Not unobserved

"I'm sorry, Miss, but Reginald's has a very strict 'no shirt, no shoes, no service' policy. If you'd like to come back with some clothes and shoes on we'd be happy to seat you then, so long as a table is still available."

"Could I speak to the manager about that?" I asked, secretly hoping the manager was a woman.

"I can bring him over if you'd really like, Miss, but I'm afraid he'll tell you the same thing."

Crap.

"Well, should we try the food court?" James suggested.

I made a grumpy noise as I looked at my phone, the Girls In Range menu open in front of me. The Hostess, Jessica, was at the top of the list (sorted by proximity), but I couldn't think of anything that would override what her boss would have to say on the matter of letting two completely naked women eat in his restaurant. California was pretty clear on its state nudity laws, according to Roy, that, even though there was no state wide anti-nudity law, California businesses had broad range not to serve anyone for any reason.

Just as I was about to close the app and agree with James about the food court, I got a popup on my phone.

Hey, Nattie! Looks like you're having trouble with Reginald's American Restaurant and Bar. You should try using a purchasable bonus in Girl Market. For just 10 gems, you can get a [Business: Allow Nudity] one use Effect, which, when activated, will effect the closest business to alter their stance on nude patrons! Give it a try! Also, we should schedule some time to talk later. I've added you in the chat feature at the bottom of the landing page. Keep up the good work!
~June, Community Manager, CG Team, SuccuLabs Studios

Closing the notification, I saw that I had a new contact in the chat box in the lower third of the main screen of the app: June.

"Let's at least try to talk to the manager, guys, I'm really feeling lucky today."

"As you wish," the Hostess shrugged, trying to hide both her annoyance at my persistence and her relief at being able to kick me up the chain of command to become her boss's problem. She snapped her fingers at another employee, sitting at a computer station behind some privacy screens to her left, to get her to cover the front desk. "Excuse me," she said as she disappeared into the restaurant dining area, leaving a cute, younger looking Asian gal to work the front desk in Jessica's absence. The young woman was wide-eyed looking at, and clearly ogling, Cynthia and I, but I didn't have time to focus on her at the moment.

With Cynthia absentmindedly petting my head, I went to my homepage (where there were two new apps, Girl Market and SRM) and opened Girl Market.

I blitzed through the terms of service agreement and quickly tried to orient myself to the interface. It was very similar to Custom Girls. The major difference was that the main window which dominated the landing page was called "Today's Deals" instead of "Girls In Range". In it, there were various advertisements of products and services available through the app, each with a square icon either showing a physical product or a stock-photo looking visual representation of a service (a lot of them sex acts or "before and after" style depictions). The tabs on the sidebar to the right were labeled "Apps", "Bonuses", "Effects", "Games", "Products", "Exchange", "Hotkeys" and "Team HQ", with these latter two tabs greyed out.

I opened the "Effects" tab and found it was very similar to the landing page, except that there were no sidebars to the left and right, and the "Today's Deals" box was replaced with a similar looking "Effects" box, with the same type of ads in it, except they were all in the "Effect" category. Examples of effects were things like [Get Off My Back!] (5 gems), who's icon was of an outline of a shorter woman yelling at the outline of a taller (presumably older) woman, and the taller woman throwing her hands up and surrender, presumably giving up on an argument; and [Summon Audience] (2 gems), with an icon depicting the outline of a woman holding a phone surrounded by red arrows pointing to her; [Refresh] (1 gem), which showed an outline of a woman pressing a button on her phone and surrounded by green upward facing arrows and green plus signs.

I had my same Gem Bank icon in the upper right hand corner of the app with "19/105" listed next to it. But, in addition, to the left of my Gem Bank was an icon of a coin, and it listed a zero next to it. Apparently there was another type of currency I didn't know about yet.

There was a search bar at the top of the shopping box and I searched "Business Nudity", and came up with the following results:

[Business: Disallow Nudity]. 1 gem.
One time use. Makes management intolerant of the nudity of its patrons or staff. Effects the closest business when Effect is activated through Hotkey menu.

[Business: Allow Nudity]. 10 gems.
One time use. Makes management tolerant of the nudity of its patrons. Effects the closest business when Effect is activated through Hotkey menu.

[Business: Undress Code]. 30 gems.
One time use. Makes management require a certain state of undress in its patrons, up to and including nudity. Specific undress code, and reactions to undress code, can be toggled in the Hotkey menu before activation. Effects the closest business when Effect is activated through Hotkey menu. Takes full effect after 48 hours.

[Business: Skimpy Uniform]. 40 gems.
One time use. Makes management require staff to wear a skimpy uniform, up to near nudity. Specific uniform can be toggled (and upgraded) in the Hotkey menu before activation. Reactions to new uniforms can also be toggled in the Hotkey menu before activation. Effects the closest business when Effect is activated through Hotkey menu. Takes full effect in 2 to 3 business days.

[Business: Require Nudity]. 50 gems.
One time use. Makes management require nudity in its staff, barring safety equipment. Effects the closest business when Effect is activated through Hotkey menu. Reactions to said nudity, and who is effected by said nudity requirements, can be toggled in the Hotkey Menu before activation. Takes full effect after 3 to 5 business days.

[Business: Promote Nudity]. 200 gems.
One time use. Makes management change their business model to promote the Nudist lifestyle by requiring their patrons and staff (barring safety equipment) to be nude on premises, and will hold events to promote a nudist lifestyle. Effects the closest business when Effect is activated through Hotkey menu. Takes full effect after 7 to 10 business days.

