Love Addict's RPG Ch. 37

Getting pretty close to the end of my outlined material. As soon as that's done, I'll write another outline to map out the rest of the first volume but I don't think it'll be all that long. Still feel like we're on track to release by the end of the month.

---

Speaking of fashion, Mia emerged from her room a few minutes later, intent on dazzling. She had a limited wardrobe to work with, but she was still a girl and wanted to look nice from time to time, now more than ever. Suffice to say, it worked, and Oliver lit up when he saw what she'd done to herself.

Mia wore a short black skirt with red ruffles lining its edges and a dark purple shoulderless sweater that emphasized her bare shoulders and exposed her black bra straps. On the sweater was a cyberpunk anime girl graphic drawn in an aggressive graffiti style like something straight out of Harajuku street fashion. To go along with the streetwear aesthetic, Mia had on dark thigh highs ending in a pair of gothic lolita-esque pumps. Instead of the usual messenger bag covered in anime pins that Oliver had witnessed her toting around a few times by now, she had a fancier alternative with black buckle straps and a cute black bowtie at the center.

Oliver was already trying to stop himself from getting overstimulated, but Mia had gone for the knockout punch. In the last couple minutes since he'd seen her, she applied red eyeshadow and lipstick, perfectly matching the shade of her dyed hair tips. Cliché as it was, his heart skipped a beat. He'd never seen Mia wearing makeup before and didn't even think she was the kind of girl who had any experience with that kind of thing.

"You gonna say something, or are you just gonna stare at me?" Mia asked.

"Ask me again in a few minutes. Still kind of in the middle of the 'staring at you' thing."

She smirked and closed the distance, sitting beside him on the couch. "Tough, 'cause I want to do something. Got too much excitement running through me right now to sit still."

"I definitely get where you're coming from, but can you blame me? You look incredible."

Mia developed a minor blush and looked away. "Yeah, well... you're not the only one who could stand to gain anything from trying a bit harder, Ollie. A girl can't just let her man show her up like that. No way, no how. I'll take the compliment, though."

And take it she did.

--- Mia Gained 1 Affection! ---

Oliver had every intention of pressing her buttons and laying it on a little bit thicker, really hammering home the praise to see if she would get even more embarrassed and cute, but Mia wasn't kidding about not being able to sit still. She had a case of restless leg going on all of a sudden and was itching for him to take her somewhere. Luckily for her, he already had a few ideas in mind.

It took them a couple of minutes to talk through the options. Mia was interested in going to an art museum, but that was really more of a weekend date type of thing, and she wasn't in the mood for the zoo, the aquarium, the mall, or any other classics he brought up. It looked like things were going nowhere fast until he brought up the possibility of hitting up an arcade, at which point her sleepy eyes perked up for all but a second.

"Not usually the type for that kind of thing," Mia said while rubbing her right wrist. "Told you I don't have great motor skills."

"Right. Because of all the edibles, I'm assuming." He teased. There were actually a couple different bottles of CBD gummies in plain sight. One on the coffee table between the couch and TV and two mixed in with the media shelf.

"Like Mr. 20mgs knows shit about edibles."

"Granted," he shrugged, giving her that one.

"That said, an arcade does sound kind of fun right about now. Might give you a chance to start this relationship off on a good foot by winning me lots of free shit, and hey. Who knows? Maybe you'll even impress me." Her words had a teasing lilt to them, as did her soft, playful smile.

"I want you to remember having said that," Oliver warned.

"Why?" Mia cocked her head. "Feeling confident?"

"A little more than usual, maybe..."

He didn't know to what extent it promised, but Lucky Bastard was a costly skill to acquire, and its description outright told him he'd win more often than he didn't when it came to games of chance. Now was as good a time as any to put that to the test. The worst that could happen was they kicked him out for winning too much, and it was better than hedging his bets at a casino where something tragic might happen should the house begin to suspect he was cheating.

