Trade in system

“Actually I’m gonna be honest I wasn't sure what you would actually want as a reward” you answered rubbing the back of your neck nervously. Mom no longer seemed as cautious of you now that you showed a less dominant side. This wasn't really any plan on your part but you just felt like telling her a bit of the truth for once.

“I’ve been thinking this over for a while now as I know you're not exactly in favour of this whole situation but I wanted you to at least realise I'm doing this for both our sakes”

Mom snorted in response as if mocking the idea.

“See, that's exactly what I mean” you responded. “ Now it's not like I’m doing this out of the goodness of my heart and you know that but I want to least explain my reasoning a bit more and maybe sweeten your side of the deal a bit, okay?”

“Alright fine. Let's hear the reason you think it's a good idea to treat your own mother like this” she replied looking annoyed. You were getting slightly irritated by her response but pushed the feeling down in order to hopefully get through to her. You took a few slow breaths to keep a level head and responded to her.

“Fine, I didn't wanna say it like this but you leave me ****. When was the last time you thought about Dad huh?”

Mom’s eyes went wide at the mention of your father's name but you carried on before she could respond.

“Just think about it, you haven't thought about him at all since this started, have you? I’ve known you for long enough to know that whenever you have a sad look on your face, the conversation usually turns towards him. I know you try to hide it from us so that none of us notice how you feel but I’ve been able to tell for a while.” you explained.

“Sweetie I…” Mom went to refute you but you put your hand up to stop her. The fact that she actually stopped instead of just talking over you showed the progress that KDK had helped to make.

“I don't need you to explain or even defend him. I don’t know about Lucy but I can tell you that Sarah hasn't seemed to notice yet. I also don’t need to know why he makes you feel that way because that's exactly what I'm trying to stop you from feeling”

“And you think…’spanking’ me is gonna make me feel better” your mom replied while cautiously looking around and whispering about your earlier punishment.

“Well, your mood worsening at the mention of ’him’ isn't the only thing I’ve noticed. Whenever you’ve been in a position where you're made to do something for someone, you also seem to be happier later on that day. If you think back I’m sure you can remember examples of this but if you still don't believe me or you still won't admit it then let's take today into consideration.” You paused for a few moments hoping for your words to sink in before continuing.

“You were basically **** to do your Son’s bidding and then were cornered into agreeing to your families demands when we talked about getting phones. And what did you do after that? Instead of being angry at us, you helped us plan a nice family trip out to get said phones and then went to have a relaxing bath. I can tell you still wanna deny it but really think about your mood over the past few days since I started all this. Have you been worrying over anything unimportant or have you just been focusing on what I asked of you? Look, I'm gonna go get a drink so please, just at least consider the possibility of what I'm saying to be true” you announced before getting up off the sofa and heading to the kitchen.

You could tell from her expression as you left that although she was hesitant, she was actually considering it, much to your surprise. This conversation had been a bit of a long shot in your mind but either outcome would still be favourable in the end. Even if she didn't believe you right away, she would probably start to think otherwise once you gave her a few more orders and punishments. Especially now with her level 2 effects. As always you wished you could use them as soon as possible but Mom had to rest before they would be available to activate.

Once in the kitchen, you took your time to pour some cold water from the tap into a small glass and took a few sips before heading back to the living room. You noticed Mom’s expression had turned more towards frustration since you had left but you still weren't sure if that was directed at the situation in general or her own self-reflection. You both sat there in silence for a few moments giving you time to drink your water. It looked like Mom wasn't gonna be the first to talk so you took the opportunity to bring the conversation back to her rewards.

“I’m gonna leave you to think it over for a while but as I was saying before we got sidetracked. I wanted to at least give you some rewards to sweeten the deal. To be honest I wasn’t sure what to exactly give you and the ideas I did have were all over the place. So, I’m gonna do it based on points so it's easier for me to manage” you revealed.

“What do you mean ‘basing it on points’? “ Mom asked, still looking a bit confused after your previous question.

“Well, let's say that after every order you get 5 points to spend on a reward from a list of things we both agree on. Like a regular rewards card at a retailer. The more orders you do, the more points you’ll get and based on what I said earlier, hopefully you’ll find yourself in a better mood. I’ll also give you an option to earn extra points from tasks that you are free to decline unlike the orders” you answered.

“So if I’ve got 5 points now after I… did as you asked, what do you think the reward should be?“ she asked back, deferring to you.

