"Okay," you murmur in her ear. You place the jacket around yourself, then run one hand down her arm, drawing a shiver out of her. "You're going to have to put your arms in the sleeves. Can you do that for me?" She nods, her eyes fluttering closed. It's surprisingly difficult for her to get both her arms through them, but she manages. The back of the jacket stretches tightly against your back. "Now, you need to do the jacket up." Again, it's surprisingly difficult to do so. The jacket is tight around you, but not so tight that you can't manoeuvre your arms around if you want. She manages it, though.

Her breath is coming faster. It's a little curious. You wrap your arms tightly around her stomach and whisper to her, "So this is your fantasy, huh?"

She nods, squeezing her eyes closed. "Y- yeah," she manages.

"Hm." You gently run one of your fingers down her sides. She jerks at the movement and lets out a little moan. "Well, I'm enjoying it. I'm curious, though, why this fantasy in particular?"

Madison fights off another little moan as your breath tickles her ear. "I just-" She swallows. "I just like, um, being close to you. Feeling like, um. We're connected, physically. Like I..." She trails off into a hiss, her eyes dazed for a moment before regaining some clarity. "Like I can't... get away from you. Like-"

You move your head down and quickly kiss her neck, just beneath her ear. She trails off into another audible moan. Geez, she's even getting off on telling you about why she's getting off. "Go on," you prompt her after a few moments, when her breathing has eased some.

"Ah..." She attempts to lean back further into you, but there's no room for her to move further back. She's pressed as tightly against you as she possibly can be right now. "I, ah, I like feeling like, like you've trapped me." She reaches down and grabs your hands through the jacket. You can't feel it, but you think she's drawing some comfort from the make-do hand-holding. Or maybe she's just getting off on that, too. It's hard to tell when her cheeks are this flushed and her breathing is ragged. "It's so... so sexy to feel like you're h-holding on to me, like I couldn't g-get away, even if I wanted to. Which I d-don't. B-but it feels so good to feel like y-you're h-holding me down. M-making me yours." She's panting so hard by the end that you're actually a little worried. Admitting this aloud, to your face, is doing a lot for her.

You don't say anything for a few moments, just stroke her sides and give her the chance to calm down a bit before you respond. You wait for her breathing to settle some, until you're no longer half-afraid that she's going to twist herself until she can just start grinding on your knee right here, then you speak into her ear. "But you are mine," you murmur, and lean down to kiss her neck.

"I know." She screws her eyes closed even tighter. "I know. But I like feeling it."

"Okay. Okay." You kiss her neck again. "I'm glad I can do that for you, then."

She nods. Her eyes flutter open for a moment, and she turns her head almost ninety degrees. A soft whine escapes her when she can't turn her head far enough to kiss you, so you oblige yourself, shifting as far to the side as you can so you can try and meet her in a kiss. It's messy and awkward, and you bash your teeth and noses together twice. But eventually your mouths meet, and you're glad that you're sitting down, because you're pretty sure that the needy moan that escapes her at the kiss would make you go weak at the knees with desire.

It's a nice feeling, to kiss Madison when you can still taste Victoria on your lips. Madison doesn't seem to mind the taste, if the way she sucks on your upper lip is any indication. There's no way she can mistake the taste for being you. You don't taste like cherry, like Victoria does. She's settling in, then. Going on this date with her, right after declaring that you would, must have done a lot to settle her nerves about her role as one of your girlfriends.

It's uncomfortable for the both of you to keep your heads twisted like that, so you break the kiss off soon, nudging her until she's looking towards the screen. Then, you slip your hands up her chest and cup her breasts, playing with them- only lightly. You don't want to reduce her to a moaning, squirming mess again just yet; you just want keep her nice and wet for you for when you return home.

The movie has a runtime of a little over an hour and a half, giving you plenty of time to play with her. It's hard to resist pushing her a little, but honestly, you almost think that you could just leave your hands by your sides and she'd still be ready for you by the time you get home. Almost. Madison isn't the only person who finds the concept of owning her to be erotic, though.

You don't even know what the movie about. Honestly, you kind of doubt Madison watched a single minute of it either.

So when it ends, the both of you are surprised. You try to jerk away, but all you end up doing is dragging Madison backwards a little, causing her to shiver again and then let out an awkward laugh. You pinch her nipple reprovingly, then settle down.

"Undo the zipper." You whisper the order from behind her, punctuating it with a kiss to the back of her head. She does so eagerly, allowing you to slip the jacket awkwardly over you and settle over Madison's back, leaving you naked from the waist up to anyone who looks. You shiver a little and hurriedly pull the first shirt you find out- Madison's- and pull it on. It's a bit small for you, but it'll do. You don't really want to strip down again when any of the other people here could turn around and see you- and besides, your girl is looking at you with smoky eyes. It looks like she enjoys it when you wear her clothes.

You do her zipper up for her, then pull her to her feet and give her a quick kiss. "Come on," you murmur. "It's time to go home."

She trails along behind you, clutching tightly to your hand. There's a bus stop only a couple of stops away- you'd made sure to check in case Victoria would be busy today.

She doesn't protest when you pay for her ticket, just cuddles up to you on the bus seat. You let her lean into you, gently stroking her hair as she stares adoringly up at you from her position resting her head on your shoulder.

Neither of you comment about Madison tasting Victoria on your lips. If she wants to bring it up, you'll tell her, but you're not sure it's a good idea for you to just casually bring her up just before having sex with your girl. You settle for just massaging her scalp and humming to yourself.

It's getting close to half past seven when the bus pulls up near your home. You get up, trying to stretch your shoulders as best you can in the limited bus space, then pull your girl up with you, disembark from the bus, and head home.

You pull her against you for a moment once you're inside, giving her another kiss on the top of her head. "Okay. We should eat before we start anything. Is there anything you'd like?"

"Oh!" She spins around, looking at you. "Um, I'll cook if you like. Any time, really."

"That's okay." You give her an easy smile. "You can help me if you want, but we don't have very much, so it shouldn't be complicated. I was thinking just spaghetti and some vegetables, if you're okay with that? I think we have some pasta sauce, too. No mince, though, so we'll be eating vegetarian tonight."

Madison stares at you for a moment. You can't tell whether she looks concerned, stricken or happy. "Um, that sounds okay," she says. "I'll help you if that's okay."

You shrug. "Okay."

Honestly, it's not too difficult. You don't have very many vegetables in the fridge- half a capsicum, some broccoli, an unopened packet of green beans and half a packet of carrots- so it's not like you're overwhelmed with choice. The two of you get to work, and within half an hour, it's all done and ready to eat. Hopefully Dad goes shopping before he comes home tomorrow, this is sad even for you.

Once you've placed your bowl on the table and cracked a little pepper over it, you sit down in your chair. Madison sits down opposite you, looking a little nervous.

"Okay," you say, stabbing your fork into your spaghetti. "We should probably talk about this before we do it."

"Talk?" Madison shrinks down into her chair. "W-what do you mean?"

You spin your spaghetti around on your fork, but don't eat it just yet. "I want to have sex tonight," you say frankly. "With you. But I don't want to do it if it'll make you uncomfortable." Then, you finally eat the spaghetti on your fork. It's bland. Damn it.

She shakes her head frantically once you've finished explaining. "No, that's good!" she practically yells. "That doesn't make me uncomfortable. I- I really want that, actually." She trails off, blushing as she pokes at her spaghetti.

You quickly chew and swallow your food, then begin wrapping more spaghetti around your fork. "Okay. I'm glad to hear that." You set your fork down on the side of your bowl. "But we do need to talk about it then, Madison."

She swallows nervously. "Um, why? Can't we just..." Her face turns redder, and she trails off.

"No," you say calmly. "You can have casual sex, but when it's between two people who care about each other, sex is a very emotional thing." At least, you have to imagine so. Given the feelings that are stirred in you when you're just playing around, you can't imagine just fucking her and being done with it. "And it's easy to hurt each other or push one of us too far if we get into it." Again, you have to imagine so. It's not like you've done it before, you've just spent way too much time reading up on it. "So before we do anything, we should set boundaries and make sure we know how to take care of each other."

She stares at you for a moment, then gently lowers her fork down. "Okay." There's a quaver in her voice, but she sounds a lot more confident than you'd actually expected her to. "I don't really know where to start. Could you...?"

You nod firmly. "Okay. Before we do, Madison, you have to answer me honestly. Okay? Don't be scared or worried that you'll disappoint me or anything like that. If you don't think you'll enjoy something, then tell me, and if you want to try something, then tell me that too. Okay?"

Her lip trembles a little, but she nods seriously.

"Good." You lean forwards. "Is there anything you'd like me to do after we finish tonight?"

She looks down at the table for a moment. "Um, what do you mean?"

"Well, I don't know what you like." You drum your fingers on the table. "You might like to sleep alone, so if you don't want me to cuddle you when we're done, you should tell me now. Or if you want to take a shower after we're done, or if you don't. That kind of thing."

She trembles a little. "Um, I don't know," she admits, her voice small. "I haven't... done this before. But, please don't leave me alone?"

You nod. "I can do that," you assure her. "I'll stay near you, I promise. Is there anything else?"

She jerkily shakes her head. "I can't think of anything," she says. "Just, maybe you can check when we're done? I might know then..."

You nod, accepting that. "We'll see how it goes," you smile at her. "That's okay, Madison. If you don't know, you don't know. We'll figure it out together." She gives you a tentative smile. "Now, the sex itself. Um. We should figure out a safeword." At her questioning look, you explain; "It's a word you can say during sex to get me to stop whatever I'm doing right away. You can use it if you're feeling uncomfortable, or if I hurt you, or for whatever reason."

She tilts her head. "Can't I just say no?" she asks. "Or stop?"

"No," you reply. "There might be times when you say no for some other reason, or ask me to stop without meaning for me to stop everything I'm doing. It's important that you have a way to stop me if I go further than you're comfortable with, and that I have a way to stop you if you go further than I'm comfortable with."

"Okay." Madison chews her lip a little. "My safe word will be November, then."

"No," you say gently. "It should be something meaningful to you, Madison. If you've ever had a really good masturbation session-" She chokes a little, and you fight back a grin- "then you know that it can leave you feeling a bit light-headed. Imagine that, but worse. It can make it difficult to think clearly and remember things. It's important that you choose a word that means something to you."

"Okay." Chewing on her lip anxiously, she stares down at the table for long moments. You wait patiently for her to think it through. It takes her over a minute to look up and reply, and when she does, it's with a pained little look. "My safe word will be, um, unwanted. Is that-"

"It's not up to me," you tell her gently. "If you think you'll remember it, then it's good." She nods unhappily. "Okay. My safe word is cancer." She blinks twice, but you don't give her time to think the implications through. "Alright. So, we should talk about fetishes."

Over the next half an hour, you're able to determine these things:

Madison, unsurprisingly, loves the idea of submission and you dominating her. Every time you try to figure out where her limits lied, she seems to be fine with it. It's only when you got into more extreme territory, like chaining her hands and feet up and making her clean your house with her mouth, that she gets hesitant, and even that's more because she's not sure if she could physically do it. Honestly, you're the limiting factor there; you're the one who's not comfortable with dominating her to quite that extent. You love the idea of her doing your cooking and cleaning nude, but that's as far as you really want to push her.

She's fine with some of your other kinks. Bondage isn't something she's really interested in the way you are, but if you want to tie her up for a while, she thinks she might enjoy some light handcuffing. She's not into exhibitionism at all- "My body is for you," she says firmly- but she enjoys the idea of public sex, as long as nobody can really see you, which is fine- you're a bit of a voyeur, but you're also rather possessive and don't like other people looking at your girls. She doesn't mind the idea of toys, but affirms that she really enjoys being able to touch you, and that she'd prefer you use your fingers and mouth when you can.

She tells you that she'd prefer to avoid what she calls "butt stuff", so you mentally cross anal off the list. It's not your biggest kink anyway, although you're not against it if your partner wants it, so that's fine. She's also not really into dirty talk- "It makes me feel ashamed," she admits, "and I don't like feeling ashamed." That one's a bit disappointing, but you'll live. She also doesn't like incest, which disappoints you for a second until you remember she doesn't even have any female siblings, and you don't think you'd enjoy seeing Madison fuck her mother in anything but a fit of revenge.

Neither of the two of you enjoy the thought of causing or receiving pain, which is a bit of a relief. You can't imagine ever wanting to hurt one of your girls. You might enjoy some light slapping if it's Emma, or some light spanking for sexy purposes, but that's as far as it goes. Neither of you is into watersports or scat, which is a huge relief- that's a line you'd really prefer to never have to cross. And... that's where your list of kinks ends.

You're pretty sure there's more, a lot more, but you haven't encountered them. You can't discuss them with Madison if you don't know they exist. Honestly, you're pretty inexperienced still.

It's not a very sexy talk, but it's a necessary one. Just imagining not knowing where Madison's limits lie and accidentally pushing her too far makes you feel a bit queasy. You don't know her well enough to recognize the signs that she's uncomfortable during sex yet.

And as much as the idea once appealed to you, you don't think you could just use her for sex any more. You couldn't do that to her.

While the two of you were talking, you each slowly finished off your dinner. Now that the talk has concluded, you pick up your bowls and take them over to the sink, rinsing them off and placing them on the rack to dry up. Then, you take Madison's hand and draw her slowly up, leading her to your room, where you sit down on your bed and draw her over to you.

Then, you let go of her hand and slide your arms around her, just holding her for a while and occasionally giving her a small kiss on the top of her head. She looks and feels uncomfortable after your talk. You don't want to push her right now. Plus, what is that rule- half an hour after eating before exercise? As unsexy as that talk might have been, you're pretty sure that getting a stomach cramp in the middle of fingering her would be even less sexy.

So you're patient. You just sit there on your bed, revelling in the feel of her in your arms, the smell of her hair, and the warmth of her body.

It takes a while for her to relax, but she slowly does. When she's relaxed enough that you think she's receptive, you quietly move your hand up to the zipper of the jacket she's still wearing and gently pull it down. She looks up at you with lidded eyes; you lean down and press a kiss on each of her eyelids, then slide back so she can lie down on your bed. She holds her arms up, allowing you to tug the jacket off her, incidentally leaving her completely topless.

Then you slide off the bed, roughly tossing the jacket aside, and kneel on the floor beside where she's lying on the bed. She goes to turn over and look at you, but you press a firm hand to her collarbone, preventing her from moving; then, you lean over the bed and kiss her warmly, moving your hand down to rest on her stomach. She smiles into the kiss.

For a good few minutes, you let her just lay there, peppering kisses over her lips. Then you begin moving down, pressing soft kisses down her jaw- tracing your tongue over her jawline, and listening to her giggles at the tickling sensation- and down her neck. You pause, there, and press a long kiss to it. A gasp escapes her when you gently bite on it, then turns into a louder moan when you suck the skin. For a minute or two, you sit there, alternating between biting her and sucking on her neck, until you're sure a large bruise will develop there. See if anyone misses that.

Only once you're content with your marking do you continue down, tracing soft kisses along her collarbone and listening to her soft panting. She has a sharp, defined collarbone, usually hidden beneath a shirt. Now that you have free rein to play with it, you spend a few minutes licking your way along it, leaving a trail of wet saliva across her neck and collar.

She's biting back erotic groans when you finally begin kissing your way down her chest. You tease her by kissing your way around her breast first, then licking the swell beneath, and running your tongue down her stomach. She gives a disappointed whimper, but only clutches at your bedspread; she doesn't complain at all. Good. You lick down further, until you reach the edge of her skirt, then you begin licking your way back up, pausing at her bellybutton for a moment. Her groans grow louder as you dip your tongue into it and swirl it around quickly, and don't fade when you move on and move back up, not pausing in your quest to reach her breasts again.

It's all about the tease, the build-up. Your power swells at the back of your mind, begging for you to use it. You do- but only to feel her, not to touch her, not to control her. As your fingers slip beneath her skirt, touching the elastic line of her panties, you're able to feel her emotions swell- her lust, her submission, but more than anything, that warm feeling of her caring and devotion and affection and love. It's a heady sensation, knowing that you're the cause of this, that the reason Madison is squirming and whimpering on your bed is because of you.

You taunt her, slipping your fingers in and out of her panties without ever touching her where she needs to be touched. You can feel her emotions ebbing and flowing beneath you. You can't stop yourself from clambering onto the bed beside her, resting on the bed beside her as you yank off her skirt and her panties and toss them aside. Her heaving breasts make a soft pillow as you lay beside her, eyes closed as you immerse yourself in her emotions. Above, her voice is chanting softly- "Taylor, Taylor, Taylor, Taylor"- but you're listening for something stronger, something deeper. Soon, you're hearing it, the soft thrum-thrum of her fluttering heartbeat, and that's where you rest your head, where you focus your attention.

For a while, you lay there like that, skimming your fingers over her bare pussy and daringly dipping a finger inside her for brief seconds before pulling out, leaving her aching, unfulfilled. You can feel what you're doing her, how wet she's getting, how her heart thunders in her chest, but you don't stop. Occasionally, you move your head just far enough that you can bite her breasts a little, before you retreat back. Her voice is breaking, now- soft moans of "No, please, no, Taylor, keep going, please-" but you don't care. She's not quite there yet.

There's a sexual element to your power. Well, obviously, but you mean, beyond the obvious. When you can literally feel someone's emotions, when you can feel how pleasurable they're feeling, there's almost no need for you to actually be touched. You can just lay down, revelling in the pleasure you're causing to course through Madison's body.

When you judge that she's wet enough, wanting it enough, you slip up her body a bit until you're lying fully alongside her, one hand still down between her legs. She spasms, letting out a long and loud groan as you lean in and kiss the mark you'd put on her neck earlier. Her groan soon turns into soft whimpers as you just gently lick it, then tilt your head up to give her a wet kiss.

You're tempted to push it, push her, into a frenzy of sexual energy. To whisper in her ear about how you're marking her, to tease her and torture her until she begs for you to let her come, until she gets on her hands and knees and offers herself to you to satisfy your perverse desires. But tonight isn't about that kind of thing, not really.

Instead, you spend a few more moments teasing her, then watch her face as you slowly slip a finger inside her. Her eyes flutter closed as a gasp escapes her, turning into a loud groan as you work a second finger inside. That's it- she's too tight for a third. Even you have to fight down a shiver as the sensations flood back into you.

It's fascinating to watch her as you begin pumping your fingers into her. Her eyes dart all over the place, unfocused as though she doesn't know where to look, roaming hungrily over your face, down your shirt and over your room. Her cries are too broken and incoherent for you to tell what she's trying to say, now; there's a lot of cries of "Tay" and "Yes" in there, but that's all you can make out between the whimpers and moans. She doesn't know what to do with her hands, alternating between clenching them on the bedspread and running them up over her stomach and breasts.

Then her pleasure peaks, and she spasms and cries loudly, coating your hand liberally with her juices. Your vision swims for a moment as her orgasm washes back to you, causing an intense wash of pleasure to run through your body; you can't help but let out your own moan to match her cry. You don't let up, though, and soon add your thumb to the mix as you begin to roughly rub her clit, causing her body to jerk again in your hand. Your body is almost shaking too badly for you to bring your free hand up to her mouth, where you cover it before her cries- almost screams- of pleasure can come forth loudly enough for your neighbours to hear. Somehow, though, you manage it, even managing to bring yourself up to your knees so you can angle your fingers deeper into her.

She's coming again, soon, your furious assault pushing her through her first orgasm and into her second. You can't help that your fingers slip out of her several times as you fight through your own orgasm to continue fucking her. Her pleasure has almost overwhelmed her, now- you can feel it, feel her trembling at your hands- and then it peaks again, you peak again, and you collapse atop her, mouth pressing furiously against hers as the two of you tremble in your third orgasm tonight.

And only then, thoroughly spent, do you collapse beside her, still fully dressed. She's gasping so hard for breath that you have to slip the hand that had been covering her mouth before you'd kissed her beneath her and raise her chest a little, allowing her to breathe in deeply before she passes out.

You let Madison come down gently after that, careful not to interrupt her too much. She shivers every time you move, the slight movements of your fingers inside her still sending little aftershocks through her. You try not to move that hand too much, knowing how sensitive she still is, and instead just rub your other hand over her stomach comfortingly. Just... letting her know you're still here. Her breaths are still shuddering, but they're not great heaving gulps now. She probably won't pass out if she keeps recovering like this. Still, you don't move, just keep lightly stroking her stomach. You're not the one setting the pace here.

It takes about ten minutes before you feel confident that you can take your fingers out of her. She lets out a soft sigh, but you just press your other hand against her stomach and she quiets again. Her eyes are glassy and unfocused as she stares at the wall of your bedroom.

