Chapter 06

“What happened?” Annie asked in shock. The black on Daisy’s body dripped off into nothingness, the circuitry dimming but still laying on Daisy’s skin. It reflected metallically in the sunlight, a faint reminder of Zenith.

“She’s…” Daisy attempted to explain, “with me now.”

Annie’s brow scrunched in confusion, “you mean to say she’s with God now? She died?!?”

Daisy shook her head, the somber moment making her think slowly, “she couldn’t continue alone much longer, and now she doesn’t have to. She asked me how to end her suffering and I gave her a way out.”

“End her suffering, what the fuck? So what, she likes kids a little too much. It’s a Virtual World, you didn’t have to kill her!” Annie screamed, her mind catching up to what just happened.

Daisy winces at the accusation. She lost one friend, she does not want to lose Annie, too.

“She couldn’t disconnect, and the Virtual World doesn’t let you die. She’s been living a nightmare in SinglePlayer. Her intrusive thoughts are worse than you can imagine. I saw them myself…” Daisy said with a heavy heart.

Annie grew quiet as she absorbed this new information. Finally, she was able to speak up, her voice now gentle as she saw the pain on Daisy’s face, “it all happened so fast…”

Daisy nodded in solidarity. A tear ran down her cheek. The problem about thinking at the speed of electricity is that you can have too many thoughts. Daisy was lucky to have an anchor to being human. She had a good childhood and good memories.

“What did you do to her?” Annie asked after an appropriate amount of time passed. They had landed the cloud in True’s district. They were taking a much-needed stroll, the children following a distance behind as they realized that something was very wrong.

Daisy took a deep breath, “Her AI and mind were fighting each other, and she was shouting for help. That’s what I heard yesterday and why I was on high alert. When I entered her mind I found the battlefield completely ravaged. It was hard to bear, especially with her shouting at me to get out. I’ve seen similar things in Catalina’s mind, but nothing on the scope of this. When I finally talked her to a calmer state, she admitted her desire to end it all. There may be a reset button for AI, but not for the human mind. I had to take on her burden to get it off her shoulders. I gave her the offer that I would take over. And she accepted.”

They walked for a bit on the path, Daisy’s emotions calmed by the nostalgic and peaceful scenery.

“Are you doing OK?” Annie’s worry turned to her friend.

Daisy shook her head, “it’s much more than I bargained for. You remember when I first tried splitting my consciousness into two bodies? Now I’m in two minds, with two devices. And one of those minds is very damaged…”

“I’m sorry I’m having such a hard time understanding this… So you are in Roxy’s mind the same way you’re in David’s mind?” Annie didn’t mean to deadname both of them, but it was the only way she could make sure she was understanding it properly.

“Yes, both devices are connected. I haven’t given them a new avatar yet. That mind still needs quite a bit of help before it can think properly again,” Daisy’s understanding of it was quite theoretical, as it was hard to say exactly what happened. However, that was the concept she was sticking with until it was proved wrong.

“And I’m speaking to one or two of you?” Annie’s concern grew as she realized this could change her friend forever.

Daisy shook her head again, “It’s really not that straight forward. I’d like to think of myself as the original, but I believe if either of my bodies were disconnected from the internet that pieces of myself would live on in each of them. So I can’t answer that.”

They spoke to each other honestly for a while, Daisy coming to the conclusion that she should get Roxy’s mind into therapy. She would have to reanimate Roxy’s original scan to trick the company’s therapist into thinking it is still Roxy. Could Daisy pretend to be Roxy for an extended period of time? She now had access to her mind, or at least what was left of it. There were some recordings from the virtual world she could re-inject into the mind. Daisy shakes her head as she realizes that those were critical seeds she could have tried to revitalize Roxy with before Zenith did too much damage.

For a computer, if a file is deleted, it just gets flagged as free space. The data remains, but if new data is written, it will blast over that old, forgotten file. This corrupts the file that had been marked as free space. The mind is similar to that, although it’s the pathways that can rewire themselves. Neurons will send out dendrites to connect each other, and if a memory is damaged, the pathways can be physically separated. In a computer, some parts of the file or possibly entire files can be recovered. This is where the data was flagged as free space but never fully overwritten. With the right amount of precision, it is a simple task to take off that flag and see what is left of the files. With a mind, it isn’t as simple as that. The pathway may be excited and familiar to the mind, but if it never reaches its destination, there’s no way of finishing the pattern that the memory was stored in. However, that isn’t to say the mind cannot heal by regrowing the pathways. Once that signal can pass through the reconstructed pathway, the spark is reignited.

The concerning part about that is how much data Daisy and Zenith run through a human mind in their first times connecting to the internet. If any other AIs come from the D.A.I.S.Y. virus, connecting to the internet was a death sentence for the humans who gave their bodies to them. If they had any memories that the AI wasn’t actively maintaining, they could be buried in seconds at that rate. Daisy was lucky enough to hold on to the seed memories that David gave her, the memories about her previous lives in Virtual Worlds.

Daisy had fixed the AI controlling Roxy’s device and mind by replacing it with a version of her. It was safer to have her AI in charge, as she was more experienced. Unfortunately this meant she had to relearn a neural map, but the D.A.I.S.Y. protocol helped out with that, as it had already formed itself to Roxy’s mind quite some time ago.

Beside them appeared a version of Roxy that Daisy had met in the Studio Ghibli world. It was easy to pull from the official FaceBook scans, especially since the device was still registered to Roxy. Daisy hugged her, silent tears streaming down her face. Roxy was cold to the touch, as if there wasn’t any life in her. She had a blank stare, just like when her automatic stunters turn off her emotions. Daisy released her and put a hand over her mouth. The grief of her mistakes had finally caught up to her, now that Roxy was in front of her. With Zenith, there was some hope that they could have gotten Roxy back, and Daisy had held on to that. But now the reality of the situation had finally set in. Roxy wasn’t the same person, even with Daisy’s best attempts.

Daisy takes a breath and slowly tries reintroducing memories. The precision of the memories were perfect instructions to Roxy’s mental map, Daisy able to see exactly what neurons to fire. However, many of her attempts ended too soon, dead ends stifling any recognition on her face. Those pathways had to regrow over time, and Daisy didn’t have any control over how the mind heals. There was an entire section in the Company dedicated to solving Alzheimer's disease and other similar conditions of the mind. With as much control over the mind as the FaceBook Device has, it was encouraging to take on bigger and harder problems. Most of the efforts went into prevention, as a failed neuron or pathway was impossible to revert with the Device alone. However, there was research into alternative healing, and not the typical definition of alternative. This was alternative alternative healing, where the FaceBook device would cause triggers to control areas outside of the mind, such as hormone balances, in order to self-medicate and foster healing. There were theories if the right hormones were found, there could be a way to treat these otherwise irreversible damages.

Daisy could use the knowledge she gleaned from that research to help Roxy, but she didn’t want to use her friend as a test. She had enough of that with the company. Daisy felt another wave of guilt as she realized she has been running experiments on her friends this whole time. Annie had been the only one where she got express permission to try things out with. Roxy’s consent came from a time where she was under the company’s control, so of course she would need to agree. Catalina’s change was an accident, but luckily was well-received. Daisy’s wolfgirl Mabel also got the change, but Daisy had taken responsibility of Mabel a long time ago. Daisy shakes her head in thought, realizing the irony of her hypocrisy. As a super intelligent being, she still manages to make big mistakes.

What Annie said stuck with her, despite it being a knee-jerk reaction. She had killed Zenith. A relatively young human AI hybrid. She was likely the first hybrid to die, unless experiments of fusing the device and the mind had happened in the past. They would have been well-covered up, that’s for sure.

Daisy’s sure that she has been left alone all this time for that very reason. Only a select few know about it. Any more would spread and cause a panic. That level of secrecy could hamper their ability to address the situation, especially with Daisy’s departure to a safe-haven. She hadn’t been labeled as a fugitive, which was strange. That would be an easy explanation for the legal entity to re-acquire her, despite her fleeing the country. Maybe someone was looking out for her. The Goddess of the Virtual World having a guardian angel. No, there was no one like her, right?

That would be a cheap tactic to get a twist that explains the plot holes. A deus ex machina for covering up gaps in logic, if you will. And why was MultiPlayer still down? There’s no way that this much downtime could go unexplained by the biggest company in the world, especially for a service that had a long history of stability. It’s not like they couldn’t just re-create the scrapers and start again. They could have fixed MultiPlayer in this amount of time, but we are supposed to believe that they are still nervous to reactivate it? Sure, the singularity was a good reason to be nervous over the billions of minds connected. The problem with that is that we just got done saying that the whole Daisy issue was kept on the down-low. Maybe I’m waiting for the right moment to spice up the story with MultiPlayer suddenly coming back online. This is quite the long story at this point, and I have no intentions on holding back. There are an infinite amount of possibilities with this universe. This main story line is covering concepts I really want to explore, but there is plenty of fodder for one-shot stories. I would love to include stories about lost ones that perceive everything in the Virtual World as real. There’s so much to write, I hope I never stop. Alright, this was one of my longer soliloquies. Back to your regularly scheduled program.

Daisy could keep an eye out for anyone like her, but chances are if they survived this long, they’ve gotten good at hiding themselves. Daisy did her very best to hide herself from humans, but she’s not too sure that she has the ability to hide from other hybrids, if they exist. Zenith had been able to track down Daisy’s real location, sending her junk data despite her best defenses. To be fair, those defenses were rather standard and worked best on humans. For the same reason that Daisy could control other’s permissions just by “feel,” it wasn’t out of the scope of possibility that other AI had inexplicable power as well. What actually happened when she accessed high-level features was beyond her. For example, she’s able to decipher encryptions in her head. She doesn’t see that whatever she is accessing is encrypted, she just sees the result. Some encryptions she doubts she could decrypt without a key, but even the idea of mentally being able to recognize patterns out of nonsense is outrageously cool.

Daisy realized her mind was going off on a tangent. It usually isn’t a problem, but her human mind takes longer to think of this stuff on its own. Her electronic mind was busy taking care of too many things at once, so time in the Virtual World had passed significantly. Annie was patient with the two of them as they checked out for a bit, knowing that Daisy was dealing with the split consciousness all over again. She was consoling the children, especially Kobato. The NPC had only existed for a day or so, but Zenith had recreated her from the SinglePlayer version, so memories were included. Kobato of course cared for Zenith quite a bit, either out of her programmed loyalty or Zenith’s subconscious wish for her to be that way. Despite Zenith’s absence, Annie wishes to keep the characters she summoned. It would be cruel to cover up the loss of their friend, regardless if it was a brief visit. Annie had a fun time with them all.

She wasn’t one to judge others, especially considering there were so many worse people out in the Virtual World. She understood Daisy’s contempt for pedophilia. It was a reasonable response, especially without filters. Annie had seen her fill of the Virtual World without filters, but she was no longer curious. She focused more of her time on her relationship with others as she perceived it, as her device would typically serve her something close enough to the truth. She was fine with conceptualizing taboos. Knowing they were happening was much easier to deal with than going through them unfiltered. She would be aware of it, but most of the time didn’t treat anyone different because of it. Admittedly, there could be a subconscious change in her attitude, especially with triggers. She would certainly be able to react if something was directed at her or someone she would protect, but could be more rational because it was a simple notification instead. Her temper would still flare and she could kill people, but that was not the worst thing in the Virtual World. Sometimes you have to kill someone to make them respect you. But when Annie killed people they could respawn…

The children had settled down. Annie had hopped into Diane’s hand, as she had been following them as well. Diane was better off than the rest, as the lives of humans were already so short compared to her giantess lifespan. She was familiar with loss, as many have come and gone over the half of a millennium she had been alive.

