You carefully place your bag beneath the desk in your room, then walk back out to the living room and plonk yourself on the couch beside Dad, letting out a loud, tired sigh as you do so.
“Tough day at work?” Dad sounds amused as he talks. You scowl up at him, noting the way his eyes just crinkle more as he looks down at you. It makes you want to scowl harder, but somehow, you can’t. It’s not often you see him show happiness like that.
Still, you can give your best impression of it. You’re too close to him to put your hands on your hips—and besides, you’re still sitting down, so there’s no real way you can do that and not look silly—but you can cross your arms beneath your non-existent breasts and scowl up at him like that, so you do so. “School can be hard, Dad!”
He pats your shoulder, then heaves himself up to his feet. “I know it can, Taylor. Do you want a cup of coffee while I’m up?”
You maintain your scowl for a few moments, just so he knows how unhappy you are about his teasing, before you let it fall off and nod eagerly. “Yes please!”
A few minutes later, he returns, bearing two cups of coffee. He hands one to you, keeping the other to himself; when he sits down, you catch a faint whiff of some sweet-sour scent, causing you to wrinkle your nose. He notices and grimaces, moving his cup to the other side of him and setting it on the small reading table there.
You take a sip from your coffee. It’s sweet enough, perhaps a little on the overly sweet side, but not too much. You give Dad a thumbs-up, which he returns.
“Alright.” Dad settles back into the couch, wriggling to make himself a little comfortable. He looks kind of like a worm doing it. You imitate him for a moment, trying to fight back a laugh, which you ultimately fail at; Dad looks a little offended as you quickly raise your hand to your mouth to stifle the giggles. “Well, if we’re all done laughing at our loving fathers,” he says sternly, “we’ve got another episode about cheetahs to watch. Want to watch it with your old man, Taylor?”
You very carefully lower your hand, your giggles having faded midway through his sentence. You keep your hand up there, ready to quickly cover your mouth again if he does something else silly, but he just sits very still. “Yes,” you reply. He grunts and points the remote at the television, bringing up the menu.
Cheetahs, as it turns out, are not quite as fascinating as everyone always claimed they were back in elementary school. They can run really fast, but that’s the only feature they have that really interests you. You much prefer panthers, really. Rhinoceroses are also okay. They’re like leathery, fat unicorns.
The first episode finishes a little before six thirty. Dad cracks his fingers, but doesn’t immediately move to pick up the remote. Instead, he gives you a sidelong glance. “Victoria isn’t coming over today?” he asks.
You shrug. “She had to go talk to somebody about something,” you inform him. “She said she can’t make it today, but I’ll still see her on Sunday, so that’s okay.”
“Ah.” He nods sagely. “What about your… other friends? Is Sophia still going to be over on Friday?”
You give him a confused look. It’s not even Thursday, why does he care about what you’re doing on Friday? “Yes, she is,” you say slowly. “She still needs help with her Chemistry work.”
He gives you a long look, then nods wisely again. “Okay,” he says. He sounds amused for some reason. “I’m just checking in case you need me to pick you up anything from the store tomorrow. I wanted to cook us something nice on Saturday, since it’s the start of the school holidays.”
Oh, yeah. That does make sense. You give him a wide-eyed nod. “I don’t need anything,” you reply. His brow knits for a moment, but you don’t give him any time to consider your mixed messages. “Wait, actually. Are you going to the— the fruit store near the Walmart?” Argh, you used to know the name of that store.
“Yeah. Do you need me to get you something from there?”
You nod eagerly. “Sophia likes fruit salad,” you tell him seriously. “Could you buy me a banana and an orange?” You’ve been checking in your catalogues; the rest of the fruit is relatively cheap at the corner store, so you should be able to buy it there, if you need it. Otherwise you’ll make do; you do still have an apple and some grapes in the fridge. Dad probably can’t afford to buy you everything you’d like to put in it, unfortunately.
He gives you a strange look, but eventually acquiesces. “I can,” he allows. “Do you girls have everything else you need up there for your ‘study sessions’?” He puts a strange emphasis on the last two words of his sentence, but you just brush it off. He does weird stuff like that all the time.
“We do.” You mull it over. “I think I might go to the thrift store on the weekend and see if I can find a bigger desk, though. It’s hard for me and Sophia to both fit on it.”
He looks at you for a long moment. Then, he sits back on the couch, closing his eyes and humming. “Hm… Will it fit? Your room is kind of small.” You both know it’s true. It’d been fine when you were younger, but now that you’re growing up, it’s getting rather cramped. Originally, Mom and Dad had planned to expand the house, but—with Mom’s hospital bills, and then Dad’s issues with his wages, those plans had obviously fallen through. Honestly, your bedroom is more of a glorified office than anything.
You just shrug. “I’ll make it fit. I need a bigger desk anyway. And a bigger bed, too.” Dad’s face falls, and you hurry to reassure him. “But, um. That one can wait! I still have a bit to grow before I’m too big for it.”
He leans his head against the back of the couch, rubbing his temples. “No, you need a bigger bed,” he groans. “Maybe we could move the bookcases down into the basement and make some room that way?”
Instinctively, you go to shake your head—like hell you’ll let your bookcases get moved!—but you pause. Hm.
“Well,” you say carefully, “I need those bookcases to put all my books in them. And I need a bigger bed anyway, and this couch is getting uncomfortable anyway.” You shift on it to demonstrate your point. “We need a spare bedroom anyway.”
“Taylor…” Dad rubs his temples harder.
You forge on ahead before he can voice his objections. “It just makes sense for me to move down to the basement!” you insist. “It’s bigger, a-and it’s probably warmer in the winter too!” It’s not. There’s no heater down there. “And it’s bigger!” You gesture widely with your arms to demonstrate just how big it is.
