Vol 1 Outline Pt. 3

Work/First real date

• Oliver and Mia get back to work stocking cold products but they have an interaction with Stacy and Bradley. Stacy teases them but Bradley is supportive, whispering to ask Oliver how it went. He fills him in and the two share a bro moment while the girls are mostly unaware. Bradley offers him a couple of potential date spots since he just went out for dinner with her already and he doesn't think repeating the same thing so quickly is a good idea. The recommendations are valuable and they include arcades, art museums, places to get coffee, and less helpfully, a couple of low cost motels. Oliver dismisses the last bit but thanks him anyway.
• The rest of the day passes without much incident and the mood between them is very positive. Both are excited for their date tonight, and as soon as they're able to clock out, they zip right out the door. Mia is a little self conscious that she isn't wearing anything cute today, didn't think he would ask her. Rather than wasting time, she doesn't want to stop home and change. They idle by Oliver's car as they discuss what to do.
• Oliver brings up some of the options. Art museum is something she would rather do on a weekend where they don't have a time limit. She isn't against an arcade but she did tell him she's pretty bad at most games. She doesn't have great motor skills or reaction time. Oliver jokes if weed has ruined her brain, she shrugs it off. There aren't really any movies out they want to see right now, either. Feels like they're at an impasse, but they both laugh because they've never done this before so it's all good.
• Mia ultimately says they'll do an arcade but she expects him to win her a lot of prizes to make up for bow bad she sucks. Oliver can agree to that. They settle on a Dave and Buster's knock off and this time Oliver opts for fast travel, thinking it would save more time for their date. He's thankful it works with Mia, but she does make a comment that worries him pointing out how fast they got here. It's not in a suspicious way, she just accepts that it happened for w/e reason.
• They go in, it's not too crowded since it's a monday, and they pay for admission and point/play cards that track their points. Oliver covers it since Mia said she would get dinner this time, she praises him for remembering. The arcade is described, it's a huge one. Lots of video games and ones where you win prizes. They don't know where to start.
• Mia ultimately says she thinks it's custom to begin these kinds of dates by proving his worth, pointing at a nearby crane game. It's a form of societal peacocking. You win me soft fluffy plushy, I like you more. Oliver laughs at this but accepts the challenge. She tells him which one she wants and Oliver gets it on the first try. It's a little anticlimactic but he asks if there's any more she wants.
• He gets her another one, and then another before he realizes what's up. He isn't getting a notification for it but lucky bastard is at play here- it told him he could expect the odds to go in his favor in games of chance and crane games are essentially RNG because of their programming. He was so excited to be with Mia that he'd totally not even considered this place was a wonderland for him. He had to be careful, though, or else they're gonna get kicked out if he robs the place blind.
• Mia is very impressed, though +5AP. They go to ask for a prize bag to carry stuff in, and then Mia suggests they up the difficulty. She points out one of those claw grabbers that are much harder but have prizes people actually want in them. Nice headphones, new phones, video games. Oliver discards his concerns about getting kicked out because getting Mia free shit and making her happy is way more important.
• He wants to know what she wants, and there's a lot. Most of all she wants a game, a goth-flavored animal crossing parody with monsters and shit. Wouldn't say no to the headphones either. She also teases that he should pick something out for himself, since he's been a good boy. He quips back at that but somehow pulls off everything she wants, a nice watch for himself, and a few more things for Mia.
• At this point, she is starting to wonder how he's doing this. Oliver is put on the spot and doesn't lie, just says he's been feeling a bit luckier than usual lately. There's lucky and then there's robbing an arcade blind she says. He asks if she wants him to stop. No. Keep going until they kick us out, dummy. She smiles, and so does he. The two start playing games together.
• We have a small montage of them doing so, while mixing in non prize games for good measure. Mia sucks at these as stated and Oliver finds it cute when she gets pouty about it but she's never mad for long when she has all these prizes. The points on Oliver's card keep rising and rising and they've been at it for an hour and a half before they decide to break for dinner.