Seeing a heavyset balding man in a black button-down shirt approaching the front of the restaurant purposefully, being followed by the hostess, I quickly purchased [Business: Allow Nudity], switched over to Hotkeys and triggered it. The man stopped in his tracks for a moment, blinking and looking at nothing. Then he looked around like he had to remember where he was. Then he approached us.

"Hi, my name is Mark. I'm the owner," the man said to Cynthia and I as he approached the hostess station, reaching out a hand to shake ours. Cynthia shook his hand. I kept both hands on my phone.

"I was just telling the ladies that we have a strict 'no shirt, no shoes, no service' policy, but they wanted to hear it from you personally," the hostess said performatively.

Mark nodded and inhaled through his nose, humming in thought to himself for a moment. "Yeah, I don't think we need to be too strict about that, Jessica, they don't strike me as the type to cause trouble."

"What?" the hostess said, shocked.

"I mean, really the policy is more to keep **** up or drunk college students on benders from coming into the restaurant half naked and causing a ruckus," he shrugged. "No one in your party has been binge drinking today, have they ladies?" this latter was addressed at Cynthia and myself.

"No we have not," Cynthia said agreeably.

"Well, there you go, Jessica," said Mark, handing her two menus. "Party of two?"

"Four," Jessica corrected him.

Mark handed her two more menus.

"Just follow Jessica, folks, she'll take care of you," Mark said, smiling and nodding at us.

"Come on, guys," Cynthia said to James and Athena, who were still "flirting" on the padded waiting bench by the door.

Her eyes still betraying her absolute confusion and befuddlement, the wide-eyed Jessica managed to put on her best hostess smile, and led us to our table.

[Transcript of Green Gem Grrls team-chat on Girl Market message-centre]

8-27-2033:13:24:22: MistressAvy: HEY! You'll never guess who I just saw walk past the shop! 2 womn, completing nekked in teh mall!

8-27-2033:13:24:57: ToppBitch1: Same grrl from this morning? The one poked your tonsils with her tongue?

8-27-2033:13:25:03: MambaGrrl: Naked like how maked?

8-27-2033:13:25:05: SukiSuki: Wait! Who was kissin my grrl the mornign?

8-27-2033:13:25:06: MambaGrrl: *named

8-27-2033:13:25:09: MambaGrrl: *NAKED godsdamnit! XD

8-27-2033:13:25:10: MistressAvy: Diffarent. Not seen them before. Tall blond gal, skinny, totally naked. Brown haired shorter woman with great boobs. Naked and barefoot.

8-27-2033:13:25:20: SukiSuki: Avy who kissin you?

8-27-2033:13:25:33: ToppBitch1: One might be that girl Kulani saw masturbating in the park this morning? @Tropical_Slut

8-27-2033:13:25:39: ToppBitch1: @Tropical_Slut I'm portent! git in that chat pls

8-27-2033:13:25:43: MambaGrrl: NICE! Pics?

8-27-2033:13:26:01: ToppBitch1: @Tropical_Slut *Important

8-27-2033:13:26:22: MistressAvy: Sorry, no pics. And can't leave store until 2.

8-27-2033:13:27:08: SukiSuki: Who was making out with you this morning, Avery?

8-27-2033:13:27:24: MistressAvy: @SukiSuki Rando this morning, think she had Heavy Make-Out Hallo. She seemed confused. Check yer PM

8-27-2033:13:27:37: ToppBitch1: @All Must be new player. Need to get welcome party to the mall and recruit them before other team does.

8-27-2033:13:27:43: MistressAvy: I'm not off until 2, but can try then?

8-27-2033:13:28:10: SukiSuki: Same. At work til 7

8-27-2033:13:28:41: MambaGrrl: Aw! I'm stuck in the library working on group project! DX

8-27-2033:13:28:52: PickUpQueen: WAHT?!

8-27-2033:13:28:56: PickUpQueen: On lvl 40! What want?

8-27-2033:13:29:58: ToppBitch1: ... Come on grrls, I need to see some volunteers here! We need fresh recruits since last graduation! Do you want them forming a fourth team on campus?

8-27-2033:13:30:22: Tropical_Slut: Srsly, girls, I'm trying not to get caught, stop blowing up my notes, pls.

8-27-2033:13:30:28: MambaGrrl: Kulani You flickin? Pls pics?

8-27-2033:13:30:58: ToppBitch1: @Tropical_Slut @PickUpQueen Kulani, Roshah, scroll up. This is important, might have three new gem-heads for team. Anyone near the mall right now is needed. Am on way butt traffic is hello.

8-27-2033:13:31:01: ToppBitch1: *hell

8-27-2033:13:31:08: PickUpQueen: WHY U TXT & DRIVE?!?!!!?!?!11

8-27-2033:13:31:13: MambaGrrl: @ToppBitch1 NO DIE, PLS, MISTRES! DX

8-27-2033:13:31:14: [[Tropical_Slut posted a picture to chat from her nPhone]]

8-27-2033:13:31:27: ToppBitch1: Self. Driving. Car. CHILL!

8-27-2033:13:31:34: MambaGrrl: @Tropical_Slut HAWT!!! <3 <3 <3

8-27-2033:13:31:40: PickUpQueen: @Tropical_Slut Delicious looki g sloppy pussy, girl!