There were two arcades included in the pages of Bradley's Love Locations, one focused exclusively on video games and another for adults who wanted to play games while also winning prizes like they were kids. The latter was their destination. Prize Planet was a good half-hour drive from Mia's apartment, or at least it would've been if the laws of reality hadn't thoroughly been made Oliver's bitch by this point.

They instantly arrived in front of the large building, spawning into a mostly empty parking lot. It was only 12:40 in the afternoon, and a weekday on top of that, so the two just about had the place to themselves. Despite the emptiness, the arcade was bursting with raucous noises from the moment they stepped inside. Buzzing machines, ringing bells, arcade cabinets blasting retro game soundtracks from a bygone era, and countless other aural stimuli assaulted Oliver's ears, completely drowning out his omnipresent mind music.

Prize Planet was just as crazy on the eyes as on the ears. You had flashing lights projecting out of dozens of arcade screens, mildly flickering strobe lights on the ceiling, and neon LED strips lining the carpeting beneath their feet. Everything about this place was built to scream one single question at any and all visitors over and over again - are you having fun yet?

"Five seconds into our first official date, and it's already a toss-up on whether I'm leaving this place with epilepsy or tinnitus," Mia remarked. "You love to see it."

"What?" Oliver comically yelled, earning a cheap smile from his date and a nudge from her elbow.

An employee greeted them at the reception area, prompting a quick discussion on who was paying for what. Oliver reminded Mia that she promised to pay for dinner the next time they went out so she could pay for whatever they got for lunch while he handled everything else. This wasn't an arrangement she was quick to agree to, stubborn as she was, but he wore her down quick enough for the employee to think that this young couple was only slightly overbearing as opposed to dreadfully.

Oliver was voluntarily getting the raw deal here. Rather than operating on quarters like things did back in the eighties, this place gave each visitor a card you loaded up with cash at the start. Each machine was rigged to take payment from the card's cash balance while keeping track of the digital tickets visitors won. Since Mia planned on only doing a few games here and there, they agreed on splitting one card between them, which Oliver went and put one hundred and fifty on.

--- Spent $150 ---

And there goes today's pay, Oliver internally sighed. Gonna have to look into some alternate side jobs if I want to keep this up... that, or get creative.

Mia argued he had spent way too much, but she didn't understand the method to his madness. The way Oliver saw it, there was a big chance he might leave this place with prizes worth way more than the money he put down.

Most of the prizes he earned were obviously going to go towards impressing Mia and hopefully farming affection points off of her, but he'd seen stuff like fancy watches, really nice headphones, cell phones, and even game consoles in high-end crane games before when he'd visited a similar arcade with his parents once when he was younger. If Oliver ended up with anything like that, he'd have something to sell and make his money back so long as Prize Planet didn't kick him out as soon as he started raking it in.

This all depended on whether or not Lucky Bastard had his back, though, and it was time to go and see if that was the case.

The employee led them to an empty table for two, and Mia paid for their drinks early, giving them empty cups to fill up with drinks from a nearby fountain. When they were ready to eat, all they had to do was return to their table and flag down another employee. To keep the table saved while they were out on the game floor, a small sign that read 'taken' was placed at its center as soon as the worker was done warning them not to leave any valuables here while they were playing. As a complementary bonus for putting so much on the card, they were also given a small, branded tote to carry around prizes, which Mia gratefully took.

The employee then left them to their business, and after pouring themselves some drinks, the couple began to survey the landscape.

"So many options," Oliver said, taking it all in. "Where should we start?"

Without having to think about it for long, Mia pointed at a series of claw machines not too far from the dining section. "Way I see it is it's not a real arcade date unless you kick things off by winning me a soft, fluffy plushy. Ready to show me why you're so confident?"

"As I'll ever be," he summoned up a smirk and held out his arm for Mia. Pleased by the gesture, she looped hers around his and allowed him to take her to the nearest claw machine arm-in-arm. Behind the glass barrier were plushies of many recognizable mascot characters mixed in with generic filler meant to pad out the good stuff. Luckily, Mia knew precisely what she wanted.

"There," she tapped on the glass. "The purple, goth rock-looking rabbit dude in the corner."

