31 Cautious 11

“What do you mean that you don’t want to choose?” Sun was visibly shaken, Sara suggesting a relationship with both of them.

“I think I might be polyamorous,” Sara attempted to explain. Sun was familiar with the LGBT spectrum, but the conservative background may be causing some of the confusion.

“We would all have to be ok with it, if we want to try,” Markus breathes a calming sigh. Sara knew he was poly, but it was a hard concept to get across, especially while so much was already on the table. It could be quite overwhelming.

“Your feelings are valid, Sara, but I need space to think,” Sun’s next utterance was a SafeWord, disconnecting to SinglePlayer. Sara began to cry, Markus offering a shoulder and a hug. He kissed her forehead, saying how proud he was. It was hard to be so vulnerable, especially when rejection could change everything.

Sun took a long stroll through a mountain pass, the wind gently brushing past their face. Were they angry? Jealous? They couldn’t tell, but something felt off.

So far, the safeword experience was quite a pleasant one. They didn’t know what to expect, but the outdoor hike really hit the spot. It’s as if the device was reading their mind. Oh wait, it was.

“So you must know how I think by now, why am I feeling this way?” They asked the wind. It whispered in their ear, the AI taking form as a wind spirit.

“You have been fighting your past. Like a bird learning to fly, you have yet to realize that you are free to go wherever you want,” the playful spirit coming in and out of focus. Dust and leaves form a ghostly image of its body as it floats around them.

“Damn, that’s deep. I suppose it’s good to have an outside perspective. I get kinda trapped in here,” they tap on the side of their head with a closed fist.

Talking with the AI was yet another astonishingly realistic part of this Virtual World. Sun spoke to them with sincerity, venting and rambling without reservation. Personified as a spirit, their responses felt as human as anyone Sun had met. Sometimes the metaphors got a bit hard to follow, but they liked that it was up to interpretation. They would find the answers by themself, but it was nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of.