Soft shivers begin to wrack her frame soon after. It doesn't feel that cold to you, but then, Madison was the one who was moving around and coming intensely. You imagine that burned a lot of energy. When you pushed yourself too far running on Wednesday morning, you'd felt colder than normal- it's part of why you'd luxuriated in your shower so much. If Madison had burned even more energy than that- and you had strung her along for quite some time- then you imagine she really could be feeling pretty cold.

It doesn't feel right to just wrap her up in your blankets or throw her in the shower and call it a day, though.

Instead, you slowly sit up, keeping your hand on Madison's stomach in an attempt to be reassuring as you draw her up. It feels wrong to take her out of your bed so quickly after claiming her in it, but it feels a lot worse to imagine leaving her alone right now, even temporarily. So you tenderly draw her up into a sitting position, then slowly draw her over to the side of the bed, where she absently follows you as you stand. For the first time in about half an hour, you take her hand in yours and let go of her stomach with your other hand.

She sways alarmingly when she makes it to her feet, as though she's not quite sure where her body is at. Instinctively, you lean in and let go of her hand to wrap your arm around her shoulders. She leans in, murmuring incoherently as she wraps her arms around your own waist and holds herself against you. It makes things a bit awkward as you walk over to your dresser and take out the largest jacket you own, but you don't mind- if this is what she needs, then this is what she needs.

At least she doesn't seem to mind you putting the jacket on her, despite you needing to lift her arms away from your waist to do so. You keep one hand on her hip to steady her and gently tug the jacket over first one arm, then the other. It covers a surprising amount of her body- you really are taller than she is. A silly smile spreads over her face as you zip the jacket up, and she steps unsteadily closer to you again. You just pull her into a hug, then settle your arm around her shoulders again as you carefully walk her out to the kitchen.

There, you sit her down at the table in the chair facing the little kitchen before you move over to get her a drink of water. She takes it with still-trembling hands when you get it, and you have to hastily take it back and drink some yourself so that she can hold it without spilling it. She greedily gulps it down, then lowers the glass to the table, panting again. Hydration is very important, you conclude.

You give her a few minutes to recover some more, just sitting beside her and letting her clutch your hands with her own, before you stand and encourage her to her feet again. She's steadier, this time, not swaying quite so badly. She still leans into you for support, though, and you're happy to oblige as you move her back towards your room.

"Do you want to take a bath now?" you ask her softly. She shakes her head in response and clings tighter to you. "I can jump in with you," you offer, but she still shakes her head, not saying anything. Well, it's not like you've never been tempted to just fall asleep post-orgasm. You usually end up feeling really gross the next day, but- if it's what she wants.

You just lead her gently back to your room, where you're quite happy to unzip the jacket back off her. She gives you a wobbly smile as you walk her back to your bed, nude, and then gently tugs at your shirt. You give her a nod and an encouraging smile before you quickly take your own- well, Madison's- shirt off, following it with your pants and panties, and climb in the bed behind her, tugging the covers over the two of you as you go.

The two of you are asleep in minutes.

The first thing you see when you wake up is Madison's cute face, pressed up close to your own. You don't have a very large bed, only a double, so she was forced to snuggle up close to you during her sleep last night. Her legs are wrapped around your own, and her breasts are smooshed up against your flat chest. Her breath washes across your neck every time you exhale.

It's probably the best sight you've ever woken up to.

You're careful not to move. You don't want to disturb her. Instead, you just gently cuddle up to her, encouraging her sleeping body to lie against your own so you can lie comfortably down on the bed again and just... think about your plans for tomorrow.

Not today, because you know exactly what you're going to be spending today doing: cuddling up with Madison and watching movies until she's forced to go home, then doing that Chemistry work you'd promised Sophia you'd do.

You're not really sure how your relationship with Madison is going to progress now. She's opened herself up to you completely, and you- well, you don't think you did anything to hurt her in the aftermath, at least. You'll have to watch how that progresses, but you're pretty sure that at the least, she's- she's yours now. You'll have to find some way to make that clear to her, to everyone. Maybe you can buy her a choker, or a collar. Something solid, physical, that won't heal over time like a bruise on her neck will.

Madison isn't your only priority, though- just your top one, right at this moment. You do have other girls at school, after all. Your arrangement with Sophia is still going on, and now you might be able to call Victoria over on weekdays, too. And you have your job, and your work at the clinic, and Amy, and you have to find more out about this situation with Rune, and deal with Emma, and wow. Your time is really getting booked out. Nothing you can do about it yet, but- soon, maybe. At least you'll be able to give Madison your number when she wakes up. Being able to reach her constantly will do something for you.

For now, though, you just lay there enjoying the feeling of cuddling Madison nude while you plan the next couple of days out.

[Pick three of the following options.]

] Head back to the clinic. You might have a job now, but you agreed to help the clinic out where you can. You should make time for them, when you can. Plus, Amy works there sometimes, and she's cute. You should get her number.

- Success chance: 60%.

- General results: Taylor will go to work at the clinic one afternoon, fulfilling that obligation for the week.

- On a success: Amy will be working on the day Taylor is. Taylor will be able to get her number, and Amy will have to deal with the embarassment of giving a fifteen-year-old her number so soon after that same fifteen-year-old was teasing her about wanting to date her.

- On a failure: Amy will sadly be working elsewhere for the day. Taylor will not get any Amy time.

] You should spend some time around Winslow trying to investigate things. Try and find out how it's possible to get into contact with Rune, and whether there's any way for you to manipulate her prior to going and seeing her. And wasn't there another cape mentioned to be hanging around Winslow? Shadow Stalker?

- Success chance: 70%, 20%.

- General results: Taylor will spend some time trying her best to sneak around Winslow listening in on the gang members around. If nothing else, it's good practice for her eavesdropping skills, which sorely need the work.

- On a success: At 70%, Taylor will learn more about Rune's presence at Winslow, and discover the restaurant at which Rune might be found, allowing Taylor to potentially initiate recruitment of Rune afterwards. At 20%, Taylor will catch a glimpse of Shadow Stalker, opening up a path somewhat early in which Taylor learns of Sophia's status as a cape.

- On a failure: As it turns out, when your sneaking skills are this low, it's hard to gather information. Obviously Taylor needs to spend some time grinding her skills out.

] You've had some time to reflect. Now it's time to, eugh, take a step forward and try and work things out with Emma. You're not- you're definitely not ready for sex with her yet. But maybe, just maybe, you can bring yourself to stop instinctively flinching when you think of her.

- Success chance: 50% (10% recruitment chance from recruiting Madison, 20% chance from previous interactions with Emma) 80%

- General results: Taylor will attempt to talk to Emma and try to patch things up with her a little.

- On a success: Taylor will manage to find a quiet spot in which she can talk with Emma for part of her lunch break. It's... a step forward, even if it's not healed just yet.

- On a failure: Taylor just can't find a safe spot in which she can talk with Emma. The talk fails because of that.

] You know you have powers; that's kind of obvious. You know that you can affect someone's emotions, and that you can feel what they're feeling. But you haven't really experimented with it beyond just testing what you can do. Can you affect other emotions? What's the range on your power? And, most importantly of all- is there any way that you can use your power to fake another power, so that when you're questioned over your powers, you can pretend you're not able to mind-control people?

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Taylor will spend some time at school experimenting with her powers. She won't affect anyone greatly, but will attempt to figure out the limits. Note that this will not necessarily reveal all aspects of Taylor's power immediately, but will give you a firmer idea of what she can do. Will probably result in a boring infodumpy section, though.

] You have Victoria's number now, but you're not quite sure of the status of your relationship with her. It's probably worth spending some time texting her over the next couple of days, just getting to know her as a person. What does she study at school? What's her favourite sport? What's her family like? Just things like that.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Taylor will spend some time texting Victoria over the next few days, exchanging remarkably few flirty texts as she takes the chance to ask Victoria some personal questions. Taylor will get to know Victoria a little better. Also gets Taylor curious about Laserdream, opening up a path down which Taylor will research Laserdream, then begin recruitment of her.

Spoiler: Stat Gains/Losses

View in Thread

Last edited: Jul 26, 2016

Jul 25, 2016 ReportLike

Fred Flintstine, PanDron, TheBigMole and 213 others like this.

Threadmarks: 2.1

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: 60%.

Necessary roll: 40. Rolled: 60. Success.

Success chance: 80%.

Necessary roll: 20. Rolled: 16. Failure.

Sunday goes by very peacefully. Neither you nor Madison feel like doing much after last night; it's hard for you to even work up the energy to head down to the kitchen and make a simple breakfast for the two of you, just scrambled eggs on toast and a glass of milk. You can't even be bothered to put any pepper on your eggs. Okay, you can be bothered. Eggs without pepper are weird.

The two of you end up just lazing around your house for most of the day, cuddling on the couch and watching movies you've already seen three times, or just curling up towards each other and giggling about nothing in particular. Occasionally, the two of you share a long, lazy kiss, but it doesn't go further than that. There's an unspoken agreement between the two of you- today is for recovery and coming down. Madison is still not quite steady on her feet again.

Unfortunately, all good things do have to come to an end. You get in as much cuddling time as you can, even causing Madison to shriek when you ambush her with another hug as she's leaving the house, but when Rick is standing right there waiting for her to get in the car, it feels pretty uncomfortable to try and hold on to her for too long.

You end up seeing her off with a big wave, then letting out a big sigh. There's always next time, you suppose. Still, it's disappointing that you can't have more time with her. A full day just... isn't enough. At least you have one of her shirts now, and she has one of yours.

Those kind of thoughts swim through your head as you trudge back to your bedroom. You recognize these kind of thoughts- it's your possessiveness swimming up again. It's not the kind of thing you should be indulging in, you do know that. They're just- natural thoughts, you think. Wouldn't anyone want more time with their Madison if they had one?

It's not worth thinking about. You shake your head, trying to clear it of those kind of thoughts. It'd be good to have Madison with you all the time, but she's not some kind of... pocket hug-and-sex doll. She has her own family to go back to, and her own hobbies to attend to, and probably even her own homework to struggle through.

But as much as you shake your head, the thoughts don't disappear. You harrumph, alone in the house where nobody can see it, and head over to your desk.

Madison might have her own homework to struggle through, but you definitely do have an assessment you need to finish up. And while Madison won't give you a disappointed look if you don't finish it, Sophia probably will, and that would be just as depressing.

Besides, you conclude as you sit down at your desk and pull your Chemistry textbook over to you, at least this might give you something to distract yourself with.

Dad ends up getting home close to eight that night. Still some time before you head to bed, but later than you'd expected him to get back. You go out and get yourself a drink so that you can at least nod 'hello' at him, but that's all either of the two of you say before you slink back to your room and finish up the assessment.

Your pillow still smells of Madison when you climb in bed. It's faint, but it's there.

It's a good note to fall asleep on.

School the next day wouldn't be too bad, except that you have to wake up early- again- to go to your job. It's going to take you some time to get used to that, you realize glumly. You might have to actually start heading to bed earlier on Sundays and Thursdays so you can get an extra hour's sleep, or something.

At least the jog to school afterwards refreshes you a little. It's not far enough to get you all sweaty, just far enough for the cold air to slap you awake some.

You have your Chemistry work in your bag as you head to to your locker, where Madison is, as usual, waiting for you. There's a faint flush to her cheeks when you call cheerfully out to her, but she greets you happily enough, and doesn't shrink back out of embarassment like you'd been half-afraid she would. Indeed, she doesn't even hesitate to step into a quick hug, although you're self-consciously forced to end it early so that you don't risk drawing any undue attention.

"Hi," you say with a small smile.

She looks up at you happily, a larger smile adorning her face. "Hi," she says cheerily. "Did you sleep well after I left?"

You shrug, dropping your voice. "Not as well as I did while you were over, but well enough," you reply. "How about you?"

Instead of responding, she leers at you a little bit half-hopefully. "I slept really good," she says in what you think is her attempt at a seductive purr. It's more cute than seductive, but you're willing to play along. "I was nice and tired by the time I fell asleep, hehe." Her voice may not have sounded very seductive, but you'll be damned if the perverted little chuckle she lets out at the end of her sentence doesn't do some interesting things to you- as does the red that steals up her cheeks when her words catch up with her.

You just raise your eyebrows at her, though, conscious of the potential audience around you. "Well, I'm glad to hear it," you say mildly. She flushes harder, looking very hard down at the floor. "We should probably get to class, though."

"Yeah," she mumbles, looking up and giving you an embarassed grin. You give her a reassuring grin of your own, and hers becomes softer somehow, more happy than embarassed.

It's hard to focus in class with Madison right beside you, not that you mind very much. You spend most of your time holding her hand beneath the desk while you lean over, trying to explain the lessons to her while you resist the urge to feel her up beneath the desk. It's really- it's actually quite distracting. You're constantly aware of her now, of how warm she feels, of her soft her skin is. All you want to do is take her hand and lead her away, but you can't, you're in the middle of class.

The bell thankfully- disappointingly- rings around the point your thoughts begin swinging in that direction. You're distracted enough that most of the class packs up and begins moving out before you've even finished packing up.

This is driving you insane. Not in a bad way, but you can't- you have to keep yourself distracted. But how? You've already done your homework, and even your Chemistry work has been finished. You could work on an extracurricular project, but...

Well, there is one thing you've been putting off.

Honestly, you've been trying to avoid using your power on random people at school. It makes you feel... obliged, kind of. When you use your powers on someone, you're learning how they feel. That's knowing someone on a pretty intimate level, and you've never been able to turn yourself away from someone you've come to know.

There's a reason you're still so hung up over Emma. You're self-aware enough to know that.

You make your way into the halls and settle down in your second class, letting out a long exhale. It might make you feel obliged, but, well, you've been planning on doing something about Rune for a while now. What does it really matter if you make that goal feel a little more urgent? (It matters a lot. You just can't turn away from the thought now you've acknowledged it.)

And really, you do need to figure out the limits to your power. Not just so you know what your limits are, but because it would be really bad if you ever thought you could do something when you needed to, but you couldn't.

You grimace and pull your notebook out. You have experimented with your powers a bit before, and learned some things. That'd be a good place to start, right?

When you'd first obtained your powers, you'd spent some time experimenting with them. You feel a little bit bad about that now, but there's... there's a heady rush when you use your power.

Some people might try and judge you for what you'd done, but until they've gone through what you'd gone through- until they've felt that helpless, that exposed, that useless- they don't have the right to judge you. They can't judge you until they've felt like that, until they've found themselves searching for some way, any way to make themselves feel not completely worthless-

- you shake your head for the second time that day. Going back down that path won't help anyone.

When you'd first obtained your powers, you'd spent some time experimenting with them. You'd quickly learned a few things.

The best way you've been able to conceptualize your power is by describing it as feeling and 'pulling' on someone's emotions, but that doesn't quite capture it. People's emotions are very complex creatures, and it's not easy to affect them.

Emotions aren't like a chart, where you can look and see that a given person is currently feeling a lot of anger and a smaller amount of restraint. Emotions are more like... a fine dish (and isn't that just an uncomfortable analogy). You can take a brief glimpse and see that they're feeling a lot of anger and restraint, but other emotions are threaded subtly through them, and it takes time to sort through them. Even then, just like in a meal, you're not always able to tell what's actually in their heads. You can just get a vague impression of what it's like. You can feel that an emotion is somehow related to anger, the same way that you can tell a given herb is spicy. That doesn't tell you what the emotion is- all you can do is make your best guess.

You close your eyes, focusing on your power, and extend it around you.

Some emotions are more readily accessible than others. You can feel the lust of the women around you, for instance- it's a warm, thrumming feeling, contentment and excitement shot through with spikes of arousal. That's really the best way you can conceptualize it.

It's harder for you to "feel out" other emotions. When you try to grab the anger of the boy in front of you, it... resists you, for lack of a better word. The "mental grip" of your power squeezes around their anger, but every time you try to pull on it, it- it doesn't pull back, not really, but it becomes more real, or maybe the mental grip of your power becomes less real. Either way, the result is the same; you're only able to make minor adjustments before your "mental grip" snaps back, and you have to quickly shove your hand in your mouth to stifle the groan of pain you'd otherwise let echo across the classroom.

Right, well. Mental note to self (and one day, you should really start trying to remember these): don't try and pull on emotions you can't get a good grip on. It doesn't end well.

It's hard to tell, at least without doing some experimentation you're pretty sure you're literally never going to want to do, but you think that that particular effect is caused because you're not feeling particularly angry at the moment. The more you're feeling something, the easier it is to feel that emotion in other people, and the less resistance their emotions offer you.

That's just a theory, though. You're not going to go and deliberately make yourself feel depressed so that you can test whether it's easier to make other people feel depressed while you do. It would just explain a lot of things, like why you're functionally unable to feel out lust in men, and why you've never really been able to make other people feel cheerful.

The bell rings suddenly, jarring you out of your thoughts. You look blearily around at the other students, some of whom are giving you odd looks. You- huh.

Has it really been almost an hour already? Wow. It's really easy to lose track of time while you're experimenting with your powers.

You try and keep a better track of the time as you walk to your next class and sit down.

You've experimented a lot with your emotional manipulation powers before, but that's not the only aspect to your power. You can manipulate other people, yeah, but you can also feel them out. And- well.

Honestly, you're pretty sure that you're never, ever going to tell anyone about your emotional manipulation power. You can't even imagine telling Madison, and you're pretty sure that she would take that secret to the grave. The implicit admission that you're able to manipulate their emotions... Who could trust you after that? Even though you might never intend to use it on them again, that thought would always lurk in their minds. It'd destroy the foundations of their trust in you. Perhaps deservedly, but even so.

But if you're going to do something about Rune, you're going to need help. Your powers aren't very useful in combat, and if you try to get in a fight with the girl, she'll probably kick your ass. You're not going to be able to do it alone, and that means asking for help- and that means admitting that you have powers yourself, if you're going to get anyone to actually listen to you.

And if you're going to tell someone that you have powers, you'd rather admit that you can feel someone's emotions than that you can manipulate them.

You're pretty sure that you spend most of the rest of the day wandering around in a daze as you focus on your powers. You know that you do cut your powers off at one point during lunch, as you wander around the school looking for a safe place where you might be able to pull Emma aside, but- no such luck. It seems like everywhere you go, people are milling around.

You don't let up, though. Bouncing between a few uses of your power, you're able to determine the following things:

First, your power doesn't really have a "range", as far as you're able to tell. Rather, it just becomes increasingly difficult for you to stretch your power out as you move away from yourself. It's... similar to mental strain, the kind you feel when you accidentally overwork yourself. You're able to stretch it all over the school without issue, and you don't even feel unduly strained when you try to push it across the road from the school, but the further you go, the worse off you feel. You end up stop trying before you manage to make it to the nearest store, a bit over half a mile away. You could probably make it that far, but you're pretty sure the headache you'd get from it would put you out of commission within minutes.

Second, you're not restricted to sensing people you're able to see, but it does get harder when you don't know where they are. Or, more correctly, when you know where someone is, they feel... sharper, somehow. Like with sight. When you know where someone is, you're able to 'visualize' someone better. Otherwise, it's like you're seeing them through your peripheral vision. You know they're there, and you have a general impression of what is, but you can't really make out details without being able to 'see' them.

It's odd, but maybe you're becoming more used to feeling out Madison and Sophia, because even when you don't know where they are, you're able to feel them much... much better than you can the people around them, for lack of a better way to put it.

And honestly, if nothing else, the realization that you can feel Madison and Sophia at school even when they're not next to you- that's worth it all on its own.

Third; you realize this was a terrible idea.

Or, well. It was actually a fantastic idea, but using your power actively like this does have a downside that makes itself known well before you even manage to head to the library to tutor Madison: the enormous and painful headaches that come with using it.

You already knew about it, of course, but you didn't really understand what triggers it before now. Now you do, or you think you do, although you wish you'd managed to figure it out in a rather less painful way.

You're fairly certain that it's a combination of the complexity of the emotions you're trying to sense, the number of people you're trying to track, and the distance that the person is for you.

It feels... honestly, you could barely feel any strain while you were feeling the emotions of the guy sitting in front of you at class. Mostly, he was feeling boredom and irritation, both relatively simple emotions. You could keep that up for, probably, a few hours before the pain gets bad enough to make you stop.

On the other hand, you'd felt the strain developing quickly when you'd tried to feel the emotions of your entire class. It hadn't been so quick that you'd immediately stopped, but you doubt you could keep that kind of effort up for more than an hour or so. And when you'd tried to stretch yourself out further than that- well, you'd stopped as soon as you'd tried to feel out the next class, too. The combination of the physical distance and the added numbers, it'd added up fast.