• Mia recounts how wild this has been. Says they should've gone to a casino. Oliver thinks that probably would've been a bad idea and internally he's thinking he wants to avoid that. Casinos are far less friendly than arcades and might have ways of getting back at him after he walks out the door. That and he'd probably develop a reputation and be barred from entering all of them in the city sooner than later anyway.
• When their food gets there, so does the manager. Oh, shit. It looks bad, and is not helped by the fact that their table is more prizes than table and the extra seats are filled up with prize bags. The manager is friendly at first but is insinuating they are awfully 'lucky'. Oliver tries to convince him that's the case, he gets asked if he'd consent to a pat down. Oliver goes for it and they don't find anything, so the manager asks him how he's doing it. Oliver says he's just that lucky. The manager doesn't believe that, and Mia suggests that they prove it. He laughs, how can they prove luck? Mia looks deadpan at all her prizes. She pulls out a deck of cards from one of the piles and asks the manager if he knows how to play blackjack.
• Who doesn't? Then you deal and Oliver will win three times in a row. If he does, you have to accept that Ollie is the real deal and let me keep my piles of boyfriend swag. Oliver blushes. Boyfriend? Keep focused babe. Right, sorry. The manager thinks this won't prove anything as blackjack is 'fair' as far as games of chance go. Mia takes a shirt from her pile and ties it around Oliver's face. It will if he's blindfolded.
• The manager is dumbfounded, and so is Oliver but she has faith in him. Oliver asks him what he thinks because he's down to do it if he wants. This does get him interested and Oliver soon hears the man unwrapping the pack of cards and shuffling. He starts dealing and Oliver goes with his gut. He wins the first round, 21. He gets the feeling the second round is going worse and the manager laughs when he deals him a 5th hit, Oliver stands, it's 21. He's beginning to question his skill's truthfulness. It said he'd have a 'slight' edge in games of chance, but he'd barely lost all night.
• It's risky, but he gets the idea that he has the opportunity to do the funniest thing ever right now. He tells the manager to split. He's stunned, and after a few seconds of this, he does it. Even Mia makes a comments about this. Oliver hits a single time on both, and the manager is fucking astonished. He makes sure he can take the blindfold off and he sees his hands from the 3 rounds. Last one was a double blackjack.
• Mia is just like how the fuck did you pull that off. Oliver finds it in him to say he had his good luck charm with him, squeezing her hand. She blushes and pulls her hand away, rubbing her wrist. God that was so fucking lame. You like lame shit like that do. She sighs and agrees to this, almost embarrassed for herself.
• The manager concedes after at first looking mad. He congratulates Oliver for being the luckiest man he's ever seen. He will write off all this shit but begs them to cash out now. They were almost out of play points anyway so it's no big deal, they do still have to do the other thing, though, and the manager looks solemn when he hears how many prize points they have. He asks politely to never come here again and Oliver feels so bad about this he almost agrees but Mia says no promises.
• He leaves, dejected. Mia wonders how they're going to carry all this to the car, too. Oliver says he has it covered and tests the normality of his inventory system, sucking up everything. Mia doesn't react to this so he keeps going. All she says is that's handy or something. This is weird to Oliver but it's whatever at this point.
• They eat their food and check out the giant prize wall to fully cash out. There's an insane amount of options, but Mia's eyes fixate on something special shortly after they look. She can't believe what she's looking at. There is a high spec drawing tablet among the prizes, something she wouldn't have expected to see here. It's worth over $1000 and they have just enough points for it and not much else. Oliver jokes speaking of points, how much is this gonna get him. Mia wagers a lot, leaving Oliver no choice. He takes the prize and she gets really excited and fidgety. It's the only thing on her mind.
• He asks if she wants to go to her place and drop everything off so she can fiddle with her new toy. Mia feels self conscious since she really wants to but doesn't want to end the date just like that. Oliver says it's no big deal and he likes how cute she is when she's squirming to do her thing.
• She takes his hand and they walk out together, Oliver gets a milestone for holding hands as well as a milestone for first date with Mia.