8-27-2033:13:31:42: MistressAvy: @Tropical_Slut Beautiful puss, but you're asshole look so lonely! :'(

8-27-2033:13:32:00: Tropical_Slut: My ass it so hungry an lonely for you fist, Avy! TT^TT

8-27-2033:13:32:15: MambaGrrl: I wanna lick both so bad!

8-27-2033:13:32:22: MistressAvy: You wanna lick my fists, Gemma? :O

8-27-2033:13:32:41: MambaGrrl: NO!

8-27-2033:13:32:48: MambaGrrl: ...Maybe? Depends if you just pulled it out of Kulani's holes! :P~~~

8-27-2033:13:32:49: ToppBitch1: Grrls, can we focus pls?

8-27-2033:13:32:50: MistressAvy: @MambaGrrl XD

8-27-2033:13:33:10: SukiSuki: Oh wow! You sluts well not believe wh0 just walk into the restaurant!!!1

8-27-2033:13:33:11: [[SukiSuki posted a picture to chat from her Pixie4G]]

Mi-Suk Connie Dong was having a bad day. Her supervisor, Jessica (the hostess), had convinced her boss, Mark (the owner), to have another "discussion" with her about the length of her skirt. This meant, in order not to be written up, she had to drop 5 gems on a [Get Off My Back!] on Girl Market. This cleared out her gem bank, which meant she wouldn't be able to pay her Team Dues on Monday unless she played Gem-Ladies like crazy today and tomorrow, risking insane punishments if she didn't focus!

Sighing, she continued answering phones, entering reservations into the computer and helping out Jessica with the front desk. Also, Jessica was not pleased that Mark, for some reason, had changed his mind about Connie's short-short skirt and that all her work needling him for the last two weeks to do something about it had been somehow undone in a second. She was, Connie had learned, convinced that she had been trading sexual favours to get her way with Mark, which was both gross and untrue. But it wasn't like she could explain she was using a near magical phone app of probably alien origin to mind control people, so, she just let the rumour run rampant through the restaurant, accepting the fact that her coworkers now considered her a whore for management.

If it was anyone other than Mark, she might have even been into the concept of being seen as the restaurant whore, however, as it was, the man was crude, dumpy, misogynistic and had serious personal hygiene issues. In front of the customers he was all smiles and just as reasonable as you pleased, in private, with the staff, he was an asshole who leered at the female staff. If he wasn't the owner of the franchise he would have been written up for his "lack of self presentation".

The regional manager, Susan Nierling, who was supposed to enforced the franchise code of conduct, sadly, was no help with dealing with Mark. Nierling was a well known drunk, **** addict and suspected embezzler (which Connie believed, seeing as she had seen her pulling up to the mall in at least three BMW cars this year alone). So, she dealt with the disgusting little man and her bitchy supervisor as best she could. As an assistant hostess, she was only allowed the tips that were given to her by the waiters personally, and had to essentially accept whatever scut work Jessica didn't want to deal with, up to and including helping out with tables and cleaning duties.

Currently, though, she was calling guests to confirm dinner reservations for that evening. This at least meant she could have her phone out, as the assistant hostess computer was on a small high table surrounded on three sides (back, front and left) by room dividers, giving her some privacy, except from Jessica, who's hostess station (the front desk) was immediately to her right about two meters. While this arrangement was meant to give Connie a view of the front for when she was needed, it was more used by Jessica to keep an eye on Connie. Jessica had, for a long time now, caught on that Connie did not wear panties under her scandalously short skirt, and was always looking askew at Connie to try to catch a glimpse of her naked pussy while she was sitting on the high barstool at the assistant hostess computer station. Doubtlessly so she could complain to Mark. This meant Connie had to sit with her thighs uncomfortably pressed together in order to hide her pussy from Jessica.

Connie's phone started to vibrate, indicating she was getting messages over Girl Market. Her SuccuLabs team, Green Gem Grrls, was having a chat about some naked ladies in the mall. But, more interesting to Connie was the fact that some new girl had been making out with her Mistress, Avery, this morning. And Connie had missed it!

SukiSuki: Wait! Who was kissin my grrl the mornign?

But no one was paying attention to her. Also, there had been a naked girl masturbating in the park this morning? What the hell! Connie thought. I missed every fucking sexy thing going on today!

Finally she was able to get Avery to tell her more details, but she still didn't feel any better. Then, Naomi, the team captain, started going off on the need to recruit these girls because she suspected they were Gem heads too, and they needed more members if they were ever going to take back Flick-It! territory in the school and start earning decent gems again. Since their original founding members had graduated last year, the team had been reduced to just six members: herself, Naomi Roth, Gemma Butler, Avery Smythe, Roshah James and Kulani Kealoha. And, among them, only Kulani was a serious Flick-It! player with her penchant for public masturbation.

Naomi was apparently on her way to the mall, but was strongly encouraging others to go look for these two naked women to assess them as new members, but Connie had just gotten on shift and wouldn't be off until 7.

Buzz buzz! Now Kulani was texting pics of her pussy to the team chat: sopping wet and pulled open by her fingers as she sat in the grass. She might have been on the campus sports-field, but more likely she was in some secluded corner of the park, cranking out an orgasm to claim a little low-level Flick-It! territory for the team. Connie held her phone with the back of it facing the front door of the restaurant so Jessica couldn't see her looking at nudes at work.

Coincidentally, looking up from her phone at just the right moment, she saw it. What were the odds that she would look to the front entrance of the restaurant just as two naked women were entering? And what were the odds that she would have her phone in just the right position to quickly snap a pic?