He lets out a tired sigh in response, but you can see him giving you an evaluating glance out of the corner of his eye. He seems conflicted about something. “… If I let you move into the basement,” he says carefully, “you’re going to need new furniture. Kurt will help me install some windows down there, and we’ll repair the stairs, but I know you have a job now. If you want any furniture besides my old bed, you’re going to have to buy it yourself.”
You beam at him. “Thank you!” you squeal, throwing yourself over that side of the couch so you can give him a big, affectionate hug. “Thank you, thank you!” You squeeze him tightly so he can feel how thankful you are.
Your own bedroom. Your own living space! A little space where Dad can’t accidentally come wandering past an open door and see something he shouldn’t! A space that’s big enough to not feel cramped if you have more than one person over! A place where, where you can actually put stuff!
Even when you go to bed later that night, you’re still buzzing with excitement. Today has been an excellent day. First your table at lunch has filled up nicely, and now Dad has told you that you can have the basement as your new bedroom!
Sure, you won’t have anything fancy down there for a while—Dad has his old queen-sized bed dismantled up in the attic, where he’d put it after he’d bought Mom and himself a new bed when you were eight after they’d somehow broken the headboard—but just having a bigger bedroom is already amazing.
There are so many things you might be able to do now that you hadn’t even been able to consider before!
At eleven on the dot, you try to force yourself to go to sleep, despite the excitement still buzzing in your brain. You’re excited, but you’re going to be a lot less excited if you can’t manage to get yourself some sleep for tomorrow.
In an attempt to distract yourself, you lay there considering your plans for tomorrow. [Pick three of the following options. You currently have two large expenses and one small expense.]
[] Madison has, as always, been a good girl. A very good girl, lately. You’ve already rewarded her for being such a good little sub with her choker, but there’s something else you want to do for her; now that you’ve successfully used her in a seduction attempt, you want to take her out to a restaurant over the weekend. She needs to know that she’s still valued outside her sexual status with you.
— Chances of success: Cannot be failed.
— General results: Swaps out Madison’s desire for temperature play on the weekend with plans for a romantic date between the two of them. Taylor will take Madison out to what counts as an expensive restaurant for teenagers their age, and eventually take Madison home, where things will develop as they will. Might develop into sexual situations later in the night, or might develop into tender situations, dependent on GM mood. Lifts all lingering doubts about Madison’s status in her mind. Costs one large expense. Please note that picking this option does not consume one of your three available options.
[] Charlotte and Aisha have both agreed to sit at your table now—sure, Aisha still thinks she’s only here temporarily, but give it a couple of weeks and she’ll forget she ever wanted to sit anywhere else. That’s only step one, though. If you want to keep in contact with them during the holidays—and you do—you’re going to need to get their phone numbers. And the easiest way to do that is to set up a communal thing—get everyone at the table to share their phone numbers.
— Chances of success: Cannot be failed.
— General results: Taylor will gain the phone numbers of Charlotte and Aisha, allowing Taylor to get in contact with the two of them over the holidays. Allows access to events for Charlotte and Aisha during the holidays.
[] Mr. Harding has called again, letting you know that there is an open work slot Friday night if you would like to take it. This work slot is substantially longer than your normal ones, as it covers a midnight marathon running until five. You’ll have to sleep in a bit more than usual on Saturday if you want to remain functional, but that should be fine, shouldn’t it?
— Chances of success: Cannot be failed.
— General results: Taylor will work long hours on Friday night in addition to her regular hours, giving her access to an extra large expense and an extra small expense prior to the holidays officially starting. Lowers the chance of success of any option that takes place on Saturday morning prior to the date with Amy by 10%.
[] You want to go to the thrift store on Thursday and take a look around. You might find something neat that you want—furniture or miscellanies. You might even be able to find something neat there to give to one of your girls!
— Chances of success: 80%, 50%
— General results: Taylor will spend some time on Thursday afternoon searching through the thrift store and seeing if anything catches her fancy.
— On a success: She will find broken furniture for a low enough price for her to afford, enabling options to fix the furniture up if purchased within a week of taking this vote. She may also be able to find a gift for one of her girls, to be chosen when the furniture is purchased.
[] The situation with Sophia has settled into a stable holding pattern, but while you might have been satisfied with that two months ago, there’s no way in hell you’d be satisfied with it now. She’s coming over to your house every Friday, but she hasn’t even taken her bra off for you yet, and she still doesn’t sit with you at lunch. You want to push her out of that stable holding pattern… and the best way you can think of to do that is to invite her on a date during the holidays. You don’t know when yet—but you’re going to get her to agree.
— Chances of success: 60%
— General results: Taylor will purchase fruits to make a fruit salad, and use those to butter up Sophia. A combination of that and playing on Sophia’s emotions will encourage Sophia to allow Taylor to take her bra off during these study sessions, now and in future—so long as Taylor agrees to do the same. Increases Sophia’s Lust by 1 and Loyalty by 1.
— On a success: Taylor will manage to convince Sophia to go on a date with her at some point during the holidays. The date of the date will be kept unclear, as will the uncertainties; Sophia will enter into uncertain territory by giving Taylor control over the next step of their relationship, and unconsciously come to trust Taylor a little more. Increases Sophia’s Affection by 1 and Intrigue by 2. Potentially sets up for failure of the relationship if no date for the date is ever set prior to the end of the holidays. Costs one small expense.
[] You had Emma over on Monday, and it wasn’t—it wasn’t—terrible. She definitely seemed happier by the end, at least, and isn’t that what’s most important? Regardless, though—you do want her to come over for a reason. You’re no interior designer, and you have a room you need to try and plan out. Emma’s always the one who was good at that kind of thing, and you think it will make her happy if you include her here.
