Outside, on the streets

"Nah, as if you get any say in it."

Lucy was confused, Mia was also playing the game? But she had no time to ask Mia about it, because before she could, something had interrupted her from formulating the necessary words. Out of nowhere she suddenly remembered, that she was late, late for something. She did not remember however, what it was that she was late for, nor did she know where it was that she had to go, though instinctively she knew where to go to reach this place. But there is something she knows and that she knows exactly, the time of this mysterious event: 6 PM.

Due to the jet lag, Lucy had to look on her phone to see the time, it was 5:43 PM already. She could feel the distance to her destination, and she knew, that she would need to hurry. 'Great, I'll be late.' And without wasting another precious second, Lucy stood up, to rush to her appointment in time, leaving Mia having to hurry to be able to keep up.

But Mia did not need to hurry for long, because once Lucy had entered the lobby, all eyes were on her. Though, to be fair, all in this case did not mean many, it meant four. Lucy was stared at by both the receptionist from earlier, as well as an older man, sitting on a couch, reading a book, well, having read a book until Lucy had entered the lobby. Immediately knowing what would happen, Lucy stopped and began to push out her chest. Cursing internally, she just realized the grave problem she will have to deal with: She wore very revealing, very slutty clothes, and her Synergy would trigger, whenever someone would stare at her, forcing her to stop. How would she make it through the city?

Lucy's hands began to move to the bottom of her top, hinting at pulling it up, revealing even more, but just hinting at doing so. After just a short amount of time, Mia managed to catch up, and came down the stairs, entering the lobby. Immediately, the receptionist averted his stare from Lucy, choosing to appear as that, whatever was on his computer screen right now, was more interesting or important than the girl that is now showing off her body. He almost seemed embarrassed, Lucy noted, probably related to what had happened on their previous encounter. Mia went past Lucy and only stopped once she reached the entrance door and noticed, that Lucy was not following her. She turned around.

"Are you coming?"

Just now, the older guy stopped staring at Lucy and began to read again. This left Lucy able to move more freely, since no one was staring at her. She stopped her naughty pose and started to slowly move towards Mia.

"Alright, I'm coming, I just-, I think I might've forgotten something, can you wait for a moment?"

Nodding, Mia gave a somewhat quiet "Alright.".

Lucy moved further towards the door, positioning herself so she could not be seen by the older man, though sadly not out of sight of the receptionist, but that one did not seem as if he would stop being distracted any time soon. Lucy knew she was lucky, that both of them had stopped their stare, but she also knew that her luck is bound to run out at some point. She needed a way to get to her destination, and to get their without wasting too much time. Looking at her phone, Lucy reread the description of her Synergy, hoping to find a loophole or something to exploit.

'Whenever the User notices someone staring at her, she will pose for them for a time, until being photographed or otherwise appreciated by the staring person.'

'Great, I got to pose for them for a time, that means I won't pose indefinitely, but given how impatient Mia is, and how little time I have, that will probably not be enough.'

Reading it once more, Lucy suddenly noticed the possible loophole she had been hoping for.

'Whenever the User notices someone staring at her, that means if I don't notice someone staring at me, it won't trigger my Synergy. So I have to be unobservant when walking through the streets. Alright, let's hope this works.'

Lucy clamped her phone between her breasts and top, since there was nowhere else to put it, and moved to the door.

"Okay, everything is fine, come on, we don't want to be late, don't we?"

And with that Lucy had opened the door and both girls walked out.

Mia wanted to take a bus, but since it would take another 13 minutes until one would get to their nearest stop, and the city was quite accessible by foot, both girls decided against it and agreed to just walk. Annoyingly Mia did not mention where their destination was. Both girls did not talk while walking at brisk pace. There were but a few people walking around, Lucy managed to not look at them and avoid noticing or realizing if they stared at her outfit. This left her time, and a great opportunity, to think.

'So, what could this important appointment be? When did I remember it again? Right, in the hotel, when Mia showed me her phone, with her app, oh god! I forgot, how could I forget, Mia is playing this game too. We gotta stick together, help each other, we have to beat this game. Together!'

They were walking past the ruined remains of an old castle gate, that has today been turned into a historic monument, put on display by the city, when Lucy wanted to talk to Mia, to suggest a common strategy. But she stopped herself from doing so, just a moment before she would have done it. She had realized something, or rather remembered. She had remembered her Scheduled Curse.

They started to walk down along a long but narrow road, with just small shops, scattered along this seemingly historic street. There were more people around than on the street they were on before, which let Lucy's provocative look somewhat disappear into the crowd.

'It must be the curse, that's it. That's why I know when to go where, to reach this appointment, and also why I don't know the location of it or what it's about. And Mia must have created this entry in my calendar for me, it said Boss Mode on her phone, that's why she's able to create such appointments. Gosh, I'm stupid for not realizing that earlier. Now, now I know how I can stop this appointment before it happens, I gotta ask Mia to get rid of it.'

Interestingly, while Lucy realized how unnatural and wrong this new scheduling of hers was, the thought of just not showing up on the location at the specified time did not occur to her at all. Her brain seemed to be blocked from even forming such thoughts. She approached Mia for the help, she hoped to be destined to receive.

"So, Mia, you made this new appointment for me..."

"Yes, what about it?"

"Could you, I don't know, delete it?"

"Why should I do that?"

It took Lucy a moment to answer. She had not expected such a reaction.