There was no way Jessica or Mark would allow them to be seated, Connie knew, knowing the strict policies of the franchise. And yet...

Jessica, the bitch, summoned Connie to the front desk by snapping her fingers repeatedly in her direction. Connie bit back a remark as she went out from behind her screen to stand at the main hostess station.

The shorter (but still somewhat tall) brown-haired girl was getting head pets from the taller blond-haired girl. The former was ignoring Connie, but the latter gave her a wink and a flirtatious air kiss in her direction. Connie gave the taller woman a smile back and said: "I love your outfit."

"Thank you," the tall blond woman said, using her other hand to grope the shorter woman's breasts! Right there in the restaurant!

Holy shit! Connie thought.

The shorter woman was completely ignoring everything outside of her phone, which she was feverishly poking and swiping at. It took Connie a moment to realize what she was doing but, when Mark came over, with Jessica, and Mark said he would seat the naked women, everything clicked in Connie's mind. The shorter woman was using Girl Market to manipulate her boss!

When Jessica took their party of four to their table, and Mark fucked off to whatever it was he had been doing before Jessica went and found him, Connie immediately posted the pic to the group chat.

Tropical_Slut: THATS HER! That';s the girl I saw masturbating in Founders Park this morning! The brunette!

SukiSuki: She just dropped a bunch of gems like it was nothing! To get boss to seat them naked!

Hearing Jessica's high heels clicking behind her, Connie put her phone down and tried to look attentive to her job. Jessica sounded pissed, which made Connie's fake customer service smile morph into a gleeful smile at her supervisor's distress.

"Connie, none of the servers want to deal with this party and I don't want to either - they're your problem now, go take their drink orders."

"Right away," Connie said, uncharacteristically cheery at having Jessica's work shoved onto her.

For some reason, this new app, "Girl Market", concerned me. As in, I found it "I may be complicit in the first stage of an alien invasion" type of concerning. This was a lot of power. A lot of power to bestow on one person. And now it could manipulate businesses around us? Why I was hung up on that thought, though, was illogical. I had already seen that the app could alter the perceptions of whole groups of people and make them rationalize any weird things around them. It was Orwellian, in a way. If anything, the fact that they could manage such specific changes to established business practices was a lesser feat than manipulating perception directly within the human brain.

But it was the level of sophistication that got to me, the fact that so many minds would have to be changed in such specific ways for such specific purposes. It started to feel like I was coming up to, finally, an idea of the scope of the app developer's intent, if not the intent itself.

"Nattie?" James said.

I realized that, after the hostess had seated us, I'd been staring off into nothing for a few minutes. My face must have looked concerned.

"Nattie, you okay?" James' face looked concerned as well, but his concern was clearly directed toward me.

"Oh, yeah, sorry, I was miles away," I shrugged and waved it off. "I just got a text from my mom when we were up at the front desk," I lied. I opened up the menu and began studying it.

"Is everything-" James started to ask.

"I don't want to talk about it," I said quickly, but softly. "If you don't mind." At this last part, I looked up from the menu and gave James a small smile that could either mean, "I'm sorry I snapped" or "please don't press me on this." Fortunately, I think he took it to mean both, because he nodded and started to look at his menu as well.

Returning to my thoughts, I realized there were three probable possibilities:

1) The aliens don't want to conquer us, but could if they wanted. Since the aliens' power was so great, they could easily conquer us, but didn't because that was not their intention.

2) The aliens do want to conquer us, but can't. The aliens' methods were impressive, but perhaps too power intensive to deploy on a large scale?

3) The aliens don't want to conquer us, and couldn't even if they wanted to. Again, even if they wanted to, their mind control effects might be highly localized and extremely energy intensive, whereas even humans had relatively low energy intensive ways of devastating or destroying civilizations: just drop an asteroid on the planet, one and done.

Of course, then I got into a lot of tangent speculation that had nothing to do with the app, and I started contemplating all sorts of logistical concerns with global conquests from space, when my phone buzzed and snapped me out of my panicked day dreams.

June: Whoa! Calm down, Nattie! We definitely do not want to conquer you! Our intentions are "economic" and "symbiotic", as you would say.

I blinked, not quite believing what I was seeing, and was almost entirely convinced that I had lost my mind and was hallucinating all of this now.

June: Also, yes, I can read your mind. You think we could change basic human perceptions, take total control of a human body but couldn't read your minds?

I typed back my answer.

N_Evescolt: Okay, that makes sense.

It did, in a way. But I typed another message.

N_Evescolt: Who are you?

June: I'm June! Duh! :D

N_Evescolt: I know, but what are you?

June: That's a bit of a rude question. :(

June: But no time for that now! You're waitress is a user of our other apps and saw you use the Effect on her boss. Connie: I think she's cool.

N_Evescolt: Okay, so... Is this bad? Good? Why are you telling me this?

June: Knowledge is power.

Oh, she was so reading my mind, now. That phrase was one of my favourites and she was using it just to manipulate me. The worst part? It sort of worked.

N_Evescolt: True.

June: So, just so you know, no other user in your region knows that Custom Girls exists. They use our other apps like Gem-Ladies and Girl Market and Flick-It! and SuccuLab OBN.

N_Evescolt: I have so many questions.

June: No time. Your waitress is coming over. Just know: they all start with gem bank caps of just 5 gems. Also, you have secret admin powers compared to them. Do with this info what you will. Ttyl!