It's not simple enough that you can try and assign numbers to it, or anything. But as a general rule, you're pretty sure that your power works best when you're not trying to do anything too complex with it, when you're not trying to sense too many people at a time, and when you're not trying to sense what people are feeling half a city away.

At least, that's what you've been able to figure out so far. You might be drawing erronous conclusions, or missing something. But until you're able to test this much more extensively, these are the assumptions you're going to have to work under.

[Tuesday Planning]

The rest of the week is going to be fairly important, you know that. You're not even close to being able to actually approach doing anything about Rune and her influence at school- hell, your headache is still throbbing away, and you've already determined that you're not going to touch your power until the weekend. But- you can't help but remember what it felt like to extend your power over everyone at school. It didn't feel miserable, not exactly, but it did feel... hopeless. Like nobody here really expects to get out.

You can't do anything big now. You're still an unknown face at Winslow, and most of the people who do know your face, you wish they didn't. You can't even dedicate all your time to doing things to help them; even as you consider the thought, your stomach twists unpleasantly, and you shake your head instinctively. No, your girls are going to be your priority, that's a given.

But... you do need to start. And that's going to start today.

So, what exactly are you going to do for the rest of the week? [Pick up to three.]

] The situation with Emma didn't go too well. You're not very sure why- you'd been too caught up in your power's grip to get a good sense of what's going on there- but the halls had just been too busy for you to find a place for the two of you to talk. Still, your reasoning still stands. You do need to talk to her. You still feel incredibly nervous at the thought, but this time, you won't be caught up in your power's grip. If necessary, you'll ask her to meet you after work on Friday morning. You just hope she isn't away for whatever reason.

- Success chance: 60% [10% from Madison recruitment, 20% from previous interactions] 90%

- General results: Taylor will try and pull Emma aside so they can talk. It won't be a very pleasant talk, but they will try and set boundaries and make a place where they're comfortable in moving forwards.

- On a success: Emma will be at school, and thus will agree to meet Taylor wherever she wants to meet.

- On a failure: Emma will be off school, mildly sick. Poor Emma.

] The assessment you did with Sophia went well, and she's coming over to your house on Friday to study some more for Chemistry. You've already initiated a sexual relationship with her, kind of- does shirtless kissing count as a sexual relationship?- but as with Madison, you don't just want a sexual relationship with her. As such, you'll try to make the atmosphere a bit more... caring. You'll make some snacks up for the two of you, maybe actually arrange something resembling a more comfortable studying space on your bed for the two of you.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Taylor will try to create a warmer environment for her study sessions with Sophia. Sophia may not necessarily appreciate the specific things Taylor does, but will appreciate the effort Taylor puts into trying to make her comfortable.

] Mr Harding has offered you some afternoon shifts. It might not be the best idea to work longer hours, what with your headache, but whatever- it's only until nine on Wednesday and eight on Thursday, and it's a fair chunk of money. And it helps make you look more reliable to your boss. It probably won't make the rest of the week feel very pleasant, though.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Taylor will make some extra money, giving her four small expenses to spend on the weekend (or one large expense and one small expense), instead of two small expenses. Taylor's headache will grow worse, and some characters may make efforts to comfort her, but she will not feel good through the next update (an aesthetic, not something that will affect the outcome of future actions).

] Your headache is bad enough that you don't think you want to strain yourself reading next year's textbooks just yet. In fact, it's bad enough that when you're at home, all you really want to do is curl up on the couch beneath a blanket and watch some quiet TV.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Lowers Taylor's stress levels, bringing her stress down to acceptable stress levels for a busy student with a job. Being out in the living room obviously miserable will stir Danny to action, and he will make well-meaning efforts to try and make Taylor more comfortable- a small step to improving the relationship between the two of them.

] You need to do something about the situation at Winslow. You're not really sure what you can do, but- you're not the only person at Winslow. You don't want to drag anyone else into it, but that doesn't mean you can't ask some questions. And hopefully, if you ask the right ones, you might learn some of the information you need to know.

- Success chance: 50%, 80%.

- General results: Taylor will attempt to learn which students around Winslow may know more about the gang situation.

- On an 80% success: Taylor will find students who are willing to tell her, in maybe some coarse terms, information about the gangs' presence at Winslow. The first step in learning how to deal with Rune.

- On a 50% success: The same as the 80% success, but the character who is willing to talk to Taylor is Aisha. The first step in learning how to deal with Rune, but also provides a potential opportunity to recruit pre-trigger Aisha. Only two more opportunities to do so may be offered after this.

] You need to figure out how to deal with Rune, long-term. That is; you need to learn more about Rune, and you need to figure out how you're going to take her down, if it comes to that. Which is... going to be complicated. It's lucky you have access to so many computers, these days.

] You're going to play it defensively. You might already be able to get Victoria to help you out, but if you can't, then having someone who can make it harder for Rune to hit you is always good. Even if you have complicated feelings about the whole thing, it's time to look a little more into Vista.

] You're going to play it offensively. You might already be able to get Victoria to help you out, but when fighting someone like Rune, it's going to be good to have some long-range support. That's where Laserdream comes in. You don't know very much about here, but that's why you're trying to find out more about her.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Taylor will look up more information about the specified hero. Confers a 15% bonus chance to recruitment when recruiting the specified hero.

View in Thread

Jul 28, 2016 ReportLike

Fred Flintstine, PanDron, TheBigMole and 157 others like this.

Threadmarks: Interlude 3- Brandish

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

The door swings open easily as she pushes it. There's no trace of the creak that had been evident the last time she'd been here. Somebody must have oiled the hinges.

Inside, she calmly closes the door behind her and walks over to the small steel table in the middle of the room, where her client is waiting for her. He's tracking her as he moves, his beady eyes watching her fearfully as she approaches. His skin is pockmarked and sallow, and his eyes are bloodshot. He twitches as she approaches.

"You don't need to worry," she says coolly. She meant it to sound reassuring. Then again, she had never been very good about sounding reassuring.

She places her briefcase on the table and slides the latches open. They make a loud snap as they flip up, the sound inordinately loud in the small room. Her papers are laid out neatly within it. She takes the left stack- the stack containing her information on her client- and closes her briefcase again, setting it down on the ground beside the other unoccupied in the chair as she moves to sit in it.

"My name is Carol Dallon." She extends her hand out towards him, but isn't terribly surprised when he doesn't take it. After a moment, she withdraws her hand back to her side. "Now, mister Meiers- is there a name you would prefer I call you by?"

The man starts, then jerkily shakes his head at her. Internally, she frowns. She still has further to go to work on her personable demeanour, it appears. "Marlon," he says roughly. "My name's Marlon."

She nods. "Okay." She spreads her papers out in front of her, but doesn't glance down at them. She doesn't need to; her secretary has already gone all the relevant information with her. "Mister Marlon, as the police have no doubt already gone over with you, all citizens in the United States have the right to an attorney when they have been charged with a crime. My firm would like to represent you."

He looks appropriately nonplussed by that. "You don't look like one of them lawyers that helped me last time," he says suspiciously. "You look like you got money, and I don't got much of that. Got one of them public lawyers coming anyway."

She waits a moment for him to subside. "Money isn't a concern," she replies calmly, once it is clear he has nothing more to say. "My firm will represent you pro bono- without expectation of receiving any money," she clarifies when he just gives her a blank look. "My firm has a vested interest in helping you, and people like you."

"People like me?" He gives her a suspicious look. "What, accused drug dealers?"

"No." Her voice remains perfectly even. "People who, like you, have made bad decisions in their life, and deserve the chance to make something of themselves."

He glares up at her, hands running frantically over his clothes as though looking for something. "I didn't do nothin' they accused me of," he protests. His hands scrabble harder for a moment, before he seems to give up on finding whatever he's looking for. His shoulders sag.

She gives him a patient smile at that. "Of course not," she agrees politely. "Nevertheless, you have been accused by the police, and you are facing charges. This means that my firm has an interest in representing you."

Marlon's already shaking his head. "Seems real suspicious," he says frankly. "You comin' in here, offering to help me for free and all. Being honest, I think I'd prefer to take my chances with a public lawyer."

"That would be your choice." She doesn't even blink.

He studies her for a moment, seeming to unconsciously glare at her. "Why do you even care?" he asks.

She looks down at the papers in her hand for a moment, her memories whirling. Then she responds, her voice as steady as ever. "Let's say that I've had a lot of experience with people who made some bad choices along the way."

Silence stretches between the two as Marlon examines her, taking in her appearance, her clothes- and then, it clicks. He sits back, ramrod-straight, as he eyes her in a new light, but can't help the way he slumps back a few moments later, his hands opening and closing on his lap. "Wait, you're that New Age girl!"

"New Wave," she corrects him patiently. "And yes, I am affiliated with the New Wave movement. You may know me publicly as Brandish, although I have stated on public record that my name is Carol Dallon."

His expression wavers, caught somewhere between fear, disbelief and hope. "You're a cape," he says, wondering and excited and fearful all at once. "A hero, even. You help take people like me in, not help us- hell, your glowy sister is the one that took Lenny in!"

She tries to smile calmly at him. It probably comes out more like a grimace. "We have assisted the Brockton Bay Police Department in several arrests over the years, yes. I am sorry to hear that a friend of yours was involved."

"Nah, Lenny wasn't a friend of mine." There's a disbelieving shake of his head. "Shit," he whispers. "Why would a cape want to help me now, huh?"

"The New Wave movement has a vested interest in helping-"

"In helping people like me, yeah yeah," he cuts her off. "Trust me, everyone on the streets knows your spiel, lady. I ain't asking what you have printed on your business cards, I wanna know why you'd want to help me."

She stares at him for a moment. Beneath the table, where he can't see, her hands clench into fists. "We firmly believe that all citizens of Brockton Bay deserve-"

He cuts her off with a disgusted scoff. "Yeah, didn't think so," he spits out. "Nah, I ain't interested in being helped by someone who aint' even being honest with me. Think I'll wait for that public lawyer."

Her fists clench tighter in her lap, tight enough that she's mildly worried her fingernails might actually cut her. She tries to loosen them somewhat. Then, in a mild tone, she asks; "Have you ever heard of Marquis, mister Meiers?"

"Marquis?" Marlon looks confused at the sudden shift in the topic. "Yeah, kinda. He was one of the capes active back, like, ten years ago or something, wasn't he? Took down Allfather. Yeah, everyone knows who he was. Don't see what he has to do with anything, but."

Her answering smile is a little more strained this time. "It was not Marquis alone who faced down the Allfather," she corrects him stiffly. "It was a joint operation between Marquis and the New Wave movement, known then as the Brockton Bay Brigade."

"Huh." Marlon sits back at that, a thoughtful look on his face as he ponders that. "Don't hear about the heroes and the villains teaming up that much," he says eventually. "Why'd you do it?"

She attempts to fight back the memories. "Desperate times call for desperate measures," she says slowly. "Marquis had come into information regarding a brewing conflict in Brockton Bay at the time. He sought our help in dealing with it."

Her client nods thoughtfully. "But he was killed," he notes.

A stilted nod is her only answer for a moment. Then, as if the answer is being dragged through her reluctant lips, "He was. It was a terrible situation, and one I wish every day I could have done more to avert."

A slow nod greets her. "An' so you feel guilty," he finishes for her. She doesn't correct him. "Couldn't help him, so you wanna help me, is that right?"

She acquiesces with a nod. "Indeed." The lie slips out easily. "I hope we can count you amongst our clients, mister Meiers."

There's more to the story, of course, but she's fought too hard to keep it secret to let it slip for just any man. She's not going to risk her daughters, either of them, no matter how much it would help her case if she explained- explained about Marquis' fears for his daughters' safety, about how he'd fought hard and long to protect his Amelia, about how he'd reached out in a moment of desperation in his desire to keep his daughter safe from the Empire.

Marquis may not have been a good man, but in the end, he had done the right thing. And that counted for a lot, with her.

He looks her over again, a considering look. Then he shrugs. "Sure. Think you can do much to help me?"

She lifts her briefcase off the floor and places it upon the table again, smiling faintly at him. "You would be surprised at how many favours someone who has been an attorney for as long as I have can call in," she says. "I am sure we will be able to find a satisfactory resolution to your case. You should be aware, however, that my firm's help is not unconditional."

He stares at her, then rolls his eyes. "Of course it fucking isn't," he mutters. "Fine. What d'you want me to do in exchange?"

"Nothing that should cause you any distress," she replies placatingly, and begins to pull the second stack of papers from within her briefcase, arraying them in front of him. "Our aim is to help you, mister Meiers. This is merely another way we will attempt to do so. Firstly, we would like you to agree to attend regular meetings with a psychologist..."

Nearly two hours later, Carol strides out of the interview room, her briefcase held securely in her hands. She gives the officers who meet her eyes a tight smile as she leaves, but most of them keep their gazes focused on their desks. Intimidated by her still, despite her attempts at being friendly.

She checks her watch as she walks outside the building. It's nearly six. Her official hours were ten to five. Another hour she wouldn't be marking down on her timesheets, then.

For a moment, she considers going back to the office and doing her filing now. She's let it slip for several weeks, in the wake of the frenzy of work that had come about as a result of the civil suit against the singer. The longer she puts it off, the more there's going to be, and she hates pushing her filing off on the firm's interns. Few of them ever understands her filing system, and none of them enjoy working beneath her once the novelty of working with a cape wears off.

But as soon as she considers the idea, she dismisses it. It's a fifteen-minute drive back to her firm. By the time she gets there, there won't be much time for her to do her filing anyway. She'll do it tomorrow. Hopefully. Assuming that Chief Sanders actually schedules her meeting for tomorrow, at any rate, and she doesn't have to spend half the day trying to get him in again.

And she has more important things to do than her filing.

She drives unhurriedly over to the clinic Amy is working in tonight. The route is slowly becoming more familiar to her, which is good. She doesn't spend as much time in this area of town as she should.

It's twenty past six when she arrives. Forty minutes early. She considers for a moment whether it's worth leaving and buying some coffee for the two of them, but- maybe if it was Sarah. That kind of gesture always makes the atmosphere feel too intimate. Besides, Amy hasn't been sleeping well for the past few months. More caffeine probably isn't a great idea.

Instead, she lifts her chin up high and climbs out of her car, locking it behind her as she heads into the clinic, attempting to walk confidently. She doesn't feel half as confident as she tries to make herself look, but nobody can ever tell the difference.

Once she's in there, she heads straight for Kirk's office, not pausing to greet any of the hospital's workers or clients along the way- although she does give a small nod to Neville, the only one of the PRT troopers assigned to the hospital that she actually knows. She knocks on Kirk's door, almost able to hear his exasperated sigh from here, and waits patiently. He's long since gotten used to her showing up half an hour or more before Amy is due to finish for the day.

There's the rattling of the doorknob, and it swings open, revealing Kirk standing there, giving her a look. "Brandish," he sighs tiredly. "Come in."

She nods and follows him into his office, where she sits in the comfortable armchair he has waiting for visitors. He sits down in his own, a rather less comfortable office chair, and turns to his computer.

Silence stretches for a few minutes, the only sound in the office the sound of Kirk's typing. She waits until the silence becomes uncomfortable- for her, it has long since become uncomfortable for him- before she says anything.

"How is she doing?" she asks quietly.

His fingers stop moving on the keyboard, and he turns his head to look at her. "You could ask her yourself, you know," he says mildly. At her reproving glare, he gives her a half-hearted smile before it drops from his face. "Honestly, I'm not sure. The nurses are still too in awe of her to talk to her personally, and I've had to reprimand several of the volunteers for crowding her."

Her face twists into a sour expression. "Damn," she mutters.

He gives her a small smile. "She's making friends with a couple of the volunteers, at least," he informs her. "Bernadette tells me that she doesn't mind Oliver's presence, and she seems to be on good terms with Taylor."

Carol frowns. "I thought she- never mind." She's not sure how she feels about her daughter befriending two men away from her supervision, but- that was part of why she had organised for Amy to come here, wasn't it? She can't complain about Amy making friends after she'd told her to make friends.

Kirk smiles at her. "Don't worry," he says, seemingly reading her thoughts. Oh- yes, that's right. Kirk does have a child of his own. And grandchildren. "They're both good people. Oliver is studying medicine himself, and Taylor is still in high school, but she has a good work ethic." ... Oh, yes, Taylor can be a woman's name, as well. She's suddenly glad she hadn't said anything.

She just shrugs half-heartedly in response. "It's good she's making friends," she says eventually. After Arcadia- well, she'd been worried.

Kirk waits, but when she doesn't say anything further, eventually goes back to typing up whatever he's typing up. His quarterly report, she assumes; it's nearly time for the next one.

Actually- she pulls out her phone for a moment and opens her calendar. She should make sure to note that down.

Time passes in idle silence as she scrolls through her calendar, occasionally pausing to add a new entry in there, reminding her of one event or another. She should really hire a personal assistant for this kind of thing, but she dislikes handing her phone over to people she doesn't trust.

Finally, enough time passes that her phone ticks over to six-forty. She stands, stretching, then gestures for Kirk to rise. He does, looking at her with a questioning look; she responds by giving him a tired and hopeful smile. "Could you show me to Amy?" she asks weakly.

He sighs, but pulls himself to his feet. "Sure." He sweeps out of his office, holding the door open magnanimously for her, then sweeps ahead to lead her confidently through the clinic. "She normally finishes up with her patients around four, so she spends the rest of her time doing the schoolwork you've assigned her," he confides in her. "There have been a few times where patients have come in later, though."

She just nods in response. She'd assumed that Amy got some of her English and Maths work done while at the hospital; she never seemed to do it at home.

He leads her to the clinic's break room. One day, she should figure out how to navigate this clinic; then she won't have to rely on Kirk and Amy to lead her through it. She can't even tell it's the break room until the door swings open on silent hinges.

The two of them pause as it swings open. Kirk begins to retreat awkwardly, but Carol doesn't.

Amy is sitting on a chair beside a table, with a girl laying splayed awkwardly across two other chairs beside her. Taylor, if she had to guess. Taylor lays there, head on Amy's lap, giggling at something Amy had said before they entered the room. Amy has her hands resting on Taylor's head, gently massaging her temples- Carol glances, and yes, there's a small bottle of pills on the table. Likely painkillers. Codeine, if the girl's tired and slightly loopy laughter is anything to go by. Neither of the two look up at her approach.

Amy is smiling.

It's been a long time since she saw Amy smile when Victoria isn't nearby.

Carol retreats out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

Kirk takes one look at her stoic and forbidding face. "It- that probably wasn't what it seemed," he begins. "There could be-" She holds up a hand, and he falls silent.

"I don't care," she says. He shuts up, searching her face for something. Whatever he finds, it's to his satisfaction; he nods.

Honestly, she does care. Not about the tender scene between the two girls- she wouldn't be a very good person if she let something as simple as her daughter's sexual orientation affect her opinion of her. She's just happy- no, not happy. She's just satisfied that there's someone her daughter feels comfortable around again. After the hounding Amy had received at Arcadia, she'd been scared that her daughter would retreat completely into herself.

She leans against the wall beside the door, and doesn't say anything as Kirk beats a retreat back to his office. She notes the time- six fifty-one- then ignores it, sweeping her calendar app closed and opening her e-mail program. She mostly ignored the Guild's e-mails, given their irrelevance to her family's mission in the city and how stretched New Wave already is, but she had definitely seen a request for New Wave to hold a fundraiser to raise awareness for LGBT issues recently.

She finds it, buried deep in page 4 of her e-mails, those from yesterday. She should organise her e-mails, too. Another thing she should get an assistant for. Another thing she won't get an assistant for.

While waiting, she idly taps out a response to the e-mail-

Narwhal,

We would be happy to host such a fundraiser. Please forward me all relevant details at your earliest convenience.

Regards,

Brandish.

Even if she's reading the situation wrong, it's still a good thing to do.

Then she waits, staring at her phone's clock. The minutes tick by slowly, but she can be patient.

At ten past seven, she stands, brushing the dust off her jacket from where she'd been leaning against the wall. She has given Amy as much time as she can- she does have an image of her own to maintain.

When the door swings open, she's not sure if she feels relieved or disappointed to find the two girls have separated. Taylor, if it is Taylor, is already standing, a backpack slung over her shoulder- had she come here straight after school?

Amy looks up, seeing her enter this time. The smile on her face slides immediately off.

"Mom," she says neutrally. Carol nods at her, but doesn't say anything. Taylor pauses, looking over at her. No recognition shows on her face. Unsurprising- she is open about her identity as Brandish, but it's always hard to connect a mild-mannered lawyer with the tough superhero portrayed on TV. Carol spares the girl one glance, then turns her attention back to her daughter. She's acutely aware of the girl's presence as she lingers awkwardly at the door, twisting the door's handle anxiously- squeak squeak squeak- before opening it and walking out.