Oliver studied the position while sipping his soda. It wasn't optimal. Several other plushies were blocking full access to it. "Did you choose the hardest one on purpose?"

"Yes and no," she admitted. "I do actually want that character. He's from this cozy life simulator game I've wanted for a while but haven't gotten around to picking up. The fact that he's the hardest to get is just a bonus."

"That desperate to see me fail?"

"That'd be cute, but no. More eager to see you work hard to impress me."

"If all it takes to impress you is winning at a claw machine, sweeping you off your feet is gonna be a breeze."

"Just playing my part assigned to me, a woman, ever since the dawn of the first UFO catcher," Mia shrugged. "You win me a cute, soft, fluffy thing, and that gets you brownie points. Simple as."

"Simple is right. Observe." Oliver inserted the card and used the interface to buy three chances at fifty cents each. He took a deep breath, hoping he wouldn't look like an idiot after all he'd done to build up the hype around himself. The machine sprung to life at the influx of cash. Lights flickered and whirled, music pouring out of it like one of those old-fashioned music boxes you'd see in carnivals.

He placed his hand on the joystick, grasping it firmly.

While he didn't know the exact mechanics of how these things worked, Oliver was sure he'd heard somewhere before that claw machines were programmed to only use their full strength a certain percentage of the time. He was counting on Lucky Bastard upping the odds of that happening. The claw responded to his first movements, sluggishly gliding to the back wall and then the right-hand corner towards his objective.

Oliver squinted his eyes, making minute adjustments with the joystick to properly align himself until he was confident of his positioning. At his side, Mia casually watched him work while drinking a cherry cola. She didn't have any significant expectations here. It didn't actually matter if he didn't win her the stupid plushy. She was just having fun chilling out and hanging with her boyfriend after a morning of grumpiness and romantic tension.

The claw swooped down after he pressed the button, and Mia's eyes perked up as it rose effortlessly with the goth rabbit in tow.

"And that's how it's done," Oliver leaned against the machine like he was a lot cooler than he actually was. The claw let go directly over the chute, cementing his win. He knelt down, grabbed the prize, and handed it to Mia. "Well? Impressed?"

She hesitated momentarily, then took what was offered and inspected it with a smile. "Mildly."

--- Mia Gained 1 Affection!

Milestone Achieved! Gave Mia a Gift +5LP ---

"Won't know for sure until I see another few demonstrations, though," Mia teased, unceremoniously dumping her prize into the tote and smiling as she pulled it open to show him the contents. "Go for the matching pink bunny left of center. It's his girlfriend, and I couldn't bear to see them apart."

Oliver was elated over his success and from Mia's minor affection increase. He had just made it past the first heart event barely over an hour ago, and already he only had 79 points to go until the next one. It made him wonder how far he could take it today, and he was excited to push his limits. It was also nice to discover a new type of milestone, one that wouldn't be hard to replicate with Stacy and Tessa if he ever desperately needed another ten LP out of nowhere.

Now came figuring out the most critical factor- Lucky Bastard's consistency. Oliver had his next target, and he repeated the process, letting his perception guide him just as much as his instincts as he angled the claw to surgically remove the pink bunny. He pressed the button. The claw descended, rising effortlessly with its mark captured and contained.

Smirking, Oliver looked at his girlfriend. She wasn't awestruck by any means- it was just a claw machine game- but she was pretty surprised. He grabbed the pink bunny and dunked it into the prize tote. "One round left. Who's next?"

"...Him," Mia mumbled after a couple of seconds, pointing at an alligator plushy pressed up against the front of the glass. This gator was more gruesome than it was cute, holding aloft a woodcutter's ax covered in blood while an upside-down pentagram was carved on his chest. Weird, but he won it for her anyway.

Mia stared at him funny after taking her third prize. She was blushing mildly and looked cute doing so but was more confused than anything else. "Okay, spit it out. How're you pulling this off?" She asked. "And don't give me some cute crap like how I must be your lucky charm."