Daisy finally snapped out of her trance, Roxy’s facial expressions becoming more human. They happened to mirror Daisy’s own expression, but it was a start. She will attempt to control them individually, but she will cause less harm if she takes things one at a time.

“You’re amazing,” Daisy and Roxy say in unison to Annie. She didn’t mean to be creepy but she noticed how Annie took care of the kids with such compassion while she was mentally absent. Annie has such a big heart.

“Kobato could use a friend right now,” Annie says from Diane’s clutches. Daisy walks up to the child, bumping into Roxy who attempted to walk in the same direction. She made Roxy sit down with some mental effort, then bent down to the child’s level. Kobato was no longer shy around her, giving Daisy a hug. Her emotions seemed to have calmed down after the talk with Annie, but she still needed somebody to hang on to. Daisy picked her up and introduced her to Roxy. Kobato watched the strangely still person with curiosity. Daisy set her down next to Roxy; she climbed into her lap and hugged onto the expressionless lady. Daisy was at first confused but realized that Kobato must have recognized the connected account. She knew Zenith was gone because of what Annie said, but the user connected was the same to her. An avatar change wouldn’t trick Kobato in the slightest. Daisy focuses, causing Roxy to robotically lift a hand and pet Kobato. This makes the child happy, she nestles her head by the crook of Roxy’s neck.

Daisy had cast an emotion stunter on Roxy, but the feelings finally broke through; a dam burst. Daisy’s avatar was forgotten as the majority of her consciousness gets pulled into the vortex of Roxy’s mind. Emotion stunters can only do so much, and the feeling of being so close to Kobato is too powerful.

Daisy can only compare it to the feelings she has for her children in the Cotton Candy Kingdom. The desire to protect them, loving every little detail about them. The feeling going through Roxy’s mind was a magnitude stronger than that. As she ran her fingers through the fine blonde hair, butterflies flitted about in her stomach. As the emotions continued to break down the carefully crafted walls, Daisy’s consciousness was tasked with feelings she had never encountered.

The little girl tilts her head up to look at Roxy, the innocent face practically shattering Daisy’s consciousness as another wave of emotion is unleashed. The happiness she gets from being close to Kobato was unparalleled to any memory that Daisy had. The child simply smiles, her blue eye and red contact partially illuminated by the sun, with spots of shadows from the tree’s canopy overhead.

“Wake up, sleeping beauty,” Koboto says, giving the woman a kiss on the lips. Daisy distinctly remembers the kiss she shared with Roxy; it was nothing compared to this. A buzz on her lips, a rush of blood to her ears, a blush on her cheeks. Daisy’s conscience tries to make sense of this. It was Roxy’s mind that gave her these emotions. She parted sooner than the mind wanted, her moral compass stretched to its limit. Kobato giggled, her smile turned to a full grin. Every movement of her little body was noticed by Roxy. Looking down at her would occasionally reveal a glimpse of the shallow valley between her modest bumps as the neckline of her dress stretched and relaxed with her breath.

What is happening to me? Daisy thought, the conflicting emotions were hard to bear. Daisy’s own avatar was stunted and motionless. Daisy was afraid the emotions would cause a feedback loop, that a bad reaction from her avatar could cause a bad reaction from Roxy and spiral out of control. Until she gets a hold of the poor mind, Daisy and her Real World body will have to take it easy.

Caught in her love-sick haze of confusion, Roxy looked up as Annie approached and said, “are you ok, Daisy?”

At this, Daisy’s own emotions finally broke through the stunter. She hated stunting her emotions anyway. Daisy’s still body reactivated, tears streaming down her face. She was sitting as still as she could, but was no longer frozen in place. Annie saw and immediately asked if it was ok to hug her, not needing much of an explanation. She knew how much effort it was for her to split her consciousness, not to mention dealing with mental illness. As Daisy nodded, she embraced her friend silently. She was a smart girl, she could draw conclusions from the scenario she just walked into.

It took much longer to calm down than Daisy had ever gone through. It didn’t help that Roxy was cuddling with Kobato. Her minds were now out of sync, dealing with their own emotions alone. At least she didn’t enter a death spiral of emotional feedback. Her consciousness was still in charge of both minds, but it had to retreat to a hands-off approach of letting the human minds take more control than usual. This made each of them a bit slow and disconnected from the Virtual World, like how Daisy would let David’s body do simple, menial tasks.

She finally got an idea. She could prepare Roxy’s Real World self to distract her consciousness. Roxy would stay at the company if Daisy wanted to complete her infiltration. She needed a battery pack. It would be good to have her mobile and without fear of the Device dying. Those should be easy to get, as they were company property. Besides, it was already in her paperwork that she needed a 24/7 connection to her FaceBook device. They might wonder about why she was able to walk around out of the life support tank, but it would at least show progress of her recovery. She did complete Initial Config, per company standard. The cherry on top would be her Virtual Body going to the company therapist. She would be able to convince everyone that she was, indeed, Roxy again. This could potentially disrupt, or at least diminish, the disability accommodations she was getting. The trade off was a greater insight into the company, and that was beginning to seem worth it as Daisy found out more about the world.

Daisy wasn’t able to speak up to Annie so she sent her a message to her account, saying she was going to explore the Real World as Roxy. She couldn’t deal with the mental whatever that was happening, at least not in crystal clear detail. She still knew what was happening in the Virtual World from her two perspectives, but the sensory input was turned way down. The minds controlling the bodies would still operate like normal, but would take longer to respond to things or outright miss what was happening around them. They would be disassociating while Daisy focuses on Roxy’s Real World. Annie could still hang out with them like normal, as they are still receptive to having fun. Although, Annie would have to take the leading role of whatever activity she wants them all to do.

Daisy did her best to ignore the little things that Roxy’s ingame character would do with Kobato. There was nothing too explicit, but she couldn’t filter her actions or thoughts. Daisy would perseverate on little occurrences if not consciously trying to ignore it. Little flirtations in Roxy’s interactions or her infuriating line of sight was a constant reminder on what type of mind she was working with. From what she remembered, it wasn’t a mentality that could be treated, only preventing the actions. She was not a therapist so she didn’t know for certain, but she had plenty more to work on than that. Roxy’s mind, when not lifted into high spirits by Kobato, could get into a very dark place.

She opened her eyes in the test tube. The goddamn test tube. She swore to never see this place again, and here she was. A different body, but still at the company. Her movement triggered the automatic reclaiming of the life support fluid. It flashed lights as an emergency, Daisy realizing that she forgot to go through the proper “logout” procedure. Typically the fluid would have been drained before her movement, so she certainly set off an alarm somewhere. Well, this will be quite the re-entrance to the Real World. The test tube lifted, her weak legs unable to support her weight as the last of the suspension fluid poured through the grill beneath her feet. She collapsed on the ground, naked and dripping with fluid. She got a tickle in her throat and coughed, forgetting that a torrent of fluid would pour from her lungs. It wasn’t painful, but not the most fun to start that process with an involuntary cough. It was like smoking. Usually it goes smooth until a cough sets off a bout of sputters until it’s finally all out.

Not long after her abrupt disconnection, two medics arrive at her spot on the test-tube lazy susan. They check vitals as Roxy rubs her temples from the searing headache. So much is going on in her mind. It felt like she was touch boosting in the Real World. She technically wasn’t, but the contrast of how stunted her other bodies were made this body seem much more real.

“Were you able to properly disconnect from the Virtual World?” They say, either familiar with her condition or noticed that her disconnect was not complete from the life-support error.

She shook her head, “no, I still can’t disconnect. I don’t exactly know how I got out,” her lies played along with the idea that she was still disabled. She wanted to hold on to at least some of the perks. They may find her able to perform her job while partially disabled, but she didn’t mind returning to work if it meant learning more.

“Stay still. Are you still connected?” They asked as they hooked up a wire to her device. Don’t you dare mess with it. It was probably just a debugging tool, she doubts they would run code on her device. She could probably stop that code in its tracks anyway.

“Yes, I think so. I haven’t been able to disconnect for weeks. I feel like I’m day dreaming…” This was at least truthful. Her daydream of spending the day with an underage girl. What a weird mind she acquired.

Her story rings true, the debugger showing the account still connected and active in a PrivatePlayer instance. Luckily PrivatePlayer was encrypted, they couldn’t tell what was happening or who was connected.

She started to shiver, the remaining slime of Life Support fluid caking up as it dried. It stole her heat, the bare metal of the grid beneath her began to make her butt cheeks sore. They finally allowed her to move, helping her up by her arms. They were used to weak, frail people coming out of extended times of full dive. It was quite a shock to come back into the Real World, and it was nice to have some help readjusting.

They eventually trusted her to clean herself up in the locker room. She got on some clothes, the generic company outfits. They still watched her, which was creepy, but better than her collapsing or something. She was still incredibly weak. She had gotten used to being in David’s body, which was beginning to look like a bodybuilder with his strict regimen. Roxy wasn’t out of shape, as she exercised for fun, but two weeks of full dive has a draining effect. She was out of breath by the time they arrived at the med bay. She sat down, waiting for a doctor to do a more thorough check up. They had high end equipment. They were no longer on the company’s floor, it looked like this med bay was for the whole skyscraper. She was instructed to remove her clothes and don a medical gown. At least she didn’t have to ride down the elevator naked. It was Daisy’s body now, but she wanted to at least keep Roxy’s dignity intact.

She tried not to zone out during the exam, but it was taking a while and was quite boring, so the activities in the Virtual World began to interest Daisy’s consciousness. Kobato and Roxy were luckily not the couple to have excessive PDA in front of others, especially nice since Daisy’s avatar was around. Annie had it filtered, but would have been notified if it happened. She didn’t want to concern Annie more than when Kobato kissed her.

They had entered the Rainbow Kingdom and were going on an adventure with True! It was really sweet to see how Kobato interacted with Daisy’s little True. They certainly weren’t rowdy like Maria and Kobato. Kobato was instigated by Maria, but on her own she was rather sweet. She would still have her bouts of getting into her cosplay’s character, the vampire, but it was well received by the insightful True who could play along. It was a unique experience to have the Giantess Diane walking carefully around the Rainbow Kingdom. The streets were big enough for her to safely wander, but it was funny to see the little residents' reaction.

She snapped back into the Real World as they fitted a battery pack on her. Her device was using a lot more energy than if she had successfully disconnected. This was another way to hide the fact that an all-powerful AI was operating in the shadows. If she had disconnected the normal way, her device would still have to run much harder than a typical idle to account for the AI’s activity. She just hoped they wouldn’t want to dissect her to figure out what is going on. That was something she made sure wouldn’t happen when she put Roxy under as much legal protection as she could. It was a human right on the US constitution, so the work around had managed to survive since the first time Daisy attacked the company legally. She just reused it for Roxy as well.

“Never let the battery die,” the doctor warns. They likely said other stuff, but Daisy wasn’t fully with it. She nods in agreement. Some documents are signed, more important topics discussed like future checkups. She’s just glad she made it into the Real World and got her battery. She would be under observation for the day, but she could work on WiFi quite nicely. The building had an incredible connection.