"Are you ready to go?" she asks finally. Amy nods unhappily.

"Yeah, I have my stuff," she responds. That's all she says. Carol frowns internally as she waits for Amy to move over and pick her bag up from where she'd placed it beside the break room's coffee machine.

"Have you finished your homework?" Carol tries again.

Amy nods. "Yeah, it's all done. Don't worry."

Slightly frustrated, Carol tries to think it through. What else can she say? If she asks who the other girl was, Amy is likely to take it wrong, and she doesn't want to break up their budding... whatever it is. If she asks how her day was, it's going to sound like an interrogation.

In the end, she settles for saying nothing. She just keeps her face deliberately neutral, trying not to let her frustration at herself leak through, fully cognizant of Amy's unhappy expression behind her back.

Neither of them says anything as she unlocks her car's doors and climbs in.

She closes her eyes briefly as Amy walks around the car to the passenger's side door. A sigh nearly escapes her.

One of these days, she's going to figure out how to talk to her daughter.

Apparently, not today.

View in Thread

Jul 31, 2016 ReportLike

Tomni, Fred Flintstine, PanDron and 256 others like this.

Threadmarks: 2.2

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: 90%

Necessary roll: 10. Rolled: 48. Success.

Success chance: 50%, 80%.

Rolled: 55. Two integers of success.

Spoiler: Winning Votes

Your headache isn't better come Wednesday morning, precisely, but it's not as bad after your experiment on Monday, or even yesterday. You're not sure if the codeine is finally kicking in or if it's just your headache fading over time, but either way, you're feeling a lot better. It's surprisingly hard to focus when you have a headache that bad.

Or, well, not really that surprising. It's hard to ignore a headache. It's like a constant distraction, something trying to tug your attention away from whatever you're trying to pay attention to. You'd even found it hard to pay attention to Madison, although you'd definitely tried your best.

Either way, your headache has faded into something more manageable. It's more of a dull throb now than a sharp, stabbing pain, although- you wince, and immediately regret testing it; yes, it still definitely hurts to move your head too fast. You're definitely not going for a run today.

Your movements are slow and cautious as you amble over to your dresser and get out your clothes from your dresser. Nothing fancy, again- not that you really own fancy clothes anyway, you're not really sure why you constantly expect to find them in here. The few pieces of fancy clothing you own are tucked securely away in Dad's room, where you know they won't get messed up.

It's a relief to step into the shower, once you've made your way out of your room and to the bathroom. The shock of the cold water hitting your skin makes your eyes snap open, but it soon turns to a nice warm spray, and you spend a good amount of time just luxuriating in the warmth as you wash yourself and carefully shampoo your hair.

Stepping out of a warm shower always does funny things to a headache. It dulls the pain, kind of- except it's more like the dull throbbing is just spread over your entire head, rather than emanating from somewhere around the back of your head. It makes it more tolerable, somehow, but it also makes you feel a little light-headed. It's a confusing feeling.

You unhurriedly get dressed and make your way out to the kitchen, where Dad's already waiting. He gives you a concerned look when you clutch at your head at a sudden spike of pain- god, that sun shining through the window is bright- but you wave his concern off and turn the coffee maker on. Then, you heave out a great sigh when you realize you left Amy's painkillers in your room. At least the coffee maker has finished bubbling away by the time you come back out. Surprising, until you suddenly realize that Dad probably made one while you were in the shower. Then you just feel a little silly.

It's a little relaxing to not go running and just relax inside. The extra sleep helps- you'd even fallen asleep early last night, nearly collapsing atop Victoria's books when the codeine had fully kicked in. You do kind of miss the feeling of losing yourself in the motion, but taking a break from it for a few days isn't so bad.

You sip slowly at your coffee, moving over to where you'd left your phone on charge on the counter. Unfortunately, you only have the one power outlet in your room, and you need it for a desk lamp so you don't have to leave your bedroom light on all night. You don't like leaving your phone out where people can see it, but it's only Dad, so you should be fine. He won't violate your privacy by reading any of your texts, you're pretty sure.

Madison has sent you a text- a cheery "Good morning!!!! 3". There's a little box beside it, which you're pretty sure is meant to have one of those little pictures in it. Unfortunately, your phone isn't fancy enough to display them. You send her a text back- "Good morning, Madison :) See you at school!"- and fire off one to Victoria as well- "Morning, Victoria! Hope you're having a good day! :)". Your phone chimes quickly after that, another text from Madison showing a handful of little empty boxes in it. Damn. You'll have to ask her what she was sending you at school.

It takes Victoria a while longer to text you back- she's probably in the shower, or maybe heading to school- but when she does, your eyes narrow at the content of the text. "i am. u?"

You dart your fingers over your phone, trying your best to send a message back as quickly as you can while sipping at your coffee. "I'm not doing much. Just trying to figure out how to punish a girl who won't text me properly." Once you've finished sending the text, you reluctantly pull two pills out of the pill bottle and tuck the bottle away in your pocket afterwards.

Two pills and half a cup of coffee later, your phone buzzes again. "have u considered spanking her??"

And, well. Isn't that a pleasant image. If only. You tap out another response before heading to your room to get your schoolbag- "Somehow, I don't think that will have much effect."- and don't have time to look at your phone again until you're rushing out the frunt door, just as you hear the shower shut off. You glance down at your phone, noting the text Victoria has replied with.

":) :) :) :)"

You scowl down at it. Damn it, she shouldn't tease you just because she's got an invulnerable forcefield. Although, actually- come to think of it, how does her forcefield even work? She's clearly able to feel it when you fondle her, and she does seem to get hot and cold, so it's not like she can't feel anything, but she isn't hurt at all when people shoot her or try to stab her. Maybe she can control it? Honestly, you don't know. Damn. It's actually kind of a shame, because the idea of spanking someone that much stronger than you really appeals to you, too. Or, no. The idea of someone as strong as Victoria submitting to you to the extent that they will just lie down and take whatever punishment you dole out to them, that appeals to you.

And you really need to stop thinking about this now. The bus is approaching, and you don't want to work yourself up into a state before you even get to school. Normally, you prefer actually having one of your girls in your arms before you get yourself wet. But damn, that image is a really nice mental image.

Instead, you try to distract yourself.

Honestly, using your power on Monday hadn't affected you as badly as you'd kind of feared it might. Most of the time, when you use your power on someone like that, you can't help but come to care about them, at least a little- you're not sure it's possible to come to know someone intimately and not care about them at least a little. But using your power on that many people, so many times, that shallowly- you don't think you could pull any one particular person out, from memory.

No, what you'd felt was something more general than that. All you'd really been able to feel was the air of hopelessness, of frustration and low-burning despair, that runs through Winslow. It's not something you can ignore, not by any means, but it doesn't exactly fill you with a deep-seated desire to right any wrongs.

And maybe it makes you a bad person, but you're a little bit glad about that. It's exhausting to invest yourself in so many things. You're already trying to keep your own mood up, to make Madison as happy as she can get, to keep Sophia intrigued by you, to keep Victoria excited, to deal with Emma, to go to the clinic, to get up early enough to go to your job. All of it is voluntary, but at the same time, it's stuff you actually care about. Does it make you a bad person to not want to feel obligated to save Winslow?

Objectively, probably yes. You can't bring yourself to feel bad about it, though.

You can't pretend you want to turn a blind eye to it all, though. Which is a confusing feeling. You don't feel obligated to help Winslow, which makes you want to do something about it. Feelings are weird.

You pass time by thinking about the situation there, and very deliberately not about punishing a red-faced Victoria for her grammatical missteps. It turns out to be surprisingly easy to distract yourself from the topic, anyway.

Most of the roads in Brockton Bay aren't of very high quality- the town is a lot bigger than it seems, and there's a lot of roads in it. Over the years, few people have given it much thought- there are issues that are so much bigger, so much more important than the state of the roads around. The 'important' roads, the ones tourists travel down- so, mostly the Downtown roads, and those directly around the Leviathan memorial and leading from it- are consistently maintained, but the ones around your house pretty much only get repaired when the potholes get large enough to cause actual safety hazards.

The bus bounces as it heads to school. Ordinarily you just ignore it- you've had fifteen years to get used to the roads, after all- but it's harder when you already have a headache pounding away in your skull. Every time the bus dips and sways as its goes over a pothole, you have to close your eyes to fight back a soft throb of pain.

It feels a little odd to welcome the sight of Winslow, but as terrible as your school is, at least it's not a vehicle travelling on the streets of Brockton Bay.

Not that it's much better for your headache inside the school. The low but omnipresent sound of students chattering brings the pounding back to the forefront of your mind, and students jostling you in the halls is, unsurprisingly, even more unpleasant now. At least the sight of Madison standing by your locker, waiting for you, brings you some relief. There's no better cure for a headache than some time with your girls, in your opinion.

School on Wednesday passes by in a soft and frustrating mix of this constant soft pounding in your head and the warm, sweet presences of Madison and Sophia. It leaves you with mixed feelings when the bell rings after the last period for the day.

It wasn't a particularly productive Wednesday, unless you count huddling against Madison during lunch as being productive (which honestly it kind of is, if you squint really hard and ignore what the word 'productive' actually means), but you did at least get Sophia's number today. You feel kind of bad for forgetting on Monday and Tuesday, but you see her a lot less than you do Madison, and in your defence, you do have a headache. After you'd managed to wheedle Amy's number out of her- well, that's four numbers, now.

You're feeling kind of miserable by the time you eventually get home. Once you trudge inside, you move to the kitchen and turn the coffee maker on again, setting your bag down on the counter and taking the bottle of pills Amy had given you out so you can stare morosely at them. Honestly, do these do anything at all?

You feel a little better once you have some coffee in you, or maybe it's just that things aren't so noisy in here. Either way, you consider beating a retreat back to your room for a moment, then decide against it. Honestly, you're not really in the mood for studying or anything. You're pretty sure you could legitimately skip studying for the rest of the year and not miss anything- well, okay, that's maybe a bit arrogant, but you're months ahead of class. You can skip a day.

Instead, you head to your room and grab Victoria's books and a blanket, then head back out to the living room and switch the TV on. The volume is already low, since Dad tends to keep it low, but you turn it down a little lower as you climb on the couch beside Dad's armchair, arrange a cushion behind your head, and get to reading.

The books aren't... really the greatest, but they're not the worst, either. You can't say that you lose yourself in them, but it's not an unpleasant way to pass your time. And you can be pretty confident in saying that you think you prefer Victoria's taste in books to Madison's, anyway. Not that you're impinging on Madison's tastes, or anything- Victoria's just align with yours better.

You idly consider asking Amy for a recommendation. You've had a couple of talks with her about literature now, and she's proven to know a lot about the topic, more than even Victoria. Maybe she could recommend you something worth reading. And it'd give you extra teasing material, pretty much no matter what she picks.

At one point, you have to get up to turn the living room light on as the sky outside darkens, not long after you get home. The light from the TV isn't consistent enough for you to read with, and you're pretty sure that you shouldn't be straining your eyes anyway. You already need glasses. What are you going to do if you damage your eyes further?

Things go along pleasantly enough until Dad gets home, a little after six thirty. You absently note the sound of the front door opening and closing, then the sound of footsteps trudging through the house until they get to the living room, where they pause. You don't look up- you're fairly sure that if whoever it was had any malicious intent, your power would tell you, even if it makes your headache worse.

"Taylor?" He walks into the room, allowing you to see him without having to sit up. "Are you feeling okay?"

You half-shrug, buried in your cocoon of a blanket. "I'm fine, Dad." You meant that to sound persuasive, but it comes out more pathetic than anything. "Just a bit of a headache."

"You had a headache this morning too, didn't you? And yesterday." He moves close to the lounge and bends down to examine you. "Did it bother you during school?"

You shake your head. "No, it was fine," you lie. If you tell him yes, you're pretty sure you won't be going into school tomorrow- and as bad as your headache is, you do have things you need to do there. And besides, it's slowly getting better, so that's fine, isn't it? "I just didn't really feel up to studying after tutoring Madison today. It's pretty loud at school recently."

He nods slowly, giving you another worried look. "Okay," he says after a long moment. "But look, why don't you let me handle dinner tonight? I think I have some aspirin in my room, too-"

"I have some painkillers already." You cut him off, giving him a weak smile. "Amy gave me some stronger ones while I was at the clinic yesterday, but they're making me feel a little bit tired. You don't need to worry about it."

"I always need to worry when you're not feeling well, Taylor." He reaches forward with his hand, as though to ruffle your hair, but quickly reconsiders. Probably for the better. "You just get some rest. If the noise at school keeps being this bad, let me know and I'll go speak to the principal. Okay?"

You nod weakly. A part of you rebels, but you're too tired to try to argue with him at the moment. "Yeah, okay, Dad," you agree instead. "Thanks."

He smiles. "Any time, Taylor."

At some point after that, you must have drifted off, because you wake up the next day by unceremoniously falling off the couch onto your face. Ow. It's not the most pleasant way to start the day. It does help you figure out that your headache... had probably faded somewhat before you fell on your face, though, so there's that.

You sit up on your knees, pouting blearily at nothing in particular. At least nobody is around to see your undignified crash to the ground.

You're not sure how long you would have sat there feeling sorry for yourself if you didn't happen to catch a glimpse of a bowl of soup on the coffee table in front of you, a steel-handled spoon sticking out of it. Your stomach rumbles loudly at the sight, so you move over and try to take a bite, and- yeah, okay, you must have been asleep for a while, because this is stone cold.

As you pick it up and get up to head off towards the kitchen, you grab your cellphone in your other hand. The brightness of the screen illuminates your way as you make your way through the house at- huh, twenty to six in the morning. You're not sure what time you must have fallen asleep last night, but you feel refreshed. Probably before seven thirty, if Dad hadn't even finished cooking dinner. It's been a while since you slept for that long.

Some people complain about how loud hallways squeak at night, but nobody ever talks about how loud the buttons of a microwave sound as you press them. It's loud enough to make you wince, and you don't dare try to walk away as the bowl spins around within it. You pull it out a couple of seconds early so that it doesn't wake the whole neighbourhood up, then begin eating it.

Another lazy morning, then. You're not going to complain. You take your time getting ready for school- showering, getting your clothing together, and all that stuff.

By the time eight o'clock rolls around and it's about time for you to head off to school, your headache has started to fade again. It's still not gone, and it's still a distraction, but it's not so... so pressing, now. You're not sure if the codeine is actually helping, but you're also not sure it's not.

You've never had a headache this bad, and certainly not one caused by overextending a superpower. Do they always fade this slowly, or this this quickly for a headache this bad? You don't recall Dad's headaches ever lasting this long, but different causes might lead to different symptoms.

You do make sure to send Victoria an apology for not asking her to come over yesterday, though. You're disappointed that you couldn't, but there's no way you would have been a good host- and you're pretty sure that dropping a date with her boyfriend to come be your pillow would have been a bad idea, no matter how sweet you think the idea is.

The bus trundles through the streets, seemingly going out of its way to hit every pothole in the street. By the time it actually arrives at school, your head is pulsing again- not as badly as it was yesterday, but worse than it has been all morning. Damn it.

Your headache continues through the first half of school. First period isn't too bad, because you have Madison sitting beside you- and while she can't cure your headache, she can at least provide you with hugs- but the next three periods seem to drag on. You find yourself wishing that you have Chemistry on Thursdays, but sadly, no. Thursday is double English instead.

By the time fourth period is over, your headache has become bad enough again that rather than head straight off to meet up with Madison, you make a little side-trip off to the bathroom so Madison can't see you taking your painkillers out of your bag. You're still not sure if they're actually helping.

Almost as soon as you step into the bathroom, you come to a stop as you see Emma standing in there ahead of you, eyes squeezed closed as she clutches at the sides of the bathroom sink.

For a moment, you're seriously tempted to just turn around and walk back out, screw the pills. Your headache is bad enough already. You don't need to deal with Emma on top of it. But then you ball your hands into fists at your side for a moment, and you let out a silent sigh. Okay, that's a bit of a lie. You do need to deal with Emma. It's just that you'd prefer to do that when you're not already trying to ward off an enormous headache.

But now that the opportunity has presented itself, you shouldn't walk away from it. It's- it's not a good habit for you to get in. If you walk away now, who knows when you'll be able to actually work up the nerve to talk to her?

You step further into the bathroom, allowing the door to close behind you with a loud squeal. Emma's eyes snap open immediately, darting to look at you as she opens her mouth. When she sees you, her jaw snaps shut, and she whirls to look at you.

"Taylor," she says. You don't even need to hear the tone of her voice to know how surprised she is.

"Emma," you reply neutrally. You avoid her attempts to catch your gaze as you move over to one of the other sinks in the bathroom and lift your bag up onto the counter. From the corner of your eye, you can see her stiffen when you pull the bottle of pills out. She doesn't say anything, though, which you're grateful for. it does look kind of suspicious, though. "... They're just painkillers." After you tap two of the pills out onto your palm, you slide the bottle over to her, allowing her to read the label.

You hear the rattle of pills as she lifts it up. Then, "Oh. Are you hurt?"

You shake your head and ignore the feeling of light-headedness that comes with the movement as you hold your hand out. "Just a headache." She places the bottle back in your hand, and you tuck it back in the front compartment of your bag, where you zip it back up.

She studies you. You can see her out of the corner of her eye. "Is there anything wrong?" she asks eventually. You scoff, and she makes a funny movement with her mouth, more a grimace than a smirk. "Yeah. Sorry. Stupid question. Is there- sorry."

Waving your hand in her direction, you hesitate. Then, eventually, you turn to look at her fully.

She's- well. You wish you could say she's a wreck (and doesn't that statement make you feel shitty), but she doesn't. She looks as impeccable as ever, with her luxurious hair and her subtle eye shadow and her stupidly kissable lips that you definitely do not look at at all, no sirree.

That doesn't mean she's looking fine, though. Probably nobody else could see it, but she's wearing too much makeup. Emma's never been the kind of girl to wear a lot of makeup- she doesn't really need to. The last time she'd worn this much makeup, it'd been the one-month anniversary of Mom's death.

Silence hangs between the two of you for a short while. You're tempted to leave- and you do need to leave, Madison is waiting for you- but you kind of don't want to. This is... this isn't nice, really, but it's the nicest moment you've had with Emma in a long while.

If this headache is good for one thing, it's that your head hurts too much for you to really focus on how much seeing Emma hurts.

You brush your fingers against your phone in your pocket, idly feeling it for a moment. There's a text from Victoria waiting for you there, but you can get to that soon.

Before you can think better of it, you pull your phone out and shove it across the counter to Emma. She blinks at it, looking down, then gives you a confused look.

"Put your number in it," you say quietly, very deliberately looking away from Emma down towards the bench. "I'll send you mine."

There's silence for a moment. Then, "Taylor-"

You still don't look up at her. "No more than two texts a day, Emma," you tell her. You're not sure if you sound commanding or pleading, but either way, she doesn't say anything, and a couple of seconds later you can see her hand reach down and grab your phone. It doesn't take long for her to enter her number into it, and soon she's reaching over and placing your phone in front of you.

"Thank you." Her voice is steady, but you can hear a faint tremor in it. You don't reply. You just pick up your phone, turn around, and walk out, clutching your phone tightly in your hand.

It's easier to communicate with Emma by text, but that doesn't mean it's easy. When she texts you first thing on Friday morning- well, first thing for her, you're already heading to work by the time she sends you a text- you feel a sharp stab of anxiety. It takes you five minutes just to open the text and read the simple "Good morning, Taylor. I hope you slept well" that she sent you, and another three minutes beyond that to send her a simple "Good morning. I slept fine. Hope you slept well." back.

It's frustrating that you even struggle with this at all, but- progress is progress. Any communication with Emma, however stilted, has the potential to lead to more. Slowly, yes, but slow is fine.

Also, it gives you something to think about during the day when you're not around Madison. Your headache has faded enough that work isn't any more unpleasant than it has been any other day- not gone entirely, but it's faded enough that you don't feel light-headed every time you move- so you actually can focus on other things.

There's not much you can really do for most of the day, though. It's tempting to pick up a hobby, like writing or drawing, just so you have something to do during those classes where you've already covered the material and you end up sitting bored and listless for the next hour. You can occupy yourself during the first period by rubbing little shapes over Madison's stomach- the teacher seems to be too tired to even shake his head when he walks around to find you with your arm wrapped around your girl- and fourth period has Sophia to distract you, but during the rest of the day, there's absolutely nothing to do.

