Viv and Maddy have an Existential Crisis

“Viv! Come here! I want to show you something.” Maddy calls out to Viv while they were alone in Jay’s apartment. “I need you to keep this a secret from the rest before we figure out what’s happening.” Maddy warns her.

“Okay. Sure… but what is happening exactly?” Viv asks her, while standing over her shoulder.

“I recently stumbled upon a website that’s been chronicling Jay’s story — our story — since he got the app.” Maddy informs Viv.

“What!? For real? Let me see!” Viv reacts, before sitting next to Maddy to look at her laptop’s screen.

…

“Maddy… is this… why are the ads on this website porn?” Viv asks Maddy with a raised eyebrow. Maddy blushes deep red in embarrassment. “Are you reading porn on the internet!?” Viv asks her with amused laughter.

“What? Don’t judge me! You’re the one who introduced me to erotica in the first place!” Maddy says defensively.

“Uh-uh! Don’t gaslight me, Maddy. You told me you read Fifty Shades before we even met.” Viv corrects her.

“That wasn’t erotica! That was just horrendously written fan fiction.” Maddy argues.

“You just described the majority of online erotica.” Viv replies, making Maddy kind of nod in agreement.

“Okay, point taken; but from what I’ve read, our story with Jay is part of the minority — OW!” Maddy says before hearing an undulating high pitched whistle that causes her to react in pain.

“What happened!? Oh my God, your nose is bleeding!” Viv reacts before grabbing some tissues to help Maddy wipe the blood off her nose.

“I think … ugh… the universe is warning me not to… ugh… masturbatorily compliment the story we’re involved in.” Maddy says in between snorts while her nose is stuffed with a tissue.

Viv starts reading the released chapters of Jay’s story on Maddy’s laptop while Maddy recovers from her nosebleed.

...

“Wait, where’s the rest of it? Is this the latest chapter? Holy crap. This thing’s way behind. We both haven’t even slept with Jay yet in this part of the story!” Viv reacts upon finishing, and seeing that the next chapter is a Branch Update and not an actual story chapter.

Viv clicks on it, and she and Maddy proceed to read the author addressing his readers; informing them that he’s taking another break for the holidays.

“Look! He linked a review of Jay’s story. Let’s check that out!” Maddy tells Viv.

“Aren’t you the least bit—” Viv wanted to ask about who this mysterious author was that was chronicling their life story, before hearing a high-pitched whistle as well. Thankfully, she stopped herself before it made her nose bleed. “Okay~, so no fourth wall breaking questions too. Got it, universe.” Viv reacts.

“Marcie and Gina read CHYOA.” Maddy reads aloud. “Let’s see what they think.” Maddy adds.

*READING IN PROGRESS*

“You’re the one who just finished reading every released chapter so far, what do you think? Was their review accurate?” Maddy asks Viv.

“I agree with most of it, yeah. They didn’t lie about the slow burn. Plus, the first chapter was Jay’s inner thoughts about committing suicide before Stella and Cassie arrived. That is a pretty heavy start for a supposedly lighthearted story.” Viv answers honestly.

“True, but you have to start there to establish that the app is only gifted to those with the worst luck, don’t you? Plus, if the author chronicling our story ever gets to the point about how the app is connected to the cause of that bad luck in the first place, it’ll make sense eventually.” Maddy defends against Viv’s point.

“I don’t disagree since I know what’ll happen. Still, I can’t fault them for thinking it was a pretty heavy way to start a story that’s ultimately about Jay fucking us.” Viv answers honestly.

“That’s kind of oversimplifying our story, isn't it? Jay’s use of the app isn’t even really for him to get to sleep with us.” Maddy argues.

“Yet our story is on a porn site, Maddy. I think those are reasonable expectations for the readers of our story to have.” Viv argues right back. “Besides, doesn’t that kind of prove their point that the app isn’t really integral to Jay’s story? Because he doesn’t need to use it to sleep with us?” Viv asks.

