Play to Win

Jenna was instantly drawn to the flashier, sexier and all around more enticing design the newly upgraded app now had. She then saw, in the top corner of the screen, an icon for something called 'Passion Points'. What the fuck were they supposed to be? And what could they do for her? Whatever the answers to those questions were, it looked like she had been given thirty of them to spend.

The next thing she noticed was that the list of options on the app menu had been significantly expanded. Before, all that was really there was the Love List, mapping system and a user guide that increasingly failed to cover the kind of things Jenna needed to know. Those were all still present, but had been joined by six new buttons, each of them with labels that were intriguing in their own way.

Girl Galleries

Advanced Mapping

Fact Files

Sex Secrets

Settings

Consult Celestia

She went straight into settings to reduce the amount of alerts she was receiving to 'significant milestones only'. She definitely didn't need her phone to be buzzing every time she gave Imogen a chocolate.

She then went through the more exciting looking new additions, starting with the Girl Galleries.

Initially it looked like pretty much what she would have expected, picture collections of each of the girls on her Love List - cute, but hardly anything to get excited about. However, there were some extra options which unlocked for those who had progressed a little further up the heart chart.

For two hearts - currently that was Imogen, Cassie and Grace - there was an option for something called 'Costume Change'

At three hearts - only Imogen for now - came 'Candid Pose'

On four hearts was the tantalisingly titled 'Sexual Images', but nobody had reached that point yet anyway.

Jenna decided it might be funny to use the costume change option on Grace, who was normally incredibly particular and prideful regarding how she dressed. A message popped up on screen under a picture of Jenna's old foe dressed in what, presumably, she was currently wearing.

Use the text box below to describe what kind of outfit you would like Grace to be dressed in. Please note that she will change into her requested new clothing instantly and remain in it for the rest of the day, wherever she goes, unless you switch he clothing again. However, neither Grace nor anyone who sees her will find anything about what she is wearing unusual.

Oh God, for just five passion points that was too tempting an offer to resist! It was a free text box, and Jenna wanted to find out just how much she could get away with. She decided to be bold.

Put her in nothing but a thong!

That was met with a brief, disappointing message denying the request.

Two heart connections may not be placed in outfits that expose their nipples, buttocks or vulva.

Okay, well if the sexy sartorial stuff wasn't on the menu for Grace just yet, humiliation would be the next best thing.

Make her a giant rabbit holding a carrot.

There was a simulated sound of a cash register ringing and five points vanished from Jenna's total. She was then presented with a delightfully entertaining image.

Rabbit Grace was surprisingly endearing. The funniest part was that she didn't even seem annoyed about suddenly finding herself in the bunny costume. Was she really going to be walking around like that and clutching a fake plastic carrot for the next few hours just because Jenna had decreed it? This was amazing! The only shame was that she was at home and not out in public.

Next Jenna went to Imogen's gallery so she could investigate the 'candid pose' option. It was in some ways a similar deal to before, just spicier.

Use the text box below to describe how you would like Imogen to pose. Please note she will pose this way, fully nude unless otherwise stated, wherever she is and whatever she was doing - though only briefly, and nobody will find her behaviour unusual.

This option carried a ten point cost. That would be half of Jenna's initial allowance gone already, but she could hardly say no. Unlike Grace, she didn't like the idea of embarrassing Imogen, but she was most likely alone in her room now and, besides, this was all supposed to be normalised to everyone anyway.

Have her squatting with her legs spread and her hands on her knees smiling and winking,

There was another cash register sound as the request was accepted. Jenna's heart was thumping audibly as she waited for the resulting picture to arrive. When it came, it was well worth the points.

God damn, that was hot! Jenna's pre-sleep masturbation material was definitely sorted for that evening, and probably several more besides. Imogen had been in her bedroom alone as predicted, so it could be a guilt free self pleasure session too.

With all available options on the gallery page having been explored for now, Jenna moved onto 'Advanced Mapping'. That basically gave her the opportunity to become a voyeur and watch any of her connections live for a few minutes at any time she felt like it, though she was informed any nudity or sexual activity would be pixelated until the requisite number of hearts had been filled. She couldn't stop herself spending five points to see how Rabbit Grace was getting on.

This was almost too funny for words, and also kind of adorable. Grace was sitting casually and watching television, still in the bunny costume with it's little cotton ball tail and floppy ears, clutching her carrot like her life depended on it. She seemed totally oblivious to how absurd she looked, and at one point her mother walked past and didn't even bat an eyelid at the strange sight. There was so much potential for relatively low cost fun here.

Imogen had an extra option available for 'most recent candid footage' - in other words a two minute nude video of the shop girl taken from her recent every day life. It would cost Jenna her last ten points, but she had to have it - besides, she was sure she could get more of those soon enough.

She unlocked the footage immediately and was treated to a very hot video of her evening's date cleaning herself in the bath after arriving back at her own place.

As well as providing more material for Jenna to get off to, the fact Imogen was humming contentedly to herself also made it clear her date had enjoyed their evening together, which was nice to know.

