Seeking help

(John’s POV)

I knew I had to stop, somehow some combination of perks I had given Cotton had given her an almost supernatural control over me. Every time I thought about doing something to try and reign her in, I just couldn’t seem to find it in me because then she might not be happy.
I thought back to what her perks said and couldn’t think of why this was happening, the Regal perk said something about respect, but this went beyond that. Searching through the app I found a history page showing previous quests and rewards and could immediately spot my mistake.
Invited party guests would try to make her happy till the party is over, I assumed that effect would only last for the duration of the party, but it doesn’t actually have a start time mentioned. And why the hell had she invited me of all people anyway?
This was very bad.
Another scroll through the list of perks she had picked up over the course of the day just made me feel worse, my heart dropping more with each line

Hostess II: 100% bonus to charisma while hosting an event. (Hidden: Moderate compulsion to host regular parties)
Metabolism I +20% resistance to gaining fat and losing muscle. (Hidden: unhealthy food tastes slightly worse)
Wealthy II: +40% passive increase to all wealth sources for you and your family. (Hidden: Moderate compulsion to wear more expensive clothes and jewellery)
Regal II: People who you outrank socially will show you significantly more respect. (Hidden: People will be almost guaranteed to do what you ask if they perceive you as above them socially)
Power I: Acquiring influence is 10% easier and your family tree has been upgraded. (Hidden: small compulsion to acquire power over others)
Sexy I: Improves your allure to the opposite sex by 50% (Hidden: amplifies existing feelings of superiority and brattiness.)
Lock in: Questmaster cannot remove or reduce your perk levels.

It was the last perk that really pushed me to despair. I had thought I could keep a perk point available to buy the toggle if I needed to, but it seemed that now I really did have **** but to give her a 2nd class to make her nicer.
Although maybe I could recruit some help through my other targets.

---

(Maria’s POV)
I wanted to scream, all of my work pushing Rita and John together was in jeopardy. I’d watched the way Cotton had come into the library yesterday and started to twist John around her little finger and I couldn’t just wait and let this play out.
How he could even be considering spending any time with Cotton at the party was a mystery to me and I needed to act quickly.
As if by some divine intervention I got a new quest.

The Questmaster sent you the quest: “Set up a date for Rita”

Rewards:

• Matchmaker I perk
• Increased trust from Rita

This wouldn’t be the easiest quest, Rita is quite shy and hard to get out of her shell. I’ll also have to manage Cotton if she comes into the library again today.

---

(John’s POV)

I didn’t feel great about roping Maria in to help me out here, but I knew I would need the help and all signs had been pointing to this being something Rita wants. I just had to hope that Maria would set up a date between Rita and me and not with someone else. But I didn’t want to make it too obvious in case she got suspicious about the quest.
Sadly, Matt is out of town right now and I don’t want to bother him. Thankfully, while the app doesn’t let me directly spy on my targets, I can open up his mental stats in character editor and have a look.

Matt - crushes: Robert Bobson(-), John Moore(+)

It confirms my theory about his crush being out of town, Bob had moved away shortly after finishing high school and currently lived about 3 hours away.
The plus and minus are unexpected, hopefully it doesn’t mean he’s having a bad time with Bob. I decide to send him a text to find out.

[Hey Matt, the meals you left are delicious, hope things are going well on your date]

I don’t expect a reply for a while so I also give him a quest that hopefully will help.

Matt will receive the following quest: “give your current date a foot massage”

Select two rewards from these four choices:

• Massage I perk
• A welcome home kiss from John
• Small Talk II perk
• Also receive benefits of the massage

A strange set of options, but Matt has enough perk points to buy Small Talk II if he wants it.

Reward:

• Massage I perk
• Also receive benefits of the massage

Next I need to make sure Rita will benefit from going on a date, and with the costume party coming up I have the perfect idea of what direction to push this one while keeping her on class theme.

Rita will receive the following quest: “go costume shopping with someone”
Select two rewards from these four choices:

• Fashion I perk
• One free costume
• Increased mutual attraction with John
• Cosplay III perk

Sorry Rita, this costume isn’t going to be free for you and I need some control back from Cotton.