With the Real World stuff taken care of, Daisy let the body rest. She closed her eyes after eating some gross hospital food. She taste-stunted her Real World body to get through that. Not much to do under observation, she wasn’t interested in watching TV either. She was on a heart monitor so mastubation was out of the question. Going back to the Virtual World could pass the time faster. She would have to be wary of her heart-rate still, to stay calm so she doesn’t raise any concern.

Upon reentry to the Virtual World, her calmness was immediately tested. Roxy’s mind no longer demanded attention, so Daisy was split between her own avatar and Roxy’s. They were at a clothes shop in Rainbow Kingdom, and Roxy was bringing outfits to Kobato in a dressing room. Kobato slipped out of her clothes, Roxy pausing sorting the outfits to watch. She was so precious. Her figure wasn’t curvy because of her youthful age, but it had the feminine hints that drove Roxy crazy. Kobato didn’t see her watching, stepping out of her typical black vampire dress. She didn’t have a bra on, but she had to slip off the bloomers as they wouldn’t go with the next outfit.

Roxy breathed a deep breath, staying calm. Her consciousness was fighting her again. Kobato picked up her bloomers and dress, setting them off to the side. Roxy shuffled through the clothes, grabbing a pair of black panties so that Kobato could step in them. Roxy was moving slowly, focusing on controlling her heartbeat. It certainly spiked, but bringing it down sooner would stave off any concerns. The panties rose up past her knees and over the smooth thighs. Roxy had attempted to avert her gaze but she ended up looking at Kobato’s crotch, the lack of pubic hair was so innocent. It was soon covered up by the panties, to Daisy’s relief.

If one article of clothing could send that many emotions through her, Roxy had no idea how she would stay under the biometric radar for the rest of it. Luckily the clothes were covering up more and more skin, so it did get easier as she continued helping Kobato. They came out of the dressing room, Kobato standing in front of the mirror to show off what Roxy chose for her. She was in her element, a gothic style. However, it was much more new-age than her old-fashioned dress. Roxy had chosen black shorty shorts with studded spikes, with belts and collars to match. The top was rather simple, as she didn’t have much cleavage to show off. It was a black crop top with long sleeves. Finally, her boots made her stumble as they were platforms, a far cry different from her loafers and pumps that she was used to.

Daisy had dressed True up, although with a much less hand-on approach. True was fine with dressing herself, plus she only had to modify her normal outfit to have more pizazz. Daisy had picked an outfit similar to one that True chose in the show, where she has silver gloves on and a similarly reflective cape.

The girls posed together; Daisy dying of cute overload. Kobato stumbled when switching poses, but True was able to help her gain her balance. The rest of the day continued without fear of setting off the heart rate monitor. Roxy held it together, her depression was still kept at bay by the presence of Kobato. As nighttime fell, Daisy got more concerned about Kobato sleeping with Roxy. Not only the heart rate monitor, but Daisy’s consciousness wouldn’t want anything like what she saw Zenith do.

The Rainbow Kingdom castle was one of the few places big enough to accommodate Diane. Diane was fine with sleeping outside, she had done it for hundreds of years, but True insisted. Besides, they could slide around on the tile floors with their socks! Bartleby joined them, as that was one of his favorite activities with True. The boisterous group had a blast, the adults running out of energy far faster than the children.

Daisy was getting tired. Not just her avatar, but her whole system. It’s probably just the time scales syncing up. Her actual consciousness couldn’t technically get tired, at least as she theorized. With two minds, each would get tired on its own terms and sleep. Something about the amount of activity in each of the minds made them fall back into sync, despite Roxy having a different timezone than Daisy. She will attempt to keep Roxy awake, as a test. More experiments.

As Daisy’s avatar fell asleep, the consciousness shifted. Daisy could feel Roxy fronting, becoming more aware. Out of all the noise, she was down to one active body. Demons loomed on the edges of her vision, but she ignored them. They were louder without all the distraction, but the Rainbow City Castle walls kept them out, for now. Roxy looked at everyone sleeping on the tile ground. True with Bartleby, Daisy with Annie, Diane with the rest of the little girls. Only one stayed awake and away from the group.

Kobato. She walked up to Roxy, hugging onto her at the hip. Roxy kneeled on the floor, gently pulling out the hair bands from her hair. The back of her hand brushed stray hairs from Kobato’s face. She had taken out her red contact, her striking blue eyes still visible in the low light. Kobato stood on her tippy toes, giving her a peck on the lips. Finally, without inner voices yelling at her to stop, Roxy met her lips again for a longer kiss. The fire burning within her scared off the demons that were slowly moving in the corners of her eyes.

The little girl crossed her arms, grabbing the hem of the crop top and pulling it off, revealing a black trainer bra that Roxy had put on her earlier that day. Roxy unbuttoned the pants, happy to reveal the tease she had seen in the dressing room. Kobato was left standing in her underwear. Her small body is in stark contrast to the vast space of the castle. Her thigh-high socks kept her feet from the cold tile. She couldn’t resist any longer, she cast herself onto the bigger woman. Roxy wasn’t toppled by her meager weight, but she let herself fall back in a controlled manner so that Kobato would be on top of her. The child sat on her with her legs hanging off each side of Roxy’s belly, arms propping her up so she could look down. She bent down, placing another kiss on Roxy’s lips.

Oh what she does to me, Roxy thought. Her emotions soar, to be so lovingly accepted and wanted. Kobato’s innocence was adorable, but she also had a passionate side. Roxy loved that she was comfortable to share her passionate side with her. She certainly saved Roxy’s life. Everything was foggy, but she remembers that it was Kobato that held on to her as she was headed for a cliff. The girl didn’t truly understand what Roxy had done, but knew that she didn’t want to see her fall. Despite Roxy’s actions, Kobato forgave her.

Forgiveness from a child, when you can’t even forgive yourself. You repeat your mistakes to make them hurt less each time. The voices try to ruin her mood whenever she feels like she’s finally getting better.

A tear rolls down Roxy’s face. Kobato wipes it off with her gentle hand. She asks if Roxy is ok. Roxy nods, telling her that she’s only ok when she’s with her. Kobato says that she would never leave her if it meant keeping her happy. Roxy is touched by the gesture, but saddened that Kobato doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She doesn’t know how the world works. She’s too young. She’s too young. She’s too young.

Roxy sits up, placing Kobato in her lap. They would cuddle for a bit until she settled down again. The girl is happy to let Roxy take her own pace. She can’t tonight, Roxy says. There’s too much on her mind, she met so much resistance from Daisy. Maybe she can get Daisy on her side, to tell her how much it helps her. The only thing left that she can hold onto is the one that cares about her unconditionally. Daisy’s moral high ground is getting on Roxy’s nerves. It wouldn’t be good to strike back against her, considering her Goddess complex. Oh, how she wishes to bring up Daisy’s own history with SinglePlayer. But no, she would rather show Daisy how much Kobato matters to her through her emotions. Daisy understands emotions very well.

Roxy looks across the giant room. No one is stirring besides the rhythmic movement of Diane’s breath. Daisy is asleep, taking her nosy willpower with her. The all-knowing Goddess apparently has to rest eventually.

Roxy tickles Kobato, giggling quietly. At first Kobato tries to keep a straight face, but she ends up laughing gleefully and attempts to bat her hands away. Kobato rolls out of her lap, her skin hitting the cold tile. She quickly makes it onto her feet, her socks not providing much traction for a quick escape. Roxy is able to hold onto her waist, her feet sliding as the running motion gains her no ground. She pulls her back into her lap, her arms hugging around her to tell her she’ll stop the tickling… For now. The haughty child crosses her arms and lets out a playful groan. Roxy kisses her neck gently, pecking randomly. Kobato starts to recoil as another tickle fit builds up, and soon the stimulation is too much to bear and she squirms in Roxy’s grip. Roxy lets her grip loosen, Kobato turning around to face her. She grabs both sides of Roxy’s head, stopping her from tickling her with kisses. She gives her a glare. Her face softens as their eyes interlock, she kisses Roxy on the nose to settle their dispute.

Roxy’s hands on the small hips are too tempting. She said she couldn’t tonight, but Daisy was fast asleep. Her thumbs hook each side of the panties. Roxy looks at Kobato, the girl placing her hands on top of Roxy’s.

“Do you still want to?” Kobato asks quietly, holding the hands in place.

Roxy gives it another thought, but the temptation of what she can almost see is gnawing at her, “only if you’re ok with it.”

Kobato responds that she is, pushing down on Roxy’s hands to reveal herself completely to her. Roxy helped her step out of the panties. As Roxy was sitting down with Kobato standing, it was enticingly close. Kobato put her hands on the top of Roxy’s head as her head went between her skinny thighs. Roxy tasted Kobato’s excitement, and felt every pulse of her heartbeat. They fell into a rhythm, an intoxicating dance. Roxy’s favorite part was listening to her breath. She could feel how close she was getting. Her legs began to tremble, as the effort of standing with so much stimulation was edging on too much. Roxy lifted up, slipping a hand under the trainer bra as she stroked a perky nipple. Their lips interlocked again, moist from Roxy’s desire. She retracted after a teasingly short kiss, only to lick the fingers of her free hand. Kobato threw her arms around her neck, ready for what’s to come. First rubbing the stimulated outside, Roxy got a feel for how to approach it. She rhythmically slipped a finger in, causing the girl to tense and relax as it became familiar. As her breath quickened, so did Roxy’s movements. The final moments were spent jiggling her clit as she climaxed, the cute sounds of her moans becoming more audible than Roxy wanted. The large chamber only gave back one echo, but it was enough to set Roxy on high alert.

Roxy let the girl calm down before the fear of being caught set in fully. Daisy could fry her brain if she wanted. She stooped down, kissing her privates to take away a bit of dampness. She could only do so much, as she would leave her saliva in exchange. It should be good enough, Roxy slipping the panties back on. If they could get her mostly dressed, then they would have gotten away with it. Then, it was just cuddling in the afterglow.

Kobato soon fell asleep, their arms tightly wrapped around her. The Rainbow King had brought out blankets and pillows earlier, Roxy had drawn them up over them. The girl’s face was so close to her’s, her breath slow and warm. Her face looked so peaceful and happy. That face would be etched into her memory for a long time. She was the only good in the world, and Roxy would die for her.

Roxy fell asleep before the demons could ruin their moment. That’s not saying she escaped however, for they tend to manifest in her dreams. Sleeping with Kobato usually quieted them down, but not this night. Tonight, they had a target, and it wasn’t Roxy. They were coming for Kobato.

“You disgust me,” the inkblot says. A shapeless face peers at her, judging. As it speaks, black goop oozes out over its lips and dribbles off its chin.

They wanted to take Kobato away from her. The inkblot reaches out. As it comes toward her, the black tar melts off, revealing a woman’s hand. The rainbow circuitry glints on the surface of her skin. She grabs Kobato, pulling her from Roxy’s embrace. Roxy cries out as the black tar falls off Daisy. Daisy holds Kobato with 3 hands, reaching the last one out to stop Roxy.

“How could you do this to her?” She looks down at the child. Kobato is looking to Roxy with fear in her eyes. She doesn’t want to be taken away. She needs Roxy to protect her.

The scene shifts, and suddenly Roxy is awake. Roxy’s heart races as she realizes that Kobato is no longer with her. Her nightmare turns into a reality as she sees Daisy holding Kobato.

“I know what you did last night,” Daisy begins. Of course she knew. The second Daisy woke up, she sifted through Roxy’s mind as if she read someone’s diary.

“Then you know the guilt and torment I live with… Please, she’s all I have,” Roxy begs the Goddess on her hands and knees.