Which is why it's a relief when the bell finally rings, and you're able to go to the library. You might have learned all this stuff already, but Madison is still struggling with it, and helping your girl to improve her grades is always a worthwhile endeavour.

Then you're on home, where you're greeted with another pleasant sight you'd almost managed to forget; Sophia is sitting on your front doorstep, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Wow, Hebert," she lightly mocks you as you jog up to her. "Took your time, didn't you?"

You shrug at her as you step past her, taking your keys out of your pocket. "I was tutoring Madison," you say by way of apology. "You could have texted me if you were wondering where I was."

She shrugs. "Could have," she half-agrees. "Got out of the track meeting a bit early, but I haven't been waiting too long." She unconsciously shivers as you lead her into your house.

For a moment, you scrabble for something to talk about as you lead her to your kitchen so you can get a cup of coffee to wash your painkillers down with. You can't think of anything, until words leave your mouth unbidden. "Hey, Sophia, who would I talk to at school if I wanted to know who's in the gangs at school?"

She gives you a strange look. "Why d'you want to know?"

You shrug. At least it's an easy one to make an excuse for, considering- "Dad's in the Dockworker's Union. I just want to get an idea of who he shouldn't look at hiring if they come to him."

Sophia can probably tell it's a bullshit excuse, but after a moment of staring at you with a knitted brow, she lets it pass. "Whatever," she says, with a roll of her eyes. "Be careful who you ask that kind of thing around, Hebert. Some people might take it wrong. Don't ask around the upperclassmen. Try the newer kids. You got the Jewish thing going on, you might be able to ask some of the first-years and pass it off."

"Hey, I'm not Jewish," you protest. She raises her eyebrow at you, and you let out a small huff as her lip curls. You pout at her.

"Whatever you say," she remarks in a teasing tone. "Just try and avoid getting beaten up. I can't babysit you all day, and I'd hate to have to find a new tutor."

"You don't babysit me," you whine a little. She just smirks in response.

All in all, it turns out to be a pretty good Friday. Not good enough to make up for the rest of the shitty week, but at least you had one good day this week- and now you know the limits of your power. Maybe. Kind of. You have a better idea of them, anyway.

And you're in contact with Emma again, if stiffly and remotely. That's... something.

Regardless, the week is over now. You just have to plan out your weekend.

So what are you going to do during it? [Pick three of the following options. You have two small expenses available to you.]

] You're going to buy one of your girls a present. They've all been good girls, except Emma, and they deserve something nice. [Write-in. Who are you going to buy a present, and what will the present be? Keep in mind it should cost no more than around 25.]

- General results: Varies based on who the present is for and what the present is. Suggestions can be submitted in-thread and evaluated to see if they serve the intended purpose.

] You're going to buy Madison something special, to commemorate last week. The two of you are... closer, somehow. You don't know. But you claimed her, last week, and she opened herself up to you. Now, you're going to complete that. Mark her as yours, as permanently as you can.

] You'll do so subtly- with just a small, cheap silver pendant. There's one on special downtown, according to one of the pamphlets from the mail, and while you don't have a proper engraving kit, you think you can carve your initials into the back of it.

] You'll do so overtly, a reminder not just to Madison, but to anyone who thinks of trying to take her for themselves. You'll buy her a choker, with a small tag on it; and you're going to write your name on the tag. See if anyone mistakes her as being anything other than yours then.

] It's time for Victoria's book club again! And, of course, what comes after. You didn't finish reading the second book in the series she loaned you, but you're a good way through it. You have a lot to talk to her about, now. And, you hope, there's always the chance that Victoria might take her shirt off for you again.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Taylor will continue to show Victoria that she does like engaging Victoria as a person, not just a sexual object. Victoria will continue to give more of herself to Taylor in turn. May result in a scene in which Victoria tries to assuage Taylor's complex about her flat chest.

] Taylor has been growing increasingly bored at school. Now, she's going to find something for her to do, by travelling to the local library and borrowing some books on business management and administration. It won't tell her how to run her team directly, but it's one step down that path.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Provides the second of three instances needed for Taylor to learn the skills she needs to run her hero team somewhat effectively. Quite a few opportunities do still remain. Also gives something for Taylor to do when she is bored in class.

] Dad was really nice during the week, when you had your headache. Maybe you should do something nice in return. It probably won't get the two of you talking again immediately, but it might soften things between the two of you again, a little.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Taylor will try to help out around the house. Will result in the relationship between Danny and Taylor being healed a little more.

View in Thread

Last edited: Aug 3, 2016

Aug 3, 2016 ReportLike

Fred Flintstine, TheBigMole, Some_guy_161 and 168 others like this.

Threadmarks: 2.3

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Spoiler: Winning Votes

Saturday morning arrives with little more fanfare than the trilling of your alarm clock. You reach over and quickly press the alarm off, giving your clock a bleary and irritated glare as you do. Why do alarm clocks have such an annoying noise programmed into them, anyway?

Grumbling silently to yourself, you roughly toss your covers back, immediately regretting it when you're hit with a sudden blast of cold. Trying to ignore the goosebumps rising on your skin, you quickly climb out of bed and scurry over to your dresser, where you draw your clothing for the day out- a plain blue long-sleeved shirt and a pair of warm but ratty pants you'd be ashamed to be seen in outside. Luckily, you're not planning to go outside today, so that's fine. You set those clothes out on your bed, then pull out another set of clothing- this time tighter pants and a regular t-shirt- and make your way outside.

Your headache has nearly entirely faded now. You still feel a soft ache deep in the back of your head, but it's not sending out pulses of pain any more. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to tempt it to come back out- yeah, no, definitely not- but it's nearly gone.

Outside, you set yourself to running for a few minutes, until you find that your breath is starting to come more harshly. You slow down then, but the quick bit of running has done its job; you're no longer freezing your ass off. Absently, you can still feel the cold breeze blowing against your skin, but it won't take long for you to begin to sweat now.

You're out there for a bit under an hour and a half, running loops around your block, before you begin to feel your legs burning, and your breaths are coming short and rapidly. It's not the best exercise you've had, but it feels good to get your body moving. It helps... clear your head, kind of. Regardless, you slowly make your way back home, arriving back a little after eight thirty, and head straight to the shower.

The initial cold spray of the water in the shower causes you to begin shivering violently, even given the elevated temperatures caused by your run, but the shivers fade quickly as the water warms up. Soon, you're luxuriating beneath the warm water. It's tempting to stay in here for a while longer and let the warm water wash away the tight knots in your muscles, but you can't- literally, you can't, you're going to run out of hot water soon.

You shut off the spray of water, quickly towelling off and throwing your dirty clothes into the washing basket. Then you stick your head out of the bathroom door, turning your gaze suspiciously down each hall to make sure the path is clear before you dart back to your room and pull your clothes on. Not that you think Dad wants to peek, or anything, it would just be really embarassing if he saw you running around naked.

Once you're dressed, you make your way out to the kitchen and pull your phone over to you, absently checking your texts. There's a text from Victoria wishing you a good morning, two from Madison- one of which is just comprised of a series of weird text icons forming the shape of a text-man stretching his arms out for a hug- and a well-wishes text from Emma. You amble around the kitchen answering them as you make yourself some toast for breakfast.

Oh, Dad bought some raspberry jam. A smile crosses unbidden over your face. Raspberry and apricot jams are your favourites. You pull them out, and when your toast pops out of the toaster, you begin spreading jam over them.

Then, a few moments later, you make a disgusted face when you finally begin eating the toast. Okay, the jams might be nice on their own, but as it turns out, raspberry and apricot jams do not go together. You make sure to text Madison and let her know, just in case, then turn back to your jams, pouting at them as you begin to scrape the jam off each of them and layer them thickly with just raspberry jam.

Your phone buzzes after that, a reply from Madison- "A lot of jams don't go well together. You should try apricot jam and Gran Queso instead, I'll make you some on Monday". You smile softly as you text back, a simple "Thanks". You cast about for a few minutes, looking around your kitchen, then- oh! You bend your head back over your phone, texting her back again.

"Spending the weekend with Dad. I'm sorry you can't come over again :("

She replies back a couple of minutes later. "Aw :( And I just bought some new lingerie last night, too :(" You debate for a few moments over how to respond to that, when your phone buzzes again, a second text from Madison arriving. "Want me to show you? ;)"

You can't text Yes back fast enough as you sip at your coffee. She doesn't reply for a few minutes, and anxieties begin to rise in your head- is she upset that you're asking her for pictures of herself in her underwear? - before you can quell them.

Then, your phone buzzes, twice. You open the text, and a download bar appears across the top of your screen. You take another sip of your coffee as you wait, impatiently waiting for the bar to finish. Then it does, crossing 100% less than two minutes after you first opened it, and you quickly tap the images to open them.

They're simple images- Madison standing in her bathroom in front of a full-length mirror, holding her phone up to the side of her head- but that doesn't make them any less sexy. There's an embarassed flush to her face, strong enough that you can see even her shoulders are faintly red, but she's smiling happily in them, as though pleased to be doing this for you.

In the first image, she's wearing nothing but a set of dark black lingerie. The lingerie itself is nothing special, just an ordinary lacy bra-and-panties set, but it looks delicious on Madison. The material is dark, and it contrasts extraordinarily well with Madison's pale, creamy skin, coloured even paler than normal by the stark white light of her bathroom. Idly, you wish you could get Madison and Sophia alone together in their underwear. You can't decide which you like better- dark lingerie on Madison's white skin, or white lingerie on Sophia's dark skin.

The second image is much the same, except that instead of wearing the bra and panties, she's only wearing the bra. She's holding her panties in her free hand, off to the side. She'd sent you a text with the pictures- "Sorry, I forgot you don't like it when I wear panties ;3"

You shoot back two texts in response- a simple "Good girl." first, then "You're always my gorgeous girl, but you look even better than usual when you wear that." Then, while you're waiting for a response- which turns out to be another little text face, this one blushing and smiling- you save the images to your phone, specifically to Madison's gallery.

After that, you get up. Dad still isn't awake, which is unusual- usually he's up by this late on a Saturday- but you don't want to go and wake him up. He deserves to sleep in a little.

Instead, you send off another text to Madison- "You should wear that for me on Monday!"- and a different, unfortunately less sexy text to Amy- "Will you be at the clinic on Monday?"- then begin wandering around the house, taking in its state with a critical eye. With all your newfound responsibilities, you've been letting the housework go slack. Dad does it where he can, but he's busy as well. The house isn't in the greatest condition.

Well- Dad did take care of you over the week, even if he didn't really know what was going on. It would be unfair of you to just force him to take over the housework again when you're not doing anything today.

While you wait for Dad to wake up, you wander around the house, casually cleaning things. There's not really that much to clean, since neither you or Dad have many possessions to throw around, but there's more to cleaning a house than just picking up stuff scattered over the floors. You dust some of the cabinets around the house, wipe down the stove, and you're starting a load of washing by the time Dad finally comes out of his bedroom.

You see him pause as he walks past, taking in your efforts. He steps in, looking curiously around, then gives you a questioning look. "You didn't need to do that," he says. "I would have done the washing later today."

Shrugging, you give him an embarassed smile. "It's okay," you say. "I don't mind. You took care of me during the week, so this is the least I could do."

He frowns, and your smile immediately melts away. When he sees that, he frowns even more. "No, that's not- you don't need to repay me, Taylor. I'm your father. It's my job to take care of you."

"But-" You try to protest, but it's hard to think up an argument to that that doesn't go back to the same issue. He seems to sense your struggle, because his frown melts, replaced with a small but genuine smile.

"No, it's fine, Taylor," he says, stepping forward and pulling you into a hug. "This isn't something you need to repay me for." He can see you're still unhappy with that, though, so he continues, "If you really feel like you need to, we still have that bookcase down in the basement. I don't think I need to spend the day doing housework, so we could spend some time fixing it up?" He gives you an uncertain smile, which you return as you lean into the hug.

The bookcase is a broken-down monstrosity the two of you had salvaged from a garage sale a while back. Its previous owner had apparently bought a new one after their children had damaged this one. Dad had bought it off him for a mere five dollars, but you're not sure it's even worth that much. Three of its four shelves are either missing or damaged, the paint is scratched and peeled off all over the place, and its legs are half-rotted and need to be replaced. The two of you have been intending to fix it up for a while now, but then work had gotten busier for Dad, and you'd started devising this plan, and it just fell by the wayside. One of a few projects like that. It's cheaper that way.

"Sure, Dad," you say quietly. "I'd like that." His smile becomes more genuine, and you feel your own doing the same.

As you follow him down to the basement, you surreptitiously check your phone. Sure enough, Madison had responded to you almost immediately- "Sure!! I'll wear it any time you want me to, just tell me when!!"- and Amy responded to you about ten minutes after that- "No, not on Monday. I'll be in on Tuesday and Thursday. Why?"

You're forced to look away to watch your step as you descend down the basement stairs, ignoring their creaky groan and the scent of moisture that washes over you as you go down. Dad has flicked the light on, which lets you see where you're going, but also throws the basement's chipped brick walls and ugly concrete floor into sharp relief. You're not here to remodel the basement, though, so you don't care too much; instead, you just go back to your phone and type out some responses.

To Amy, you send a simple text; "I'm just trying to decide when to head in. I'll see you on Tuesday then ;)". Meanwhile, to Madison, you send a slightly more frisky text; "You're very eager to wear it for me. Maybe I should take you out to buy some more :)"

You receive responses back almost immediately. A simple "Cool, see you then, Taylor." from Amy, and a- a very enthusiastic "Yes please!!" followed shortly by another, "I have some money you can use. Please take me and buy clothes for me!!"

You raise your eyebrows at Madison's response. That's- a lot more enthusiasm than you'd thought the idea would get, and you hadn't exactly thought she would be unexcited by the idea. As Dad moves over to the bookcase and begins laying it flat on the floor, you reply to her text. "Okay, maybe on Monday. So you like the idea of me buying clothes for you?"

Her reply comes almost alarmingly quickly. "I like it when you tell me what to do, and I want to look sexy for you :)"

Which, okay, makes perfect sense. You feel a little silly for not connecting those dots earlier.

"Taylor." Dad's words draw your attention over to him. "Are you ready to start?" You nod in response, your thoughts still on something a little sexier than this bookcase.

Over the next few hours, you idly text your girls- mostly Madison and Victoria, but occasionally Sophia too- as you and Dad work on restoring the bookcase.

It's not easy to restore furniture, you soon find.

Three of the bookcase's shelves are either rotted away, or otherwise damaged enough to be unusable. Luckily, Dad has brought home plenty of wood from the Docks over the months, so you have plenty to build replacements for them with- but the wood you end up building replacements out of doesn't match with the fourth shelf, each being substantially thicker than the wood the bookcase was made out of, so you have to tear it out and replace it, too. Then the two of you have to sand it down- by hand, since Dad doesn't own an electric sander- and revarnish and repaint the entire thing. You end up just tearing the legs off entirely- it can rest on its base.

It would almost have been easier to build a bookcase from scratch, you think. But then you look at the end product, and you can't help but feel proud. It's showing signs of wear and tear, the shelves don't quite match the decor, and neither of you are professional painters. But you love it, despite all the splinters you got while cutting out the shelves and how sore your arms are from sanding it.

"Alright," Dad says with some satisfaction, dusting his hands off. You look down as the sawdust puffs from his hands in small clouds and sinks to the floor. There's... a lot of sawdust on the ground. You'll have to come back down here later and sweep it all up. "It'll take a while to dry, I'll set the fan up down here to help it along. We'll have to keep the basement door open for a few days to let it air out. Tomorrow, we'll bring it up to your room. Okay?"

You nod your head enthusiastically. "Okay!" you exclaim brightly. You don't really have enough books to fill your bookcase, but one day you will. It's better to have too much empty bookcase space than it is to have too many books without anywhere to place them.

Before you leave, you linger down here for a few moments. Hm. The basement down here is a lot bigger than you remember it being, and since Mom- well, since she's gone now, there isn't very much down here after you and Dad took her stuff up to the attic. It's a lot bigger than your room. A lot drearier, too, but that's nothing you couldn't solve with enough carpet and wallpaper. It probably wouldn't be as easy as you think it could be, but- you want a room that's bigger than your current one. And preferably one not so close to Dad's room.

Maybe... But on the other hand, the sex dungeon jokes practically write themselves. Then again, that's because it's kind of accurate...

Ah, you can't think on it too much now anyway. You have precisely fifty-two dollars and thirty-one cents in your bank account. You're pretty sure that wouldn't buy enough carpet to cover even half the basement floor, let alone paint or wallpaper, or furniture. Still, something to consider for the future. Maybe. If you can ever think of a way to explain it to Dad without saying to him, "I want a sex dungeon, can I remodel the basement?".

You shake your head. Your thoughts go to some really weird places at times. Dismissing them, you wander up out of the basement and out to the kitchen, where you set about preparing dinner and finally replying to the texts you've been neglecting since you began painting the bookcase.

You wake up the next morning in one of the most pleasant moods you've had in a long while. Things are actually going quite nicely at the moment. Aside from Emma, you're in a good place with all your girls, you actually have a job that pays you money, and you just spent most of a day working in companionable silence with Dad. What's not to enjoy?

Your jog today is quicker than yesterday's, and you're back in less than an hour. You eye yourself off critically in the mirror, trying to determine if the jogging is helping you physically as well as mentally. You... think it might be? It's hard to tell, without having pictures of you without clothes from a month or so ago to compare against. There's no podge on your stomach, at least, and when you poke at your legs, you feel muscles there. There's still no real muscles in your stomach, though, and your chest is as flat as ever. A sigh escapes you as you climb into the shower. Damn it.

After you wash yourself, dry off and get dressed, you wander out to the kitchen. Dad's already sitting out there, holding a copy of the newspaper- wait, you don't have a subscription to the newspaper. You eye him suspiciously as you walk over to the coffee machine and turn it on.

He notices your gaze and looks down. "Deborah loaned it to me," he says, shaking off a handful of crumbs of toast that had fallen on it at some point. "Her son is an officer in the PRT, and he's been credited with the arrest of one of the members of the Teeth. Uh, Spree."

"Huh." You notice that the coffee machine has dinged, and begin to pour yourself a cup. "Does it say how he did that?"

He skims the article quickly. "There was a fight," he says slowly. "Spree and... Hemmorhagia fought Fenja and Menja. Hemmorhagia got away, but the PRT troopers were quick to respond, and managed to contain Spree." He seems to be quoting the newspaper.

"Cool." You take a long sip of the coffee, savouring the taste. It's good to be talking to Dad again, even if it's just about inane things. And- oh! Speaking of talking to Dad- "I'm going to my book club again at eleven," you inform him. "I should be back by six."

"Okay." Dad nods, accepting that. "There's money for the bus fare in the change jar. Make sure you don't go anywhere dangerous, okay?"

You give him a smile. "I won't," you promise him. At least, not today.

It's not perfect communication, but it's more than the two of you have had for the past couple of weeks. You're not- you're not going to talk about anything heavy, preferably ever if you have anything to say about it, but you don't feel like you need to hide from him now.

Things proceed as usual after that. You have your breakfast, take your time getting dressed, and eventually, it hits eleven o'clock. This time, Victoria even knows you're coming, not that it makes any difference; she greets you as soon as you walk in the door, the same as usual. You spend the next couple of hours playing with Victoria beneath the desk, until eventually the clock hits two, and the two of you head off to your alley. Just like usual. You're going to have to find a way to spice it up. Or not, because it is a public space. Hm.

Either way, the two of you make it to your alleyway, where Victoria sets you gently to your feet. You lean over to her and place a quick kiss on her lips, then back away when she tries to deepen it, giving her a cheeky grin. "Come on," you tell her. "Let's get inside."

She gives you a dirty look, but you just hum to yourself as the two of you head on in to the library. You find a seat up the back, in the most secluded area you can find- not that you're planning any hanky-panky in here- and gesture for her to sit across from you. Then you pull her copy of her Harry Potter books out of your bag.

"I had a headache, so I didn't get as much reading done as I wanted," you warn her. "I did finish the first book, though, and I'm most of the way through the second one. Don't spoil me."

She plucks the first book from your hands, then reaches into her own bag and pulls out two more books- the next two in the series. The third one is around the same size as the other two, but the fourth- wow, that is thick compared to the other books in the series so far.

"I brought these in for you," she says. "Thanks for not ruining my books like Crystal would. These are actually pretty expensive."

You nod. "Of course not. I wouldn't damage anything you gave me," you vow. She snorts at some joke you don't understand, but there's a pleased look on her face anyway, so you let it go. "There's a few things I don't understand about the books, though..."