Reward:

• Increased mutual attraction with John
• Cosplay III perk

I also decide to help her out a bit more by editing her appearance a little bit, remembering how much she wants to be thin and beautiful from our book discussions.

Rita - height / weight: 1.60m 75kg

I try to drop her weight by 10kg but am hit with an error. I guess Character Editor II isn’t quite that powerful. I try again with 5kg and it succeeds.

Rita - height / weight: 1.60m 70kg

I go to close the app but remember I haven’t given Cotton a quest today and switch to her profile. I rack my brain for possible ideas of what a princess might do other than look pretty and wait to inherit a country. It takes a while but I manage to come up with something I think will avoid any big issues this time.

Cotton will receive the following quest: “Make a donation to a charity”
Select two rewards from these four choices:

• -Charitable I perk
• 1 perk point for every $10,000 donated
• Regal III perk
• Increased trust from supporters of the charity

Part of me wants to give her the first and last rewards, but while it might be dangerous to give her more perk points, it would mean doing something nice for the charity and she would be happy about it.

Reward:

• Charitable I perk
• 1 perk point for every $10,000 donated

Looking at the time I realise I’m in danger of being late to work again if I don’t leave now.

---

(Maria’s POV)

I put on a bright smile as Cotton walked in, signature mean rich girl look flaunting her good fortune and good looks over everyone else. She seemed to have a different pair of designer heels every time I saw her, did she ever wear the same pair twice? Today was a lime green strappy pair that probably cost more than I make in a year.

“Hi Cotton, John isn’t here just yet but I can grab a coffee for you while you wait” it bothered me to serve her but it avoided the tantrums and complaints to Mr. Newman.

“Thanks Maria, I’ll be over in the fantasy section, can you send John to me when he gets here? Ta”.

It takes only a few minutes to prepare the coffee and locate her, she has a couple of books in front of her, probably the first time I’ve seen her even glance at one. Looks like a mix of different fairytale books, mostly ones involving famous princesses. I’m not interested in much of a chat with her so I set the coffee down next to her and prepare to leave.

“Here you go Cotton, one fresh coffee”. She doesn’t even look up in response, too engrossed in what she’s reading. I worry that she might actually hang around and decide to see if I can bother her into leaving. “You know Cotton, I’ve heard that there’s going to be an even bigger party across town on Friday night…”

“Ugh, Maria, I’m not interested in other parties, I’m hosting here and anyone who is anyone in MY circle will be here. Why don’t you just go back to the counter till John gets here.”

I’m about to keep trying but feel a nagging thought she’s the bosses daughter, do what she says, and find myself walking back to the front counter.

“Well do you have a date in mind for the party?”

Not long after this, John arrives, he’s not late this time but he’s cut it fine.

“Hey John, Cotton is in the fantasy section waiting for you”, I don’t know why I said that, I had meant to keep him away from her but she seems born to be in charge.

“Oh, thanks Maria, let me know if Rita comes by as I’ve finished reading Dream Delusion finally”

---

(John’s POV)

I find Cotton sitting at a table, lounging casually back with a book in one hand and a coffee in the other. She’s wearing a slightly skimpier outfit than usual and seems to have a few more bits of jewellery on, probably part of her perks compulsions.
As I approach her, I notice that she seems to be just a bit sexier than before. It’s not anything as obvious as the beauty perk effects, but just the way she sits, the expression on her face, how she’s done her makeup today. I gulp in fear as she is now firmly the most attractive person I’ve seen in person.

“Hi Cotton, Maria said you were waiting for me?”

“John!” her voice is excited and a bit sultry, “I had some free time this morning so came in to see my favourite librarian” ok, what was she trying to get out of me.

“Wow thanks, although Maria will be disappointed to know she’s only your second favourite then”

“mhmm, anyway, I really was hoping you had managed to download and install that game I was talking about.”

“Life Quest right?” she nods and I continue, “Yeah I just got started on it last night, but I couldn’t find anything for you on how to level up faster.”

“Well I hope you got a good class at least, not sure if you can tell, but I think the app has made me just a bit hotter” she wasn’t wrong about that last bit.

“I don’t have a class just yet” it was hard to lie to her but I managed somehow, “do you like the app changing you?”

