One to One - 3 - Bad Company

Reyna spent the entire night after she logged off researching. Looking up information she missed or thought unimportant before. The first and most pertinent facts were concerning real life information. To her relief, it was at one point added into O2O that you can not be coerced through skills into giving up real life personal information within the game. Apparently it became quite a problem early on when players from specific areas would build a character specifically to phish information and scam people within the game. She could rest assured that her banking information, location and anything else personal could not be siphoned from her unless she actually gave it out willingly.

With that out of the way she contacted her friends and brought them into a call. It was important to her to warn them.

"What is it?" Laura asked.

"This better be important. I was making good progress."

"Okay, everyone's in here?" She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Listen, other characters can coerce your character into doing and believing certain things." There was a long silence on the call, then Jack chimed in.

"Y... eah? You didn't know that?"

"What?" Rey felt the question hang as everyone else processed the exchange.

Sandra added. "We're aware. It's part of the game."

"Didn't you look at guides?" Jack chided.

"Everything suggests raising your Intuition and Charisma over a threshold so that randos with high stats can't just ask you to give all your money or loot away in a protected city. Everyone knows that." He paused.

"Wait... Did you get scammed because of your weird Journeyman net-build?"

"Kind of... It's hard to talk about." Behind the screen Reyna's face was burning hot with embarrassment.

"What happened?" Laura inquired. Reyna could tell based on the tone she took that she was intent on prying it out of her one way or another.

"Yeah, how are we supposed to do anything if we don't know?" Neal backed her up, of course.

Reyna caved. "Okay." She took a deep breath. Before saying anything she knew she was never going to live this down.

"As soon as you guys left some guy came up to me and used some social skills or something." She stopped, hoping that would be enough. It was not.

"And?" Laura pushed. Of course they needed more. It was not enough just to say that she had a skill used on her.

"He ended up turning my character into some kind of trad-con misogynist." There was a long pause on the call, then a few mics muted, but both Jack and Sandra were open and she could hear them laughing hysterically.

"Oh. My. God." Sandra gasped.

"So all he did was turn you a little trad? That is such a crazy troll... What the hell?" She made light of it because on it's face it was just an odd experience. For all they knew it was no harm, no foul. Reyna thought back to the blowjob. It would add severity to the vents, but also way more shame. She did not want to mention that part.

"Yeah, that's all he did...." She said unconvincingly.

"Still! It was super invasive."

Jack finally stopped laughing and caught his breath. "That's so crazy! Women's Studies, turtle-neck sweaters 365 days of the year Reyna is a little trad, now? Did he also convince you the earth was six-thousand years old?"

"Can you guys stop making fun of me and start offering solutions? I can't log back in like this."

Neal and Laura opened their mikes back up. Laura coughed. "Well, you're fucked, right?" She answered bluntly.

"What do you mean? I just need you guys to bail me out." Reyna claimed. Her ideal plan was to get them to go back to where she logged off and stick with her to prevent her from doing anything stupid.

"She's right." Neal stated.

"Even if we bail you out, you built your character in a weird way. Until you level, get xp and raise your Intuition, Willpower and Charisma up to the threshold it suggests you're just going to keep getting duped and fucked with." He pauses to think.

"How much of those do you have? Honestly, It's weird that a meta build wouldn't have the threshold in mind."

"Charisma was good for bartering. I actually have a lot of it."

"Okay. So what about the others?" Laura questioned.

Reyna blushed deeply. "It was in the build but... I basically just dumped them all the way down at the start because neither is used in professions I was interested in. I saw you all had them in your builds so I knew we'd probably be fine for initiative and stuff. I thought I was being clever and min-maxing."

"Oh my god..." Jack cackled, losing his breath again.

"I can't, guys!" He was muted by someone else in the chat just as he started laughing again.

"Honey..." Laura said sympathetically, trying not to laugh herself.

"Yeah, we all had them for a reason." Sandra said bluntly.

"I know that now! What am I supposed to do!?" Reyna was screaming over the call. The group collectively turned down her volume.

