What's next?

A friendly retail outlet for quality clothing and household goods at everyday low prices

The Leopard’s Spot is at the opposite end of the mall from Fashionissima. You’re not sure that you ever really noticed that lower-end chain stores like the Leopard’s Spot tend to be kept further away from higher-end single-location stores like Fashionissima, but you suppose you can understand the mall management’s rationale in arranging them this way.

Every Leopard’s Spot you’ve ever been to has basically the same merchandise, at basically the same prices. But they don’t all have the same layout, and so you don’t immediately know where to go. Normally you’d just wander idly through the store until you found what you were looking for, but it’s always quicker to ask an expert.

And you see a very cute employee standing just inside the entrance. And you do want to experiment with the Multiplier a bit more.

She’s Asian – maybe Korean, but you wouldn’t swear to that – and in her early twenties, with shoulder-length bleached-blonde hair and a top that’s cut a little lower than you would have expected.

You walk up to her. Her name tag says “HI! My name is: TESSA”.

“Excuse me,” you say, “where are the men’s socks?”

“They’re in…”

She pauses and frowns. “I’m sorry, I just started here last week. I know how to get there, but…” and she closes her eyes and starts drawing lines in the air with her finger.

She opens her eyes and sighs. “I can show you where they are?”

“That’d be great, thanks.”

As she leads you through the aisles, you make a note of where men’s underpants are, and t-shirts, and…

“Need some of everything?” Tessa asks.

“Yeah, I gotta replace my whole wardrobe.”

“Mm. Your girlfriend’s idea?”

You sigh. “I wish. No, my building burned down.”

She winces. “Oh, that’s terrible. I’m so sorry. What happened? I mean, do they know what caused it?”

“Thanks, I appreciate that. And… I heard it was someone who fell asleep smoking, but…” and you shrug.

Tessa shakes her head. “That’s a real shame. Anyway, here are the socks, you saw the underpants and the t-shirts, pants are over there, pajamas are over there… anything else?”

“This’ll do for now. Thanks again.”

Even with Steel-Driving Man, carrying too many clothes at once will be bulky and inconvenient, so you decide to only get enough to last you through the week. It’s possible that some of your original stuff might still be wearable, and you can always get more if you need.

A half-hour later, you’ve tried on six pairs of pants and found two that fit, and selected six shirts, two three-packs of underpants, two four-packs of socks, and one pair of pajama bottoms. Tessa hasn’t stayed with you, but you didn’t really expect her to.

When you get to the front of the store, you see that Tessa is now stationed at one of the registers, so you go to that one.

“Hi again!” she says as she scans your items. “You found everything you need?”

“For now,” you say. “Thanks, you were very helpful.”

She smiles. “You’re welcome. If you could give me a high score in –”

You stiffen. She knows about the Multiplier?!?

“– the customer satisfaction survey, I’d really appreciate that.”

Oh, right. Duh.

“Yes, absolutely,” you tell her. You pay for your purchases (more than you’d like, but insurance will cover it, right?) and then, since there’s no one else waiting in line behind you, you scan the QR code on your receipt so Tessa can see you do it.

“I found everything I needed… yes,” you say. “How helpful was the employee… five out of five. How friendly was the employee… five out of five. How polite was the employee… five out of five. Did I get the feeling that the employee cared about my needs… yes. How well-trained was the employee…”

You glance at her. She grimaces.

“… five out of five,” you say.

She smiles. “Oh, and thank you for shopping at the Leopard’s Spot!” she adds.

“… did the employee thank me for shopping at the Leopard’s Spot. Yes.”

She giggles.

“And… submit. There you go. Good luck, Tessa,” you say, and she looks a little startled for a second, and then clearly remembers that she’s wearing a name tag.

“Thanks,” she says, and you take your purchases and leave. This part of the mall isn’t nearly as crowded as it was earlier, so you could check the app while you walk, but you’re carrying shopping bags full of clothes in both hands.

You reach the stop for the 78 bus just as the bus does, and get on. This time of day, there’s a lot fewer people on board; ninety minutes or so from now, it’ll be packed.