“Oh absolutely, I can’t wait to see just how sexy I can get with it”, she stands up suddenly and moves closer to me, our eyes level thanks to her tall heels. “I’ve actually got a quest to go and do now, why don’t you take my number and we can discuss our progress together?”

She pushes a piece of paper into my hands and I know that I’m probably going to feel compelled to do exactly that for her. I’m too stunned at what just happened than to do much more than watch her walk away, leaving the empty coffee cup and book on the table for me to clean up.

As I dropped the cup into the breakroom bin I was reminded of her comments about the app changing her. I opened it up and went to her character editor page.

Cotton – height / weight: 1.75m 63kg

Those heels had done the job and I quickly entered a shameful change that would make her happy.

Cotton – height / weight: 1.80m 63kg

I think about sharing her perks to see what sort of boost they could give me in resisting against helping her like this but am interrupted by Maria before I can.

“Hey John, Rita just got here and is waiting for you. I think you and her should go shopping for costumes together, it could be like a cute little date”.

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(Rita’s POV)

This quest was unfair and impossible, but mutual attraction with John was so so tempting to get. I also couldn’t help but feel like my clothes were a bit looser before the modelling perk tightened them up as I put them on, had I lost weight?
I briefly thought about asking my roommate June to go shopping with me, but she never really seemed all that interested in what I was doing so probably not my best option. Miss Maria would probably be really supportive but then I won’t get good feedback on how I actually look in costume. Only one option was left then, and I’ll need a new perk for this.

New perk purchased Pokerface I: Hiding your emotions is easier.

At the library, I’m nearly flattened as I walk into Cotton on her way out. She must be in a good mood as she is kind enough to give me a hand back to my feet.

“Sorry down there, hard to see the little people walking around sometimes haha”, she wasn’t that much taller than me was she? I’d seen her enough times before but with her heels on I couldn’t really judge. Maybe she did look a little bit taller than usual.

Miss Maria greets me as I walk in and lets me know John is just cleaning up after Cotton’s visit but she’ll let him know I’ve arrived. He’s looking a bit dishevelled today as if he didn’t have time to properly get ready today but it just makes him look cuter.

“Hey John, I’ve just been thinking about the party this Friday…”

“Hey Rita, I’m looking forward to going with you still if that’s your worry”

“Oh no nothing like that, it’s just that I’ve realised I don’t have a suitable costume and thought maybe you don’t either?” I feel ridiculous asking the question.

“Wow, actually I don’t. I’ve been so caught up in making sure the space will be ready I hadn’t even thought about it”

Ok, ok, don’t panic, stay calm and get the words out. Have I paused too long? Is it awkward now? He’s looking at me waiting for my reply. “Would you like to go shopping for a costume together?” I want to curl up and die.

“Great idea Rita, we can go after work today?” Wait, did he just say yes. He said yes!

“Cool, I’ll text you my address to pick me up” smoothly done Rita.

---

(Cotton’s POV)

Damn, looks like I don’t get anything from getting someone else to download the app. Either that or John was lying again. Although I didn’t get the impression that he was, he seemed a bit more unreadable today.
I look back again at my current quest.

Current Quest: “Make a donation to a charity "

Rewards:

• Charitable I perk
• 1 perk point for every $10,000 donated

I wasn’t generally the most charitable person, daddy had people to take care of the necessary show of charity for the family, although 1 perk point for every $10,000 was a bargain. Unfortunately, I’d already been given my allowance for the week. With extra perks I knew getting more money out of daddy wouldn’t be a problem but I only had $30,000 to spare right now.

Advanced quest completed [+18xp] [+7 bonus xp]
Level up [+1 perk]

Rewards:

• Charitable I perk
• 3 perk points ($30,000 donated)

Charitable I: Charitable donations slightly improves peoples opinion of you proportional to amount donated.

Name: Cotton
Surname: Newman
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Level 10 (12 / 30 xp)
Class: Princess
Perks: Beauty I, Hostess II, Aura I, Regal II, Wealthy II, Power I, Metabolism I, Sexy I, Charitable I
Perk Points: 8

Now what should I buy next?