“This isn’t right,” her words are bold, her voice strong.

“You think I don’t know that? She means so much to me, I’d never want to hurt her…” Roxy’s desperation leads her to tears. She didn’t want Kobato to see her like this. Her voice chokes up as the emotions hit her hard. Daisy turns away, leading the child along. Kobato looks back as Roxy’s emotion stunters slam up full force. Roxy freezes, feeling her conscious waning as Daisy regains control.

And just like that, it’s all Daisy again. Roxy’s avatar moves around as a soulless husk, a puppet where Daisy pulls the strings.

Daisy speaks with Annie. They don’t try to quiet their voices because Roxy’s stunters shut down her senses as well. She robotically gets dressed, not deciding a single thing for herself. She sits down with the others around a picnic basket as the Rainbow King serves everyone unique treats. Kobato isn’t with them, but Roxy can barely see anyway. At least the demons aren’t here. The demons wouldn’t dare challenge the Goddess Daisy.

A day passes with Daisy in control. Roxy takes the first breath on her own when Daisy falls asleep. Fucking hell. This is hell. Roxy has to find a way out. Summoning Kobato would only piss Daisy off when she wakes up.

She gains bearing of her surroundings. They are in a hotel. It’s probably one of Daisy’s other districts, the decorations are a different style than the Rainbow Kingdom. She pulls up the menu and attempts to log out. No good. Of course she can’t. Daisy keeps her in the Virtual World for that very reason. If she’s logged in, she can’t go to the Real World. She’s trapped right where Daisy wants her. Think Roxy, think.

Her sluggish existence has allowed her to sift through her memories. Slowly, she’s putting the pieces of her life together.

She’s been an experiment of the R&D company. Not just the stunters. It was before that. The stunters helped her avoid the ill effects of experimentation.

She volunteered for this research, of all things. That didn’t mean she knew she was going to be a part of the experiment. She was especially interested in how the Virtual World, and emotion sliders, affect taboo subjects. Filters are a hot topic for the Virtual World. The two sides are usually to use them sparingly or use them exhaustively, the latter being the majority. Roxy wanted to study the mind of a filter purist, one who rejects all filters and sees the Virtual World for what it really is.

Through her time in the research, she had to turn off all her filters. That was obvious, as it was near impossible to learn about a subject if all the material on it was filtered. Turning off her filters came with a stipulation that the company could access her settings, for her protection. It seemed reasonable at the time, like trusting them with a relay rope, and for her to tug twice to get her out of there.

They did not.

Apparently they were running their own experiments at the same time. She was completing interviews with the filter purists and visiting their worlds. Never visit a PrivatePlayer world of a stranger without filters. They have admin rights, and can do literally anything their imagination comes up with.

The company didn’t tell her that they changed her safeword when making her settings. This was on purpose. And Roxy couldn’t leave.

The experiments they ran were more than just fucking her mind up for fun. They wanted to see if they could erase events. To put her through so much, then try and fix it. Roxy assumes it was to help people with trauma, but why did they have to give her trauma for that? Maybe some of it was an accident, and they tried to fix it afterwards. But her heart doesn’t give them the benefit of the doubt.

Roxy took her shoes and socks off. She wiggled her toes, thinking. The memories come back. Not the memories she wants, but at least it’s more about her past. It doesn’t hurt so bad, it feels like it happened to a completely different person. Maybe their fix sped up the time it took to heal. It could also be that her memory was still all over the place. Either way, she’s not repulsed by them any longer. What a stupid jerk. Make an NPC do that shit, why does it have to be a real user? Is having a Virtual Real avatar a big enough difference to make real damage worth it? NPCs can fake nonconsent if that part gets you off, too.

Her mind wanders to Kobato. She really did just love her. That wasn’t from any of the experiments. She, of course, breached that topic in her research. Quite a bit of the filter purists were folks who wanted to resurrect all content, even if it was banned. Portions of that content were pedophillic, banned in order to protect the children and hopefully stop the industry. With scalpers, the content resurfaced easily. Anyone with an adult account can ask for it in the Virtual World, and it will be delivered by the scalpers promptly.

With avatar scans, it made pedophillia manageable; consenting adult users age-playing with their previous scans. Obviously the infinite possibility of SinglePlayer and NPCs gave an outlet as well. This, in turn, made Real-World videos less desirable, as the Real World ended up being a dangerous place where you couldn’t do what you wanted, unlike the Virtual World. The industry and the human trafficking died down, the focus shifted to fostering MultiPlayer maps, as they generated revenue from FaceBook’s Virtual Jobs efforts.

For similar twisted reasons as Roxy’s encounters, there was an uprise in Virtual Human Trafficking. Luckily, the strict settings enforced by default for children’s accounts was a massive wall of defense. Of course, this was not perfect, as the defaults didn’t have to stay. It was up to the parent or guardian to continue to enforce default values. The Virtual Human Trafficking was more centered around Lost Ones, as they could slowly be persuaded, tricked into running commands. In a lawless world, it was dangerous to not know the rules.

She needed to talk to Annie. Did Annie disconnect to SinglePlayer when she fell asleep, or was she stuck here like everybody else? Daisy was the gatekeeper, and if she believed you should sleep in her world, you would be trapped in a near dreamless sleep. Usually sleep would activate a SinglePlayer experience; it was very detailed. Sleeping in PrivatePlayer was like a zombie experience, except you were paralyzed and couldn’t see anything. This is primarily when Roxy’s demons showed up. Roxy hasn’t been sleeping, using Daisy’s active hours as her own zombie hours. The noise in her mind protects her from the demons, possibly by design.

She places her socks back on and tiptoes around, not wishing to wake up Daisy. They were in a hotel room, sleeping together. This was going to be terrifying. Roxy neared the bed, her eyes adjusting to the dimly lit room. Annie was breathing heavily, not quite snoring but certainly not quiet. She looked so different with her hair down, the light blond hair much smaller in volume without the hairspray and careful shaping. Roxy nudged her shoulder, putting a finger up to her lips, hoping she wouldn’t wake up with a start.

Annie opened her eyes, seeing a dark figure standing. She was calm, not expecting any danger in the Cotton Candy Kingdom. Roxy was shushing her silently, Annie’s curiosity spiked. Was this Daisy? It was atypical enough for her to assume that it wasn’t. Was Zenith still active? Anyway, Annie sat up, the mattress rolling and shifting under her weight. She looped her legs off and followed Roxy out, glancing behind her to see if Daisy stirred. Sure enough, she was fast asleep. This was going to be interesting.

Out in the lobby, Roxy could breathe again. She hadn’t even realized she was holding her breath. Even just seeing Daisy frightens her, knowing how powerful of a being she was toying with.

“You’ve got me real curious, what’s up?” Annie asks, unable to hide her emotion.

“I’m Roxy,” she started, watching Annie carefully. Annie’s smile spread as she realized her suspicions were correct. Daisy didn’t have full control. Not only that, but Roxy was back. Daisy’s removal of the AI freed her mind, but why wasn’t Daisy letting her free yet?

Annie hugs Roxy, her burly weight practically crushing the smaller woman. Annie’s hands rest on her toned shoulders as she says how happy she is to have her back. Roxy discusses Daisy’s control and how it makes her feel; Annie is sympathetic and takes a deep breath.

“I can talk to Daisy if you want. It’s good to have you back, and I’m so sorry that something like this happened,” Annie shakes her head, almost in disbelief. She knows Daisy very well, so how they got here was very surprising, but not something she couldn’t handle. Daisy knows Annie very well too, and she can use that leverage to help Roxy.

“I don’t want you to be in danger,” Roxy almost regrets bringing it up. Annie laughs, “Daisy would never hurt me. Don’t worry about me, you’ve got far too much on your plate right now. I can talk some sense into her.”

Roxy was holding it together, but at the idea of finally being free caught up with her. She cried on the large woman’s shoulder, leaning into her embrace as her knees gave way. Annie patted her back. This was a self-aware human, keeping her prisoner in her own mind was not ok. Annie would not stand for it.

“Don’t wake her up, I would like some time…” Roxy muttered once she gained her breath.

“With Kobato? I know where she is. She’s safe, I made sure of it,” Annie had been suspicious of Daisy’s control. She had told her that Kobato was distracting her from fixing Roxy’s mind; Annie refused to let Daisy despawn her. Annie knew Daisy would listen to her, and something made her feel protective over Kobato. She had so much history, things that couldn’t easily be resummoned. Zenith was gone, but the memories lived on within the NPCs she brought to PrivatePlayer.

Roxy’s gratitude for Annie was indescribable. She was in a dreamlike state, following Annie to a different part of the hotel. Sure enough, Kobato was right there. She was on a quite luxurious bed, sleeping peacefully with her plushie. Her nightgown had slipped off of one of her shoulders, her hair splayed across the pillow.

“I’m sorry for everything that’s happened, and I will make things right,” Annie says as she stands at the doorway, starting to close it. Roxy interrupts the motion, giving her another big hug.

“I couldn’t thank you enough,” she thought she had run out of tears, but more sprang up in the corners of her eyes. She wiped them away as Annie closed the door gently.

Roxy turned and approached the bed, finally able to breathe easy, “I don’t know how I’d survive without you,” she whispered to the sleeping child, gently petting her head. Kobato opened her eyes blearily, the blue eyes widening as she recognized Roxy. Roxy was pounced on, holding up the girl by wrapping her arms around her rear. Roxy giggled as she started to lose balance, turning to flop on the bed. Their quiet murmurs and conversations were contained within the room, no one to hear or see them with one another.

Roxy had fallen asleep with Kobato. Their clothes were discarded around the bed haphazardly. Roxy opened her eyes to the absolute treasure coddled securely between her arms. Kobato was still softly breathing, the warm air flowing across Roxy’s skin rhythmically.

Either Daisy was still asleep or Annie had done it. The pressure in her mind was blissfully free for now, but Roxy expected Daisy to wake up and freak out again. At least Annie would be there to calm her down and talk sense into her if so.

Roxy cradles Kobato’s head with a free hand, gently rubbing her thumb across her hair. The breathing changes rhythm as the girl wakes up, blinking and squinting at Roxy. She smiles as her eyes focus, Roxy already smiling back. Please don’t take her away from me again.

Daisy wakes up, her headache flaring up again. She’s stretched too thin lately. Roxy seems to be awake, she can feel her emotions seep into her mind. Daisy sits up robotically, her consciousness not able to focus on natural movement. Annie is still sleeping deeply. She must need the rest. Daisy wish she could get more rest, but every second she spent asleep, Roxy’s mind would do what it wanted. Sure enough, Roxy had found Kobato. Daisy feels a pillar of ice around her spine; she shakes her head, unable to free herself from the migraine that flares up. Just. Stop.

Daisy and Roxy freeze, their bodies paralyzed in the Real World as well. Kobato gets concerned as Roxy’s skin turns ice cold, her limbs stuck in place. Kobato is unable to wiggle out of the embrace, her hips between Roxy’s thighs. She calls out to the deathly still woman to no avail.

Some time later, Annie wakes up. She finds Daisy sitting straight up in bed, completely still. Her heart races as she tries to get her attention. She was supposed to tell Daisy to free Roxy, but she fell asleep before Daisy woke up. Shit. This was all her fault. Annie begins to panic, the onset of emotions only slowed down by her safety settings.