After date

• Oliver drives Mia back to her place and she's excited during the entire car ride. She rubs her wrist a lot which he finally comments on and she dismisses it as a nervous tic or something and tries to stop doing it. Mia invites Oliver inside and he makes sure that's cool with Zoe and all that, again, she wouldn't care.
• It's a p decent apartment, two bed, first floor, much bigger than his. He's kinda jealous. There are some anime posters and decorations here and there, much more than he has. Mia goes to her room to pick up real quick before inviting him back to dump all of the prizes and stuff. We get a more detailed breakdown of the junk he won. He pulls out the tablet last cause it's in a huge box. Mia's room is also described, and Oliver gets a milestone for getting in Mia's room.
• Mia clears up her work desk and hooks it up to her computer but everything is gonna take a while to install. There's not room back her so she wants to hang in the living room for a few. He jokes don't you want to get straight into your fun and kick me out? She's tempted but she wants to chill with him and decompress and talk about where they're going from here. Somewhere good, I hope. That's up to him.
• He sits on the couch and he can hear a girl yelling from the other bedroom door every so often. it's muffled. Mia says its pretty soundproofed in there but sometimes you just can't control the gamer rage. Oliver is curious about that but drops it. Mia brings him a drink and then sits very close to him.
• They have a familiar moment where she tells him I had a very nice time tonight on our actual date. Oliver asks if he 'won' the boyfriend appeal. That, and every other game he played tonight. She questions how he pulled that off and wonders if he had an app on his phone or something that hacked into the machines. Oliver wishes he was that cyberpunk. He can't explain it, he's just been feeling really lucky lately. Mia gets the sense that he's telling the truth so she doesn't push it.
• Oliver clarifies that we're dating now, right. Mia is bashful but still chill, yup. So you're my girlfriend? Typically how that works, yes. Mia's mini profile appears and her status changes from coworker to girlfriend. He gets a big milestone for this. They are both nervous but cute about it. He has to admit he doesn't know what comes next, but Mia has an idea. She nervously straddles his lap and looks into his eyes. She doesn't say what she wants, but the implication is clear and Oliver summons all of his courage to kiss her.
• The BGM changes to a really bad smooth jazz track that almost kills mood but doesn't.
• They are awkward while kissing. It isn't a one and done. They keep going at it. Whereas Oliver is lost and fumbling, Mia slowly starts to change the pace. She gets more passionate, there's a lusty look in her eyes, and she starts using her tongue. Everything is way too much for him to handle and he gets a big erection. Mia notices this and is surprised at first but doesn't say anything about it, but she does start awkwardly grinding her hips down on to him. It feels like the best thing ever.
• Mia snaps out of her trance and apologizes for getting him worked up. Why apologize. Because she is not comfortable going very far yet and now he's going to get blue balls. That's reasonable and he thanks her for being honest. Mia clarifies that it's not like she doesn't want to do anything like that but, Oliver understands, it's too soon.
• Not even that, she says. She asked him if he remembers the things he saw in her sketchbook a long time ago. Hard to forget. She's always had a really high libido and doesn't want to get carried away and rush everything with him. She's feeling all crazy inside and if she doesn't stop things are going to get really crazy really fast. He jokes that if she's trying not to give him blue balls she's doing a really shitty job of it. This eases the tension and she laughs while getting off of him.
• Mia wants to make sure this is all right with him and he is adamant about why wouldn't it be. We had one date. You don't owe me sex, and he's comfortable with waiting as long as it takes for her. Mia blushes and says it's not going to be that long but she still wants to build up to it. Again, he's cool with that. He just wants to be with her and isn't looking to rush it, either.
• To make it up to him, she meekly tells him that was her first kiss. He gets a milestone that says Mia's first kiss. He says that it was his as well. The two lock eyes again and inevitably start making out for another few minutes before Mia pushes against his chest and regains self-control. Like a complete gentleman, he backs off even though he can already start to feel an intense case of blue balls coming on. She thanks him and Oliver is happy to oblige.
• It's eight now and he thinks he should probably get home if she is going to get any time to play with her tablet. She thinks that's a good idea, asks if he's going to be at work tomorrow for truck day. Yeah. He stands up to leave but she gets up as well and surprises him with a hug. One more time, she apologizes that she didn't tell him sooner.
• Oliver still has mixed feelings on that whole thing. He liked Mia, but it did kind of drag him down that she was a reminder of the worst part of his life. Exactly like she was afraid of. But the extent was overblown, it was something he would get over, and she only hid it from him because of her feelings for him. That made it a lot more tolerable and she was a victim the same as him back then. He might've regretted standing up for her in the years that passed, but he never held any ill will towards the victim and he wasn't about to start.
• He hugs her back really tight and says it's okay as long as you show me that dirty art of yours sometime soon. Mia is embarrassed about this but says they're going to work up to it. Showing him means having to explain a lot of the crap she's into and that might get her carried away. He says they can handcuff her to the bed while he looks but she jokes as if that won't make it even worse. He jokes back, maybe that's what I'm trying to do. She pushes him away and tells him to get out of her house with a laugh.
• I didn't note them but there will be affection boosts of course