And with that I looked back up at what was going on around me. We were seated at a round table designed for large parties, it could seat six and had six chairs. I was seated with my back to the patio (there were large ceiling-to-floor windows that showed the front of the mall and the little café style outdoor seating area they had outside) and facing the mall entrance. To my left was Cynthia, and there was no one seated to my right, or the seat to the right of that. James was on Cynthia's left, and Athena was seated to his left, with her back to the mall entrance, facing me and the patio behind me.

Also, I was completely naked and barefoot in a public restaurant. My stupid brain reminded me I should be embarrassed and I quickly opened my menu in front of me to hide my breasts, at least a little bit, and shuddered with the effort of stopping myself from hiding under the table.

"Hi! My name is Connie, I'll be taking care of you all today," said the short, cute, Asian waitress. "How are you all doing?" She open-hand gestured toward Cynthia and I. "I have to say, ladies, I am loving your natural style!"

"Why thank you, again!" Cynthia said, apparently feeling confident enough now to playfully shake her breasts at the server. I blinked with surprise but was unable to take my eyes off the lovely jiggling masses of chest fat for longer than I'd like to admit.

"Awright!" Connie said in response to Cynthia's jiggle and did a little dance herself, shaking her hips from side to side. She had really nice hips, wide and perfectly curved with pleasantly thicc thighs, and she was wearing a really short skirt... Was she... flirting with us? Or just having fun? Or both? "Can I get you all started with some drinks?"

"Uh, could I get a Budweiser?" Cynthia said.

"Sure."

"I'll have a Corona, uh, Premier. I'm, uh, trying to lose weight," James admitted.

"I think, um, you're a nice weight, James," Athena attempted a complement.

"Yeah, he's got that sexy 'dad bod' thing going," Cynthia teased, turning to look side-eyed at me and give her head a little shake as if to say "I'm kidding, I don't think he's sexy".

I gave Cynthia a little snicker in response.

"Yeah," Athena said, missing Cynthia's sarcasm. "See, James, dad bods are sexy. That is, to say, um..." she blushed, realizing she had just called her crush sexy in public. Also she was still absentmindedly scratching at her body, the dress making her feel uncomfortable physically.

As the conversation continued, Cynthia giving James a hard time, Athena not noticing Cynthia giving James a hard time, and James just trying to change the topic away from his weight, clearly regretting bringing it up in the first place, I was starting to get mad.

I hate it when people start to have conversations when the servers are standing there trying to get everyone's order. It's not like she doesn't have other things to do. People said I was bad at picking up on social cues, but even I recognize this was super rude behaviour.

I turned to Connie and gave her an apologetic shrug. "Can I get an Irish coffee, please?"

Connie bent down at the waist to whisper in my ear, "I notice you and your friend don't have your wallets with you?"

I held up my phone. "I've got PhonePay."

"Yeah, but you don't look like you have your IDs on you. I'm gonna need to check your IDs."

Oh shit, I thought. According to the app, Cynthia and Athena were 21, and I'm pretty sure James was too, having gone to high school with Cynthia, but I was still 18. I'd had good luck not getting carded at restaurants in the past, but...

"Well, you see-" I started, but Connie interrupted me.

"I know you just dropped a bunch of gems on something to get Mark to allow you in here naked, but it's just two Gems for an [Of Course I'm 21] on Girl Market."

I blinked at her. Even though June had given me a heads up, it was still surprising to hear, in a way, also, I might have been playing up my surprise a little bit, wanting to seem more shocked than I was. Ultimately I hadn't decided whether I wanted to keep my supposed special status a secret from what was, apparently, a community of app users. But, until I figured that out, I decided to keep my options open by hiding information about Custom Girls and my "admin" status.

"Don't look so surprised, I saw you using Girl Market up front. Do you have any gems left, girl?"

"Yes," I said carefully. But then: "If you know I'm going to whammy you with the app, why don't you just not card us?"

"Because maybe my boss and certainly the bartender are going to be watching me, and the Effect is more for them and any ABC inspectors who might be skulking around."

"Okay, makes sense," I said slowly.

"Hey, what are you two whispering about," Cynthia said, pulling out of her conversation and breaking into ours.

"Oh, I was just telling your friend about some tasty things she can eat here," Connie said as she leaned across me to whisper toward Cynthia. "Like my pussy." She made a kissy face at Cynthia and gave her a wink.

I blinked. Then I yelped as, because Connie was leaning in front of me, she could surreptitiously grope my breasts with one hand. This, combined with the fact that Cynthia was stroking my thigh under the table, was starting to get me worked up again.

"Oh, is it good?" Cynthia said at a normal volume.

"Oh yes!" Connie said, no longer whispering and standing up straight. "I've been told it's very delicious. Perhaps you'd like it for dessert?"

Snapping out of my arousal induced stupor, I realized that this was the perfect distraction to buy the Effect Connie had mentioned. I opened Girl Market and found it after a moment's searching:

[Of Course I'm 21]. 2 gems.
One time use. Makes management and staff at the closest business that serves **** believe they have already checked your ID and that you are within legal drinking age. This affects you, and everyone currently in your party, for three hours starting when you activate the Effect through the Hotkey menu.

Confirm 2 gem purchase?

[Confirm]

I looked back up at the conversation. Cynthia and Connie were now apparently flirting and making James and Athena blush.

Seeing this, Connie asked Athena what she wanted to drink. She asked for an ice-tea.

"Alright! Our specials today-Whoops!" Connie intentionally dropped her pen over her shoulder, causing it to clatter to the ground behind her. "Just a second."