Oliver felt embarrassed at how quickly she'd predicted his following words but pivoted quickly, saying, "I'm my own lucky charm. Things have been going a little better for me lately, and I had a pretty good feeling my lucky streak would continue here, too."

"Luck dries up sooner than later," Mia claimed. "Keep going. The sheep with the disemboweled guts right there in the front left, the red, seven-headed, crowned snake dude in the center, and the black goat with fiery eyes way over there in the back."

Reinserting the card and topping off his credits, Oliver bagged them one after another. He wasn't expecting Lucky Bastard to work this smoothly if he was being honest. This would take some further testing, so it was good that he was in the perfect environment to do so.

Oliver smiled at Mia after handing over the black goat, waiting for her to say something. It took her a couple of seconds to get there, but she met his gaze and said, "I don't know how you're doing this, but we need to escalate things and switch to winning more valuable prizes before they kick us out."

"Sure thing, but before we do that... would you go so far as to say you're impressed?"

She idled before him, drawing things out for another few seconds before blushing even harder. "Could say so, yeah..."

--- Mia Gained 3 Affection! ---

"Now come over here," Mia rushed him a few machines away to hide her childish excitement. She was trying hard not to show it, but she felt like a kid who'd just been given the keys to the candy store. "This one, quick!"

As Oliver followed her with a big smile on his face, he was just thinking how Lucky Bastard had more than made up for trapping him in a cold, dark delivery truck. Evidently, the skill disagreed and still had more surprises in store for him.

--- Lucky!

Whoever's supposed to be watching for cheaters is slacking off. Rob them blind while it lasts; it's a victimless crime! ---

This opportunity seemed too good to be true, but here it was, ripe for the taking. The machine Mia led him to was one of those fancier claw machines with expensive prizes spaced along the bottom of the interior. There were some nice earbuds, flashy sunglasses, watches, and a couple of other un-noteworthy trinkets mixed in with all the good stuff. Notably, Mia had her eyes on a video game that just so happened to be present.

She didn't even know it was there when she told him to come over, but as soon as she noticed it, it was all she could bring herself to look at. Oliver understood why immediately.

"Damn. What are the odds?"

"Don't know, but that one'll score you some major points if you nab it," Mia said, still staring at the copy of My Cute Hellagers and Me for the Synthstation Odyssey.

It was the cozy life sim she'd been talking about, the one from which all her new plushies were from. On the cover was an adorable rendition of a village located in what looked like hell where devilish animal critters way cuter than they had any right to be could be seen holding hands, fishing, arranging furniture, and performing sacrifices to honor their Dark Lord and Master, Satan. Funnily enough, the pair of rabbits Oliver had won for her were holding hands while plunging the knife into the heart of the ax-wielding gator.

As tempting as the idea of scoring major points with Mia was, an alternative idea came to mind. One fueled entirely by his recent success and a sudden feeling of playfulness. Oliver slotted in the card and bought three attempts to start with, but rather than grabbing the stick himself, he gestured for Mia to give it a go.

"You haven't had a turn yet. Why don't you give it a shot before I work my magic?"

Mia narrowed her eyes, wise to his game. "You just wanna look even cooler when you get it for me, don't you?"

"That perceptiveness of yours scares me sometimes. You know that, right?" Oliver shrank back with a weak smile.

"Don't have to be perceptive when you make it so obvious," Mia sighed but stepped up to the plate, hand wrapping around the joystick. "Whatever, you're on. I'll get it myself, and then you'll have nothing to gloat over."

Mia's three turns went by in rapid succession. She filled every attempt, the claw limply plunging downward, grasping, only for her future prize to slip out of its less-than-tight embrace. The first time was no big deal. The second failure had her eyebrow twitching in frustration. By the third, she was puffing out her cheeks, having entered full-on stubborn mode.

Mia separated herself from the rigged machine, folded her arms, and stopped herself from kicking it. "Your turn," she huffed. "But don't act all cheeky with me if you pull it off, pendejo."

"Me? Never." Oliver said, ripping the card from the slot after getting another three goes. He got it on the first, then proceeded to get all cheeky with her by way of a playful smile and dangling the game just outside her reach.

