Skip to the next day.

Chapter 4 – Finally Making some Progress. (continued)

Jason was vaguely aware of his sister waking up, and carefully extricating herself from his embrace so she could get ready to head off to school. And it was a few minutes later that he decided he should return to his own bed, to avoid getting noticed sleeping in Alex’s bed by either of their roommates. He got to his feet just as Alex returned from her shower, her damp hair wrapped in a towel, already dressed for school.

“Good morning.” He said, smiling at her.

“Good morning, Bear.” Alex returned his greeting, then moved past him to grab her backpack as he moved around the privacy screen and lay down in his own bed.

“Have a great day.” He called out, as he made sure his alarm on his phone was set before drifting back to sleep.

When he woke up again, it was two hours later, and he took the time to check his phone before taking his shower.

Alexandra Kelly

Relationship: Brother, Confidant, Secret **** Partner

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Affection 93 (+1), Love 72 (+1), Friendship 71, Playfulness 68, Loyalty 60, Protectiveness 49, Trust 39 (+2), Admiration 38, Worry 31, Lust 20 (+2), Submissiveness 13

Special Traits: Fantasy Crush, **** Kink, Taboo Kink

Suppressed Traits: Secret Shame*

Active Effects: Suppress special trait (Secret Shame).

Secret **** partner was a mouthful, but sounded accurate, even if they hadn’t technically committed **** just yet. Then he checked the perks list, and was happy to see he already was back up to 285 points of energy. Hopefully he would get the rest of the energy he needed to unravel Chloe’s geass before too much longer.

Then he checked his messages, and noted he’d missed several from Stephani asking if he might be able to chat a little the previous night.

:Jason: Sorry I missed your messages last night. I got in late, and basically had to go to bed without being able to check Skype. I might have some time tonight to chat, if you’ll be online.

And with that message sent, he gathered the clothes he would change into after his shower.

Tuesdays were usually Jason’s busiest day of the week, with three classes after work, including a typography class, where Lillian usually sat next to him, though this time by choice rather than assignment. As usual, she showed him some of her latest character designs before the class got started, and once again he did his best to give her constructive advice while mostly ignoring the lewd nature of her drawings. But he was a little more attentive than usual to her subtle flirtation, and after class while they were packing up, he turned to address her.

“Would you like to get a drink, or a bite to eat somewhere some time?” He asked. He saw her freeze in a moment’s hesitation, and quickly added, “You should bring your boyfriend. It just seems like it might be fun to hang out and discuss art a bit outside of class, for once.”

That seemed to reassure her, and she smiled, “Yeah actually, that sounds like it would be fun. Here, let me give you my number, and we can arrange a time.” She grabbed his cell phone, and then after giving it back so he could unlock it for her, she typed out her number and hit the call button, then ended the call after her phone vibrated once.

“There. Text me when you have a chance, and we’ll set something up. You should bring your girlfriend too.” She added after handing his phone back to him.

“Well, that might be tricky, since I’m in a long distance relationship, of sorts. But I might bring someone, like maybe my sister, or another friend.”

“Sounds like a plan, now I gotta run.” She said, flashing him a smile and lifting her backpack onto her shoulder as she turned to the door. Jason was only a few moments behind her when he finished zipping up his own bag.

After his final class of the day, Jason again checked his phone in the parking lot before turning on his car.

Lillian Jackson

Relationship: Art Friend, Lab Partner

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Friendship 42 (+2), Affection 41, Admiration 21, Loyalty 18, Lust 10 (+1), Trust 2 (+2, Awakened)

Special Traits: Friendly Tease

That was certainly interesting. Inviting Lillian to a casual get-together had made a moderate impact on her, it seemed.

Then throughout his classes that day there was only one other notable new profile.

Morgan Greyson

Relationship: Fantasy Object

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Lust 12

He knew Morgan wasn’t a teacher, and for the life of him, Jason couldn’t recall a classmate named Morgan either, but then he didn’t know even a fraction of his classmates by name. So he guessed this must just be someone who found him attractive, but had never made a move or tried to do anything about it.

Finally, he went to read his Skype messages.

:Stephani: I probably can’t be up too late, but I’ll try to stay up and chat at least a little.

A quick check of the MRE app showed that Louisa’s name had moved to the top, so she was likely the one who had sent the reply.

With all that out of the way, Jason started his car, and began the drive home.