She turned around on the spot and bent over at the waist to pick up the pen, mooning all four of us as her super short skirt rose up and we had an unobstructed view of her hairless, puffy Asian pussy and a nearly unobstructed view of her naked ass.

Standing back up and turning back to face us, Cynthia told her. "Mm, you're right, that does look good."

"I know, right?" Connie gave her the biggest, cheesiest smile, followed by putting her thumb to her face and biting it a little bit. Then she was writing something down on a page from her little notebook as she was talking. "Like I was saying, the specials today are Eggplant Parmesan and Grilled Calamari Steak with Lemon Caper sauce, and I'll be right back with your drinks to take your order, alright?" She handed Cynthia a piece of paper before heading off to place our drink order.

Cynthia showed me the paper, revealing the words "Connie" with a little heart dotting the "i" and a phone number. With the hand that was groping me under the table, Cynthia gave my leg a little squeeze as she wiggled her eyebrows at me. I nodded yes at the implication and smiled back.

"Hey, James, you think you can hold onto this for me? I don't have pockets right now," she showed James the scrap of paper.

After that, lunch went more or less smoothly, or as smoothly as it could given I was constantly trying to either hide or grope myself, Cynthia's right hand was almost constantly either petting, caressing or groping me, and our waitress was shamelessly flirting with Cynthia and I every time she came to check on us. The Calamari Steak special didn't seem that special to me, it was chewy, meaning it had been overdone. But the lemon-caper sauce was alright.

The Irish Coffee, however, was done to perfection. Hot hot coffee under cold, thick cream, with real Irish whiskey. Just like my mom makes them.

Keeping one ear to the conversation, and making sure I gave at least simple responses and asking the occasional question to show I wasn't ignoring my new friends, I began going through the apps, checking the time left in the Bonus Challenge, browsing products and services on Girl Market, and looking at the profiles of "Girls Within Range."

Our waitress's profile, in particular, caught my eye for several reasons:

Name: Mi-Suk Connie Dong
Screen Name: SukiSuki
Age: 20 Gender: Female
Height: 5'5" Weight: 122 lbs
Cup Size: B Cups (34B)
Measurements: 36-26-39
Kinsey Scale: 4
Relationship Status: Part of a Poly Set
Dom/sub Alignment: Switch
Favourite Kinks: Exhibitionism/Voyeurism, Orgasm Denial, Pet Play
Hobbies: Mixology, German Expressionist Cinema, Baking
Groups: Not Yet Available
Current Arousal Level: 81%
Current Activity: Working
Apps Owned: Gem-Ladies, Girl Market, Flick-It!, Gem Cams, Gem Pets
Bank: 0/7 gems, 217 tokens, 2310 GG-points
Hotkeys:

• [Heel, Girl!] - (Gem Pets; MistressAvy)
• [Down, Girl!] - (Gem Pets; MistressAvy)
• [Collar] - (Gem Pets; MistressAvy, ToppBitch1)

Customizations:

• [Can't Wear Panties] - (Team Uniform)
• [Can't Wear Bras] - (Team Uniform)
• [Only Wear Skirt] - (Team Uniform)
• [Only ≤ 6" Skirts] - (Team Uniform)
• [Bend at Waist] - (Team Rule)
• [STD Immunity] - (Bonus - Girl Market)
• [Fearless Flash] - (Bonus - Girl Market)
• [Tight and Curvy] - (Bonus - Girl Market)
• [Bald Pussy] - (Bonus - Girl Market)
• [Sexy Waitress] - (Bonus - Girl Market)
• [Pets to Points] - (Bonus - Gem Pets)
• [All You Can Eat] - (Punishment - Gem-Ladies)
• [As Above, So Below] - (Punishment - Gem-Ladies)
• [Balanced Breakfast] - (Punishment - Gem-Ladies)
• [Oral Sex Study] - (Punishment - Gem-Ladies)
• [Always On Edge] - (Punishment - Gem-Ladies)
• [Walkies] - (Bonus - Gem Pets)

The most interesting thing was that Connie already had a ton of customizations! And, next to each one, was a modifier: Team, Punishment, Bonus. Next to Punishment and Bonus customizations, it also listed the app it was, apparently, from. Next to team it listed "Rules" or "Uniform", leading me to believe that, for whatever app, there was apparently a team she was part of, and everyone had to adhere to these customizations to be members of it? Or, members of a certain standing did? It wasn't clear, but I could make some assumptions.

She also had Hotkeys, all of which had what looked like usernames attached to them. Also, Connie seemed to have a username of her own in her profile information.

Further, I could see Connie's bra size (not just her cup size) and her measurements listed in her profile information. Switching over to another girl's profile, I saw that their profile still did not list this information. Also showing up in her profile, that weren't in other profiles on the list, were fields for Bank (which showed gems and, presumably other in-app currencies) and Apps Owned.

I could only assume that these differences from other profiles stemmed from the fact that they were also users of SuccuLabs apps.

Yet, my profile hadn't looked like this when I...

On a whim I switched over to my profile page using the options menu icon in the upper left of the screen.