Mia stared at his latest winnings, overcome with shock. "No way. That machine must be ten times as rigged as the ones with all the stuffed animals, at least. Seriously, dude, are you hacking these games, or what? Obviously, I'm into it if you are, just... damn, Ollie."

"I'm not hacking anything," he laughed. "You'll have a better time if you stop wondering about how this is possible and just let me spoil the shit out of you, okay?"

"Not gonna object to that," Mia shifted around with an embarrassed look. "Just not used to getting spoiled. Thought you would win me a plushy or two, and then we'd fuck off and play games until we had enough tickets to pick out some pitiful prizes at the rack..."

"We're getting there, but we're sure as hell not leaving with anything pitiful," Oliver extended his hand, offering the copy of My Cute Hellagers and Me to his girlfriend.

Mia hesitated for a couple of seconds, grappling with her feelings until she accepted her current situation. She reached out and took the game with a huge, bright smile that bordered on radiant. "Big words. Let's see what else you got."

Seeing how happy it made her brought great joy to Oliver's heart. Mia was so cute when he gave her things. It made him want to rise to the challenge and give her even more presents. It was a very shallow form of love, but so what? Mia was adorable, and Oliver was going to facilitate her acting even more so.

The machine in front of him had plenty more prizes worth going for. Mia was interested in the expensive earbuds and wouldn't have minded if he got her the sunglasses, either. The only thing Oliver specifically wanted for himself was a silver watch, if only because Mia looked it up and found out it went for around three hundred dollars. He got it, just like he got everything else.

--- Item Received! Fancy Men's Watch ---

Now feeling on top of the world from his success, Oliver was ready to move on from claw machines and onto the real deal. The two of them made their way to the arcade proper and started going from game to game, looking for anything that gave tickets. No matter what machine he touched, Oliver excelled at gaming the system so long as it wasn't tied directly to skill.

It was good to mix in things like that, however, as the last thing he wanted was for Mia not to feel included. Whenever he wasn't gaming the system, they were stopping to play ski ball together, shooting some indoor hoops, throwing darts at a high-tech Japanese dartboard, or messing around at the shooting range. Both of them sucked immeasurably at anything requiring dexterity, Oliver a little less so, but laughing at each other's lack of skill only made them feel even closer. It also helped that Mia dipped into her adorable, stubborn, pouting routine upon the occasional loss, which he loved to see.

When it came to adding tickets to their point card, however, Oliver was unstoppable. After playing for an hour and a half, they were finally reaching the end of the hundred and fifty dollars balance they started out with. Mia was starting to think he should add more, but Oliver knew it was probably already getting close to the cut-off point if they hadn't already passed it. Besides, they already had more than enough digital tickets to walk out of here with an assload of swag on top of what was already in the prize tote.

When the last credit had been spent, they took a breather before cashing out and sat down together at their table. Oliver was okay because of Physical Conditioning Lv. 1, but Mia looked somewhat worn out. They both let out contented sighs, Mia still riding high and loving every second of it.

"Wouldn't usually offer this advice to most people, but have you ever considered taking up gambling?" She asked, half-serious. "You've got the luck of the gods going on over there, mi amor."

He laughed mildly and scratched the back of his head. "Might look into it sometime, but I don't think it's a good idea to count on my luck so often. Can't be too sure when it's gonna abandon me, and I don't want to piss off the wrong people."

"Mn," Mia considered it for a moment and then nodded. "You've probably got the right of it. That said, you definitely made the right person happy. Haven't had this much fun in... well, it's been a while, that's for sure."

--- Mia Gained +3 Affection! ---

Oliver had to agree with her there. He'd been having the time of his life playing games with her, and in addition to that, his addled brain was thriving off their cute interactions and the upticks in Mia's affection level. This was way better than their not-a-date last Friday for many reasons. They were overall closer after Mia's revelation, for one. In addition to that, Oliver was plainly feeling more confident than ever between his makeover and the acquisition of a girlfriend, naturally.

He was getting used to Mia's presence and the fact that she genuinely liked him. That counted for a lot.