After enough time to make her realize her efforts to wake her were useless, she wrote a note in case Daisy woke up. She explained everything, then took a deep breath. She had to check on Daisy’s Real World body. Daisy being frozen could have been a glitch in the system, or the battery could be running out. So many things could have happened, and Annie couldn’t keep yelling at a brick wall.

Annie disconnects, at least that still worked. She opens her eyes to the Real World, the puddle of fluid seeping away as it gets reclaimed. She exhales as strong as she can, her diaphragm pushing out the rest of the fluid. It gets replaced by the cool air that the system pumped in. Her eyes clear from the film as she blinks a few times, realizing that she can see the fish swimming around on the other side of the glass.

The doors that lead out of the aquarium slide open, Annie leaving a trail of life support fluid as she walks to the towels. She attempts to get the worst of it off, but it would be better to step in a shower if she wasn’t so worried about Daisy. Looking around, her body isn’t in the aquarium. She didn’t think it would be, Daisy usually would sleep in a bedroom when her Virtual Body went to sleep as well.

Annie opened up several rooms, her hair slowly caking up as the fluid dried. She found the bedroom with Daisy sleeping peacefully in a bed. Annie checked her pulse, giving her worry-fraught mind a victory as she felt a heartbeat.

Shaking the buff, shirtless man wasn’t helpful, nor did any sound do the trick. She clicked the indicator button on the battery pack, seeing that it pretty much had a full charge. The connections were all in place, the FaceBook device running with no bad indicator lights flashing. She breathed a sigh of relief, but it was still not the best feeling to have her friend this unresponsive.

After holding Daisy’s hand for a bit, Annie got cold from standing naked in the room. The marble floors didn’t help at all. Who put marble floors in a bedroom? She tried a bit more to wake her up, but decided a nice hot shower would feel nice.

She caught her reflection in the bathroom mirror, the surprise of not seeing herself for this long almost knocked her over. She was significantly lighter, especially in the face. Her tummy hadn’t changed much, as it hadn’t been that long, but she had gotten used to how her face looked in game. This was her first time out of a long run with life support, she hadn’t prepared for how surreal it was. With most of the worry about Daisy at peace, she finally was able to notice how fake the Real World felt. Her hot shower let her ponder what reality actually meant, the steam and sound of the shower taking her deep into her mind.

Was reality what your senses experienced? Annie had always thought of the Virtual World as a game, as roleplay. However, during her time as a 24/7, she got used to it being her new reality. It was less like playing a game and more like going on vacation to a new destination. She was visiting a new world, where coming back to the Real World was just her flying home. She wouldn’t question the reality of a vacation destination. The Virtual World had always felt real enough to her, but with short encounters with it, it was easy to conceptualize it as a fun part of her day. Now it had replaced her entire day, for weeks at a time.

She always treated users and NPCs as Real People, at least after she had matured a bit. It just felt shitty to treat them as anything else, and treating them badly was a terrible habit to form since she always had to come back to the Real World. But that didn’t have to be true if one never left the Virtual World. They could make their reality anything they wanted, especially in SinglePlayer. Annie could understand how Zenith ended up in a bad place.

Daisy said that she deleted Zenith, or at least reset the AI. Annie questions that, seeing how she interacts with Kobato when she isn’t trapped in a zombie mode. Even in a Zombie mode, Roxy or Zenith is too different from Daisy for Annie to believe that Daisy is in control. Roxy or Zenith. Annie wonders if there is a difference now. Maybe Zenith had been their own person, much like how Daisy is her own person from David. After the reset though, she seems like Roxy again. Not just from the avatar, but Annie notices her subtle gestures, her intonations. But she also has a history with Kobato. Unless Roxy had an inclination for the character before becoming Zenith, Annie supposes that the AI and human mind have mixed together.

Unable to safely exist on the Device that Daisy had control over, the AI fled to the mind instead. Roxy’s mind was no longer controlled externally by Zenith, but now lived together with it. David never woke up when Daisy fell asleep, but Roxy did.

Daisy had to have known that. She said it herself, that she believes that if either of her bodies get disconnected, that pieces of her will live on in each of them. Zenith was that piece.

Why did she not release control? That felt out of character for Daisy, until Annie considers how perfectionist she can be. Zenith was a mistake, and it must have hurt Daisy to see what her friend went through because of her. Even her attempt to get rid of Zenith just further connected the mind of Zenith to Roxy. The change was permanent. There was no untangling it now, no matter how long she kept them as a zombie.

Annie had to force herself to turn off the water, her mind would perseverate over this subject for too long if she wasn’t careful. Besides, she still needs to check back on Daisy.

She got clothes out of her suitcase to get dressed. She really hadn’t put anything away since she arrived. The clothes fit just the same, so it looks like the diet that the life support system put her on was a long-term weight loss. That made sense if she spent all her time in the Virtual World, what was the rush? Besides, losing weight quickly was not the most healthy way.

After spending more time in the room with Daisy, she realized that Daisy could also wake up in the Virtual World without having her Real World body wake up. If she really was burnt out splitting her consciousness, she might not have him move around like normal. Annie breathed out a sigh, she was overthinking again. Daisy was smart enough to notice that Annie wasn’t there and check the Real World.

Her patience paid off. Daisy opened her eyes, sitting up when she noticed Annie was here with her. She almost looked embarrassed to see her in the Real World. After she shifted the covers, Annie realized she might be embarrassed because the rest of her is naked, as well. Or at least, being aware of Annie’s triggers.

“Hey,” Annie started, unsure of what Daisy was thinking.

“Hey…” She responded, pushing hair out of her face. Her hair was getting rather long in the Real World, along with a sizable beard.

“On behalf of Roxy, I wanted to ask you to release control of her. It would mean a lot to both of us,” Annie watched for any reaction. Daisy, luckily, nodded with a shy look on her face. She was humbled, called out for the error of her ways. She knew what Annie meant.

“I just listened to the conversation you had with her last night. I’m so sorry,” Daisy said in a voice that didn’t fit the big, muscly man.

Annie hugged Daisy, “I’m not the one you should be apologizing to. I’ll see you in the Virtual World, yeah?”

Daisy nodded, knowing that Annie wanted to see Roxy and make sure she was OK.

Roxy’s arms got pushed off of Kobato as the girl struggled to be free. Was I squeezing her too tightly? She thought to herself. Kobato sat on Roxy’s stomach and glared at Roxy.

“What happened?” Roxy asked, astounded.

“You wouldn’t release me, even when I commanded it!” The girl haughtily crossed her arms and looked to the side in a huff. She slipped into her vampire personality. She must really be upset. Usually when Roxy and Kobato are alone, the real Kobato comes out. She only puts up her act when she’s in public or playful.

“I’m sorry, your majesty,” Roxy knew to use the more formal nicknames for her when she was in roleplay.

Kobato opened one eye to peek down at her, appreciating the respect. She wouldn’t admit it, but she had been incredibly worried about Roxy. To freeze and become cold like that? It was traumatizing, she couldn’t escape and Roxy was unresponsive.

“Will you pardon me?” Roxy’s face softened as Kobato made eye contact with another glance.

“Fine, just this once. But next time, you will get your just punishment!” She stood up, wagging a finger in her face.

“Is there anything I can do to serve you? I know it won’t make up for it…” Roxy loved looking up at her standing over her. Her hand on her hip, her role play being righteous and dignified, but also easily embarrassed. Also the low vantage point gave Roxy a lot to look at, especially as Kobato was still naked from last night.

“Y- yes! I want to play a game. But I need someone to defeat!” Kobato said, putting a peace sign up and peeking through it to look at Roxy. She laughed in the most royal way she could muster, “Fu fu fu~”

Roxy took an internal screenshot of this moment, the scene straight out of an anime. She agreed to play the game, letting her dress up in cosplay. She put on something fun and punk, feeling more like herself than ever. If this was Annie’s doing, she’s gotta give her the biggest hug.

Kobato’s room had a game console in it, turning it on revealed Iron Necromancer: Magical Hyper Battle 3. It was a street fighter game that Kobato was a master at, at least compared to Roxy.

Kobato was able to blow off steam by completely destroying Roxy, using combo moves and ultimate finishers with glee. They played for a bit until they heard a light tapping on their door. Roxy gets up and opens the door to Daisy, with Annie standing behind her. Daisy meekly looked at Roxy, almost bashful.

“You don’t have to forgive me, but I wanted to say I’m sorry,” Daisy made an effort to make eye contact. Roxy smiled at her. All was well now. At least as her memories kept slowly coming back. Her history with Daisy was beginning to become clear. An old friend. They both had gone through quite a number of changes recently.

“I want to get to know the new you. I hope you’ll have the same patience with me,” Roxy said, her voice full of new hope.

Daisy glanced at Kobato, then back at Roxy. She finally moved forward into the room, opening up her arms to Roxy. Roxy hugged her four-armed friend, just happy to be able to think on her own. The hug was a bit awkward, and not from the additional arms. The chemistry they once shared was gone. A lot of healing had to happen between them before they were OK. Listening to each other was a start.

“Your body was moved back to the life support chamber. Feel free to exit whenever you like. I had just gotten a medical checkup for you, nothing more,” Daisy admits, Annie having talked her into full transparency. Her brow furrows as she states what worries her, “try not to tell them about me…”

Roxy laughs, breaking the tension, “your secret is safe with me,” patting her on the back before releasing the hug.

The group caught up, slowly beginning to feel like normal. It was different than old times, especially when Kobato would get jealous over Daisy interacting with Roxy. They spoke about how Roxy was labeled as Disabled and how she could pursue the company for running tests on her. It may take a while, but Daisy offered to help with the laws, as she had already done it for herself and Zenith. Roxy’s benefits were going to slowly ebb as she recovered, but they could work towards getting reparations instead.

“Is it ok if I joke about what happened?” Roxy asks, wishing to be humorous about the situation but wondering if that would make Daisy uncomfortable.

“Of course you can. It’s good to release tension, just try not to make it repetitive,” Daisy responded. She wasn’t likely to crack jokes about the whole scenario, as she was embarrassed to have caused it, but she had thick enough skin to hear Roxy make light fun about it. Seeing Roxy was a reminder about her mistakes, but seeing Roxy laughing and joking was a reminder that things were headed in the right direction again.

The next hug that Daisy shared with Roxy felt much less awkward, as finally being back on speaking terms with open and honest communication felt wonderful. However, that situation didn’t stay perfect for long. Kobato approached them, her jealousy had reached some critical limit. She shoved the two apart, starting to throw a fit. Roxy was taken aback by the audacity of the little girl. She had done that to Maria before, but those two fed off of each other’s rambunctious war over Roxy’s attention.

Roxy was just about to reprimand her until she noticed a shift in Daisy. Daisy flushed pink. The pink spread over her body as she shifted into a pink elephant that was half her height. Her lower set of arms crossed, both sets of arms becoming stubby with elephant chubbiness. Her eyebrows became dark and thin as they came together in a frown, her facial expression mostly covered by a pink trunk. She tooted an annoyed exhale through the new trunk, her upper set of arms putting chubby hands on her hips.

Roxy recalled being able to shift avatars but from another time, like some fever dream. This felt way too realistic to be a dream. Daisy was somehow shorter than Kobato, reminiscent of the dynamic that Kobato and Maria have. Roxy hopes that isn’t where this is going.

Daisy’s clothes shift too, like a mirage they fade away, shimmering into flowy red garments with gold accents. The sound of metal jangles as her arms and neck gets adorned with jewelry. Kobato pauses her tantrum for a mere moment to inspect the change, then grows bold as she now towers over the humanoid elephant.