The discussion gets fairly involved. There's actually quite a lot of things you don't understand about these books, and while a lot of them ends with Victoria just shrugging her shoulders and saying "It's a plot point", there's a fair few where Victoria is just completely unable to answer your questions. It doesn't leave you feeling very satisfied, but the few instances where she is able to give you a concrete answer- "No, Dumbledore is not secretly Voldemort in disguise"- do alleviate that somewhat.

You're deep in a discussion over the author's writing style- Victoria is of the opinion that the author doesn't describe the characters enough for her to visualize them, while you think the author did a fine job considering the viewpoint character is an eleven-year-old boy- when Victoria's phone rings. She blinks down at it, then looks up at you.

"Uh, I have to take this," she says quickly. "It shouldn't take long, hold that thought." She stands up quickly, sending her chair skittering backwards, then moves away from you, holding her phone up so she can swipe her finger across the screen- she has a modern smartphone, you're jealous. "Yes, hi, Amy," you hear her saying.

You wait a couple of minutes, but when she's still deep in whatever discussion she's having, you wave for her attention and gesture over to the stacks. Victoria gives you a thumbs up, which you take as approval for you to wander over to them for a moment.

The two of you have already gone through the fantasy section, so you don't bother trying to find anything worth reading in there. You need something to distract you in class when the teacher's covering material you've already read, so- maybe not anything fictional, then. You twitch away from the crime section, over to the non-fiction section, and spend a few minutes browsing there.

There aren't a lot of topics you find interesting, but one book does catch your attention. "How to run a successful small business", by Marcus Rhodes. You think about it for a moment. If you're going to be managing a team of heroes- well, is it really that different from running a business? There are probably legal and statutory differences, but it will all involve money and management. Well, it can't hurt. You grab that book, and then after a moment's consideration, a couple of others like it, and head off to the loans desk to borrow them.

When you return to the table, Victoria still hasn't got off the phone. She rolls her eyes at you as you return, lifting her hand and making a gesture meant to imply that whoever is on the phone is talking too much. You wait patiently for a few minutes, before eventually she gets off it and moves back over.

"Ugh, sorry," she says, moving her chair back over to the table and sitting back down in it. "My cousin's been on my ass ever since I accidentally broke her car. She keeps calling me up and yelling at me, like it's my fault her insurance company took this long to compensate her."

You shrug. "It's fine," you say. "Why is she badgering you over that, though?"

"Crystal just likes yelling at me, I think," she complains. "She does it all the time." Her voice changes, goes higher-pitched, as though she's mimicking someone else's voice. "Victoria, you didn't do the dishes. Victoria, you didn't clean your room like Mom asked you to. Victoria, you drank from the milk carton again! Gah, like anyone actually bothers to go get a glass just to get a drink of milk when it's right there." She slumps down in her chair, staring glumly at the table.

You take her hand, rubbing small circles over the back of it. "Aw, poor Victoria," you coo. "That's gross, though, don't drink straight from the carton."

"Aw man, you too?" She throws her head back with a disgusted sigh. "Yeah, 'coz you of all should be complaining about me drinking from a bottle."

You flush. "That's a fair point," you squeak out. It doesn't really make much sense for you to tell her not to drink straight from the bottle when you spend what feels like half the time you have with her with your tongue in her mouth. What's the use of complaining about germs at that point? "Unless you kiss your mother like you do me, though, you shouldn't do that at home."

She waggles her eyebrows at you. "How do you know I don't?" she asks salaciously.

You stall for a moment, a small "eep" the only sound you're able to make. Your thoughts take an instant dive into the gutter. You can't quite remember what Victoria's mother looks like, but- you don't need to know what she looks like to know that the image of Victoria french kissing her own mother is both incredibly wrong and incredibly hot.

You're abruptly dragged out of your fantasies when Victoria snaps her fingers in front of your face. She gives you an amused look as you blink at her, startled, your blush only growing worse. "Didn't mean for you to take that seriously," she says, a teasing tone to her voice that fades into something more serious. "I don't actually kiss Mom like that, only you. And D- my boyfriend. I'd tell you if there was anyone else."

"Uh." Squeezing your eyes closed, you try to banish the haze of lust now hanging heavy over your thoughts. You're not very successful. "Uh, sorry, I'm still hung up on the image of you kissing your Mom," you admit.

She gives you an odd grin. "Your list of turn-ons just keeps growing, huh."

"Yeah, sorry." You shake your head, but don't have very much more success than you did last time. "That one's a big one. And I don't hear you denying it yourself."

Chuckling, Victoria leans forward. "You can have whatever kinks you like, Taylor," she says warmly. "I'm not going to act disgusted because you like the thought of me kissing Mom. Mom's hot, it's true. I've thought about it myself a few times, although I'd never actually do it."

And you stall again. Okay, that's just not fair. She shouldn't be allowed to say these things.

"Come on." She pats your cheeks, giving you a gentle grin. You try to shake it off again, and have some moderate success this time as you stare at her face, although you're pretty sure your face is the reddest it's ever been right now. "There we go. Come on. We should go and talk about this." She takes your hand, and you follow her up in a daze, barely conscious of Victoria tucking your bag over her shoulder and leading you out of the library.

She leads you over to your alleyway, checking casually to make sure nobody else is in there. Then, she bodily picks you up, ignoring your annoyed grunt, and places on the top of a dumpster marked Recycling. Both of you ignore the sound of several pieces of paper flying away. You're taller than her, from up here, but only for a moment- she cheats and flies up a short distance, bringing herself to a height she can meet your eyes at.

Before you can start talking, she gives you a soft kiss. You return it, and don't try to deepen it at all, just luxuriating in the softness of Victoria's lips. You part from her soon, not letting it last too long, and look into her lidded eyes. "Okay," you say quietly, regaining your bearings somewhat. "What did you want to talk about?"

She doesn't say anything, instead running her hands through your hair. It feels nice, but a little bit weird, too. You tug her hands away from your hair, puffing your cheeks out a little and letting out an aggrieved noise. She just snickers and pats you on the head again, just once.

"Relax," she finally says, releasing your hair. You hurriedly reach up and run your fingers through your hair where you're pretty sure she just tangled it all together. "I just didn't want to have that kind of talk in the middle of a library."

"Oh." You pout at her as you tug at your hair, trying to smooth it all out. "What kind of talk?"

She pinches your hip, causing you to jerk back with a yelp, which only grows worse when you bash the back of your heel against the metal dumpster. She smirks at you. "You know what I'm talking about," she chides you.

"Fine, fine." You turn your ankle as much as you can so that the sore part of it isn't touching the dumpster. Seriously, that actually hurt. You rotate it a couple of times, trying to find the most comfortable position for it you can.

"Come on." Victoria rubs the spot on your hip that she'd just pinched, frowning lightly at you. "Stop it, Taylor. This isn't a bad talk, but I need you to be serious for a little bit."

"I know, I know." You find a comfortable spot and let your ankle rest there, angled towards your other foot. "Sorry." Giving her a contrite look, you reach over and take her hand, lifting it into your lap. You don't do anything with it, just hold it. "Start talking, I'm listening."

She nods, but gives you a firm glare before she starts saying anything. "It's not a long talk or anything," she begins. "I just wanted to take you out here so I could assure you that I'm not going to laugh at you or make you feel bad for your kinks without anyone listening in. It doesn't bother me if you fantasize about Mom and I."

You nod. "You could have just told me in there, you know," you point out, but she's shaking her head even before you finish your sentence.

"I'm a public figure," she replies. "I'm no movie star, but a lot of people in Brockton Bay know my name and face. If I talk about this kind of stuff in public, there's a good chance somebody might hear it and spread it around."

"... But you already did talk about it in public, just before," you remind her.

She huffs a little laugh. "Yeah, well," she says wryly, "you have a way of making me forget a lot of things I really should remember." She pokes you in the stomach with her free hand as she says that. You squirm, pouting at her. "If you hear me talking about that kind of thing in public again, you should really remind me. It won't go well for either of us if this gets out."

You frown glumly. "Yeah, okay," you assure her. "I don't want you to get in any trouble because of me."

She pokes you in the stomach again. "You're nothing but trouble," she teases you. You give her a mock-offended look, and she gives you a wide, proud grin at her own faux-cleverness. "But I don't mind your kind of trouble, as long as it doesn't get me in trouble with Mom and Dad."

You smile winsomely at her. "Do I look like the kind of girl who would get you in trouble with your parents?"

"Yes." She doesn't even hesitate with the response. You rock back, actually a little shocked, but playing it up for humour value. "But that's okay. I have a bit of a thing for nerdy bad girls with awesome hair." Before you can react to that, her hand is tousling up your hair again. Knowing it's useless, you don't fight it, but you do scrunch your nose up at her to convey your displeasure.

"Know a lot of girls like that, do you?" you ask her. She pauses, assessing you, before smirking again.

"No," she replies simply. "Just you." And she grabs a fistful of your hair, causing you to let out a little shriek that turns into a moan as she crashes her lips against yours.

Once you've overcome the initial wave of pleasure, you tug reprovingly at her lower lip with your teeth a few times. She smiles against your mouth, and you can't help but smile back as you run your tongue against her lip in apology. It's hard to stay mad right now.

You're just starting to really get into it when you feel a strong tug at the back of your shirt. Stiffening, you immediately pull back, dropping your arms from where they'd circled around Victoria's waist to hold her arms in place.

She gives you a look of confusion and disappointment as the kiss ends, but she doesn't say anything, just stares at you. You stare back at her, eyes wide- shit, maybe that was too abrupt a gesture.

"Uh, sorry." She drops her hands from your shirt, but doesn't back away from you at all. You're surprised at how much of a relief that is- even when she's not kissing you, you like feeling her warmth around you. "I just wanted to see- but yeah, I should have asked first. Sorry." She unwraps her arms around from you entirely, and begins to float away. You panic a little, wrapping your hands back around her waist, and she stops as soon as she notices that she's dragging you to the edge of the dumpster. After a moment, she floats back in, and you scramble back up to your previous comfortable position.

You're not sure why your reaction was so severe- okay, that's a lie. You know exactly why.

You don't say that, though, instead exhaling slightly in a weird half-sigh. "Sorry," you breathe. "I shouldn't have done that. You can take it off if you want."

She shakes her head slowly, staring at your face. "I'm not sure that's a good idea," she murmurs. "Why did you stop me, Taylor?"

"It's nothing. It was stupid. Forget it." You try to tug her closer to you, but all you succeed in doing is pulling yourself forward again, forcing you to have to scramble back up for a second time.

"No, tell me," she insists. "Or don't, it's your choice. I'm not going to try taking your shirt off when you're obviously uncomfortable with it, though."

This time, you're the one shaking your head. You don't say anything, though, just try to lean up for a kiss. Victoria just backs away a little, leaning her head back to prevent you from reaching her, and you subside after a moment.

"Really?" you grumble. When she doesn't say anything more for a moment, you let out an aggravated sigh. "Look, it's really nothing. I was just being silly." She still doesn't say anything, just gives you that concerned look, and you're forced to screw your brow up in irritation as you let out a frustrated groan. "Argh, okay, fine! I just, I don't like it when people see my chest, okay?"

She floats forward again, but just places one hand on your thigh, making little rubbing motions on it. "Why?" She sounds curious and concerned, but mostly concerned.

Everybody wants to talk about their feelings lately. Argh. It's getting pretty annoying.

"It's n-" You cut yourself off before you can tell her it's nothing again. She obviously knows it's not true, and what's the point in lying when you both know you're doing it? Besides- there's something about Victoria, something about her genuine concern and her insistence on stopping as soon as she notes your discomfort- that makes you want to tell her. "It's silly," you tell her instead. "I'm just, I don't, I don't really have any boobs, and it makes me feel a bit insecure when people see my chest."

"Hm," she says noncomittally. There's silence for a few moments, then she says in a low voice, "You know, I'm not very confident in my body, either."

You look at her. There's a denial on your lips, but something, some part of you, clamps down on it before you can say anything, and you consider it for a moment. Victoria had seemed pretty nervous when she'd taken her shirt off for you last week. You'd pinned it on her being nervous about showing herself off to someone new, but- if she doesn't feel confident in her body, that could explain it too.

But at the same time, Victoria is a gorgeous girl, and you're... you. It's not really fair to compare the two of you.

You don't say that, either.

When you don't say anything for a few moments, she licks her lips and continues. "I know that a lot of people think I'm pretty, but a lot of that isn't me." She taps her chest with her hand. "Aunty Sarah taught me a lot about makeup, and I use it a lot more than people realize. If you use it right, people don't even realize it's there, you know?"

You can't say that you do, but that's just another thing you're not saying at the moment. Instead, you swallow, trying to wet your suddenly dry mouth before you say anything. You reach up, cupping her cheeks. "I don't even look at your face enough to tell when you're wearing makeup," you say inanely.

She bursts out into startled laughter for a moment, subsiding quickly. Her grin is unusually wide as she says, "Not usually what a girl wants to hear, Taylor." Despite that, her grin doesn't fade, and you're pretty sure she isn't faking it. "I'm not looking for your sympathy here, Taylor. I just wanted you to know that I do understand not wanting people to look at you."

You nod, but you're careful not to speak immediately. You're not good with emotions, you're self-aware enough to know that. But even you can recognize that that was a bit more than just Victoria's attempt to empathize with you, and you don't want to ruin that with an inappropriate response.

So you're entirely serious when you lean up and kiss her- just one brief and gentle kiss, no hot-and-heavy make-out session. Then you sit back, taking your hands off her cheeks to clutch awkwardly at the edges of your shirt, and take a deep breath. "... Could you come over to my house on Wednesday?"

She considers you for a moment, looking very cautiously at you. "If you want me to," she says simply.

You nod. "I don't think I can do this here," you admit. Victoria nods, accepting that at face value. "And, um. I don't think Dad needs to know that-" You cut yourself off before you phrase that too badly, and think through what you're saying carefully. "I don't think we need Dad to know that you're Glory Girl," you settle for saying. "So you should, um. You should come as you. And I think that I would like to see you without makeup on." You're fumbling your words, but you don't care.

She studies you for a few long moments, searching your eyes for something. You look back at her, trying to be as open as you can for her. Evidently, it works, because she settles somehow, even though she wasn't moving. "Yeah. Okay. I can do that. Only at your house, though. I'll bring my makeup with me. Maybe I could even teach you how to use it."

"I'd like that." You give her a small smile. And it's true. Maybe with makeup, you could even make yourself feel a bit more feminine. Or maybe not, but- you think that with Victoria there to help you, you might feel confident enough to try.

You don't end up resuming your make-out session, which lives you with mixed feelings. You're a bit disappointed, because seriously, but at the same time, you're left with a strange feeling of giddy anticipation and nervousness rolling in your stomach. She flies you home shortly after your conversation, dropping you a couple of streets over- you make sure to give her directions to your house so that she knows how to get there- and flying off again, claiming something about having to go meet up with Crystal. You're pretty sure she just wanted to get away from the heavy conversation, but you don't complain.

You find it difficult to fall asleep that night. Victoria on Wednesday, Sophia on Friday, and Madison five days a week- that's a lot of things for you to look forward to.

At least she's coming over to yours, so you won't have to spend hours making plans to get wherever you're going. It shouldn't eat up too much of your time.

You find yourself drifting off to sleep as your plans finalize in your head. You're planning to... [Pick three of the following options. Note that visiting Aisha is already locked in.]

] Head to the clinic on Tuesday, as you'd teased Amy you might. It's hard to predict how each day there will turn out, but you don't mind too much. Even without a plan, you have a lot of fun just teasing her.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Taylor will head to the clinic on Tuesday, where she will find Amy being stressed out after an unusually busy day at work. Doctor Fitzgerald will turn a blind eye to Amy goofing off in the break room with Taylor, seeing how stressed she is getting. May do something to relieve Amy's stress level, which isn't a tracked stat, but should have visible results in the text.

] Spend some time mucking around on the computers in class. Not doing anything really relevant to anything you want, just... trying to figure out the intricacies of some computer softwares, and stuff.

- Success chance: 90%.

- General results: Taylor will spend her Computer Studies classes fiddling around with various softwares like Microsoft Office and the like.

- On a success: Success! Taylor figures out some more advanced functions of various softwares, enabling her to do things like use templates to write letters and spreadsheets, and even use the help function to access additional functionality. It's nothing special, but even a small victory is a victory nonetheless! And it helps to bolster Taylor's self-confidence a bit.

- On a failure: Alas, the mysteries of the computer remain opaque to Taylor as distractions pester her away from giving the computer her full attention.

] After the pictures Madison sent you, you've determined that you want to take her shopping. And so you're going to. Dad won't complain, and Madison is eager to do it, so why not do it as soon as possible?

- Success chance: 60%, 80%.

- General results: Taylor will take Madison shopping for some new lingerie, and Madison will happily purchase several sets of lingerie that Taylor especially likes. Madison may even purchase some nice lingerie for Taylor to wear.

- On an 80% success: Madison has stored away her birthday money, too. She had planned on spending it to buy a new TV, but her interest has waned, and she is still far off, anyway. She will happily give this money to Taylor in order for Taylor to buy her not just lingerie, but also clothing that appeals to Taylor, allowing Taylor to dress Madison up as she pleases- in normal clothes, unfortunately; fetish outfits such as maid costumes will have to wait.

- On a 60% success: Taylor will recall that she was researching Parian's shop some time ago, and that she had vaguely wanted to take Madison there. She won't get as much from Parian's shop as she might elsewhere, but Parian certainly makes good lingerie. The first chance of several to open Parian for recruitment later in the quest.

- On a failure: Alas, Madison has already spent too much of her savings buying chocolates for Taylor's desserts.

] You've already got your hooks in your trio at school already, but there's another girl in school that you've been letting slip; and she's in several of your classes, too. You're just the right mix of aroused, curious and bored enough to experiment with your power on Charlotte again.

- Success chance: 25% [25% from previous interactions, 20% from completing Madison's recruitment] 70%

- General results: Charlotte will gain 2 Lust and 2 Loyalty. Taylor will indulge in her mind control fetish some, taking her powers a bit further than she has with anyone else so far.

- On a success: Taylor will manage to keep her use of her power subtle enough not to draw attention to herself while still fixating Charlotte's sexual curiosities on herself.

- On a failure: Raises the general state of alarm by 1. Taylor is still new enough at her power that she doesn't quite understand its subtleties. Unfortunately, this does mean that Charlotte's newfound fixation on Taylor is a bit more overt than Taylor would like.

] Mr Harding has left you a voicemail, offering you some extra work during Monday night. It's only a few hours, but extra money is extra money, and each time you accept extra shifts, you're showing him your initiative- hopefully leading to even more work in the future.

- Success chance: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Taylor will go work some extra hours at the theatre on Monday evening after tutoring Madison. Provides Taylor with an extra two small expenses on the weekend, for a total of six small expenses, or two large expenses. Will also go further distance in convincing Mr Harding to allow you to work on weekends for larger amounts of money.

View in Thread

Last edited: Aug 8, 2016

Aug 8, 2016 ReportLike

Fred Flintstine, PanDron, TheBigMole and 180 others like this.

Threadmarks: 2.4

View in Thread

Thearia

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Success chance: 60%, 80%.

Rolled: 31. One interval of success.

Spoiler: Winning Votes

It's not quite as cold on Monday morning as you've come to expect it to be. It's not a reasonable temperature by any means, but you're only half-expecting to lift your blanket and step out onto a puddle of ice today.

You head over to your dresser and get out your clothes for the day, then pull on some of your other clothes to go jogging in. It's probably going to be colder outside, so you make sure the clothes you choose aren't too thin. Then you head out, trying to focus on your breathing.

An hour later, you head back to the house and head straight for the bathroom, where you undress and step into the glorious warm spray of water. You stay in there for as long as you reasonably can, and only step out when the water begins to run lukewarm.

After you're dressed, you head out to the kitchen to a nice surprise; Dad's sitting at the kitchen table already, with two mugs of coffee sitting in front of him, steam still billowing out of them. He looks up as you approach, giving you a small smile, and pushes one of the cups over to the other side of the table.

"Good morning," he says. "Did you sleep well?"

You nod, returning the smile. "Yeah." Picking up the coffee he'd slid over, you take a sip and try to hide the grimace that spreads over your face. He'd forgotten to put any sugar in it. Ew. You valiantly take another mouthful anyway, trying to hide how bad the taste is.

It's a wasted effort, though; he just gives you an amused grin. "You don't have to drink it," he observes. "I guess I made it wrong?"

You put the cup down with an embarrassed smile and nod. "Yeah," you reply. "You didn't put any sugar in it. Sorry."

