Common ground and common mystery

I knew when he'd return home and so I waited. I was excited to see master again. Excited? Did... my feelings for him return? And his commands? Ugh, this is annoying. I had to talk to him. He walked here with... Gloria. He finally went after her, nice. But I wanted him alone. Fuck, I need to inform him about that woman.

Amber: "Oh, James, hi. Hi Gloria. The woman returned to your home, I wanted to get the keys back."

Gloria: "Woman?"

James: "Jane, yeah. Give me a moment." Oh, so this was Jane... her uniform made a lot more sense now.

Master entered his home with Gloria, and gave me the keys that Jane had placed right next to the door. He gave the keys to me.

Amber: "C-Could we talk in private real quick?"

James: "Fine. You can come in as you are."

Jane: "Oh hi James. Who are these people?"

James: "Two colleagues of mine. I have to discuss something with Amber real quick, then I'll start making dinner. Sorry for the chaos, but that's just what my life has turned into."

Gloria was looking kind of sad, as master and I walked to his bedroom.

"What did you want to discuss, Amber?"

"Two things. First the app. It disappeared."

"It disappeared for you too? It's gone for me as well." He showed me his phone, with the app missing.I tapped on the place where the icon would have been on his phone, and suddenly, a message appeared. Master read it aloud:

"'Dear users, we apologize for the unannounced reworking of the app. As only few people get access to use this app, bug testing becomes difficult, and especially users with new approaches to using this app to make women submit can accidentally cause plenty of issues. All of the known bugs have been fixed. During the maintenance period, subjects' emotions and submission may have been inconsistent, but traits should have remained active. Certain bugs were fixed by modifying traits on subjects, users will be informed in such cases. Compensation will be distributed at a later date.' Huh, that explains a lot of what happened today. Oh, and apparently a trait on Donna got removed because I sold the per-requisite trait."

"Well I'm glad we solved this issue so quickly, master."

"Yeah, what was the other thing you wanted to talk about?"

"I... feel bad for feeling this way, especially because it was while the app let me free. When I say it... punish me however you see fit."

"I won't punish you Amber. I promised you that ages ago and I intend to keep my promises."

"Sorry master, it's just... I had the feeling we didn't spent enough time together. I felt left out of your plans. I know I should be happy with every attention I get, but..."

"Amber, it's fine to have these feelings." He hugged me, and I could feel my worries drift away. It's good to be back like this... I'm happier this way.

"It... reminded me a bit of you in college. Always too shy to make a move. And in recent days... It seems like you have been surrounded by women you don't care too much about sexually, and potentially the same applying in reverse."

"How do you know?"

"I talked with Emily, master. She's ace, by the way. And then I felt like you lost interest in me since Klara's coming out. And Jane doesn't seem like someone who wants to fuck you either."

"I guess that's true, yeah... Sorry for not telling you a lot, but these people asked me to keep it quiet. I'll stay quiet as long as they want to."

"B-But master... Can't you just tell me to not say anything about it? Your orders are absolute anyway."

"I could, but I'm pretty sure there is a way to get you to talk even at +100SP. If someone held a gun to your head that weighs higher than any influence I have over you. Pretty sure I read that in the app."

"Right... Wait, what kind of dangers are you getting yourself into? Master please... I don't wanna lose you..."

"Don't worry Amber, the bigger thing seems to be over anyway now. For the smaller thing... I'd need to wait until the new year at the very least."

"C-Could you tell me one thing at least? One secret?"

"Hm, the other two are... Well, I'll let Christine tell you hers, but I'll tell you about Helen's secret. Keep quiet about it, though." Helen? Well whatever, at least it's one secret.

"Sure, master."

"I... owed Helen a favor. Had to do with Christine. Turned out she wanted to measure my penis to get a better dildo, the old one wasn't doing it for her anymore. I suggested to her to maybe try it with a partner, but she's single and struggling to find someone her age. A couple days later, the dildo modeled after my penis wasn't as great as she hoped. I suggested finding a partner again, reciting how different it felt having you jack me off the night we met compared to doing it alone. And how much more different sex feels. She uhm... decided to test that theory with me and we fucked."

"Hahaha master, you already fucked two lesbians, huh?"

"I... guess so. I feel bad about it."

"But...?"

"Yeah okay they both look amazing. But still..."

"Thanks for sharing that master. What's your plan for today?"