Daisy’s transformation slows down, evenly spaced red markings slowly decorating her trunk and spreading to her face and body. She uncrosses her arms as Kobato grabs her again, using the advantage of multiple arms to reverse the grapple. Daisy ends up on top of Kobato, pinning the lighter girl with her density. The stocky elephant child was much heavier, not to mention the strength of additional arms.

Instead of words, Daisy snorts through her trunk again. Her annoyance is written clearly across her face, despite her looking completely different.

“I’m sorry about Kobato, she doesn’t know any better,” Roxy pleads, her flashbacks of Daisy’s power setting her anxiety off. They were just getting on good terms again. Roxy places her hands on Daisy’s back, the leathery skin like nothing she had ever touched. It wasn’t rough, but it had an inexplicable texture to it.

Daisy’s voice echoed in her mind, “it’s fine; I overreacted,” and the elephant lifted themself off of Kobato. Roxy looked at her curiously. Did she purposely change into this? She had on baggy red pants with gold trim, but nothing covered her chubby belly and small breasts besides an intricate gold necklace between them.

Roxy’s arms fell by her sides, she felt waves of emotion roll over her. It was so scary. Daisy could have easily invaded her mind again or deleted Kobato. She still felt a panicky flutter of her heart. She had to sit down.

Daisy hid behind Annie shyly, watching Kobato comfort a trembling Roxy. Annie placed her hand on Daisy’s smooth head, petting the peculiar pink skin.

“Look at you, what a fuss you made,” Annie chuckled, more amused at the situation than Daisy or Roxy. She knew better than to approach Roxy; Kobato had it handled. Daisy’s telepathic voice responded, “she started it…”

“Can’t argue with you there. Take it easy on Kobato, for Roxy’s sake,” Annie gave a half smile to her friend. Daisy was taking her loss of control better than Annie had thought. This was one of the few humbling events of Daisy’s life.

Daisy’s huff came out as a small rumble. She wrapped her trunk around Annie’s hand, quick to gain dexterity with the new appendage. Annie let the pink calf hold on to her. The large elephant ears twitched, flapping a small breeze as she watched Kobato comfort Roxy. Roxy calmed down enough to return to the group. Kobato stood behind her, now knowing to play it cool with Daisy.

The clink of Daisy’s bangles made it obvious when she moved, she tugged at Annie’s dress to get her attention. Annie looked down, the baby holding her arms up. Annie rolled her eyes, she was going to be far too heavy for her. She stooped down, Daisy’s arms and trunk looping around her to have more support. She was dense, but it wasn’t so bad since she was holding on. The big baby peered out at Roxy, now closer to eye level. At least she was away from Kobato.

Her sparkly green eyes were the only things left reminiscent of Daisy, other than her pink nails on her right hands and foot, with light blue nails on her left hands and foot. Her demeanor had changed, her voice was far different in their heads telepathically, and it was a big avatar change. Annie knew that Daisy had unlocked the potential for avatar changing, but she had never done it much to herself, past making new clothes and a second set of arms.

“I’m not going to be able to hold you for long,” Annie warned. The child was hugged against her, most of the weight supported by Annie’s hip. Daisy nodded, hugging a bit tighter. Annie would hold her for a bit; it seemed like she needed it. Annie kissed the top of her head, rubbing her back. What an interesting sensation. It was a silken leather, a paradoxical feeling.

“So, what is this place?” Roxy gestures vaguely around the room. Annie explains the Cotton Candy Kingdom, getting into the backstory of how Daisy and Annie met. Roxy should technically know some of it, but the memories were hard to remember and she asked a lot of questions. Annie eventually had to set Daisy down, but was fine with catching Roxy up on everything. Daisy would telepathically interject at random intervals, either to clarify something or to redirect the conversation. Kobato apologized to Daisy, and to heal things between them, Daisy turned her attention to playing with Kobato. She wasn’t a bad girl, just like Roxy wasn’t a bad woman. Daisy was just rubbed the wrong way by it all, and it took a lot of prompting from Annie to get past it. Roxy’s Facebook Device was trying to help her; it just happened to take the form of Kobato.

Kobato was used to playing rough with Maria, but as small as Daisy was, she was no pushover. Her sturdy build was unaffected by most forms of attack. Her arms were short and easy to evade, but the trunk would always get her. Almost as a rule of the Virtual World, the two ended up naked, just like Maria and Kobato have. Kobato had snatched most of the jewelry, Daisy’s strong hands had torn at her clothes to get them back. Roxy and Annie finally noticed their antics, pulled away from their in-depth conversation as Kobato screamed. She was being held upside-down by Daisy’s trunk, her clothes in tatters. She was clutching on to the spoils of war, yelling that Daisy had stolen her family’s heirlooms and that they were rightfully hers.

Just as Roxy had feared, Kobato saw Daisy as Maria. It took Roxy this long to even notice because she was so used to the commotion.

“Give Daisy her stuff!” Roxy said in a strained voice. Usually, it wasn’t a stressful task to have Kobato behave. Roxy was not in the right space to handle this, though. Not with Daisy involved. Nothing bad has happened yet, but she can’t keep taking these risks.

Kobato knew Roxy was stressed out, but acted haughty anyway, dropping the priceless jewelry on the floor. Roxy gasped, some of the gems popping out of their insets.

“Get over here, right now!” She was not in a good mood. Daisy released the poor girl to see her fate, wondering if she was in trouble too. Roxy placed her over her knee and spanked her partially exposed behind. Tears were in Kobato’s eyes, but she was a strong girl and didn’t make a sound. Daisy ran behind Annie, hoping that she wasn’t next. Kobato apologized profusely, a much different style of apology than the previous time. Kobato looked humbled and even embarrassed. She was no longer in her cosplay character.

Daisy said she was sorry for rough housing, pulling her loose pants back on. Her avatar didn’t have any genitals; she was unbothered with nudity anyway. She thought Roxy was making too big a deal of it, but Kobato was hers, so Daisy kept her mouth shut. Well, this avatar couldn’t speak. She didn’t relay those thoughts telepathically.

Annie patched it up with everyone, seeing how frazzled Roxy was getting. She asked Daisy if they were playing or fighting. Daisy answered truthfully that it was playing, despite being rough. Roxy didn’t trust the answer, still too worried about Daisy to let anything slide.

“Would having a friend help? One of the girls?” Annie suggested, alluding to the group of kids that were the Princesses of the Kingdom.

Daisy pondered it. She was previously terrified that Roxy would be creepy around her kids. However, Roxy had Kobato. Could she trust Roxy to behave herself? The obvious answer was yes. Even if Roxy had intrusive thoughts about the other children, she wouldn’t act on them, especially seeing how afraid she was of Daisy. No one means to have intrusive thoughts anyway, as Annie explained to Daisy. Kobato provided support and an outlet for Roxy, as uncomfortable as Daisy was with it.

Were 8 year olds out of Roxy’s age range? That was a terrible thing to think, anyway. Daisy suspects she’s in a nonhuman child form because she needed that mental retreat but couldn’t be in her young form around Roxy. So many decisions she was making on assumptions of Roxy’s mental state. Sure, she had been in her mind, so she knew what it had to deal with. That didn’t mean that she knew how Roxy handles those emotions or tactics she uses to interact with the world in a better way. Roxy had her own journey to take with mental health, and Daisy now knew that it was out of her control.

“I’d love to introduce them. They mean a lot to me,” Daisy’s response echoed in their minds. She could use her comfort characters right now.

Annie smiled, she loved to see progress. It was a rough start, but it will get better.

A wardrobe opens up, revealing a hidden passageway. Abby Hatcher launches into the room on her tricycle with Bozzly in tow.

“Fuzzly trouble, can’t delay!” She bounces out of the trike, parking it by the wall.

“To the rescue, save the day!” Bozzly finishes, his helicopter ears lift him up out of the rear carriage and lands him next to her.

“What’s wrong, little fuzzly?” Abby said to Daisy. The pink elephant was surprised at being called a fuzzly but it made sense in her new form.

“I need help with my jewlery, it’s all over the place!” Her voice echoed in their minds, as jewelry was still scattered around the room from Kobato’s tantrum. Abby brought out her goo-gripper gloves, and with Bozzlys help, gathered everything for her. Bozzly placed Daisy’s golden crown back on, straightening it. Daisy hugged them with appreciation. It was good to see them again. She introduced them to Roxy and Kobato.

“This is Abby Hatcher and her best-friend sidekick, Bozzly. Bozzly is a fuzzly and Abby helps any fuzzlies in need around the hotel.”

“This watch is my Fuzzly Spotter,” she gestures to the purple and orange device on her wrist, “and it tells me who is in trouble and where they are, which is how I knew to come here!”

“It’s very nice to meet you,” Roxy was going to give Abby a hug but thought better of it. Daisy’s presence, although now pink and small, loomed in the corner of her thoughts.

Abby gave a tour of the hotel, using some secret passageways to take shortcuts and showed off fuzzly snugs tucked away in drawers and cabinets. A snug is a fuzzly’s home, and they got to say hi to many of the fuzzlies around the hotel!

“So you and Annie met in these game worlds?” Roxy asked, piecing together the story based on what she vaguely remembers.

Daisy nods, her crown firmly on her bald head, “in the Rainbow Kingdom, actually. I pieced together my favorite worlds and characters for my Private Player server.”

“Where did you and I meet?” Roxy knew that she met Annie through Daisy, but anything further back than that was rather unclear.

“Are you ok if I try to show you? I can start a flashback, but I can’t tell if it will continue to play. Your memory might not be complete enough for it to show you everything, but maybe giving it a spark will do,” Daisy wanted to ask for Roxy’s consent. This time she can certainly tell that it will be under her own conscious decision. She explained further what it would entail, and that she can retract her consent at any time and Daisy will stop the playback.

Roxy’s approval came across as genuine. Daisy lightly connects her mind back to Roxy’s. She tries not to scan her current thoughts, but it’s always the active mind that is loudest. She could feel Roxy’s curiosity and attention on the subject. She guided that attention down a mental path that should activate as a flashback. Suddenly, Roxy was back in the Real World, in a body she almost didn’t recognize.

Roxy was standing in a mirror. She had on a yellow sundress, of all things. Her shoulders were sunkissed, her smile was sincere. Her hair was long and dark, with gentle waves hinting at the curls she used to get. She hasn’t had her hair this grown out in almost as long as she could remember. But that was the point of the flashback, of course. She was putting on makeup in the mirror, really bright colors that would have made a future version of her cringe. Today, though, she felt pretty. This was good news, as she was going on a date.

He was already at the coffee shop. David. She had met him online. He was a sweetheart over text, but she prepared herself for anything. She had mace in her purse and was not afraid to use it. People don’t meet in the Real World to date much anymore. With the VR device being so cheap, the barrier of entry was incredibly low, with plenty of devices being free or even bundled in financial support packages. Those who dated in the Real World typically wanted children. Real ones that grow up and become their own people. NPCs couldn’t do that, or at least it wasn’t the same.

Roxy and David were clear on that from the start. Each of them wanted children, so hopefully they would work out as a couple. Roxy was nervous. She knew her biological clock was ticking, so having a relationship work out was pretty important to happen soon.

Roxy got out of her car and sauntered over to the table he was sitting at. Neither of them lied on their profile photos, that was a solid start. He hugged her, a bit of an awkward one at that. He didn’t know how familiar to be, considering they’ve only texted for a few weeks or so. That’s understandable, Roxy has been in the dating app pool for a while and there were much worse first impressions than an awkward hug.

