The Serious Stuff

“What’s Mr. Hoffman been up to?” Viv asks.

“That’s the thing we’re worried about.” Cassie tells Viv ominously. “He’s not doing anything.” Cassie informs Viv.

“Not that we know of, anyway.” You add to clarify.

“Well, that’s not good.” Viv immediately reacts.

“Wait, how’d you figure that so quickly?” Tanya asks.

“I haven’t had much interaction with Mr. Hoffman in the past, but that man doesn’t take a ‘no’ lying down.” Viv answers Tanya.

“Reminds me of that douchebag from last night.” Stella comments. “I mean, I called him ‘Harvey Weinstein’ to his face and he still didn't get the hint.” Stella adds, effectively cutting off Cassie from continuing.

“You did say he was gay. So maybe he responds to ‘Kevin Spacey’ more?” Viv suggests.

“Tangent.” Brooke interjects, to get the two to stop interrupting Cassie; and the two nod and quiet down after Brooke’s reminder.

“You were updating Viv that we’re in the dark with what Mr. Hoffman’s doing.” Tanya reminds Cassie where she left off.

“Right, and like Viv correctly pointed out, that’s not good.” Cassie answers. “Becca, Mom, Jay, and I agree that him not having taken any of the obvious actions last night is both weird and definitely worse for us.” Cassie adds.

“What actions were you expecting him to make anyway?” Viv asks.

“Well, call mom again to talk, for one. Go to this hotel or at least check with the personnel if she’s still here, would be another. Based on what we can gather, he hasn’t done either. Becca even checked with one of her trusted staff if Mr. Hoffman made a call to check if mom was still here, but… yeah. Nothing.” Cassie updates.

“So yeah, we at least expected him to try those two. At least, if his purpose of coming back here from Vegas in a rush was to threaten my mom.” Cassie adds.

“You worded that as if that’s not what you think is happening anymore.” Viv observes.

“I was called naive for this earlier, but I suggested maybe he’s sticking to Plan B, and just letting Becca stay away from Jay until they don’t bother dating; which is good for us since the trait Jay plans to buy basically fixes that.” Tanya informs Viv.

“Yeah~, I don’t think Mr. H is gonna just take the L, T.” Viv shrugs off the suggestion, similar to what you guys thought when she first suggested it before Viv arrived.

“What Tanya’s hoping for is the best case scenario though, and the one that I hope is what’s happening too.” You say in support of Tanya, who just gestures with her hand to move the conversation along; as she understands that if her idea is the best case scenario, then it’s not worth discussing further. Plus, she knows that’s probably not even possible anymore.

“That being said, there’s a development that would suggest Mr. Hoffman didn’t take Sylvie’s actions lightly and would definitely be up to something because of it.” You add, before informing them of Mr. Hoffman’s most recent score when you checked this morning.

- Hoffman, Aviel - Affection Score: -43 (Previously: ??)

“Oof.” Viv reacts. The others have heard about the score earlier, so they have a more subdued reaction, but they all understand the gravity of that score.

“So he thinks it’s your fault that Cassie’s mom sided with us?” Viv asks.

“Becca suggested as much. The blame has to go somewhere.” You answer Viv.

“Thankfully, Dad’s app has a way to see what time scores change.” Cassie informs Viv.

“Woah, woah, woah. Timeout.” Viv says in reaction, even making a T with her hands. “His app can do what?” Viv asks.

“It can pinpoint when someone’s score changes.” Cassie repeats.

“Why is that a big deal?” Tanya asks. “If you ask me, that’s not enough. It should just tell you outright what caused the positive change, and what causes a negative one. It’s already magic anyway.” Tanya adds.

“Where’s the fun in that though?” Viv asks. “I mean, would you rather piece it together you maxed someone’s score because they were eavesdropping through the walls, or have it outright tell you it’s because they heard you fuck your girlfriends so good she couldn’t control herself?” Viv asks teasingly, her eyes towards Brooke.

“You want to say something to me, V?” Brooke threateningly asks Viv, who raises her hands in response.

“I’m just saying, I did laundry yesterday, and the sheets never lie.” Viv replies with a wink.

“TANGENT!” Brooke shouts in annoyance, getting Viv to laugh at her success.

“Okay.” You interject calmly, to get Viv and Brooke to calm down again and get the conversation back on track. “So, yeah, I checked the time. He stopped being confused and became pretty sure he hated me around the time Brooke and I arrived at the hotel. I checked with Becca, and she said that meant his flight arrived in the city a couple of hours already by that point.” You inform Viv.

“I retract my joke and agree with T that knowing specifics would definitely be better in this scenario.” Viv comments.

“Yeah. I think we all agree with that.” Brooke concurs.