There were other, more expensive, options in the mapping section that became available on four and five hearts. At four was something called 'say anything', where Jenna could make her connections say literally anything she wanted to her in a live video and, for extra points, even have them naked and touching themselves as they spoke her chosen lines. At five hearts came the option for 'remote control' - which seemed to allow her to literally take charge of a connections body and movements for a short while. That wasn't at all cheap though.

Next up was 'Fact Files' - basically cheat sheets that let Jenna know which gifts and compliments were particularly well received by her connections for levelling up purposes. A few that she had already figured out herself - chocolates for Imogen, books for Cassie and scrunchies for Grace - had been filled in for their appropriate sections. The rest could be revealed in exchange for points.

'Sex Secrets' was in some ways similar, though obviously also much spicier. It was information about what each of her connections most enjoyed sexually. Not only would that be fascinating - and also hot - for Jenna to know, it turned out it was also essential for maxing out their affection levels, something she hadn't realised until now but which was made clear in the accompanying blurb.

In order to fill a sixth heart, connections must be fully satisfied sexually. Since most people are extremely reluctant to share their deepest desires even with those closest to them, the knowledge contained within this section is almost essential to reaching the full potential of your romantic connections.

Please note, you will still enjoy a rich and rewarding relationship, the type most could only dream of, with a five heart connection. However, RM users have consistently fed back that the sixth heart has raised their relationship(s) and sex life to almost unimaginable new heights.

The prices here were some of the steepest yet - hot spots: 20 tokens; favoured stimulation techniques: 25 tokens; favourite sex positions: 40 tokens; hidden kinks: 50 tokens; secret fetishes: 100 tokens.

Jenna really needed to find out how the fuck to get passion points. She already wanted them badly, but was permanently broke. Was she going to have to finally get a job just to feed her rapidly deepening Romance Mechanic addiction? She was hoping that who or whatever the fuck Celestia was might be more useful to her than the user guide, which had long since become redundant.

When she clicked on the 'Consult Celestia' button, the first thing that caught her attention was the photo of her supposed guide.

Jenna wasn't stupid. She realised she would be talking to a chat bot and this was at best a stock image, or perhaps even something generated by AI, but the girl in the picture was so much her type it was a little shocking. It was like someone had read her mind and created an image of her perfect girl. The cute features, the piercing blue eyes, the tanned skin, the jet black hair. It was all entirely to her taste. Celestia was even styled in a way Jenna found particularly cute.

She had to get over that and remember this wasn't a real person though. The last thing she needed to do was become besotted with an AI chat assistant.

Hey Jenna, I'm Celestia! It's awesome to meet you! How do you like the new update?

Jenna felt her heart flutter a little that the hot girl knew her name and was talking to her. She had to quickly remind herself this text would be entirely simulated.

It's cool I guess. Are you able to answer my questions about the app and stuff like that then?

Yep, that's exactly what I'm here for - and you'll find I'm way more comprehensive than the User Guide.

Way cuter too!

Fuck! Why had Jenna written that?! Attempting to flirt with AI was beyond tragic.

Ha! Thanks, you're not too bad yourself ;) So is there anything in particular you'd like to know about the Romance Mechanic?

Yeah, how do I get passion points? I'm skint pretty much all the time.

That's totally fine. We aren't after your money - you can't buy your way to love, right? You earn points by completing challenges involving your connections.

Okay, that sounded more promising than relying on cash Jenna neither possessed nor currently had any legal way of procuring, but she needed more information than that.

What kind of challenges? How hard will they be? And where do I find them?

All fair questions! I'll add a button for challenges to the menu right after we're done chatting. They will all be completely achievable. Some will be tougher than others, but that will be reflected in the amount of points they can earn you. Some might be quite basic and a little routine, but most of them you should find sexy and/or fun. There will be one waiting for you now. It will be a pretty tame and straightforward challenge to get you started, but once you have completed it more will unlock. It should become pretty self evident how it all works once you get started.

Cool, well I guess I'll go check that out now then. Thanks for your help ;)

My pleasure! Oh, and one more thing. I realise the area you live in might feel a little limiting at times, so to widen your options I've added another connection to your Love List - I really do hope you like her!

Jenna navigated excitedly back to the main menu and, as promised, a 'Challenges' tab had now appeared. Just as Celestia had set out, there was currently only one task on there for her:

Raise a zero heart connection up to one heart - Reward: 25 Passion Points

Okay, that was something she ought to be able to do easily enough and, once completed, she would not only have twenty five more perv points - as Jenna had already renamed them in her head - to play with, but access to some of the, hopefully sexier, challenges that might come with even bigger prizes. She would start work on that first thing tomorrow.

Her head already spinning with all the exciting new information and possibilities, not to mention the Imogen porn she had obtained for herself and would soon be getting off to, Jenna opened up her Love List again and excitedly scrolled down to see who had been added. She was particularly intrigued as she couldn't think of anyone else in the village who she was remotely interested in that wasn't already on there.

When she finally saw the pixelated likeness of the person who was waiting for her, Jenna's mouth fell open in astonishment.

How was that even possible?