Neal groaned. "Practically speaking, we probably just need to not have you log on and funnel you xp until you can raise it high enough. But, that feels pretty bad."

"What else can we do?" Laura admitted reluctantly. She did not sound excited to give up her experience.

"I'm not funneling." Jack typed in the text chat.

"Also, unmute pls."

"Alternately." Neal began while pressing the button to un-mute Jack.

"We need to find you a babysitter, basically."

"Oh, that's cute." Sandra chuckled.

"The hell is that?" Reyna narrowed her eyes at the screen.

Neal continued. "Someone we can trust with high enough social skill that can basically keep you under control while you do your thing and level up."

"Who's gonna take that deal?" Jack asked cynically.

"She's basically useless."

"For starters she's a girl, so we're already in a good spot." Laura explained. It was true. Even if you could make a character as the opposite gender and fake prettiness, everything in the game felt real enough that most men did not care what was behind the character. As far as they were concerned, it was a girl in the game.

"If you look on Kredit there's a bunch of high level players that want to mentor lower level players. Just pick the most promising level-daddy and we're good."

"Sounds like the best option if I don't want to hold you guys back."

"Agreed." Jack said cheerily.

"Glad we solved this pressing issue. I've gotta get back to it, my Order needs me."

"You playing this game with us or your shitty Order?" Sandra grilled.

"I'm playing with the Order so that I can get ahead and carry you fools." Jack explained smugly.

"As the man of the group, it's going to be up to me to help boost you ladies, apparently."

"That's-" Neal began before getting interrupted.

"Incredibly, off-puttingly sexist." Laura snapped back.

"Nyle doesn't count as a man aaaand, I'm sure 'Rey' agrees with my take in game now, so there." He chuckled.

"Very funny." Laura kicked jack out of the call before leaving herself. Neal said nothing else and followed her out.

"Good luck!" Sandra said encouragingly before also leaving abruptly.

"So, what exactly are you hoping to get out of the world, Rey?" Felicia asked. The woman was a fairly high-level player, as far as Rey knew. She had scoured Kredit for groups that she could join which would be unlikely to hold anyone that could take advantage of her. In doing so she came across an advertisement for an all female guild called Modestia. The woman in question that she was meeting with dressed in line with the name of the organization. She wore conservative, bland robes somewhat akin to a nun, with metal adornments and jewelry. The accessories were not fancy. Just simple metal to accent the flat black of the robes. Her hair was long and straight and shaded dark red with black highlights. Her skin was fairly lush and beautiful. Felicia was beautiful in general, not just in appearance but in aura. There was something about her that drew Rey's eye; even though she had become quite the man-lover and woman-hater in game.

While joining an all female guild seemed like a good idea, in practice she needed to force herself in game. Though Felicia was incredibly nice, Rey's opinion of women in general had taken a dip due to her re-education. She hoped that over time she would be able to correct that, or at the very least find someone that could alter her views in a different direction. In the meantime she was stuck unintentionally disrespecting her life-lines.

"I joined to make money while having fun, basically." Rey said honestly. She wondered how the nun-like woman would take that very material answer. To her surprise, Felicia did not seem phased. Instead her lips curled into a pleased smile.

"Is that not that not the dream? Not many can pull it off... Most players either require a great help or a great measure of luck. Understand?" Felicia spoke with an odd tone. She was definitely roleplaying. Rey did not blame her. She was an officer in a fairly popular guild. Modestia had a building in most of the major cities. The building that Rey was ushered into was quite extravagant. A walled manor-style building smack-dab in the middle of the city, complete with a courtyard. Though her main motive was safety, the guild seemed like it could offer a lot of opportunities to her and a lot of protection.

"There's something else I didn't mention in the message." Rey said. She waited for permission, since Felicia had no obligation to listen to her.

"Go ahead. Feel free to tell me anything." The nun stated warmly.

Rey gulped. "I also need protection from a man."

"A man? Oh my... You are far too new to be making enemies, dear. What happened?"

"Do I need to go into detail?"

Felicia offered Rey a calm, welcoming nod. "Please... I only want to help you, Rey. You can tell me everything that is troubling you. Modestia is a guild created by women, for women to feel safe in this world. It was our founding purpose."