“That being said, I tried gathering more clues from the app.” You continue. “What I found is that the app updated its most recommended traits for Mr. Hoffman, Becca, and Cassie, and certain traits coincide for all three of them.” You then add, before reading the most recommended traits of the app for you to buy.

Supportive Parents (25 Friendship Points): The person with this trait will increase the probability in which their parents support their life choices, accommodate their request for favors, and agree with their decisions.

A trait you can safely assume you have to buy for both Becca and Cassie, in order to get their father to support your possible relationship with both of them outside of the problem of potential **** that’s to be addressed by Family Comes First.

Unfortunately, Becca’s on the fence of you buying this trait for her as she doesn’t want to earn her father’s respect and understanding that way. A reason you definitely didn’t want to argue with, so you agreed when she said hold off on buying that one for her just yet, but she highly recommends you buy it for Cassie already.

Family Comes First (200 Love Points and 200 Lust Points): Everyone will not be bothered if you pursue romantic and/or sexual relationships between immediate family members or those who are of closely related kin. Through your relationship with either family member, your related partners will not be bothered to have a sexual relationship with each other when with you.

One of the common most recommended traits for all three of them… for obvious reasons.

No More Enemies (150 Friendship Points): People can’t seem to hate you. Friendly interactions are even more effective on people with negative scores and red progress bars deplete slowly over time to a maximum score of zero (0).

A trait you assume you buy for yourself in order to get Mr. Hoffman back to not hating you, or back to neutral at least.

“Okay, yeah, all of those make sense; but not exactly surprising.” Viv reacts upon hearing the traits.

“We all came to that conclusion too.” Tanya tells Viv.

“That’s when you came in.” Stella adds.

“Wait… so we don’t know anything!?” Viv reacts in surprise.

“Pretty much.” Brooke answers Viv, finishing her cup of coffee.

“Jay was about to say something though, before you freaked the fuck out of my kids.” Tanya informs Viv, and reminds everyone where the conversation was before she arrived.

“Right. About that. You girls noticed how I read the app recommendations?” You ask everyone, most shake their heads except Cassie who nods.

“Is that the order the app recommends the traits now?” Cassie asks.

“For you and Becca, ‘Supportive Parents’ takes the top spot. Mr. Hoffman’s most recommended is No More Enemies; but all three of you have Family Comes First at the number two spot.” You answer Cassie.

“So~... what?” Viv asks.

“It means Jay needs to farm more points.” Cassie points out.

“A hundred for each, if I did my math right.” You continue, after nodding to Cassie’s answer.

“That’s 500 Lust Points if we’re going the conversion route.” Cassie informs everyone, getting Viv to do a low whistle when she hears it.

“I met the two girls that Becca asked me to introduce you to at the club last night. Both of them are club sluts. You’ll get points out of them easily.” Viv informs the group.

“Club sluts?” Brooke asks, unable to hide the judginess in her tone.

“Basically subs with no doms that go to the club to be dommed by anyone. The two girls are volunteers, so you can relax about that. Becca was aware of your unwillingness to do it with paid help so she didn’t get any of the maids to do it.” Viv informs you.

“Maids? Stella asks.

“They’re just glorified waitresses, but you can dom them for a price or if they like you enough.” Viv answers.

“What the fuck is this club?” Stella asks in reaction, and you can’t help but look guiltily at everyone due to the topic of conversation.

“Relax, lover boy.” Brooke says, squeezing your thigh as she does. “We’ve all agreed to this already. Remember?” Brooke reminds you, and you give her an appreciative smile and remind yourself of that fact too.

“Let’s say Papi does max those girls out, we’re still 300 points behind.” Tanya chimes in.

“I can buy Family Comes First from that. We can take—” You try to assure them, but Cassie interrupts you.

“No. You’re going to have to save the Friendship Points you already have for Supportive Parents and No More Enemies. You shouldn’t convert those points to buy Family Comes First. It’s inefficient.” Cassie reminds you, and you realize she has a point. It’ll be inefficient if you convert those points to Love Points when you’re going to need them anyway. You also realize how much she sounded like Becca just now.

“I have an idea.” Stella chimes in.

“Are you going to volunteer Paige again?” Brooke jokingly asks.

“Uh~” Stella pauses, glancing at Cassie, then back at Brooke, then towards you before continuing her thought. “What’s Chad’s Affection Score, Dad?” Stella asks you. You check the app to see Chad’s score… - Friedman, Chadwick - Affection Score: 41 … but before you could tell the group how close Chad’s score is to giving you points —

“Wait… Chad? You mean Meathead?” Viv asks in confusion.

“It’s killing two birds with one stone!” Stella argues. “If Dad cucks him, it might increase how much he likes Dad enough to give Friendship points. Plus, he can get Lust Points from —” Stella tries to explain before a shout of protest comes from right beside you.

“NO! FUCK NO! ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY NOT!”