Juan and Julio

• Oliver leaves the apartment feeling fucking incredible. This was the best night of his life, which is what he said a few days ago so it makes it even more crazy. He literally jumps for joy on the sidewalk and then crouches down because landing hurt his blue balls. So maybe tonight wasn't perfect, but it was pretty damn close. On top of everything he had a ton of LP to burn through now, and he is looking forward to what other amazing life hacks he can apply to himself.
• His plan is to go home, relieve the tension, and then call Bradley over for a bit to talk and maybe look through skills again. As Oliver approaches his car on the curb, some approaches from behind him and wraps their muscle arm over his shoulder. The person calls Oliver 'hermanito', Spanish for little brother, and asks if he'd be kind enough to give them a ride. Oliver's heart stopped and he looks at the hand. It's in a cast. He looks at the person over his shoulder and sees a big, bald, muscular, Mexican guy with a big smile. There's an identical copy of him not too far away, this one is missing his left eye. Both of them have a lot of scars and injuries.
• The BGM changes to a generic threatening Mexican song.
• Oliver isn't racist. He had a Mexican girlfriend, and that was perfect proof. But he assumed these guys were gang bangers or worse because they looked the part and were clearly threatening him. He wonders if he can get away or open his skill menu to buy some emergency skills but that probably wouldn't go over well. Oliver tries to defuse the situation but the other twin says that they just want to go for a ride and talk.
• He then remembers what Mia said about her brother getting hurt the other day and puts it together, asking if they are Mia's brothers. Yes, and they introduce themselves properly. They usher Oliver towards his car and open the door for him. One gets in the passenger seat and one in the back, neither of them were seatbelts. They tell him to drive to his place and Oliver has no choice but to comply. He's at their mercy and this doesn't feel great.
• As he drives, the one in the passenger seat takes out a block of wood and a knife. He starts whittling it, sending clear implications as they begin to talk about Mia. So, heard you and our sister have been getting along real good lately. Said she's liked you for real long time now, so they finally decided to scope him out. Oliver dares to ask what the verdict is. They don't get a good vibe of him.
• Oliver nervously quips that he could say the same about them. They laugh at this before he points the knife at him casually telling him he's real funny, check it out, bro, our sis likes funny guys. Who would've thought. Oliver tries to speed this along and asks what the deal is. Do they want him never see her again, or what. You can point that knife at me all you want but it's not going to dissuade me.
• They ask if he has a death wish but Oliver corrects them saying the opposite. He's never wanted to live more than he does right now, but that life won't be worth much if Mia isn't in it. One of them asks how long have you been dating. As of today. And you're already saying shit like that? Damn, kid. This is worse than we thought.
• They clarify that they're not telling him to stay away from Mia, but they don't approve of him just yet. He's scrawny, wimpy, pathetic. Pasty ass white guy who probably doesn't leave his mother's basement. If you want to be with Mia, you've got to step up your game and show us you have what it takes to protect her. Oliver asks protect her from what.
• The brothers looked at each other and says that they can never be too careful in their line of work. Accidents happen, he shows him his cast. Sometimes accidents happen to members of the family, if you catch my drift. Oliver really wishes he didn't catch it, but he does. Mia told him that they just got back from Mexico. They look like gang bangers. There covered in injuries and one of them even has an eyepatch.
• Oliver is convinced they are members of the cartel.
• So what do you want me to do specifically. Bulk up. Put some work into yourself. When you think you're ready, they're gonna go a round of boxing. Oliver has never boxed before and they're like yeah we can tell. Obviously he's going to box the one that doesn't have a hand injury. He doesn't have to win, he just has to
• And what happens before then? They claim that they are going to make sure he and Mia can't spend any time together. They've got eyes on the streets. Little birdies whispering secrets to them. You try and drive her home, we'll show up. Take her on a date, we'll be there. Oliver parks at his apartment right as they ask if it's understood. Oliver says it is.
• Mia's profile pops up and her second heart event gets blocked off by a padlock icon that displays the number five and the icon for strength. His first progression block. Oliver knew to expect something like this happening, but he didn't expect he would get blindsided by his new girlfriend's cartel member brothers. Tutorial girl my ass, he thinks.
• The brothers give him their number and tell him to call as soon as he thinks he's ready. Good talking with you, Oliver. Obviously this should go without saying but don't say a word about this to Mia. To make this even more threatening, the twins get out of his car and then fire up a motorcycle that's already in the parking lot, implying that they know where he lived even before they got in the car with him.
• Now that they're gone, Oliver drags himself to his apartment and collapses against the bed, unable to fucking believe this shit. It's a bit dark of him but he really doesn't mind risking everything to be with Mia. He's not dejected by this, only determined. It's just that he stressed that everything has to be so ridiculous and over-the-top. Like, were they tailing them all night? What if he'd stayed over at Mia's, would they have camped outside? Guess that's dedication.
• Oliver makes the most surreal phone call of his life, calling Bradley and telling him to get over here we need to talk about my girlfriend's connections to the cartel.

Going to stop the outline here for now but the rest of the volume will continue through this plot line and end after the second heart event. The reason I'm stopping here is because I need to see what Oliver's LP is like by this point before I have him and Bradley actually plot out how they're going to solve this problem. Realistically, Oliver has the option of buying four t1 skills that each raise his strength by one, but that would be extremely boring and not much fun so I need to see where he's at and how it can be made exciting/funny.

For the sake of balancing I might need to change it so that he gets one stat point for every other t1 skill instead of every single one. So for every two strength skills he'd get 1, meaning he can't just dump his LP into problems. We will see, I'll have to go back and edit some text for that one but it shouldn't be a big change.

In case you guys forgot or haven't read Mia's bio, her brothers are carpenters and this is all one big joke they're playing on him. All of their injuries are woodworking accidents. They are actually really nice guys and were just seeing if he took them seriously. The fact that he does proves that he and Mia are going to be good together and they accept him.