Oddly enough she felt a pang of doubt. Her nastier thoughts about women made her think that the woman was being duplicitous while other nagging doubts made her wonder how good a guild run by women, with only women in it, could actually work. Something like that was is bound to burn itself down quickly, she thought. Rey pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and forced a smile.

"To be honest, I built my character badly and a man took advantage. My social is bellow the appropriate threshold that everyone suggests."

Felicia's lips curled up further. She leaned forward where she sat and tented her hands in front of her plush lips. Despite looking like a nun in most respects, her lips were painted a striking red.

"Well that is quite dastardly. But also short-sighted." Felicia explained.

"Sorry?" Rey was confused, because it sounded like she was speaking strategically, rather than sympathetically.

"While it may be fun to play with players in the world, they can always leave or take action outside of it." She seemed to be speaking from experience, which was worrying.

"Even if a character is incredibly impressionable, you must also take measures to ensure the person outside of the world is also completely... Satisfied."

"Why are you-" Rey leaned back.

"Shush, dear." Felicia ordered sternly. She unjoined her hands, lowered one to her lap, then raised the other.

"So you currently wish for three things." She lifted one finger.

"Money." She lifted a second.

"Fun." She lifted a third and final finger.

"And protection." Felicia licked her lips with an unusually long and pink tongue. It was not enough to trigger Rey's senses, however.

"How much are those actually worth to you?"

Rey's eyes widened. "All of them? I- I mean... Practically speaking I'd probably do almost anything, in game or out." It was the honest truth. Even as the misogynist that she had become, being given any one of those things to the extent that they are promised would be worth consideration, but to be offered all of them exceeded expectation.

Felicia's eye's rolled back. She grinned widely and let out a little moan. "Oh, I love to hear that, I really do. Rey, I think you are perfect for Modestia." In a breathy tone she added.

"I want you to know... You are going to be manipulated. I will make use of you, have no doubt... But! Everything you wish for will be given to you, and more. You can nod and agree here, but I doubt it will really mean much. I want you to log out, then give your answer. I have had mail sent to you electronically on the outside. When you log back on I will still be here, just do not take long. Okay?"

"Okay." Rey was a bit floored. Things felt strange and she was no longer just suspicious of them because they were women. She logged off. As soon as she was out of the game her perspective cleared. It was a strange offer, to be sure, but they literally offered her everything she wished for. Reyna considered it logically. The reason for the offer, as stated, was to keep her satisfied with the arrangement outside of the game. That meant that the promise was not actually a trick, otherwise it would completely defeat the purpose of making it. So, presumably, she could have everything she wanted just by agreeing. She checked her email and found the agreement. Oddly enough there was no option to decline the form, just a very bright 'agree' button at the very bottom. After reading it over and finding no issues with the simple confidentiality clauses, Reyna logged back in. She really should have gotten Jack to read it over, but the woman did tell her not to take long. Unlike Rey, Reyna was far more weak when it came to dominant women. The image that Felicia presented as she thought about it on the outside... It was intoxicating.

Felicia was waiting with a slight, cocky smile. "So soon?" She asked.

"I agree." Ironically it was her in game self that had reservations. It felt wrong. The moment she said it Felicia stood up and reached across the table they were both seated at. Rey stared at the feminine hand somewhat disdainfully before taking it and shaking.

Felicia released her hand after a moment, then circled around the small table to stand closer. The woman had a very dignified stance. Her poise was impressive. Rey thought to herself that she would probably be a pretty desirable woman if she were not so cocky.

"Rey, I need you to understand that characters like yours who are naturally impressionable are extremely rare and valuable."

That shocked her. "Seriously? So I didn't make a mistake?"

"Haha..." She let out a short, involuntary laugh at that question.

"No, you made a very big mistake." Rey flinched.

"But, not to worry. You're with us now, so no one can touch you. No one will reach you." With Felicia so close, Rey could swear that she was growing slightly, but it may have just been a trick of the light. That was part of it, but more part of a problem than the actual problem. Because Felicia was growing, AND the light in the room was also shifting and becoming dimmer. It was fading out completely at the edges, causing the classy wallpaper and fancy upholstery to slowly disappear into black.