He shakes his head, his smile fading a little. "You don't have to be sorry. Pass it here, I'll make you another one." He doesn't even let you pass it to him, though- he just reaches over and takes it. Rude, but you'll let it slide.

The coffee machine is merrily boiling away again a few moments later, and Dad is chatting animatedly away in the kitchen. He's talking about something at work, you're not really sure what- something about the mayor approving funds for the hiring of machinery, or something. You just nod along, making vague "uh-huh" and "okay" sounds at what you think are appropriate intervals.

Then- oh. You wait for there to be a pause in the conversation, then, "I'm going to be home late today." He looks up at your interruption, but he doesn't look as confused as you expect him to.

"I heard the voicemail," he says. He doesn't sound judgemental that you didn't tell him about your job, which you are glad about, but you're a little annoyed that he doesn't even sound surprised. "Do you need me to take you there?"

You shake your head. "I'm going shopping with Madison," you reveal. You feel a little vindicated when his eyebrows do lift in surprise this time, but he schools his expression back down to calm neutrality very quickly.

"What are you going out for?" he asks.

Shrugging, you look off to the side, trying to fight down a blush before it can form. You're moderately successful. "Just some clothes shopping for Madison," you say. "She wants me to go with her so she has someone to give her a second opinion on what she plans on buying."

He raises his eyebrows at that, giving you a quick once-over. You're not sure what he's implying, but you feel indignation rising in your gut anyway. He must see that, because he quickly gives you a charming smile and hurries over with a fresh cup of coffee. You make sure to scowl at him anyway as you take a sip of the coffee, just so he doesn't think he got away with it. At least he remembered the sugar.

"Alright, well," he says once you've visibly calmed down a little. "Will you need any money? I don't have very much, but I have a little bit set aside in case you wanted to go out with friends."

For a moment, you consider it. Madison would probably pay for her lingerie herself, but it would be pretty mean of you to make her pay for everything when the two of you went out. "Maybe just a little?" you ask hesitantly. "I won't have much time for dinner between this and work, so we might just get some while we're out."

He shakes his head, but pulls his wallet out from his pocket anyway. "Don't worry about dinner," he replies, handing you a twenty. "Get you and Madison something small while you're out. What time do you think the two of you will finish?"

You shrug. "Fiiiiive-ish?" you hazard. "Or maybe five thirty? We have to head there after school, but that shouldn't take too long. Yeah, five thirty." That should give you just long enough to take a bus home, shower, and head off to work.

Dad nods. "I'll pick you up after work, then," he declares. "I should finish a little after five today, so I'll pick you up around then. We'll get some dinner on the way. How does that sound?"

"Do we have the money for that?" you ask, a little startled. You didn't think you would- you've been running short, and even though you've been dropping small bits of change in the change jar, you don't think it's been helping very much.

"Don't worry about it." He gives you a cheesy grin and a thumbs-up with both his hands. "It won't be much, but we can pick up a burger or something."

"Okay!" If he says he has enough money, you'll trust him on that. He's the one who handles the finances, after all. "Thanks, Dad," you make sure to say to him.

He walks over to your side and pulls you into a one-armed hug, squishing your head against his chest. "Don't thank me," he says. "It's not a hassle."

The two of you end up idly chatting for a while. As it winds closer to the time you leave, you head into your room and get your bag, then head back out and snag your phone- you're pretty sure Dad sees it, but he doesn't say anything- and what you think is a granola bar from the cupboard. It's not the greatest breakfast you've ever had, but it's something.

Eventually, it's time for you to leave. You give Dad a quick hug before you run out the door, swinging your bag over your shoulders as you go.

Miracle of miracles, the bus is still on schedule. You're not sure exactly what has led them to getting to school on time, but you're not going to complain- not if it means you can see Madison before the bell rings. You do spend the time the bus spends winding around the city streets replying to your good morning texts from your girls. Even Amy has sent you one today, although hers is appended by a note asking about your headache- you make sure to assure her that it's gone, and to thank her for the painkillers again. You sent her several texts last week doing so, even though you're pretty sure they didn't help at all.

Today, you interrupt her as she's stealthily sliding your locker door open- the broken lock makes a squeaking sound as it swings open, masking your footsteps. Remembering what happened the last time you surprised her, you wait until she's put your lunch in your locker before you step forwards and slip your arms around her and pull her into a hug.

"Hello, Maddie," you purr into her ear. She squeaks, her cheeks reddening a little.

"H-hello, Taylor," she stammers. She doesn't even look at you, which sends a little thrill through you. She knows your voice well enough that she doesn't even have to verify that it's you. "Um, sorry I didn't reply to your text yet. I was going to, but-"

You hug her tighter for a brief moment, then step away, allowing her to turn around. She reaches for your hand, and you let her take it. "It's fine," you say soothingly. "It's only been ten minutes anyway. Come on, let's go to class."

The bell hasn't quite rung when the two of you arrive at the classroom. Only one other person is here- that girl who'd been sitting next to Madison a while ago, Charlotte. You ignore her presence, turning back to Madison.

For the few minutes before class, the two of you sit around, going over her notes from Friday. She's doing better in class these days- much better, she tells you with a proud and thankful little grin- but she still has a ways to go before she's doing as well as she'd like to.

Then the bell rings, and the two of you file into the classroom. You lead her to your seats, then release her hand, choosing to slip your arm around her waist instead.

It's not a very exciting class, and the noise level is high enough that you don't think anyone is going to be able to overhear you, so when the teacher finally assigns you to a task- a full fifteen minutes after the bell rang- you gently pull on Madison's sleeve until she looks over at you.

"We're not going to tutoring today," you murmur to her. "We'll go shopping for those new clothes for you instead. Can you call your dad and let him know, or would you like to borrow my phone?"

"I can call him and let him know," she says with a little grin. "I left my purse at home, but I can get him to bring it over after school is over. He'll drive us there if you want."

You consider it for a moment. "Yeah, that'd be good," you murmur. "We'll get something to drink afterwards. I have to be at work by six thirty, but we've got some time."

She twitches towards you briefly, but restrains herself. Her hand, resting on your leg, does rub it a little- a little gesture of appreciation- and she flashes you a warm smile. "I'd like that."

You rub her hip gently, then nudge her back towards her schoolwork. She pouts slightly, but turns back to it without much reluctance.

It's harder to keep yourself interested come second period, when you don't have Madison beside you. Luckily, you do have the books on business you borrowed from the library, so you're not left completely and utterly bored, but… honestly, you're growing a little spoiled. You have Madison in first class, and Sophia with you in Chemistry. Why can't you have someone with you all the time?

Without turning your head, you know that Sophia and Emma are both in your class now. Maybe you could get Sophia to sit next to you- but then you'd be leaving Emma alone.

And you're not sure it's a good idea to leave Emma alone right now.

You'll just have to keep finding new textbooks to keep you interested during class, then. Texting helps, too, but it's hard to do that without the teachers noticing.

Still, reading through your textbooks keeps you occupied, at least until lunch. There, you send Madison a quick apology text- "Going to be a bit late to lunch today, sorry"- and head off around school.

Sophia had recommended that you talk to the newer kids, and while you're not sure if she would actually have the best idea of the situation at school, she certainly has a much better idea of what the "factions" in the school are like than you do. You had briefly considered asking Madison, but even if she'd know, she'd want to know why you asked, and you'd feel bad if you had to lie to her. Emma might know, but, well. That mess.

The problem you quickly encounter is that there isn't precisely one unified group of students you could call the "new kids". As you walk around the school, you quickly find that you can't even tell many of the groups of students apart by age. Which does make sense, you suppose- a lot of these people would probably know each other outside of school.

It's annoying, though.

After a good five minutes, you despair of finding a group that's even remotely approachable. A couple of times, you almost think that you could approach one of the smaller groups of men sitting around and laughing to each other over their lunches, but no matter what some people might think, you're not actually naïve enough to believe that you can walk up to just anyone and get information about the gangs from them. You wouldn't get anything if you approached it like that.

No, you're looking for something a bit less suspicious; someone you can set your hooks into, and might be able to provide you with the information you're looking for.

And- eight minutes past the lunch bell, by your watch- you stumble across gold.

It's a small group, only six people by your count. Five of them are gathered on the chairs of one of the outdoor tables in the quad, and sitting cross-legged on top of the table is a girl making- okay, those are very crude gestures. You grimace and attempt to forget you ever saw them.

Your attention is drawn immediately to her. And not just because of her fiendishly good looks, although you're not ashamed to admit that she is hot. You're a sucker for girls with dark skin- well, you're a sucker for girls with any colour skin, but you really like seeing the contrast of your pale skin against girls like this one and Sophia. She's pretty, too. Not the same kind of pretty as Emma, or even Madison, but she's still very pretty.

You're not even drawn to her because of how trashy she looks. It's like she's deliberately gone out of her way to make herself look as trashy as she can. Her jeans are somehow both tight and torn, in what you're pretty sure is a deliberate fashion statement. She's wearing a full-length shirt, but has it tied up beneath her breasts, emphasizing them and enhancing the already potent effect of how low-cut her shirt is. Even her hair hasn't been left untouched; she's bleached a long stripe of it, a large strip of which is coloured purple. You don't like being judgemental, but she really does look trashy.

No, your attention isn't drawn to her because of how she looks. Your attention is drawn to her because she's broadcasting her emotions loudly enough that your power reaches out to her as you walk past, almost without your consent.

She's not the only girl in school like this- you usually have to keep your power lightly restrained as you walk through the school, because there's about a dozen girls you pass by most days who broadcast their emotions stronger than most people do, most notably Madison. Probably more that you just never walk past.

This is the first girl you've met, however, who you think might actually know something about the gangs at school- if only because two of the boys trying to stare up her shirt are bearing what you recognize as ABB tattoos- and who feels particularly susceptible to your power.

It's the perfect combination.

Glancing at your watch, only nine minutes has passed of your forty-minute lunch period. Good.

You turn and head towards a nearby unoccupied table, where you set your bag on the table and rummage through it for your phone. As you do, you reach out with your power, searching adroitly for the girl's emotions.

Her emotions aren't tangled so much as they run deep, mixing and blending in to each other. Resting on the surface, most easily accessible, is some kind of happiness. That disappears quickly as you delve deeper in, though- surface happiness often does that. The happiness doesn't disappear entirely as you go down, not quite, but it's tinged by an oily grimness that grows stronger as you move down. You've felt that before, but not often. Mostly in Sophia, although hers is less oily and more just… there, omnipresent through her. To a lesser extent in Emma, too.

You pull your textbook out and sit in the chair, pretending to flip slowly through the book as though you're looking for information in it. Meanwhile, you delve deeper into this girl's head.

Beneath the grim happiness is a kind of sharp determination, something that bites deep and hurts her as much as it helps. Resting around that is a desire for- you're not sure. You've felt something like this in Emma, and in Madison, but you've never been able to put a name to it. A yearning for attention, maybe? A desire to be noticed? That doesn't feel quite right, but it's not far off. Good enough for now.

Over at the table, there's a sudden burst of laughter. You flinch, looking over as the girl's voice rises- "bet you'd like to stick it up there, John!"- and the table laughs even louder for a moment before quieting back down.

It takes a fair bit of digging around, to the tune of two minutes, before you're able to finally find the faint threads of her loyalty. Surprisingly, for a girl with such a trashy appearance, you hadn't been able to find any strong traces of lust in her. Maybe later.

You keep an eye on your watch, trying to guess when you might have the right balance down. Five minutes pass as you tug gently on her loyalty, then ten. At the fifteen minute mark, you stop, drawing your power back into you, then quickly let it spread out in a blanket- and, yes. Okay.

It's weak, but you can feel her presence through the haze of emotions hanging heavy over the school. She feels like Charlotte does, weaker than Madison or even Emma, but with enough of your hooks in her that you can… not quite feel her emotions without deliberately touching them, but you can at least place her in the school.

Really, that's all you can expect for now. Later, when you have more time, you might be able to influence her to the point she'll give you the information you need, but for now this will have to do.

You'll have to think of a way to get closer to her. If she comes here every day, then maybe you can find a place to have lunch with Madison around here. Or… well, you're sure there's a way.

Either way, you stand and tuck your textbook back in your bag, then hurry off. Madison's been waiting for nearly half an hour now.

It's hard to focus on trying to read through your books through fifth and sixth period, you soon find. Your thoughts keep drifting off to your upcoming shopping trip, and imagining how Madison is going to look in her new lingerie. A little shudder runs through your body. Hm, maybe Madison's parents are going to be out this weekend. Or maybe you should more seriously consider asking Dad about that basement.

You watch the clock tick down to half past three with growing impatience. When the bell finally rings, you get up as fast as you can without drawing attention to yourself, and hurriedly throw your books in your bag.

Despite your rushing, Madison still beats you outside, greeting you near the school's parking lot with a small but eager smile and a larger but no less eager hug. You return it for a moment, but hastily drop it when you see people passing you by and giving you annoyed looks. She pouts, but after looking around for a moment, doesn't seem any more eager than you are to start again.

Rick takes a few minutes to arrive. In the meantime, you and Madison engross yourselves in talking about her family. "Terry's been playing this same racing game for two weeks now," she tells you with wide eyes, "he's obsessed with it."

You chuckle fondly, remembering how enthusiastic the energetic kid had been about his games the last time you'd been over to Madison's house. "He's pretty good at those games, huh," you reply.

She nods, her enthusiasm dampening a little. "Yeah," she says. "He's actually grounded from his PlayStation because he wouldn't do his homework last night. I feel a little bad for him, but he keeps coming into my room and talking about these dumb comics of his. It's really frustrating."

"Can't get enough alone time?" You give her a lecherous grin as you speak. She blushes lightly and bumps your hip with hers, but after a moment, looks down at the ground and nods. "Aw, poor Madison," you coo. "You'll have to get a lock for your door, then."

"That sounds like- wait, there's Dad." She points towards the parking lot, where you can see Rick just pulling in to the entrance. He's stymied momentarily by the three cars in front of him, so the two of you hurry over, pulling the back doors of the car open and piling in with loud giggles before the car has even stopped. Rick turns his head back to look at the two of you, giving you an unimpressed look.

"I'm not a chauffeur," he complains. His complaint doesn't last long when Madison pouts at him, though, clutching forlornly at your hand. A heavy sigh escapes him, and he turns back just in time to witness the cars in front of him driving forwards. "Fine, stay back there, but you're doing the dishes tonight."

"Okay!" Madison exclaims brightly. She shifts over to the middle seat and does up the buckle there so she can rest her head on your shoulder as he drives. "Did you bring my purse?"

"Yeah, it's just here." He pats the console of the car, just next to the handbrake. Madison reaches over and grabs it, then opens it and quickly counts what's in there as she lays her head back on your shoulder.

You roll your eyes and pat her affectionately. "Thanks for driving us," you say loudly. Madison gives you a guilty glance, then echoes your thanks. Rick just chuckles.

Once you actually get out of the car lot, it's a quick drive to the mall, much quicker than you've become accustomed to on the bus. You spend the idle time of the trip giving Madison some quick instructions as to what pages of her textbooks she should go through tonight. You don't need to actually tell her that there's a reward in it for her if she does- by the smile she gives you, she understands.

Rick pulls up in the mall's car lot less than fifteen minutes after picking the two of you up. Before the two of you can clamber out, however, he turns back and gives the two of you a dry look. "Do you need anything?" he asks his daughter. Madison shakes her head, and he nods, as though expecting that. "Okay. Do you need me to drive you home, Taylor?"

Shaking your head, you reply, "No. Dad's going to pick me up around five thirty, so I should be good."

"And that answers my second question," he says, smiling. "Is there anything else you're going to do in town, Madison, or do you want me to pick you up at five thirty too?"

"Five thirty is fine," she says. "Thank you, Dad."

He shakes his head fondly. "That's alright," he replies. "I'll see you then, then."

The two of you climb out of the car and wave at him as he peels off, giving the two of you a jaunty salute. Then, finally freed of parental supervision, you take Madison's hand and lead her into the mall.

Just before you make it in, though, Madison tugs at your hand, bringing you to a stop. "Um," she says hesitantly, "I, um, have some extra money saved up from my birthday. Would it be okay if we went and bought some other clothes while we're here, too?"

"Like what?" you ask casually. You don't have any intentions to deny her, but you're going to need to rearrange your plans if she wants to spend much time elsewhere.

She just shrugs and slips her purse into her pocket. "Whatever you want," she says. Her gaze is focused on your face, and she's not even concerned that other people are within earshot when she continues, "I just want you to pick out clothes for me to wear."

The request doesn't come completely as a surprise. "Okay," you reply. "We'll head out after we visit the lingerie store and see what the clothing stores around have."

A smile spreads across her face. "Thank you," she says contentedly. Now that she's said her piece, she allows you to lead her into the mall and towards the little boutique you'd wanted to take her to a while.

The boutique itself is a small and demure little storefront. Two glass windows dominate the storefront to each side of the door, each showcasing a mannequin wearing some rather comfortable-looking lingerie. Above the store is a sign bearing a name you can't actually read, as loopy and curving as it is- you can pick out the word 'Parian' in the name, but it seems like whoever made the sign focused a little too much on being artistic and not quite enough on making it readable.

It's a lot larger inside than it seems from the outside, though. It widens up some as you head inside, and it's a good distance long. There's a desk off to the side with a bored-looking woman standing behind it, her skin dark- Middle Eastern, if you had to guess. Beyond that stretches several comfortable-looking chairs, and then, set against the walls, displays of lingerie.

Madison's eyes are wide when you turn to look at her. You can't help but smirk a little.

"It's going to take forever to look through all this," she whispers.

You squeeze her hand gently. "It's fine," you tell her gently. "We'll ask one of the store clerks to help us out. Do you have your measurements?"

"Yes," she says after a moment's thought. "I got measured when I bought that lingerie on Friday."

Nodding, you assess the store. You begin to step forwards to the clerk behind the desk, but before you can, a heavyset woman with graying hair steps past from behind you and begins to head towards her. Even from here, you can feel the flash of boredom and irritation that emanates from the clerk when she sees the woman approaching. Wow, she must really hate her job.

Looking deeper into the store, you can see another clerk standing in front of a shelf, carefully attaching something to a mannequin. You pull Madison down towards her, then quickly push her so she's standing slightly in front of you, wide-eyed in front of the clerk.

"Uh, hi," she squeaks. "I'm, uh." She stalls, looking back for guidance. You give her an encouraging grin, and she swallows slightly. "I… want to buy some lingerie?"

The clerk- a thin woman with long, blonde hair- looks back at her with an obviously fake smile. Well, actually, it's a pretty good fake smile- you're just cheating by using your power to feel how little she cares. "Okay!" she says brightly. "I'm sure we can help you find whatever you need. Do you need to be measured, or do you have your measurements already?"

The process of actually buying lingerie is a lot less exciting than you'd vaguely imagined it to be. There's a lot of questions about style, colour, and size- and Madison can't even try the lingerie on in the store. Which makes sense- you shudder a little imagining trying on underwear that half a dozen other people have already worn- but it's disappointing nonetheless.

Still, Madison does keep looking to you for guidance on what to buy. As she says confidently at one point, right in front of the store clerk, she's not buying this for herself- she's buying this for you.

In the end, she ends up with three new sets of lingerie. Two of them are simple black sets of lacy lingerie, bras that the store clerk assure her should fit snugly over her breasts and panties that cover the sex of the mannequins nicely, not too low-cut. The third set is a little different, a dark blue set of lingerie with white ribbons that tie the bra together at the front and the panties together at the side.

It's all tasteful lingerie, drawing your eye over it and hinting at what's beneath it, rather than outright revealing her body. You prefer it that way, honestly. It feels… respectful, somehow. Wholesome, despite the whole idea of it being to enhance her sex appeal for you. You've never very much liked it when girls tried to look slutty.

You're prepared to leave the store at quarter past four when Madison walks over from where she's been talking to the store clerk and hands you a small bag with a shy smile. "This one is for you," she says, flushing slightly. "I can get it in a different colour if you want."

You stare at her. What's the point of getting you any lingerie? You have nothing for it to enhance.

Still, you draw it out of the bag, looking curiously at it. It's… okay, you recognize the garter belt; you've got off on enough pictures of women wearing them to recognize them. And the long, silky stockings look scrumptious. But the bra- is that even a bra? It kind of reminds you of a sport bra, in that it looks almost completely flat. You reach up and touch the material lightly, enjoying the soft sensation of silk against your hand.

"It's for flat-chested women." Madison gives you an apologetic smile, but you can see the flush to her cheeks, and you're pretty sure it's not from embarrassment this time. "It's not designed to flatter your breasts, but, um." She swallows, looking down at the ground to hide her rising blush. "You look pretty all the time, but I think you'll look even prettier in this."

