Rebranding
Added 2022-12-10 00:00:03 +0000 UTCPrevious chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/cheat-75541976?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
Competitive, willing and trying to deceit
But no action goes without consequence, little miss cheat
Thinking yourself to clever, trying to rig the game
From now on you'll be known by a more fitting name
The card burst into flames immediately upon being read, not needing to hear neither continue nor chicken out to take effect.
"You tried to cheat?! How??" Himari shouted.
Tension built in the room as all eyes fell on the redhead. She'd had an edge and completely wasted it. Who could blame her though, she didn't know that the game would catch and out her like that. Let alone punish her somehow. Despite obviously being in the wrong here, she still went on the aggressive, trying to fend off Himari.
"Calm down you fucking crybaby! Why are you so upset anyways? It's got nothing to do with you!"
"Stop it both of you! Why and how did you cheat, Bitch?" Rebecca asked calmly
"The fuck did you just call me?!"
Rebecca's face went black. What did she just call her? Looking at her friend, no other name than Bitch came to mind. Still, it felt wrong somehow? But why? She'd always been named bitch, surely. That's right! It'd always been Bitch. She was just acting up because she'd just been caught cheating. Bitch was absolutely a fitting name for her. Perhaps it'd be better as a middle name, first name being Colossal..
"What's wrong, Bitch?" Himari asked, a little concerned with her friend who seemed a little on edge. She didn't seem to have any trouble calling her friend by her given name. That's what she'd always called her after all..
"The hell you mean what's wrong?? You guys keep calling me fucking bitch!" She was fuming. Not yet having made the connection.
"That's literally your name, what's gotten into you?" Rebecca answered.
There was a pause. Bitch tried to remember her own name, but the only thing that came to mind was bitch. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember her old name. Even worse what that it seemed none of her friends remembered her by any other name.
"And what's with this cheating accusation the game just made?"
Bitch was at a loss, but she also knew that moping about it wouldn't help. It was the last thing she wanted to do right now, but she had to swallow and accept that her name was in fact Bitch now. She went on to tell how she'd cheated.
"I lied about your roll.."
No further evidence was needed as Rebecca's piece moved the six tiles it was supposed to, making it clear that she did in fact NOT roll a one..
Following her piece's advancements towards the red tile. Her first mental one if her memory served her right. She'd dreaded having her mind tempered with. Still she was adamant about continuing regardless of what it may entail, for the sake of Alice. Now more than ever it was apparent that they needed to be resilient. It was hard to blame Bitch for cheating, she'd already undergone a red card, it was impossible to know whether it was SHE who wanted to cheat or the effects of the card.
Rebecca simply looked at Bitch, hinting for the cheater to draw her card.
Anticipation filled the air as all three waited for Bitch to read the card. Mental ones had quickly become the scariest ones. Himari and Alice knew all too well how terrifying they could be.
Accustomed to the finer things
Time to break free from your heritage's strings
Say bye to your desire for daddy's cash
Strive for the life that some may consider trash
Do you continue or chicken out?
"Uhm.. -I.." Rebecca's fortitude was swiftly ebbing away. On one hand she was tired of everyone calling her spoiled, fortunate, even bourgeois. On the other she wasn't exactly prepared to just give it all up either. She enjoyed the perks of being rich to an extent. Sure, when she was old enough and educated she'd strive to live off of her own abilities and effort. But completely giving up her safety net already now was a big ask. Then again, it mentioned of her desire, and it was a mental card after all. The worst case scenario was that she didn't want her fathers money, but knowing him, he'd probably give it to her anyways. Sure she might hate herself for it, but it could definitely be worse.
Rebecca was so focused on the first three lines that the last one completely passed her by. She seemed to be the only one to have missed it as the rest of the group all had a sudden change in expression when the last line was read. Even Alice with her stone cold gaze had expressed minor signs of surprise. Surely Rebecca would chicken out at this point. This could very well be the biggest change until now, bigger than Alice's first card even.
Himari broke the silence by asking Rebecca what she was thinking. The girl had been silently contemplating, carefully considering the potential consequences of wanting to give up her father's wealth.
"I don't know really, it's a big change.. I'd prefer to go without, but I don't think I'm ready to give up either. There's been ..worse cards and we're all still playing so..."
"Sounds to me like you've already made up your mind. Just get on with it and let's continue this game already" Bitch shot in. If look could kill she'd be dead a long time ago. Rebecca was in no mood to let Bitch try and hurry things along after her little stunt.
"We won't blame you if you chicken out now" Himari said in an attempt to ease her friends conscience. Rebecca didn't understand the reasoning behind her friend's sudden support, no wonder, she'd missed the most essential part of the card..
"-I..."
Comments
Thanks! I didn't view your engagement as demands at all! I'm just happy that my writing interests you. As for the bimbo trope, i tend to stay clear of the cliché bimbo type. Might do one at some point, but it's definitaly a troupe thats overstated in the erotica scene. That's why I like to give each character a slightly different troe. Makes them unique and more interesting. Then again, I just might do a standard bimbo at some point, but not for this story
Felixfalck
2022-12-10 22:56:45 +0000 UTCIQ loss and awareness of the changes were always different mental changes in my mind, and I'd be uncomfortable too if there was IQ loss that made a character little more than a child or a human vegetable mentally. But a little IQ loss seemed like an fun counter for a player that got too "creative" with their playstyle. Regardless, I hope the comments didn't come off as demanding or something like that. I'm enjoying the piece so far and seeing where the characters are going. Any thoughts on where characters end up - in this or your other works - were meant to be speculation on where the character would be by the end, not requests I want within two paragraphs or less. Also, I want to add that I'm enjoying how none of the girls have gone "bog standard bimbo" so far. It's more interesting to see them go in different directions.
