Chapter 24

Relationship Buff- Favorite Food Buff triggered- Temporary Bonus to Interactions with Peter Young for the next 1hr.

Dan tried, best he could, to casually look over the message as he enjoyed his lunch with Peter. He’d never seen a Relationship Buff before with his powers, and honestly hadn’t realized such things were possible. Sure, he knew buffs were a thing, both from items, and stats, and things such as Peter’s rousing speech prior to their doubles match. But actual relationship buffs…that seemed like something that belonged in a dating sim.

Well…you’re not wrong. Syn’s voice interrupted as the though passed through Dan’s mind. Seriously, was there a time when Syn wasn’t’ paying attention? Dan really didn’t like the thought that Syn was just watching him 24/7.

Nope. I get alerts though whenever you do stuff, or your stats change. And knowing you, I figured you would be immediately curious about that relationship buff you gained. Considering I’m waiting for my own food to show up…pizza, thanks for asking, I thought I could check on you, and maybe give ya some advice. Didn’t have any other way to spend 30 minutes or so, any ways.

Syn…was ordering pizza? And it was taking 30 minutes or less? Dan had to wonder just what…and where, was Syn. Obviously, the being he’d met when he first gained his powers wasn’t from Earth. That much was evident, especially considering the special powers Dan had gained, and Syn’s apparent powers. But did that mean Syn wasn’t still on Earth? Was Syn secretly somewhere on the planet, watching Dan and who knows doing what else?

Right and wrong buddy. But that’s not really here nor there. Just know, I’m awesome, and I have lots of powers. Consider me a god, to keep it simple yeah? Meaning if I want to pop back on your sorry planet in order to order some Earth specific food… I’m going to do it. Don’t judge. Besides, we aren’t here about me, we’re here about you. You and Peter, specifically. Syn chuckled. Be careful buddy, with the right amount of charisma, and playing your relationship monitor’s the right way, you might just make Peter swing your way.

Dan glanced at Peter, who had just left a few moments ago, to go and chat with a couple of girls at a food truck. From what Dan could tell, Peter was flirting with them, and also buying them lunch at the same time.

“What exactly are you implying?” Dan asked Syn quietly. His mind was already running through a few scenarios with regards to his powers, but he figured Syn would be the best one to answer. At the very least, Syn’s statement caused a realization to grow within Dan. So far, he’d been using his powers essentially just to get good at tennis, so he could impress Sophia. But…was that really all his powers were good for? This accidental instance might prove more eye opening than he originally thought.

Ambition +2 (65), Compassion -2 (57)

I’m implying, your powers are the type that, especially on a lame place like Earth, could make you a god. Seriously, we had a bet going how long it was going to take you to start realizing you were wasting your abilities. Steve’s going to be ecstatic that it happened today. He really believed in you, and put you down for taking only a week to realize the true potential of your powers.

“Do I want to-“

I figured it would take you a month. Sometimes it takes those who’ve gained powers even longer than that. A few never actually realize what their powers are good for…though they usually fail. Some of the truly exceptional ones figure it out day one. Those are a toss up though…because they either go on to be crazy epic…or super evil. May ore may not have created a few demon lords on accident. But that’s for HR to deal with. Not my problem.

“Forget that I asked.” Dan said, trying to get Syn back on track. So he’d been wasting his powers, but that was about to end. All he needed, was for Syn to actually be helpful.

That attitude of yours just earned you a half-assed explanation buddy. Syn said quickly. Dan let out a sigh. Considering how Syn normally acted, it was a toss up if his actions had actually been what set off the entity, or if Syn just wasn’t feeling helpful today. He really couldn’t get a read on Syn.

And that’s the way I like. Though…if I was just messing around before, now I’m for sure making your explanation vague. After all, you just called me lazy.

“I didn’t-“

You totally did. So here you go. You’re probably going to want to check out some dating sim games, in order to figure out just what your powers are capable of. Just know, obviously, charisma is going to affect your interactions with people. A higher charisma, means people will like you better right off the bat. It also effects how…effective your interactions with people will be. With a high enough Charisma, anything is possible.

On top of that, there are special triggers you can utilize to influence how well your interactions go. It also helps to augment, if in your case, your Charisma isn’t as great as say, someone like Peter’s. These triggers, such as the Favorite Food Buff, are going to increase any Charisma based checks that occur. And, for the record, relationships, both the friendly kind, and the more benefits kind, are influenced by Charisma checks.

Dan heard what he was pretty sure was the sound of a doorbell in the background. And my pizza’s here. Syn’s voice was excited. So, one last thing. A tip if you may. Syn chuckled, and Dan could hear the sound of a door being opened, and then closed, followed by what he was pretty sure was Syn sniffing his pizza. With the right Charisma score and relationship buffs, you can make anyone, and I mean anyone, yours…whether you meant to or not.

“Are you implying-“ Before Dan could finish his sentence, his mind was filled with the unpleasant, and extremely rude sounds of Syn eating. A moment later, welcome silence, meaning Syn was, for the moment, gone. Which, though Dan wished he’d gotten more information from Syn, was still timed perfectly. Because a beaming Peter was walking back triumphantly towards Dan. The source of Peter’s good attitude, was immediately evident. A napkin with not one, but two different phone numbers written down on it.

“Sorry buddy.” Peter said as he neared Dan. “couldn’t pass up a chance to line up a doubles match” he chuckled as he folded the napkin up, “if you know what I mean?”

“I can guess.” Dan said, his mind racing. The girls had both been attractive, that was for sure. He’d never seen them around his school though, so he had to wonder where they were from. And considering Dan highly doubted they would play Peter in tennis, given Peter’s reputation, there was only one other type of event Dan’s teenage mind was coming to. And it got his blood pumping by quite a bit. If only he had Charisma like Peter.

Peter chuckled as he tucked the napkin into his pocket. “That being said, almost ready for our match?” Peter motioned back towards the court they’d been practicing on. “I figure once we finish up, I’ll take you to the courts Sophia and Ashely will be playing on,” Peter motioned towards the two girls he’d been flirting with. “After all, it’ll be fun to see those two in action as well.”

“They’re playing Sophia and Ashely?”

“Well yeah, what else do you think I was lining up?” Peter slapped Dan on the back as he let out another laugh, leaning in as he did. “Of course, whatever you were thinking was correct as well. Two birds, one stone, if ya know what I mean.”

Now Dan was confused, so he just nodded to Peter and took the Senior’s offered hand as he stood up. He thought he knew what Peter meant…but now, he wasn’t certain if Peter was just messing with him, or Peter had been using his high charisma on the two girls? Or maybe he’d been doing both? Dan quickly realized in this type of a situation, he was extremely underexperienced and outclassed. Which, was all the more reason to stick with Peter. There was so much more he could learn from the Senior, both on, and off, the tennis court it seemed.

“Well then, let’s get going.” Dan said with a grin. The sooner they finished their match, the sooner he could see Sophia play again. And Dan, really was looking forward to that.