Your first instinct is to shove it back in the bag and tell her to get rid of it. A bra for flat-chested women. What a joke. You still have time! You're only fifteen, they might still grow in!

You can't explain why you pause, why you don't just do it, tell her you're not interested immediately. You can't help but brush your fingers over it again.

… It does feel really nice. Soft and smooth.

In the end, you drop it back in the bag with a curious mix of depression, resignation, curiosity and arousal flooding through you. You're surprised at how strong the curiosity and arousal is, and how little depression you're feeling. It probably has something to do with how hopeful your girl looks as she watches you examining it- and the memory of her playing with your chest, running her tongue over it despite your lack of curves.

Madison can't hide her relief as you drop the lingerie back in the bag and don't immediately shove it towards her.

"Thanks," you say. Your tone is a little sharp, but Madison takes it without flinching. Still, you swallow and repeat it. "Thanks," you say more gently this time.

She shakes her head and grins widely at the same time. "I just want to see you in it," she says naughtily.

A small grin tugs its way up your own face. "Soon," you promise her. "Come on. We'd better go pay if we want to buy you any more clothes tonight."

She pads along beside you, clutching your free hand with her own, carefully holding her own bag to the side. Thankfully, the woman who had pushed her way in front of you earlier has gone, although the clerk is still emanating irritation. It's strong enough that it's slightly rankling at your own nerves. Why is she even here, if she obviously hates her job so much?

The irritation does fade somewhat as the two of you stand in front of her and present your products, though, replaced with curiosity and a slight attentiveness as you tug Madison forwards. She hands her bag over to the clerk with a demure smile, looking up at you with a grin, and the clerk's attentiveness shoots right up.

The price is surprisingly low- less than two hundred dollars for four full sets of lingerie made of silk and lace. The perks of being a rogue with the power to make lingerie, you guess; it must make it much easier to produce this kind of stuff quicker and cheaper than usual.

You double-take slightly when the clerk gives you a quick wink when Madison turns her head away for a second, and you can't help but blush. Mumbling your thanks, you grab the bags and hurry out of the store, trying your best to ignore the amusement now radiating from the clerk.

"Alright," you say slightly more loudly than you need to. "Let's get a coffee and go buy you some clothes."

There's a small store that sells coffee and cakes down the ways a bit. You order, taking careful note of what Madison orders- a vanilla latte with one sugar, and a simple blueberry muffin- and order a coffee and banana-nut muffin for yourself. Madison goes to pull money out of her purse, but you put your hand on her arm and shake your head. You might not be able to afford extravagancies like that lingerie, but you can at least afford to buy her a coffee and a muffin while you're out.

Once you've got your order, you wander over to the nearest clothing store. You're pretty sure it's a chain, but it's not one of the really big chains. At least the prices aren't too bad, you conclude- you only see a single shirt in there priced over forty dollars.

The two of you roam through the store, confident in the knowledge that you have an hour before you need to leave, and that Madison can actually try these clothes on before she buys them.

"So what clothes do you actually like?" she asks casually as she picks through a rack of shirts you've just looked through. She doesn't even stop to look at any of them.

"Skirts," you reply, instantly and without any hesitation. She giggles, but gestures for you to continue, so you have to actually stop to think about it a little. "Well, it can depend." You gesture vaguely around. "Some clothes fit some girls better, you know? Some girls look really nice in dresses, while other girls look better in jeans and a t-shirt."

She hums, looking out the corner of her eyes at you, then down at herself. You look self-consciously down at your own clothes, a simple set of denim pants and a high-necked t-shirt. "Yeah," she says mischievously. "I can see that."

You shrug. "It doesn't bother me if I don't dress very nicely," you say. "I know I'm not very pretty, so what's the point in dressing up?"

"You are pretty," she replies matter-of-factly. There's no hesitation in her words, no signs that she's choosing her words carefully. You look disbelievingly at her, and she frowns slightly. "You really are," she insists. "You're not a supermodel, but that doesn't mean you're not pretty."

You just shake your head. You've seen yourself in the mirror- you know that she is, objectively, wrong. It's just not worth the argument, no more than it was when Dad tried to tell you the same thing last year.

"I think you should try this on," you say instead. She gives you an unhappy look at the sudden change in topic, but obediently turns towards the shirt you're pointing at and takes it down. It's just a simple button-up blouse, coloured an attractive dark grey.

You continue distracting her by pointing out clothes she should try on. Most of them trend towards being more formal than the clothes she normally wears- neat button-up blouses with upturned collars, pencil skirts, and skirts that flutter up easily in your hands. It's an intentional distinction between the clothes she normally wears and the clothes she wears for you.

And she does look nice in them. Very nice, in fact. Dressed in a neat white button-up blouse and a simple black pencil skirt, she looks like the kind of respectable girl nobody would be ashamed to present to their parents. Nobody would ever guess the kind of things the two of you get up to when you're alone together.

Yeah, you're going to have to buy her that choker sooner than later. You can't have people eyeing her off. She's yours, even if she has weird ideas about how attractive you are.

By the heavy blush on her cheeks when she models the clothes for you, she's obviously thinking along the same lines.

You're forced to finish up your purchasing early so that you can make it back down to the car park before Dad gets there. The total is higher than the purchases at the lingerie store had been- nearly three hundred and fifty dollars for six complete sets of skirts and shirts, plus two sets of high-rising socks you think will compliment her legs nicely- but she doesn't look concerned, just tucks her card away without a second thought. When you voice your concern about the price, she just shrugs and tells you, "I don't have much to spend my pocket money on."

She truly lives on a different financial level to you and Dad.

Dad hasn't arrived yet by the time you get down there, so you end up leaning against a wall waiting for him. Madison joins you, relaxing into your arms with a contented sigh. Occasionally, she glances down at the bags held in her hands and gives you a big smile, but mostly she just stands there contentedly against you, smiling a small, happy smile.

When you see Dad's car finally pull into the carpark, you give her a quick kiss on the lips before he gets close enough to see the two of you, then spin her around so you can pull her into a more proper goodnight hug.

"I'll see you tomorrow," you promise her as Dad arrives. She repeats the sentiment back at you, squeezing you one last time, then stands back. Across the parking lot, you can just see Rick arriving, too.

You climb into the car- in the front, this time. Dad gives you a smile as you climb in.

"Did you have fun?" he asks, pulling away and beginning to drive off.

You nod vigorously. "Yeah!" you answer. You hold up the bag with a proud grin. He looks at it, and the symbol of Parian's shop, without any signs of recognition. "Madison bought me some stuff."

"Hm." You're outside of the mall now, heading in the opposite direction of home. You worry for a little, before you realize he's just moving towards a nearby takeaway store. "That was nice of her."

"Yeah," you answer. You move the bag back down to your lap and look into it, a smile rising unbidden onto your face. "She's really nice."

There's no answer, but when you look up at him, he's got a soft smile on his face. Something inside you loosens, as though there was a knot of worry inside you that you hadn't even known about.

The burgers the two of you end up getting aren't very exciting, just plain burgers with beef patties, cheese and some basic sides. They're made in minutes, and the two of you drive away, with a hamburger each clutched in your hands.

You have to eat it quickly so that when you arrive home, you can run inside and shower. Dad comes inside, but doesn't sit down in the living room; when you come running out twenty minutes later with your hair still damp, he just pats you on the head and leads you back out to the car. You give him directions to the theatre, and he makes it there in plenty of time.

"Have fun!" he calls out behind you.

You don't.

It's nothing against the theatre- it's just not a very exciting job. Your co-worker is more than happy to leave you to the maintenance work, walking around sweeping up popcorn and taking bags of trash out to the dumpsters behind the theatre. Despite that you're not being forced to interact with all the people who walk into the theatre, though, it's just… it's boring. That's all you can say. Nothing happens, at all. The most exciting thing that happens all night is when you accidentally hit a piece of popcorn wrong and it ricochets twice off the walls and stairs, rather than just once.

By the time you get home at eleven thirty, you're tired and thoroughly ready for bed. You collapse into it immediately, and are asleep in minutes.

You're still groggy by the time you get to school on Tuesday. The near-freezing temperatures of your jog, the cold spray of water as you stepped into the shower, and two cups of coffee had all helped somewhat, but not enough.

You're cheered up a little when you arrive at school to find Madison already wearing one of your shirts, at least- the least formal of all of them, a very simple red blouse with no more decorations than a shirt-pocket on her right breast. It's hard to refrain from giving her a kiss for wearing it so promptly, but you manage.

Solidly cheered up by that, you manage to muddle through school for the day without growing too irritated. You don't make any steps towards approaching that girl you'd sunk your hooks into yesterday, though. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to try and manipulate her emotions while you're this tired.

And Madison's shirt does serve part of its intended purpose- you're able to undo the lowest three buttons of the shirt and rest your hands against her warm stomach as the two of you eat lunch together without half-lifting her shirt for anyone who walks past.

Afternoon classes pass quickly, now that you're not bothering to even pretend to pay attention to what the teachers are saying. You flip open your borrowed textbooks and spend the rest of school reading through them, only stopping when the bells ring.

Madison did end up reading the sections of her textbooks you'd assigned her, and she understood them well enough that she only gets two questions wrong when you quiz her on it. As a reward, you spend a few long minutes nibbling and sucking at her neck until a large, noticeable bruise appears there. Maybe large enough that her parents will notice it, but definitely large enough that anyone checking her out will.

Okay, so maybe it's more of a reward for you than her. She doesn't mind, though, and you can always find a better reward for her on Saturday. It's not like being marked by you is a turn-off for her, anyway.

The two of you part reluctantly when the clock eventually ticks over to five. For a brief moment, you consider asking her to come with you, but you quickly dismiss the idea. While you're pretty sure Amy and Madison would get along moderately well, they don't seem to have many similar interests, and you haven't even told Amy that you have multiple girlfriends yet. You should probably do that soon. Maybe. Later, probably.

Doctor Fitzgerald is at least happy enough to see you, greeting you with a tired smile when you walk in. "Hello, Taylor. Back again?"

You snap off a mock salute to him, causing him to let out a huff of laughter. "Yes!" you say happily. "Do you have anything you need me to do?"

He glances around the waiting room, as though considering something. Then, "We have some extra staff in today, so I don't need you to inventory our supplies, and Oliver is already mopping the floors," he says slowly. "Our break room is a bit of a mess, though. Maybe you could go clean it?"

"Okay." Your answer isn't as enthusiastic now, but you dutifully trudge off, pouting slightly at the clinic walls. Somebody else had taken over your job. Rude.

Your negative feelings melt away immediately when you open the break room and find its other inhabitant, though. Amy is sitting in here, with a clipboard sitting in front of her as she sips at a cup of coffee from the terrible coffee machine over against the wall.

Carefully and quietly, you walk over to her and lean beside her, trying to avoid standing anywhere you'll cast a noticeable shadow over. Then, "I thought we agreed that that coffee is terrible," you say mock-disapprovingly. She startles slightly, the remaining coffee in the cup sloshing dangerously around. "Weren't we going to get our coffee from the cafeteria from now on?"

She turns her head to look at you, a slightly annoyed expression on her face. "It's more expensive there," she mutters. "And I'm trying to save my money."

You lean against the back of her chair, moving so that your hair falls over her shoulder and into her lap. She brushes at it with an even more annoyed expression, but her attention is solely on you now, not whatever's written on her stupid clipboard. "Ooh, saving your money?" you say brightly. "Planning on taking a poor, innocent girl out on a date some time soon?"

She rolls her eyes. "Like anything about you is innocent," she mutters sourly. Then she must see the growing grin on your face, because she pauses, then throws her head back with a long-suffering sigh. "Fuck," she groans.

You don't let the fact that she's already realized her misstep stop you from pointing it out, though. "I never said anything about me," you say in a sing-song voice. "I'm glad to know you're thinking about me, though." You tack a little giggle on at the end of your sentence just so you can watch her roll her eyes again.

"I wasn't planning on taking you out on a date," she says, straightening again. "Don't try and make my words mean weird things. I'm just trying to save my money so I can go and-" She stops abruptly, and you're pretty sure she literally bites her tongue to stop her saying anything.

You're curious now, though. "So you can go and…?" you prompt her.

She pinches the bridge of her nose. "I was going to go and watch a movie on the weekend," she grumbles. "Alone. I can't afford to buy anyone else a ticket after a certain someone distracted me at work over the weekend." She taps you meaningfully on the nose.

"Sorry," you say immediately. "I didn't mean to distract you at work."

She settles back into her chair, her arms falling back beside her. "I know," she says, giving you a small grin that's more of a grimace. "Sorry. I'm not really angry at you. Just annoyed at some of the nurses for tattling on me."

And now you feel bad for texting her. "Sorry," you say again. "I didn't realize I might get you in trouble at work. I'll stop texting you."

"No, don't do that," she protests. Reaching up, she grasps blindly for something, but whatever it is, she can't find it. In the end, she just gestures for you to come and sit on the couch opposite her. "It's not your fault at all, I shouldn't have been checking my texts at work. I was just hoping that, um, never mind. Keep texting me, it's fine."

You move around and sit in the seat opposite her. You can see her face now, which is good- you can see the earnest look she's giving you.

Still, you can't help but feel bad. "Were you waiting for something important?" you ask quietly.

She shakes her head. "No. It's silly. I was just hoping that, uh, a friend was going to ask me to watch a movie or something, but they never did."

You frown. "Well, that's silly of them," you declare. "They should have asked you. They'd be lucky to get to watch a movie with you, anyone would." You can't keep an undercurrent of indignation out of your voice. Honestly, what kind of person would give up the chance to go out with Amy for the day?

Amy gives you a look of fond exasperation for some reason. "No, it's fine," she assures you. "I think I just misread some signs a little. I should have checked if that's what they meant first."

You nod for a moment. Then a thought abruptly occurs to you, and you smile deviously. "Well," you say slyly, "if your friend still doesn't get the message by the weekend, I do happen to work in a movie theatre myself, and I happen to have a bit of a staff discount." You reach out with your foot and nudge her leg, waggling your eyebrows.

You're completely unprepared for her to cover her mouth with her hands and start laughing into them, her shoulders shaking with the effort of restraining her laughter. For the next few minutes, you just watch her, growing increasingly bemused, as she tries to reign herself in. Eventually, she manages to sit up from where she'd half-slumped over in her laughter, but she still has a bright grin on her face.

"So, uh, I take it that's a no?" you ask, incredibly confused.

She shakes her head, biting her lip again for a moment as she tries to regain her breath. "No, that's fine." Amusement is thick in her voice. "Don't stress over it, but sure. Send me a text on Saturday morning if you can arrange it, and I'll make sure I'm available. If you can't, let me know."

"Suuure," you say, giving her a confused look. She bites her lip again, restraining a wide smile.

At least she's happy again, you conclude, even if you have absolutely no idea what all that was about. And hey; on the upside, you have a date with Amy! Kind of. She's agreed to go watch a movie with you if you have the time and money, at least. Maybe not romantically, but it's a start. And you didn't even have to use your powers to do it. You're actually really proud of yourself for that.

With all that concluded, you do end up getting up and moving around to tidy up the break room. Amy doesn't go back to her clipboard, though, preferring to speak with you as you do so. She assures you that she can do her work later, so- okay, if she's sure. You're not the boss of her, as much as you'd like to be.

Time passes quickly as the two of you chat amicably. Doctor Fitzgerald was right- the break room really is a mess. Dishes are piled three high beside the sink, and it looks like somebody exploded a packet of soup in the microwave, then cooked the resultant vegetables until the inside of it is covered in crusted broth and vegetables. Ew.

Come seven o'clock, you're almost tempted to dart forwards and give Amy a hug before you leave. You refrain, because you don't know her personal space limits very well. By the smile she gives you, you're pretty sure she recognizes what your indecisive movements backwards and forwards mean, but she doesn't step forwards, so neither do you.

You do make sure to barrage her with goodnight texts at nine, though. You don't know when she goes to bed, but maybe seeing all these texts will help soothe the sting of not getting a text from that insensitive jerk.

For the fourth night in a row, you go to bed actually feeling quite happy about the way things are going right now. You're pretty sure this is a new record.

As you fall asleep, you mentally compose a new list of tasks for the next few days. Before you fall completely asleep, you've decided to… [Pick three of the following options. Please note that Victoria's visit on Wednesday afternoon has already been locked in.]

] Push Victoria a bit further when she visits tomorrow. She's showed you her breasts before, and you're pretty sure that she's willing to do so again. And, hey, tomorrow is all about her trying to show you how to make yourself look pretty, isn't it? It shouldn't be hard to get her to do it again.

- Chance of success: 90%.

- General results: Victoria will happily take her shirt off for Taylor in her room, on the proviso that Taylor reciprocates the favour. The two will probably end up kissing while shirtless, further tempting Victoria with regards to Taylor.

- On a success: Raises Victoria's Lust by 1.

- On a failure: Nothing. It's just an ordinary makeout session with the girl Victoria is cheating on her boyfriend with.

] Try and set things up a bit nicer for Sophia when she comes over on Friday. Cut up some carrot sticks, maybe, or some celery? You don't know what kind of things track athletes normally eat, but hey, it's the effort that counts, right? And you want Sophia to know that you actually appreciate her presence here, not make her feel like you just want her for sex.

- Chance of success: Cannot be failed.

- General results: Sophia doesn't enjoy the assortment of snack foods Taylor lays out, but appreciates the effort to make her feel welcomed. She recognizes the attempt to make this more than just a sexual relationship, and a small part of her appreciates it. Note that she will not grow snappy or irritated because of this, but results will not be immediate. Note that this option may not appear again next week, but will appear again in future- eventually- if their relationship isn't pushed too much further sexually in the meantime.

] Emma has been a good girl, restricting herself to two texts a day as you asked, and she hasn't tried to push for anything too intimate yet. That's made you feel a little better about your relationship with her. You're not prepared to initiate anything with her yet, but you know Dad's been missing Alan, too. Maybe the two of you could invite them over for dinner, and you and Emma could watch TV. In the living room, with supervision so she can't do anything.

- Chance of success: 80%

- General results: Emma and Alan will come over for dinner on Thursday night. It will be a fairly positive night, although Emma will mostly be silent through it in an attempt not to push Taylor outside her comfort zone.

- On a success: At some point during a movie, Danny and Alan will leave to have a conversation elsewhere. Taylor will feel comfortable enough to stay, and will feel better about her relationship with Emma when Emma doesn't fuck it up.

- On a failure: Danny will put on a movie he and Alan also enjoy, encouraging them to stay in the room and preventing Taylor and Emma from being alone.

] There's still that girl- the one with the trashy appearance. You need to get information from her, and to do that, you're going to need to use your power on her. You'll encourage Madison to move your lunches to the same courtyard this girl has lunch in, and spend the next couple of days subtly encouraging this girl to notice you- both in a positive way and, hopefully, in a sexual way.

- Chance of success: 60% (10% from precious actions) 70%

- General results: Initiates recruitment of pre-trigger Aisha. Increases Aisha's Loyalty by 2. Madison and Taylor will move their lunches to Aisha's courtyard, preventing them from being as physically affectionate but giving Taylor access to Aisha.

- On a success: Increases Aisha's Lust by 1.

- On a failure: Taylor will be unable to get a hold of Aisha's lust in her limited available time.

] Mr Harding has rung again, apologizing for bothering you so much. Apparently, another member of staff has taken sick leave for the rest of the week, and he needs someone who can cover her shift from 8-11 each day. Ordinarily you'd deny it out of hand, but… nine hours of work, that's a lot of money. And showing up when a co-worker has taken sick leave is a powerful statement, especially when you're a child worker in high school and you're showing up for late shifts.

- Success chance: 70%

- General results: Taylor will go to work each night, leaving her groggy for school in the morning, but granting her a fair amount of money each day. Will provide Taylor with an additional large expense.

- On a success: Mr Harding appreciates the effort Taylor is putting in. From now on, options will appear on weekends, granting Taylor the option to work over the weekend for increased levels of pay.

- On a failure: Mr Harding is too stressed out to fully appreciate Taylor's efforts today. Increases the chance of success for this action in future the next time it appears.

View in Thread

Aug 14, 2016 ReportLike

Fred Flintstine, TheBigMole, Some_guy_161 and 193 others like this.

Threadmarks View in Thread

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

kjrichir

Thread Status: Not open for further replies.

Home Forums NSFW NSFW Questing

Light Responsive

English - 12 Hour Clock

Home

Top

RSS

Help

Terms and Rules

Style by Arty

Forum software by XenForo

XenForo add-ons by Waindigo