"Jane needs to rest, she got injured last night, and I saved her. That should be all that I can tell you for now. I hope I can send her to her room after this and spend some alone time with Gloria. It feels weird, but she's the only one still in the negatives."

"And in the future?"

"I... need to spend a lot of time with Em. I have to spend Christmas with her, but on that day we'll take everything mom needs from mom's house. On the weekend, Donna will move in, so that's another day with her. By the way, my mom is visiting her family until New Years, she's gone. Laura too. Until Donna moves in, I'll be alone here. And even after that, we could do plenty of kinky stuff... Oh and on Sunday... I went on a date with Christine and she invited me to join your fitness group."

"Oh, master... I haven't gone in a while. Working for Klara had been enough for me."

"Sorry Amber. You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"No, I'll join. I want to see my friends again, too."

"Perfect." He gave me a kiss. I had longed for that for so many days. "I'm sorry, but let's return. Klara is waiting for you and so are two women waiting for me. We can hang out some other time this week. I don't have a lot to do on Friday."

"Gladly master, goodbye."

"Oh and... you can come as normal when doing stuff with Klara."

"Thank you"

Gloria

We sat on the couch, quietly. The woman was watching just the news. Never been on a date with a guy and then there's just... another woman there. But with James... I wouldn't mind, I think?

"Uhm, I'm Gloria. What's your name?"

"Jane."

"H-How do you know James?"

"Long story... But I guess there's no use hiding it now, is it? I got to know James when I investigated his father's crimes. Yesterday I took a piece of evidence from the department and fled, hoping to get it to the press. The road was slippery and I crashed, but by sheer coincidence I landed here. James saved me and the tape and made sure it reached the press. That's what you see here..." She pointed at the TV, the headline read: Acting Mayor Anderson resigns - Donalds new Acting Mayor.

"Oh wow..."

"I'm still here because... Well, I didn't break any bones, but the accident still hurt me a lot. I need time to recover. And before Anderson resigned, I needed a place to hide which was... here."

"Wow, you're... a hero, aren't you?"

"Haha, I don't know. Reckless is probably a better word."

"But the city needed to know that their mayor was a creep. And just as bad and sleazy as the old guy. We need people like you, even if it's dangerous."

"I... guess. You should probably thank James for helping me out. If it wasn't for him this story would have never gotten out. I don't deserve all the praise."

"I'm sorry, it's just... so rare for me to see good people."

"Huh?"

"I'm a colleague of James' and I'm responsible for our online comment sections. The people there..."

"I can imagine. We both have jobs where we see the ugly side of humanity."

"Can I ask you something? How do you cope? **** isn't a good long-term strategy, I feel like."

"Very expensive, too." She looked sad and lost in her thoughts. "What keeps me going is that is knowing that I am helping. I'm putting the creeps in jail and making sure that people know it's awful behavior."

"Yeah, but I don't really put anyone in jail."

"True, but... what deleting comments and banning awful users does is making a good environment for anyone else. If you weren't there, who would be comfortable sharing their thoughts? Yes, you see the worst of humanity on each given day. But you get rid of their awful deeds, so that others don't have to see it and can enjoy the good side of life. You might not ever have a flashy moment like I did today, but... You create the very normalcy that people see every day. And that's powerful. You're making the world a better place. And even if that's just by giving people a space to discuss fashion."

"Thanks Jane, I really needed that pep talk."

"What did you come here for with James, if I may ask?"

"I uhm... kind of invited myself? I had hoped that this would turn into a date, but..."

"If you don't mind, I'll just stay in my room, okay? Then you two can be free to do whatever. I'll probably just sleep anyway, I won't hear a thing."

"Thanks Jane, I owe you one."

"Hey, if you feel that way about it, who am I to say no? And if he does anything to you, you know whom to call."

"I doubt it'll go that way, but thanks anyway. You're way more chill that I'd expect a cop to be."

"Haha, I can be tough when I need to be. But one also needs to be kind and caring. Not everyone is a perpetrator, many people are victims too. In my department, most of them are the most valuable witnesses. It's a bit cold, but it's the truth."

"I get it, don't worry. I have to be tough in my own way, too."

James and Amber got out of his bedroom and Amber went away, as James went to the kitchen.

"James, if you don't mind I'm going to rest after dinner, okay?" Jane said, while winking at me.

"Sure, rest as much as you need to. You still have painkillers?"

"Yeah, don't worry."