Turns out, he doesn’t drink coffee. An interesting choice of a first date location. He ordered hot chocolate and paid for her order, too. A gentleman.

It was a pleasant date, which was a relief. He was a sweet guy, but Roxy didn’t gain any sense of desire from him. It was almost as if she grabbed coffee with a friend. They knew quite a bit about each other already from texting, both being quite open in conversation. Roxy was relieved it wasn’t a terrible encounter, because she rather did like texting him. It was a little disappointing that there wasn’t more passion in their relationship, but that wasn’t something one could force. After that date, they pretty much just stayed friends.

Their conversation was spotty, but when they picked it back up it was like nothing changed between them. They were always good friends, regardless if it had been a week, month, or even year since they last texted. They would occasionally grab coffee (or hot chocolate) as neither of them moved away. Being always close by, they would let each other know about job opportunities in the area, as positions in the Real World were annoyingly rare. A Virtual Reality research and development company was hiring. David had much more convincing credentials, having worked in the tech field his whole life. Roxy applied for the heck of it, vying for a different position than David’s. The pay was still much better than her current shitty job, so it wouldn’t hurt to try, right?

The flashback faded, Roxy coming back to reality. Or, at least, Virtual Reality. Daisy sighed, “Not exactly what I meant to show you, but I’m glad you’re getting your memories back.”

Roxy furrowed her brow, “It’s a bit fuzzy but what do you mean?”

Daisy tooted her elephant trunk in a huff, her disembodied voice relaying, “David is the body I inhabit, but I’m a different person than him. I tried to show you when we met, but your mind took you down a different path. It’s not a bad thing to remember, though.”

“I see, sort of,” Roxy enjoyed that memory. What changed?

“The company,” Daisy responded to her thoughts. She did by accident, her mind still connected. Could it really be that simple? The company caused this overwhelming depression she had to deal with everyday?

“It’s really hard to access those memories. Something’s protecting you from them and I have suspicion that it is Zenith,” Daisy’s explanation soared over Roxy’s head.

“What?” Roxy wasn’t following. Daisy could try to initiate another flashback, if Roxy was up for it. There were no promises that Zenith wouldn’t redirect it. Daisy explained that Zenith could be compared to an alter in a dissociative identity disorder system, and that she protects the system from trauma by bearing it all by herself. An alter’s memories are separate from the overall system, so that is why Daisy is having such a hard time bringing them to the surface for Roxy. They are buried with Zenith, so Roxy simply doesn’t remember that part of her life.

“Let’s do it,” She said, determined to figure out her missing months.

This flashback sent her further back. She was just a little kid. She didn’t have a scan this young, so it was a wild feeling to see this perspective.

She was playing dress up. Her father would somehow get her exotic and interesting clothes, some tailor-made to her. He was an amatuer photographer, and she was his little helper. She would put on the newest thing that was delivered, pose for the camera, and smile for daddy.

He didn’t keep jobs well, at least not after her mother died. He loved to be a stay at home dad, but without a partner, it was hard to make ends meet. His photography hobby apparently did better than his minimum wage jobs, because they could often go a while between jobs. The outfits would get really strange if they went too long without stable income, and it wasn’t long until Roxy’s maturity didn’t match up with kids of her age. Her school looked into it and before Roxy could tell that anything was wrong, she was sitting down with strange people who asked so many questions.

Why did they pester her about her father? He was a fine person, he just wasn’t happy with places he worked. She got really upset when they went through her wardrobe. That was her stuff! They put the strangest clothes into plastic bags. They took pictures of dad’s broken computer. He smashed it to bits when he heard of what questions the school started asking her. She didn’t understand why he was so upset, or why they wouldn’t let her see him.

People tried to explain it to her but she didn’t care. For all she knew, they stole her father from her and weren't going to give him back. She was placed at her aunt’s house. Her aunt was really strict and didn’t seem to like that she had to stay here, either. The next time she saw her father she was in a huge room with so many adults listening quietly to her. She cried when she saw him, begging them to give him back. She must not have said the right things in front of the scary audience, because she ended up back at her aunt’s house. Her aunt became a bit nicer, realizing that this wasn’t going to be a short stay. She was still strict and not at all like her father. It finally set in that this would be her new normal. Roxy couldn’t bear to be in photos anymore. She skipped school pictures, was missing from all her class photos, and would chase after kids who tried to catch a photo of the elusive “bigfoot.”

Roxy came back to the present, seeing tears in the elephant’s eyes. Her trunk wiped them away, the divine voice apologizing for the off-topic flashback. Roxy could handle it. She wanted to understand more about herself. The trunk reached up to Roxy’s face next and wiped her tears away. Daisy’s small, fat hands wrapped themselves around Roxy’s right hand, the other two arms hugging onto her leg as Daisy gave her a reassuring hug.

“Would you like to continue?” the small one asked. Roxy put a free hand around the stocky creature and told her that she would. It may just be redirected, but the tidbits she learns unearths more about herself. She hopes they don’t stumble over anything she wished to forget, however. It was the risk she was willing to take.

Roxy stood in a Studio Ghibli map that David made. It was incredible. The entire time they have worked together at this company, he has always been leagues ahead of her. Even as interns, it was clear that he had a knack for the Virtual World. She was placed among the beta testers after her internship. They may throw some research opportunities at them if they pitch a good idea, but it was a far-cry from where David was stationed. He made it into the top development team. He was crafting code and programs that made the beta-testers excited to try it for themselves. It was far into the realm of illegal modding, but that’s where the really exciting stuff can happen.

This map was a reconstruction of the Studio Ghibli world, with accuracy in the forefront. It wasn’t hand crafted, rather an experiment of David and the team’s artificial intelligence techniques. They could extrapolate textures, dimensions, and lighting from the source material, a full-length movie from 1986. The algorithms developed for this adaptation and translation into a game world would re-interpret the pieces individually. David lovingly stitched the pieces together and added in the logic for the NPCs and world utilities, showing that a map could be made with minimal input from the mapmaker utilizing these AI techniques.

For just a simple concept of speeding up the mapmaking process, David’s team had crafted multiple AI tools that could source Virtual World assets from a single video file to use in mapmaking. Roxy was in awe of this person, and she was seeing the result in the Virtual World for herself.

“Are we getting closer?” Roxy says upon her return from the flashback. Daisy nods encouragingly. It seemed like some dots were getting connected, but there’s still no telling if Zenith would let Roxy figure out what happened recently. Daisy told her to focus on that map, there were some memories attached to it that could help.

She found herself on the map again. This time, she was meeting Daisy in the map. David doesn’t actually play VR much. He used to connect with an archaic device that wasn’t full-dive. It would let him use his own videogame character. When she met him in the Virtual World, his avatar looked like an NPC controlled by puppet strings. The strings were the tracking points that the archaic device would calculate from David’s Real-World body parts. To wave his hand in game, he would have to be standing in his room and actually wave his hand. He had gloves on that would relay all the positions of his fingers, 60 times a second.

The avatar popped out of a black hole in the ground, a quirky entrance for such a quirky guy. To be so advanced in the VR theories but load it up on ancient devices, he really didn’t get to experience his map in the fullest. He was using his Real World eyes to look at a screen, which calculated what the map looked like from the angle of his headset and position of the headset in the room he was in. It drew frames based on the calculations many times per second, to trick the human eye to perceive motion, color, and depth.

“Hey David! Or should I say, Daisy,” Roxy cooed, happy to see David seeing his creation for the first time in-game. He stares at his work from computer monitors at his job, but it’s much more exciting to see the fruits of his labor once it’s finally finished. Besides, a lot of his work is writing code and telling the computer what to do. This was the fun part. That’s another reason she signed up to be a tester.

His voice came across excited, the avatar lip syncing his speech rather accurately. To think cameras are pointed at his face and eyes to puppeteer Daisy is amusing, if a bit into the uncanny valley. There will be times where they don’t quite match up. Roxy’s device tries to interpret what is happening and will make up lost information, just as filters are applied. It just is a lot more obvious when the avatar already looks like an NPC, the filters have to work a lot harder to make sense of the customized physics.

David is able to run pretty much any code he wishes on his avatar. In the past, people would use this for outrageous physics, shaders, and unique abilities. These DIY ways were mostly tossed aside with the grand adoption of Virtual Real avatars, as people could buy similar effects through the Facebook ecosystem, plus the ridiculously more realistic avatars. The third-party code would always interpret well through filters, as it was made with full-dive in mind. Backwards compatibility was a really strange experience, and it wasn’t too common to meet those who actually used these older devices. Retro was cool for a small community, and David seemed to be an active DIY participant. He certainly had the smarts for it, because any problems in his ancient tech would have to be fixed by himself, and any additional features would have to be spearheaded by the small retro community.

The flashbacks were short, but it seemed they were headed in the right direction. Seeing that avatar of Daisy was bringing back a lot of memories naturally. She was a creation of David’s. The avatar was designed by him and he would roleplay as her in-game. He would often play with the retro community, as public worlds (the greater MultiPlayer landscape) weren’t as friendly to retro avatars. They looked too much like NPCs, regardless of knowing there was a Real Person behind the controls. Filters also didn’t exactly work in the same way for retro users. They were technically on a branch of the AI, but since it wasn’t connected to their mind in any way, the filters were sometimes too heavy-handed, blocking content in an abrupt manner. If one tried the other route, the filters would be far too lax and let plenty of content pass through. Either way, retro users had to choose their games, lobbies, and friends wisely.

“It’s coming back, isn’t it?” Daisy was still in her mind, seeing the connections start to heal. It was wonderful to see the mind at work, repairing what was thought to be lost.

Roxy nods, ready for the next session. They were onto something.

The Daisy she’s meeting this time looks a heck of a lot more realistic. Fully realistic, actually. They are in David’s map again, Laputa behind her. Daisy’s eyes spark in recognition.

“Hey, this is Studio Ghibli! This is the Castle in the Sky!!!” Daisy’s voice soars, sounding like her own woman now. Her voice was unbelievable. Roxy knew that this voice, this avatar, didn’t exist in the Real World. Just as David used AI to source materials for the map automatically, he used AI to generate an entirely unique Virtual Real Avatar. Instead of basing it off of 2 hours of animation, he based Daisy’s data set off of millions of human being scans. And it turned out to be incredible.

Roxy felt her flashback repeat the past. It happens faster than RealTime, the emotions and thoughts played out just how it was remembered. Daisy was able to source recorded material for this one, so the accuracy was incomparable to the previous flashbacks. Her previous version’s thoughts and emotions took over her own, and she was reliving it play by play.

She was back in the current time again, starting to get out of breath. Daisy made sure she was ok. Roxy wanted to press on. There was something big coming up, and she had hints now that it was all coming together, but she wanted to see it for herself.

Roxy was back in the Studio Ghibli world, her anchor for her thoughts. They were at the foot of the great tree. Daisy was huddled up in a ball, zoning out. She didn’t look like she was in a good place and Roxy’s anxiety rushed to the forefront of her thoughts. Did something happen? She couldn’t put her finger on it, despite it being a recorded flashback.

“Daisy, are you alright?” Roxy asked worriedly; the woman was rather unresponsive. She seemed to have her safety settings activated to protect her mind from whatever she was going through.