“Well, here's what I had in mind so far, starting from cheapest to most expensive. It's gonna be 1 point for me to share some information with you that I believe you want to know and as a warning to that, if you reveal where you got that information from to anyone, then you will get another punishment.”

“With 5 points I’ll help you convince Lucy or Sarah if you are having trouble getting your point across.”

“10 points will get you a lighter punishment in the event that you don't follow an order and 25 to ignore the order completely. Like I said, that doesn’t count towards extra tasks as your free to not do those”

“And finally, for 50 points I’ll delete everything I have that you would consider **** material on you. I’ll be doing that at the end of the week we set anyway but if you wanted to work on getting rid of it quicker there’s the option”

“And that's about all I’ve got in mind so far but I can tell you’ve got something you wanna say” you said concluding your long explanation of the rewards.

“Okay, I’m fine with the rewards system but first off, what **** have you got against me that you can delete? I thought you were only gonna tell Lucy and Sarah about me seeing you!” she hurriedly whispered, still worried about Lucy or Sarah listening in.

“Ah sorry slip of the tongue. Even if I did have something that would be the one piece of information I wouldn’t tell you, but in its place, I’ll give you a different piece of information for free, how about that?” you asked, trying to change the topic after your blunder.

Mom stared at you silently with a stern look on her face as if trying to **** the information out of you. You sat there, trying to look calm and taking sips of your water before she backed down. You could tell she still didn't believe you but there was nothing she could do.

“...Fine, what information do you think I want then?”

“Well, how about this. Sarah was worried about Lucy coming home” you announced.

Mom seemed to straighten up at the topic of your sister and immediately asked back.

“Sarah? Why would she be worried?”

“Well that's gonna cost a point, are you sure you wanna ask?” you replied with a grin on your face.

“Sure, why not. Now tell me” Mom quickly asked.

“Cool, so now you have 4 points left. She was worried that Lucy would hate her considering how she didn't stand up for her when she left for college. With dad shouting at Lucy she felt guilty for not stepping in. She doesn't think that now as I had a talk with her this afternoon and obviously, Lucy is back and they're getting on fine.” you said answering her question.

Mom went silent for a few minutes to think about what you said, before nodding her head.

“She did seem a bit out of it this morning. I’ll have to ask her about it later”

“Ah, I did say you can't tell her where you got the information. If Sarah starts asking me if I told you about her Lucy problem then you better be prepared for a punishment.” you warned before continuing.

“If you understand that then you can speak to her as much as you want but, I'd be careful how you phrase it to her if I were you. You don't wanna have trouble sitting down like you did at the dinner table”

Mom’s eyes widened as she realised what you meant and buried her face in her hands.

“...I knew you noticed but I was hoping I'd gotten away with it” Mom admitted, still feeling embarrassed.

“Well I didn't expect you not to feel a little bit raw after what we did”

“What You, did” Mom shot back.

“Fine, but now’s your chance to put forward something you can **** me to do in response. I’ve only really given five things for your reward list so if there's anything you wanna do in retaliation we can discuss it and add it to the list” you explained hoping to win her over. That seemed to work as she looked up at you and removed her head from her hands. She still had a slight blush on her cheeks but you weren't gonna comment on that.

Mom then spent some time with you going over some of the rewards she had in mind. Some were more simple like you giving her a massage for 3 points. You may have lowered the price on that one considering you had no issues with it and it raised her KDK level. In total there were 4 more rewards that she came up with, so it went like this:

2 points for a favour you wouldn't normally accept.

3 points for a massage.

7 points for a big favour.

20 points for you to leave her alone for a day( had to be used before you had given her a specific order for that day).

And finally the big one, 200 points for you to tell Sarah and Lucy that it was you spying on Mom and not the other way round. As well as an apology in front of the two.

The final one was something Mom was really happy to have and was almost giddy at the thought of using it, which you were becoming more worried about.

The list wasn't complete and you could tell she was having more fun than she had expected thinking of things to make you do. The 7 point favour also worried you slightly but you were willing to make some sacrifices if it made Mom happy with the situation. You knew you'd be getting a much better deal out of this in the long run.

With Mom in such a good mood, she even seemed happy to start earning extra points.

“Alright what's the next order you have in mind?” she eagerly asked.

“So when you wake up tomorrow morning, I want you to personally wake me up yourself” you ordered

“That's it?” she asked sceptically.

“There will be more to it but I’ll leave that for now. Considering that order is for tomorrow, I’ll give you a task now if you really want?” you smugly asked.

Mom seemed apprehensive but seemed to have plucked up the courage to go for it as she strongly nodded her head.