"Well, it, erm, don't you..., don't you want my help?"

"Your help?"

"Yes, my help. Me helping you, for you helping me. We can get through this by working together."

"Together? Through it? Through what?"

"The App! Gem Ladies! I know what it's doing to you, it's doing the same to me, you must've realized that."

"What it's doing to me? The app? The one that manages your schedule? What-, what are you talking about?"

It again took Lucy a few more moments to sort out her confusion and come up with an answer.

"The, the punishments. That you receive for losing, or, or not playing... wait, don't tell me you haven't played the game at all!"

"Game? What game? The app only manages your schedule. Or what other app are you talking about?"

Lucy started to get very uneasy about the whole situation. Could Mia have received a Curse that prevents her fro realizing her own predicament, unable to stop further punishments from just stacking up? If Mia could receive such a Curse, it would mean, that Lucy could also be damned to such a fate. No, Lucy had to know for sure.

"Give me your phone! Now!"

A concerned Mia looked Lucy in the eyes. Lucy seemed to panic, thus Mia agreed, but only diffident. Completely forgetting everything about her scheduling issue, just praying to be wrong, Lucy opened the GL-App on Mia's device. And indeed, the big Play button was nowhere to be found on this special version of the App. After having searched everywhere, thoroughly through every tab, Lucy just stared at the screen, happy to be wrong, but also concerned, since she did not know what a non-playable version of this game could mean.

After a more than a few moments of just silently staring, and walking along, a wordless Mia grabbed her phone and took it back. Lucy did not comment on this, she was too lost in her thoughts.

Before long, the narrow street had ended, and they were now in a more open part of the city, though less people again. To the left of theirs were big, multiple-laned main-traffic roads, some of them led trough a tunnel underneath the girls. To their right was a long concrete railway bridge with multiple tracks, leading towards the central station of the city, though the bridge did not go above any river or other obstacle. Rather it made passing underneath it as a pedestrian possible and easy.

They were walking further along, going at a steady pace, but while Mia was busy checking something on her phone, Lucy tried to refocus herself on the current situation.

'Alright, Mia doesn't seem to get punished, good, I'm glad. Still, this makes the whole thing much more difficult. I need to somehow convince Mia to remove my appointment but how can I do it?'

Lost in her thoughts, Lucy was almost startled when Mia broke the silence.

"So, you didn't delete the appointment, I like that. At least I can trust you. But now, can you please tell me what this was all about?"

'Shit! The appointment. I could have deleted it. Great, oh just great, I had a chance to save myself but instead, it didn't even occur to me! How did that happen?'

Lucy's answer to Mia's question was a response, that took Lucy a few seconds to form, so that it was even half believable. Lucy figured that it was probably better not to answer that question at all.

"Uh, I don't know. It's..., I'm quite tired, you know? It's been a long day and the jet lag is killing me. Can't you just, call it a day for today? I mean, tomorrow's gonna be a long day, and that city tomorrow will also be exhausting. I'm not saying this trip isn't fun, I just, I also need to relax, you know?"

"Ah, I see, I get what you're trying to say."

"So you understand me?"

"Yes. Of course. I completely understand."

"Thank you."

"You trying to chicken out."

"Wait, no!"

"Oh come on, this will be fun!"

"Please, Mia, you don't have to do this!"

But Mia did not answer anymore. Instead both girls came ever closer to their destination, one **** to do so, the other out of her free will. They took a sharp right turn, passed underneath the train bridge, and entered a short, tight alley. The alley ended and transitioned into a big, busy square, right in front of the main train station on the left side. At the end of the square, the girls could see the big famous cathedral, in all its glory.

But Lucy did appreciate the magnificent sight, not now. She simply could not. Her situation was quite unreal. But surprisingly and through sheer desperation, her pondering gave her one more idea that she had to try.

"Mia?"

"Yes?"

"Isn't it weird that you can just control what I do by creating these appointments? And that I can't do anything about it? That I have to comply, no matter what?"

"What should be weird about that?"

"I mean, isn't it a violation of my rights? Forcing me to do your bidding? Like slavery?"

"Hmm..., No. I don't see it that way. Nothing weird. Everything normal."

"But, but, you only do this to me. You would never do this to someone else."

"Of course not! That would be deprivation of freedom or something like that."

"See! Now you see it! This isn't right! Like you said, you're depriving my freedom!"

"Oh, now come on, I'm not doing it on someone else, I'm doing it on you, we both now that's different."

"Yeah? Why?"

"I don't know. It just is."

Hmpf, Lucy would not get Mia to understand what she is doing, the app is probably preventing it. Yet Mia was not done talking.

"I know you don't like surprises, but don't be sad. This one is going to be a good one."

But in reality it was no surprise to Lucy anymore. She already knew where she had to go. They were walking towards the cathedral, which was almost right next to the big river. And over the river led a big railway bridge. This must be the one with the love locks.

But instead of fear, that her photo punishment is going to trigger and that Mia might notice what would inevitably happen, Lucy could not help herself but feel relieved. She was on time.

=====================

Sorry again for the wait.

Due to the close-call between the bridge and the boys, that pretty much changed last minute, I decided that Lucy will have to endure both. Bars & Drinks are out though...

Also, interesting idea Chyoa789, not quite sure how to implement it. But it seems like something that could get added in a few chapters.

Please write suggestions for curses and story in the comments if you got any. I'll try to include them. Feedback is greatly appreciated.