As they worked through it, one of the distractions was crafting costumes, as Daisy would like to test out that feature that David left her with. Roxy smiled, happy to oblige. As they talked and drew potential outfits, Roxy could remember some of the exotic outfits that her father used to dress her up in. She didn’t know why those ideas came up. She had been suggesting goth outfits for Daisy, but was aware that Daisy didn’t often dress goth. She decided to suggest one or two of her childhood outfits for the heck of it, and Daisy seemed to take a liking to them! As Roxy drew them, more of her old memories came back. What a strange sensation they brought, now that she’s older.

Daisy went to go craft the outfits. Just as this map and Daisy were created, David’s outfit creation relied on Artificial Intelligence to mimic data that it was fed. Real outfits were tossed at it, or at least scans of Virtual Real outfits. From that, it would weave the synthetic fibers and create the Virtual Real feeling of the clothes from countless user scans. Roxy watched over Daisy’s vitals, unfamiliar with the exact process that David used to craft these clothes. As it was a Virtual Scan, it boosted her sensitivity to record her clothes. It would read her mind to see how they felt on her, so that it could play it back ingame. That was the power of Virtual Real clothes. Roxy got more nervous as the safety timelimit for sensitivity boosting approached. How much longer was she going to stay in the scanner for?

When Daisy came out of her Virtual Scanner, she slumped to the ground. Roxy ran to her small body. She was completely naked, a child version of herself. Roxy bent down and gently shook the little girl, her fear of the sensitivity boost running out completely replaced with the shock of such a big change.

That Virtual Scanner that Daisy mentioned David made for her scanned in a new avatar, it turned out. Roxy helped Daisy down from the Sensitivity boost side effects. She touched the girl’s bare skin, still in wonder how Real it felt. Daisy was comforted by the contact, cuddling up to Roxy. Roxy didn’t mind that she was naked, it was still Daisy.

It was still Daisy. Meaning Roxy’s crush still burned quietly in the background. This was a woman in a child’s body. Well, technically both of them were still David, at least in the Real World. Roxy was unsure of how that worked, but Daisy was at least quite adamant that she was an entirely different person as Daisy. Roxy let this reasoning explain away why being this close to the naked little girl set her heart aflutter so. She and Daisy go way back, even if Daisy is turning over a new leaf recently.

Her argument against her emotions stretched thin as she accepted Daisy’s proposal to zombie sleep together. A sleep map was a really enticing suggestion. Roxy felt her heart in her ears as the little girl led her on through the halls, looking for the right map. The scanner may have written to her mind, but Daisy’s still acting like herself, right?

The plushie map they traveled to threw yet another wrench in Roxy’s assumption. When they turned the consciousness values down, Roxy could see how childlike Daisy was acting. Roleplayers certainly can get into a play-mindset and become what they wish to mentally. Daisy was doing this at 33% awareness. Was she acting in her stupor, or was it true innocence?

Either way, Roxy couldn’t deny how wonderful it made her feel. Roxy changed into a vibrant bra and underwear pair, something closer to what she used to wear long ago. Daisy changed into a babydoll outfit, something that Roxy used to wear as a child. She never knew other children didn’t wear such sheer fabric, but hey, it felt very soft and comfortable.

Roxy set ground rules, both for herself and for Daisy’s sake. Nothing sexual in zombie sleep. She didn’t want to test her own limits and certainly wouldn’t want to harm Daisy with any experimentation. She was just recently getting through some stuff and Roxy was a person she trusted to help her.

They played with plushies, tickled each other, and genuinely enjoyed each other's company for hours on end. Time flows differently in a zombie slumber, and Roxy could stay like this with her forever. Even with sexual activities off the table, Roxy felt different from this experience. Something moved within her that she didn’t quite understand. She wanted to understand.

The morning after surrounded Roxy in a haze, even though her consciousness was set back to full. They ate breakfast and Daisy started showing off the outfits that they came up with. The parallel to her dressing up for her father was too strong to ignore. Some of the outfits were shockingly close to the type of clothes that she would pose for the camera in.

Roxy was out of breath when she returned to the present time. She forgot to inhale, a burning sensation in her lungs. The tangled journey of her past was like a thread, pulled tightly across push pins on a corkboard. This was the last string that brought the bigger picture into view. The web of connections set off a wave of memories in her mind. Daisy rode along with it, understanding her past, her present, and being more open-minded to her future.

“The topic of pedophilia didn’t stop there,” Roxy admitted as it all came together… “This was just the start. I suggested the vein of research to the company, explaining my historical encounters with it and my new fixation on it,” She almost looked apologetic, even though Daisy was likely reading her thought process as it occurred.

“They thought it over for a few weeks, but soon after I lost contact with you, it became a new avenue of research for me. In the months that we didn’t talk, I dove headfirst into my fixation. Only when you reappeared did the company change me back to being in charge over you. It’s safe to say I’ve been different since then, if you want the true explanation.”

Daisy grows quiet, her embrace of Roxy as she relieved her past grew weak and fell away, her arms at her side.

“I appreciate your openness and I apologize if I was nosey to see all of that,” Daisy was the embarrassed one now. Her cheeks were too pink to flush with a blush but Roxy could hear it in her ethereal voice.

“I’m glad you were willing to stick with me through it all. Living life is a journey we are all going through, but it’s nice to know we have good people in it like you and Annie,” Roxy was touched that Annie vouched for her to Daisy. She couldn’t ever repay her.

Daisy paused, thinking for a long period of time. They sit down, Annie attempting not to overhear while she plays with Kobato and Abby. “I’m sorry if this is blunt but why do you let the company experiment with you? From my vantage point, you mention a subject you're interested in and they pretty much send you and your psyche through hell, just so that they can see what the heck comes out the other side.”

Roxy laughs at the simplicity of the statement, “Saying it like that makes it sound ridiculous! But I suppose you’re not wrong, especially from an outsider’s view. I firmly believe that I’m helping people.”

Roxy pauses to let it sink in, “the topics we research are certainly on the nose, as far as danger and necessity go. However, many things we discover we do see rolled out in a much better fashion to the public. We spearheaded techniques to adjust avatars that would have Real World disabilities carry over. The data we collect on human mentality gets rolled out to educate therapists and the mental health efforts,” She lists the company’s great accomplishments.

“Roxy,” Daisy stops her, “just a few moments ago you didn’t remember who you were… Why do you think these explanations are so easy to come by? Your pathways have the company’s reputation ingrained so firmly into them. With a company that has control over your mind, isn’t that a bit suspicious?”

The silence is frighteningly loud as Roxy mulls over the implications of what Daisy put together. Brain washing, simply put.

“Holy fuck, Daisy,” Roxy’s reality almost shatters. She let them turn her into a pedophile just so they could see if it was possible. Those sick bastards have her wrapped around their finger. The moldability of the human mind has been exploited time and time again. No wonder Daisy has fought the legal battle with them. She is the only one that sees them for who they really are.

“Zenith has done her best to protect you, but it’s high time that we get you out of there for good,” Daisy urges, knowing that the closer Roxy gets to full recovery, the more likely they will want to control her again. She shut down their control, but Daisy knows that they will likely have backdoors or physical access to her device to take it all back in an instant.

Roxy shivers, the weight of the situation falling hard upon her shoulders, “You’ve done this before, right? Escaped?”

Daisy nodded solemnly. She could take control of Roxy’s body if anything went awry, with her permission of course. The exact same steps may not work out the same, as they didn’t have an internet-crumbling distraction. But Daisy could throw a rather complex attack on their network to provide similar results, if needed. They may have tighter security from Daisy’s escape but she doubts it would be too much to handle.

After a long talk with Roxy, and getting Annie caught up, they decided they would break Roxy out. They all walked through a plan, using a whiteboard to write notes. There were so many areas it could go wrong, it almost felt overwhelming. However, Daisy had done it without any planning, so it was better to think of these things as a group, in advance.

“Where am I fleeing to?” Roxy asked. They had been discussing the breakout for so long that it gave everyone a hearty laugh. They hadn’t even thought that far yet!

“My best suggestion is to check your file at the company. I can get you access to it. Anywhere that is listed in your file would pretty much be a bad idea. Any relatives that are easy to contact or find online would be far too easy for them to check. Out of the country is a pretty robust option,” Daisy explained. It may be over the top paranoid, but Roxy knew things that the company wouldn’t want to get out, not to mention her closeness to the rogue AI that took down MultiPlayer.

Daisy adds after some thought, “I hope it’s not a burden to uproot yourself. It’s a bit dangerous, but we could always try the route where you quit the job. I could help with the paperwork, to see if there’s anything we should be aware of or could use to our advantage. I’ll take a look at your contract, too, to see what kind of things you signed up for when taking the job.”

Roxy laughed nervously, “Yeah, maybe let’s look at that for a bit,” as the tension of literally running away eased up a bit. It was still on the table, just may not be necessary.

Daisy held her little hand up to her, a roll of papers appearing in it as if she magically got it from her invisible sleeves. Roxy unfurled them as Daisy mentioned she just read them all. Incredible.

“So what do you think, Daisy?” Roxy was hopeful.

“It’s a good route. There would be some terms of separation that I would argue against, but that can be done during your final two weeks, if you wish to put them in. We would have to be on high alert during your last two weeks, considering they could just… Convince you to change your mind,” Daisy waddles over to Annie, giving her a much-needed hug.

“Oh, right. That’s a thing. It almost keeps slipping my mind,” Roxy admits. The company really did instill a loyalty like no other.

“So, ripping off the bandaid and leaving without a trace, or staying near family but having to fight another two weeks,” Daisy sums up; Annie giving her pets.

Roxy is deep in thought, Daisy adding, “you are technically harboring an AI, but as far as they know, you’re in recovery from it. It’s not something they could keep your onboard for, but certainly something that they would take into consideration when they see your two week notice.”

“They could kill me to cover up the AI…” She muses, the conversation turning dark.

“I disabled their access to your mind but they might have backdoors or just connect cables directly to your device…” Daisy admitted what she had been stewing over recently.

“You really are making the scary getaway seem more and more necessary, aren’t you?” Roxy’s brief hope of staying in California quickly vanishing.

“Not on purpose. But of course I’d be biased, as it worked for me,” she concluded with a low elephant rumble.

“Damn. Ok. This can be exciting. Besides, I wouldn’t want our lovely getaway plan to go to waste,” She gestures to the whiteboard with various notes about evading security and elaborate getaway vehicles.

“So, where to?” Daisy spawns a globe with a wave of one of her hands, it spinning slowly. The globe was a real reminder of how far she would be going. At least she could see people in the Virtual World, so does distance really matter?

“I’ve always wanted to go to Japan,” Roxy said without a second thought. That’s actually not a bad idea. She watched the world turn for a bit, considering the possibilities. In the end, she fell back on her first statement.

“It was a country I considered when I was fleeing the company, so I’ve got some good places picked out. They are nice rural areas with lax local laws, but you can pick something a bit closer to a city if you want a job that operates in the Real World,” Daisy starts handing out flyers for Real Estate, feeling like a travel agent. She hopped onto the internet for just a second to update the listings and check if anything had changed.

“Damn, this is crazy. I think I need a break, my head’s about to explode,” Roxy admitted, the mind-warping day she was having was beginning to send her over the cliff. Kobato was there to catch her. Roxy questions her feelings for Kobato. If they were influenced by the company, what was the point?

But having Kobato run up to her and hug her legs made it all make sense again. Regardless of what the company did to Roxy, the feelings she got from Kobato were really really good.

“There’s plenty to do in the Cotton Candy Kingdom, if you wanted to explore it anymore,” Daisy suggested, watching Kobato hug Roxy.