BoojumSnark
2022-12-10 12:37:13 +0000 UTCI can see her trying to bend the rules in a different way later if she becomes desperate enough. Rolling the die halfheartedly to manipulate a better result or something along those lines. As for the IQ loss, I understood that the wish was for Gretchen specifically, but wanted to make it clear that it's a game of chance, and not even I know which cards they'll end up getting. Of course I'm still the one deciding the contents of the cards and that's why you might notice certain ..trends. As for a potential IQ loss. I'm a fan of it if done tastefully. I wouldn't erase a characters personality and completely, but rather describe the struggles and fear of reduced intelligence. I wouldn't go full bimbo mannerism and speech right off the bat. That could however be a different card affecting how a player carries themselves. One doesn't necessarily have to come in pair with the other. I sp believe it'd be a shame to erase the contents of a character I've spent effort creating and portraying and replace it with a bog standard bimbo right off the bat. But that doesn't mean it can't happen over time.
Felixfalck
2022-12-10 10:59:44 +0000 UTCI don't like the idea of her being a ditz if she were to lose awareness of her situation it would ruin this for me. The brat thing however has merit (she is commanding and all but nobody takes her seriously for example.) Other than that i agree even if she might not try to do it immediately Gretchen/Bitch would as i said above try to cheat if she becomes desperate, has a mental change, or she thinks she has found a loophole in the rules, her new hyper competitive nature might even play on that last point since she might see it as a way to not only win this but also to "beat the game" especially if she has taken the whole bitch thing personally.
Grif end
2022-12-10 07:12:56 +0000 UTCI was figuring Gretchen/Bitch for the IQ drop. Kind of a ditzy brat endgame for her. Maybe her trying to cheat again isn't the right description. It's more that I could see her still trying to bend the rules, and pushing them too far. (Rolling the die in a way that's more likely to get a high number, trying to trick someone into chickening out or breaking a rule themselves, etc.) Things we've not seen the game have an opinion on. "What makes a die roll legit?" "If someone gets bad advice from another player and breaks a rule, whose fault is it?" I agree, I don't see her doing it immediately, as she was just punished. But should she get some more bad rolls and fall behind the others, if she's competitive and wants to win, she will try to do something that will help her. Since the game seems to have little strategy beyond rolling dice and keep playing, the immediate thoughts were either she find a way to roll the dice better, or get another player to sabotage themselves. I agree, the former is riskier, and she'd probably need to be a lot more desperate to try. Honestly, trying to trick another player into breaking rules seems the most likely cheating option. The outcomes she'd expect are either that player gets punished, improving Gretchen's chances, or they get away with it and Gretchen learns how to rig the system. She'd just need to find a sucker first.
BoojumSnark
2022-12-10 05:29:58 +0000 UTCYeah, i feel she might had tried again if she got something out of it (like actually reducing Rebecca's role) but i doubt she will now, not unless she becomes desperate, has a mental change (like IQ drop) or she thinks she has found a loophole in the rules. On that note an interesting thing i noticed and she might had too is that Rebecca's pawn did not move until she admitted her cheating could she perhaps had lied there and gotten something out of it ? After all the game says it will punish cheating not that it will stop it from happening and all things considered it's not like the punishment was all that bad and her friends didn't even realise she had been punished so it might be worth looking into that... just food for thought. As for the IQ change i think Boojumsnark ment he wanted Gretchen specifically to get it as she has been way at top of things till now, cause let's get real unless the game is actively misleading here Rebecca is going trailer trash and while this might not be a true IQ drop it's gonna feel a lot like it is.
Grif end
2022-12-10 04:46:56 +0000 UTCYea. If the other players were the only factor she would for sure give it another go. It just so happens that the last time around the game itself called her out on it. None of her friends would've been the wiser. It's going to be difficult to make a convincing argument for why she'd try it again.
Felixfalck
2022-12-10 01:40:05 +0000 UTCMakes sense. I get this punishment would scare her off cheating for awhile, and she wouldn't try to cheat the SAME way. But unless they realize the wrongness with what they did, cheaters generally don't get honest. They look for ways to not get caught. It's why I suggested rigging the dice roll - though that's literally stolen from Jumanji - it's a way that seems like you could trick a dice game into getting you further ahead. (I don't think she'd try something unless she really began falling behind though.)
BoojumSnark
2022-12-10 00:38:35 +0000 UTCI could go for some IQ loss myself. But for the sake of the story I don't think Bitch would dare cheat again. It'd have to be inflicted the regular way through a red card. Due to the random nature of the game there's no guarantee there'll be another red card. But they're still not that far along meaning it's quite likely SOMEONE will get it,.
Felixfalck
2022-12-10 00:28:08 +0000 UTCReally excited to see where this takes Rebecca. Wouldn't mind seeing a bit of IQ loss for Bitch, formerly Gretchen, if she tries cheating again. (Rigging her die roll or rerolling after a bad roll)
BoojumSnark
2022-12-10 00:12:10 +0000 UTC