It’s amazing how different today has been from yesterday.

You take a seat, put your shopping bags down, and pull out the app.

In the Professionals section, you find one new profile.

Name: Olga Krasimira Metodieva

Personal Information +
Affection Information +
Physical Information +

Okay, but where are Janine and Tessa?

Before you deal with that, might as well see how things went with Olga. Let’s see… you saved her from getting hurt, and, well, you were modest about it… she called you a hero but clearly she was just joking… and you shook hands with her… well, you shook hands with her twice, and that second time she seemed to be really, really happy about it – there was a lot of eye contact, and she blushed, and she was pretty clearly thinking about hugging you, but that’s probably more effect than cause…

… objectively, you didn’t do that much. You guess that her Affection score will not be more than 15. 20, max. From how she acted during that second handshake, she probably has a non-zero Lust score also, but that’s based not just on what you say and do, but also on how you look. And that clearly varies based on the individual woman’s preferences: Sonia and Sigrid and Penelope are all tall women, but Sonia and Sigrid specifically like that you’re taller than them but that doesn’t seem to do anything for Penelope.

Back to Olga, let’s see what’s in these…

Personal Information -

Age: 31
Gender: Female
Marriage Status: Divorced
Children: 0

Physical Information -

Height: 5’5”
Weight: 165
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Sandy brown
Bust: 32C
Waist: 24
Hips: 32
Sexual experience +

And now the moment of truth: her Affection score.

Affection Information -

Affection: 12

That’s pretty close to your estimate. You check her log of status updates, to see what led to this score.

Olga Metodieva: You rescued her! +8 (8)
Olga Metodieva: Likes that you’re modest. +4 (12)

Aha! You like being right. Although... there’s more?

Olga Metodieva: Connected the fact that Tammy seems really horny today to the fact that you’re a not-bad-looking guy who’s returning a key to Tammy, and to the fact that Tammy was practically ecstatic to see you, and inferred that you and Tammy are fucking. +10 Lust (12/0/10)
Olga Metodieva: Noticed that you’ve been in Tammy’s office longer than was probably necessary, and guessed that you and Tammy are fucking right this second. 0/0/+18 (12/0/28)
Olga Metodieva: Thought about you pushing her down on her hands and knees and fucking her from behind, pumping your rock-hard cock in and out of her soaking wet pussy, pulling her hair as she licks your cum out of Tammy. While she was shaking your hand. 0/0/+35 (12/0/63)
Olga Metodieva: Realized that you don’t smell like someone who’s just been fucking, and you don’t have sex hair either. Or an erection. 0/0/-20 (12/0/43)
Olga Metodieva: Just checked Tammy’s office and it doesn’t smell of fucking. Or air freshener. And Tammy doesn’t look or smell like someone who’s just been fucked. 0/0/-20 (12/0/23)

You blink. Okay, that could be an issue. Especially since you and Tammy are going to be fucking.

You blink several more times. Did you just decide to go through with it? Are you definitely, positively, 100% going to fuck your sister and your niece, who both clearly want it very very very very much?

…

… yes. Yes, you did, and yes, you are.

You’ve got an erection again. Also, other people are getting onto the bus, so you pick your shopping bags off the floor and put them on your lap. So as to not have them be in anyone’s way, of course.

You still can’t find Janine or Tessa’s profiles in the app, though. They’re clearly not your Family, your Co-Workers, your Superiors, or your Friends, so why aren’t they in Professionals?

Maybe you need to touch them? Everyone you have a profile on hugged you, or at least shook your hand…

No, you only met up with Penelope and got hugged today, and she had a profile since last night, and you’re pretty sure you’d remember if she had ever touched you during the past year of Not Liking You. Also, you remember making skin contact with Janine when you gave her the key blank, so that can’t be it.

Maybe you have to know their names? Except… no, you and Sigrid didn’t learn each other’s names until twenty or thirty minutes after her profile started.

Are you using the app wrong?

Well, you know the first thing to do when a program isn’t working the way you expected.