Onwards and Upwards

“Would you like to convert points to purchase Normalized Polyamory?”

YES/NO

The app asks you, as you finally try to purchase the trait that was first on your wishlist.

Stella, Cassie, and Paige are hanging out in your living room, while you’re in your bedroom fiddling with the app. You told yourself multiple times today that it’s time to be more comfortable with this power, and trust yourself that you won’t buy anything that’s going to be too manipulative or invasive to the people around you.

If you think about Becca’s advice, Normalized Polyamory would be an investment trait; something that can help you acquire more points by spending points. If you follow your girlfriends’ and Becca’s suggestion to explore options outside of the relationship, Normalized Polyamory would definitely be the most important trait you’re going to need to buy to not complicate things further. There’s a million reasons you already know why this trait is a necessity to buy. The question now is… what points do you convert to buy it?

Becca’s advice is to not buy Steadfast Lover yet, and convert your Lust Points for Love Points. You see the logic from her earlier explanation, but you also understand that there’s already a Lust Trait you want to buy and can already afford, while there’s no trait you want to buy with Friendship Points. Plus, Becca’s the one that said that Lust Traits seem to be traits that can help generate more Lust Points, so that’s a better investment, right?

[NO]

You press as an answer to the question from the app.

Available points: 380 Friendship points / 250 Love points / 350 Lust points

You remember that there are traits you’re looking for that are probably bought with Friendship points, so you might want to buy those first before converting your Friendship Points. The equivalent of Great Host for those that are attending as guests come to mind. You return to the trait catalog and sort for Most Recommended for you, and it returns with the exact trait you were looking for as it’s first suggestion.

You’re not even surprised anymore. You’re sure this thing is reading your mind in some way.

Life of the Party (20 Friendship Points): Social gatherings you attend tend to be livelier, and other attendants are inclined to attribute their enjoyment of the party to having you around.

You don’t hesitate to buy it since — one, it’s cheap; and two, the idea that people will tend to have a better time in social gatherings just because you’re there seems like a great way to spend points and spread happiness and positivity all around. So why not?

Available points: 360 (-20) Friendship points / 250 Love points / 350 Lust points

You start browsing other recommended traits and the next one seems like a definite investment trait when you first read it.

Sex is Love (100 Love Points): Positive sexual interactions are always taken as demonstrations of romantic affection. Positively received sexual interactions always improve a person’s love score.

Talk about farming points. Holy shit.

After you think about it though, this is the kind of trait you trusted yourself not to buy. Generating love just from doing positive sexual acts, combined with your Magic Touch, seems like a guarantee that someone falls in love with you once you have sex with them. If you take advantage of your girlfriends’ willingness to have you explore outside the relationship, that’s a dangerous combination to have; and one that could lead to consequences you don’t want. Plus, it uses Love Points, so buying it now would be stupid anyway as Normalized Polyamory is more important.

You skip past Sex is Love and see what else the app recommends. The app shows a pop-up message right after skipping Sex is Love.

“Would you like to filter the catalog to traits that can be bought with Friendship Points?”

YES/NO

[YES]

The app then refreshes to show a new list of traits that are recommended for you that are bought with Friendship Points only.

Healthy Body (50 Friendship Points): Exercise and strenuous physical activity yield better results, and your muscles and stamina recover much quicker.

Available points: 310 (-50) Friendship points / 250 Love points / 350 Lust points

You don’t even think about it.

The rest of the traits you see the app recommend are all tempting, but aren’t ones you can find a compelling case to buy for yourself right now. There’s a trait to get better at cooking, another one for reading quicker, and even one that allows you to learn other languages quicker. You can find some use for all of them, but not enough to make you buy them just yet.

One more trait does get your attention though.

Seldom Sleepy (110 pts): With this trait, four hours or so of sleep are more than enough for you to have a perfect rest and get you through the next 24 hours.

If there’s one thing business-wise that you’ve heard over and over again, it’s that time is money. With this trait, twenty hours a day for a full day's rest means you can exercise more and take advantage of the trait you just bought; do more work once you start writing again; and, if you manage your sleep schedule right, allow yourself to spend more time with your girlfriends.

Problem is, if you buy it now, you’re left with just 200 Friendship Points. The exact amount you need to convert for Normalized Polyamory. It’ll leave you with zero Friendship Points if you do both. You can take Becca’s advice and just not buy Steadfast Lover for now.

Decisions, decisions.

Fuck it.

Available points: 200 (-110) Friendship points / 250 Love points / 350 Lust points

Time is money.

You filter the app to show traits you can buy with Lust Points to see if there are any other traits that you might want with those points as well. Steadfast Lover is the Most Recommended, as you expected, but there’s one that catches your eye that you might want to buy too.

Always Clean (30 Lust Points): The person with this trait is free from all sexually transmitted infections and diseases; and cleans all their bodily orifices during sexual activities.

Available points: 200 Friendship points / 250 Love points / 320 (-30) Lust points

It wasn’t a hard decision to buy. If you’re going to explore your options outside the relationship, better not bring back anything into it that would just cause everybody trouble. Plus, this seems like a trait you might want to buy everyone eventually just to be sure. For now though, you’d rather buy Steadfast Lover.

Available points: 200 Friendship points / 250 Love points / 50 (-270) Lust points

Finally, you convert 200 Friendship Points to 100 Love Points and finally buy Normalized Polyamory.

Available points: 0 (-200) Friendship points / 0 (-350) Love points / 50 Lust points

It’s finally done. You wonder how much more different Normalized Polyamory would affect your dynamic with your girlfriends; but you knew before buying it that whatever that difference may be, it’s worth the risk for the potential benefit.

You look at your remaining available points, and you realize how barren you actually left yourself for emergencies. It’s like you’re starting all over again. Although, it’s nowhere near starting from zero. All the girls who’ve come into your life and have developed feelings for you all know about the app now, and you all know your feelings for each other. Maybe it’s wrong to think of this as starting over. This is more like — the next phase of your journey with this app.

You smile to yourself.

Four girls already consider you their boyfriend, three more have openly admitted to wanting to pursue a relationship with you, and all of them are okay with you exploring your options outside the seven of them. Your wishlist is already empty after only having the app for a week and a half, and you’ve already bought the traits that you may need to openly pursue relationships with everyone.

This is definitely just Phase Two.

You finally leave your room as it’s already time to pick-up Tanya from work. The girls are still in the living room where they have some music playing on the Smart TV while they chat. Stella hears you leaving your room and looks towards you.

“Dad!” Stella calls out to you excitedly. You walk towards the living room to join them on their down time.

“What’s up? What’re you guys listening to?” You ask them to make conversation.

“Paige was asking if you’re still looking to date other girls.” Stella relays to you.

Phase Two…

Onwards and Upwards.

Author's Acknowledgments: The Healthy Body trait is a suggestion from Winterstrike when I first released the Status Update back in November, and the Always Clean trait is a lameduck987 suggestion that he suggested in the Halloween Special. I'm sorry it took this long, but I wanted to say thanks for your feedback during that time.