That's when I learned that it had, in fact, changed:

Name: Natalia Evescolt
Screen Name(s): N_Evescolt / SLMod372118
Age: 18 Gender: Female
Height: 5'8" Weight: 135 lbs
Cup Size: D Cups (32D)
Measurements: 36-24-35
Kinsey Scale: 4
Relationship Status: Single (Pending)
Dom/sub Alignment: Switch
Favourite Kinks: Sadomasochism, Exhibitionism/Voyeurism, BDSM
Hobbies: Reading (Erotica, Scientific Non-Fiction), Fabrication/Model Building, Documenting/Cataloguing
Groups: Not Yet Available
Current Arousal Level: 77%
Current Activity: Using Custom Girls
Apps Owned: Custom Girls, Girl Market, SuccuLabs Regional Moderator App
Bank: 7/105 gems, 0 tokens
Custom Challenges:

• [Exhibition Arousal] - DOUBLE POWER COMBO!
• [Embarrassed by Nudity] - DOUBLE POWER COMBO!
• [Total Nudity] - POWER COMBO!
• [Can't Cum Alone] - POWER COMBO!
• [Idle Hands]
• [Streakin' Saturday!] - Bonus Challenge!

Punishments:

• None

Bonuses:

• [Legal Nudity] - TEMPORARY
• [Resist Mindbreak]
• [Willing Partners]
• [Arousal Regeneration]
• [Mind Break Gem Reward]
• [Sensitive Butt]
• [STD Immunity]

The common denominator seemed to be, most prominently, the fact that I had become a user of the "Girl Market" app, an app Connie also seemed to use.

That's as far as I got in my examinations before I yelped and dropped my phone onto my plate. "Eeek!"

"Oh wow! That sound was so cute!" Cynthia was laughing, having caused me to make the sound by pinching my butt, which I had exposed to her wandering hands as I leaned forward in my chair.

Athena was giggling as well. "It was sort of cute," she admitted. This girl seemed to have hidden layers of mischief to her, I'd have to remember that and explore this further.

However, at the moment, I was more concerned with wiping lemon-caper sauce off of my phone with my napkin. Glancing down at my phone, and my profile, as I cleaned my phone, I noticed my arousal level had jumped up to 85%, and it was becoming a little hard to concentrate on anything that didn't involve fingers in my pussy and/or rubbing my clit. It took me a moment to realize I had, while I was focusing on keeping my hands busy, opened my legs without thinking and now Cynthia's exploring hand was drifting up my inner thigh.

When it touched my pussy I couldn't suppress a moan, and clamped my thighs shut, trapping Cynthia's hand in my crotch.

Looking up, I saw some people at other tables were stealing glances at us, some disapproving, some looking impressed or excited. I had to put my phone down and cover my breasts with both arms, feeling their eyes on me.

"I know you like having my hand down there," Cynthia whispered into my ear. "But can I have my hand back, please?"

I leaned back in my chair and opened my legs to allow Cynthia to remove her hand. Before Cynthia completely removed her hand, however, she took advantage of my new level of exposure to give my swollen, wet vulva a slap, which made me shout and release another loud moan. "S-sorry!" I said to James and Athena, biting my lip. Both of whom were looking both embarrassed and bemused. "I'm sort of worked up still, from..."

James was giving me what I'm sure he hoped were subtle head shakes and body gestures towards Athena. I could only assume he thought I was going to mention our playtime where Marcie unloaded both his and Roy's loads upon her face. Was he really worried about letting this cutie know that he was having sexy fun time with others? Was he that square and heteronormative?

"... earlier." I said, placating him.

I'd have to do something about this. Forcing one arm away from my breasts, so I could use my phone, sitting up straight with my legs closed, trying my best to focus through my arousal and the fact that Cynthia was petting my hair, I opened up Athena's profile. I found what I was looking for under the "Mind" tab:

[Communal Sex]. 15 gems.
This Custom Girl is not only polyamorous but will treat sex as a fun group activity to enjoy with friends. NOTE: Does not necessarily make CG an exhibitionist.

The problem was, it was expensive... Checking the "Girls in Range" window again, I scrolled through until I found Connie again, and purchased a 1 gem [Bald Below Eyebrows] for her. Seeing as she already had [Bald Pussy], I assumed she liked being hairless below the neck. Instead of the normal confirmation popup, however, I got the following:

It looks like this Customization will replace a currently active Bonus, [Bald Pussy]. By default, other users of SuccuLabs apps cannot see Custom Girls customizations, and they will appear invisible to the CG in their view of their profile. Though you can customize what your CG sees in their profile, through your SuccuLabs Regional Moderator App (SRM), for right now, she will still see [Bald Pussy] on her profile page in place of [Bald Below Eyebrows]. Would you like to continue?

I hit the confirm button on this popup, and was immediately given another popup telling me that, since I now had 5 custom girls, I had been awarded another 10 gems.

COLLECTOR OF CUSTOM GIRLS
Customize at least three different girls: COMPLETED! 10 GEMS AWARDED
Customize at least five different girls: COMPLETED! 10 GEMS AWARDED
Customize at least 10 different girls: 5/10. 15 GEM AWARD + New Feature Unlock

This, of course, gave me 16 gems to work with now, which was just barely enough to purchase [Communal Sex] for Athena. I left her awareness of this turned off, in order to ensure a seamless personality adjustment.

"Mm, you know, Athena, speaking of earlier..." James was making panicked gestures at me. The look of distress on his face was really cute! "James and I were part of this amazing little orgy earlier, he really has an amazing cock."

James slouched in his seat, looking defeated, and his head rolled on his neck to look at Athena, a look of sadness, loss and resignation on his face.

"Oh, um, wow, that's so cool!" Athena, as adorable as ever, had not stopped blushing from when she heard me moan, but was now smiling as well, putting her fists to her chin with excitement. "What did you guys do?" She leaned forward, enraptured by the idea of hearing about our sexy fun times.