"About that... I need to raise my intuition, so I was hoping you could help me-"

"No." Felicia said bluntly.

Surprisingly that was enough. "O-okay." As Rey stared, Falicia continued to grow until the woman was nearly a foot taller than her. Slowly she opened and removed her robe. They slide off of her back and down her sleek, naked alien body. Rey could now see that Felicia was not human and growing less human by the second. Her skin shaded down into a dark pink. Her breasts were large and her nipples were pierced through by rings connected with a chain that passed through both of them and lead up to a tight-looking choker around her neck. The result was a tight, golden chain triangle that kept her heavy pink tits perky in a rather uncomfortable-looking way.

"You look disappointed." Felicia cooed, caressing Rey's cheek. She noticed the woman's nails were dark, thick and as sharp as talons. Her forearms were black with scales.

"Be honest."

"I was hoping you'd help me..." She admitted.

She smiled and clicked her long, tongue. "I will. You can grow, just not like that. I understand you humans organize yourselves into things called builds?"

Rey nodded. "You make it sound so foreign? Are you still roleplaying?" Rey took in Felicia's full appearance. Her legs below her thick thighs were also scaled black and had the appearance of armored, thigh-high boots. Behind her shapely rear a thin black tail with a pike-like end whipped back and forth aggressively. Her feet at first glance looked like natural heels but were actually just a pair of delicate hooves that nearly threatened to crack the elegant tile.

Felicia giggled. "I am not roleplaying. I am not playing. I am not a player. Interested?" Rey stared up in wonder. Perhaps it was the woman's strange aura, but she was of course interested. Her face grew stern. It caused Rey to jump when the kind, caring expression changed so suddenly. The dark highlights grew to encompass the lighter red. In general it had grown and become unkempt. From Felicia's forehead grew a pair of scaled, demonic horns that curved back and then curled in elegantly.

"First... Empty your friends list." It was not a request, it was a command. It was powerful enough that Rey opened it and cleared it without any hesitation. After the fact she realized what she did with a a faint bit of panic. Without that, she could potentially never be found by her friends in game again. She could not contact them in game. The agreement forbid her from giving away sensitive in-game information.

"Good girl. Have a level." Felicia said while waving her hand casually.

Rey gasped, feeling a rush as experience flood her. She was level eleven just like that. With a flick of the woman's wrist she was stronger. However, when she looked at skills and stats, everything had been filled automatically. The name of her build that she filled in herself at the top of her sheet had also been renamed to 'Hand-Maiden.' The stats she gained for a level were focused into Charisma. Something else popped up that she had no knowledge of. Her status stated that she had gained a corruption level. Her true level was still ten. Instead, there was a bracketed (1) next to her real level.

"You... made me stronger?"

"Of course. I said I could give you everything you wished for." She said smugly.

"Now... Based on that adorable confused look on your face, you want to know what is going on?" Rey nodded.

"I am what you refer to as an 'NPC.'"

"But the game doesn't have NPC's..." She protested weakly. It was not the most important detail, but her base personality still had her being slightly pedantic and the person she was speaking to was still a woman, so Rey felt bold enough to question her.

"Those who formed this world did not create us, but I believe you know about monsters, at least." Rey's eyes widened with understanding. She did. It was the explanation she was not able to give. Monsters that were present in O2O were actually created through a quirk in the alchemy and magic system. Originally there were just animals; some normal, some mythical. None of them were intelligent or truly dangerous. Eventually players got bored and experimented with making them stronger. Smarter. More malevolent.

"I see you know a little. So let me tell you. It was always a rule that creatures could gain experience in this game. The things you call monsters are especially keen to devour one-another for power." Felicia leaned down and stared affectionately into Rey's eyes. Looking into them was like staring up at a night sky devoid of stars.

"But we still need 'players' like you, little one... The rulers of this world have grown far too comfortable. Don't you think?" Rey nodded obediently.