"And to think this is only our first date," Oliver pointed out.

"Got a lot of work ahead of you if you want to top this," Mia mused. She stirred her cherry cola with her straw, staring into it with a lazy grin. "Then again, I'm not too hard to please. Decently sure I can find the fun in most anything, long as it's with you..."

He felt his heart beating faster, and it inspired a question. "So... how long have you felt this way about me, anyway? Did you have a crush on me back in high school, or...?"

"Well, yeah," she shrugged. "Nobody had ever stood up for me like that before. I mean, Zoe helped me out of some minor bullying back in grade school, but it wasn't anything as cool and heroic as what you did."

"I'd argue it was more stupid than heroic..."

"In retrospect, maybe, but I've always liked cool dudes who act first and think later. Hell, would've been pretty happy to hear about you standing up for Stacy if the bitch didn't rub my nose in it. It's nice to know you've still got it..." Mia's smile grew a touch nostalgic as she thought back to their brief encounter so long ago. "All this to say that, yeah, I did get a huge crush on you way back when."

Oliver blushed and smiled at her from across the table. "That's still kinda crazy for me to think about. Like, I never would've guessed there was a secret silver lining to what I always thought was my biggest mistake..."

"Nobody knows how their decisions will play out before they make 'em. Consequences are funny like that. Don't always show up until years after the fact, sometimes. Either way, you're lucky nothing happened between then and now," Mia laughed softly. "Not like I was waiting for the day we'd magically be reunited, y'know."

"That gives me an idea," Oliver looked Mia in the eyes, suddenly full of conviction. "I think we should both make a concentrated effort to show each other that all the bullshit leading up to this point was worth the wait."

She raised an eyebrow, not needing much convincing. "Now that I could get behind. Any ideas on where a girl could start?"

"Yeah, one," Oliver placed his elbows on the table and leaned in, trying to give her a charismatic smile. It actually worked, and he nailed the landing as he said, "A girl could start by ordering that pizza she owes me."

Mia hadn't seen that coming at all and broke into a fit of candid laughter, the mellow tone of her voice colored with amusement being music to his ears. "A girl thinks your dumb ass is setting the bar real fucking low, but she'll see what she can do."

--- Mia Gained 1 Affection! ---

She waited for the next passing employee and then ordered a half pepperoni and half cheese pizza. The price was somewhat gouged, but that was about what they were expected for a place like this.

Mia and Oliver decompressed and relaxed for the next twenty minutes, passing the time with idle chatter. Neither of them had much to say, both still being relatively awkward people when you got down to it. They often repeated themselves, saying things about how much fun this was, how excited they were about being together, what things would be like from now on, and what have you. Neither cared much that they were talking in circles. They cared that they were talking at all.

Oliver did manage to get a better conversation out of Mia by asking her more about My Cute Hellagers and Me, though.

She was pretty hyped about her new game and, having seen that he had a Synthstation Odyssey after visiting him the other day, Mia not-so-subtly went on about the game's multiplayer component. According to her, players could visit each other's hellages and help out in numerous ways like trading hell-fruit, crafting new buildings together, or hunting down any hellagers that the player doesn't want in their hellage to enslave them, sell them to other players, or offer their souls to Satan in exchange for unique items and perks.

Oliver was wondering what Mia's Catholic family would've thought about this seemingly innocent-looking game but decided he really didn't want to go digging through that particular rabbit hole, not while things were so lighthearted and fun between them.

The lightheartedness came to an abrupt end when the pizza arrived. In most ordinary situations, pizza only added to the lightheartedness of any given situation. It was pizza, for Christ's sake. What actually caused the record scratch was that their food was brought out by the manager of Prize Planet, who didn't look especially pleased if you could see beneath the thin mask of a smile on his face.

Oliver realized they probably should've skipped on the pizza and cashed out when they had the chance, but hey, they were hungry... and a quick glance at Mia highlighted a strange glimmer in her eyes that told him she thought they could wiggle out of this. So long as his luck hadn't dried up just yet, that is.