“The app isn’t integral to his story, but it’s integral to ours. My family’s reconciliation being one of them. Stella being able to act on her feelings for her dad without guilt. Becca being able to —” Maddy started arguing before being warned again by the universe with the high pitched whistle. “Okay, no spoilers for what hasn’t happened in the published story yet. Understood, universe.” Maddy explains to Viv why she suddenly stopped listing how the traits from the app have helped in their stories.

“You mentioned something these two dumbos got wrong about the story they’ve read so far too. They thought it was Jay lusting over Stella and not the other way around. How could they compliment Jay’s inner struggle about not wanting to cross that line with Stella and still miss the entire point that it was Stella that wanted to cross that line with him?” Viv observes.

“To be fair to their point, one of the reasons Jay caved was because Stella is stupidly hot. That’s basically Jay lusting over Stella, isn’t it?” Maddy argues.

“Stella is stupidly hot.” Viv just echoes, seemingly missing the second sentence that supports Marcie and Gina’s point.

“What I noticed is that they have this misconception that the app is just a brainwashing thing in its entirety, and not something that just amplifies emotions that we feel for Jay anyway.” Maddy shares her observation with Viv.

“Well, that’s the app in its base form only. An amplifier… nay, a multiplier; but Jay’s trait catalogue is a bit of a brainwashing machine if you think about it. These two have a point that with any other person doing the ****, we’d be disgusted; just not if it’s Jay because he has the trait that makes everybody think that’s normal for him.” Viv points out.

“I guess that’s why we don’t find the incestuous undertones in the beginning chapters as weird as Marcie and Gina?” Maddy theorizes.

“Probably.” Viv replies with apathy. “I don’t really care about what they think about that anyway. I’m more interested in the overcorrection they did in their review of the writing.” Viv adds.

“What overcorrection?” Maddy asks.

“They said the author of our story is too verbose, but overcorrected by missing a few words for their point to make sense.” Viv answers. “I quote —

While it is for the most part adequate, I did feel a bit too verbose at times.

Doesn’t that mean she felt verbose and not that the writing was verbose? Words aren’t expensive. You can use more of them so you actually make sense, dummy. HA! Got ‘em!” Viv shouts, to the unamused look of Maddy.

“I think that was just a typo.” Maddy logically argues.

“No! It’s not a typo. They went to the Kevin Malone school of writing, and you can’t tell me otherwise.” Viv says defiantly.

“Who’s Kevin Malone and why is his school of writing a bad thing?” Maddy asks Viv, not understanding the reference.

“Not important.” Viv quickly replies.

“Besides, isn’t that just a compliment to their efficient way of writing? You still understood what they meant anyway.” Maddy teases Viv.

“I still understand ‘Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick’, but it doesn’t mean the guy who said it isn’t a fucking idiot.” Viv counterpoints. “Besides, I’m just trying to prop up our guy’s writing of our story so maybe the universe will allow me to ask what the fuck is going on with this Stranger Than Fiction scenari — OW!” Viv shouts in pain after breaking the rules about the fourth wall once more.

Maddy hands Viv the box of tissues so Viv can stuff her nosebleed too.

“Okay, I’ll just accept the fact that people know our story and that someone’s chronicling it for us. No big deal. Not a worldview shattering revelation at all.” Viv says while her nose is stuffed with tissues.

“Marcie and Gina are from a different CHYOA story too, and they don’t seem to mind that they’re life has been chronicled.” Maddy points out to Viv.

“How come YOU don’t seem to mind that some creepy pervert is writing about our life story?” Viv asks in incredulity.

“Oh, I mind a lot. I just don’t want my brain to explode by saying it out loud.” Maddy admits.

“So~… what now?” Viv asks Maddy.

“There are stories here we can read and review just like Marcie and Gina. You wanna do that?” Maddy suggests.

“I don’t think I have a choice.” Viv responds.

“Yeah. Me neither. Which story do you want to read first?”