James looked confused.

"Yeah, what did you do?" Cynthia said, addressing James with a frown.

"Oh, he and Roy were so nice!" I continued, realizing I could distress both Cynthia and James at once now! "After we got back to the apartment. Marcie, that's my roommate, really needed to suck some cock, so Roy offered to let her suck his, and, after watching them play for a bit, James was nice enough to pitch in some cum to make Marcie's facial a proper little bukkake splatter!"

"Oh wow!" Athena turned to James. "That's so cool, James!"

"Uh... uhhhh" said James, apparently forgetting how to make word sounds.

Cynthia was trying her best to tune out of the conversation, indulgently just petting me and concentrating on finishing the last of her food.

"And then! And then!" I said breathlessly enthusing about our little sex party. "James pet my hair as Roy spanked my ass hard for a long time until I passed out and it was so nice!"

"Oh my god!" Athena giggled. "James, uh, do you, um... do you, that is... um... do you l-like spanking girls too...?"

"Uhh..." James answered.

I whispered into Cynthia's ear. "Oh no, please kick him! He's blowing this!"

Casually, Cynthia punched him in the shoulder.

"OW!" James snapped out of it. "Why'd you do that!"

I wanted to ask Cynthia that same question, why she had outright punched him rather than subtly kicking him under the table, but, instead I said: "James, you're being rude, Athena is asking you if you'd like to spank her naked butt sometime."

"WHAT?" James and Athena both looked at me in surprise.

"I can read between the lines," I said.

"Nattie, I don't think she-"

"Um!" Athena interrupted James. "Ac-Actually, um... James... I'd, uh, sort of (you know)... um... like that. If you, that is, would be, um..."

"Oh! Uh, sure!" James said.

I loosened the grip I had on Cynthia's arm I didn't even realize I'd been grabbing and sighed with relief. Cynthia patted my head.

This match making stuff was hard!

After lunch was done, and Athena and James actually got to talking about their likes and dislikes when it came to sex play (so cute!), Cynthia and James ordered a second round of beers and Athena ordered a vodka-cranberry cocktail. I stuck with water. Near the end of their drinks, Connie came over to offer another round. Cynthia turned to James and Athena, eyes enquiring. When they shook their heads she turned back to Connie and said. "No, I think we're good."

"Okay, I'm just gonna leave this here for whenever you're ready, no rush," she set a check down in the middle of the table.

"Thanks," I said, earning a smile from the waitress.

"Heh," Connie said, leaning in toward me. "Can I ask you: are you En-underscore-Evescolt on Girl Market?"

"What's Girl Market?" Cynthia cut me off before I could respond.

"Uh... It's a nerdy hook-up app," I lied. "And yes, that's me."

"Do you mind if I send you a friend request?" Connie winked at me.

"Of course! I mean, yes, go ahead."

"Thanks, girl!" She blew me a kiss before walking off, making sure to lift her skirt for me for a moment as she walked away, giving me a nice little view of her butt cheeks. What's more, as she strode away, the light caught her just right so that it reflected off the juices running down her inner thigh.

"I like her," Cynthia said before finishing her beer. I watched Connie walk away from our table and up to the bar, where she had a brief conversation with a woman in a skimpy outfit. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but the woman at the bar looked toward me briefly, Connie nodded to something the woman said, and then, in response to something else the woman said, flagged down the bartender.

"Hey, Nattie? Earth to Natalia?" Cynthia was saying. I hadn't heard them (or noticed I was groping my own breasts) as I was watching Connie and the woman at the bar.

"What's up?" I turned back to them.

"We were asking where we should go from here?" Cynthia caught me up.

"Um, shoe shopping?" I suggested.

"Oh, the shoe store here has a sale on!" Athena suggested.

"Sounds good to me, me and my aching feet," Cynthia said.

"Excuse me," Connie said, coming up behind me. Turning, I saw she was carrying another Irish Coffee.

"Uh, I didn't order that," I informed her.

"Oh, I know. Complements from the lady at the bar." She gestured over her shoulder toward the bar.

Looking, I saw the woman looking straight at me and giving me a wave.

"She's actually a friend of mine at school and on Girl Market. And..." she leaned in to whisper into my ear. "She'd really like to talk to you for a minute. Please?" She stood up straight and looked down at me imploringly.

"Thank you," I said, taking the Irish Coffee.

"So, shoe shopping, then?" Cynthia asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah. I just need to talk to someone real quick," I said, standing up with my Irish Coffee. "Oh, can I settle the check?" I asked Connie, holding up my phone.

"Of course!" Connie held out a pay-pad. I put my phone over it until it beeped. "Thank you!" She flounced off, happily.

"I'll be right back, guys." I sipped my Irish Coffee as I walked off to the bar, naked and barefoot, with no idea who was waiting for me.

Gems Remaining: 1
Total Gems Spent: 185
Lifetime Total Gems: 186
Average Gems Earned/Day: 88

Girls Customized: 5
Achievements Unlocked: 17
Orgasm Count: 43

Custom Girl Investment Tracker:
Marcie Klein: 118 gems
Cynthia Miar: 30 gems
Athena ****: 23 gems
Dr. Stella van Olsbracht: 1 gem
Mi-Suk Connie Dong: 1 gem

[[If you are enjoying this branch, please consider Liking and leaving a comment - they really motivate me to keep writing! XD Also, please feel absolutely free to leave any edits, questions, criticism or suggestions! I love those too. <3<3<3]]