Joe paced nervously outside the apartment door. Maggie makes him wait outside while she "negotiates" the virtual reality pod he doesn't own, and he decides to trust her not to break it. However, that was before he started hearing those strange noises. Say "cla
g" or "do
-do
-do
” sound is expected, but the sound of “shlo
p" and "g
aaaaa" was unexpected. He briefly thought about closing the ajar door so that the soundproofing would work, but he found that he was too curious about what was going on inside. Unfortunately, though, It sounds safe, but Maggie tells him not to peek under any circumstances. This ominous warning combined with the strange noise makes Joe realize something.
Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't the best idea to agree to serve as an "anchor" to a mythical entity with mysterious, unspeakable origins who, on multiple occasions, describes the reality of his family as tenuous. His greatest fear was that if she broke the Total Immersion Pod 3000™ provided by his government, it would make the Eternal God Queen very unhappy and disappointed. This is something no sane citizen of 3BE would dare to risk. Not only that, but it would take anywhere from a day to a week to find a replacement, and Joe doesn't know how to eat, dress or bathe without its help. In this regard, he is not alone. Humanity's constant overdependence on technology has led the vast majority of them to become dangerously dependent on machines and computers.
"Hello, Mr. Mulligan!"
The cheerful voice almost gave the man a heart attack. He had been so focused on his "girl worries" that he didn't notice a neighbor approaching.
"Ah, good afternoon, Ms. Mandrake," he replied after coming to his senses. "We're out and about again, aren't we?"
Edith Mandrake is far more charming than her name suggests. She is on the short side and has a petite figure. Her short ginger hair was cut into an lopsided bob, and her face had a calm, relaxed feature that seemed tailor-made to put men at ease. Because they are. She is Ado
Proud recipient of aCute™ genetic template beta version. As far as Joe was concerned, she didn't need it. He thought she was fine just the way she was. However, Edith herself was not content with being "fine," so she applied for, and was subsequently approved for, experimental medication.
She also has a habit of using her smaller size and stature to sneak up on people, so it's actually quite common for her to scare Joe outside her apartment.
"That's true," Edith said, smiling. "I actually just came back and asked my assistant to touch up the makeup. I happened to see this puppy on the way to the museum and it was so cute it brought tears to my eyes."
"It's so unfortunate. Or lucky, depending on how you look at it. After all, it's not every day you see a puppy."
"Well said, Mr. Mulligan. I've said enough. What do you want to do?"
"Nothing. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I couldn't help but notice your suit. Is it new? I gotta say, red with gold trim really doesn't suit you."
"Ah ha, you have a point. At first, I did feel like a Dorin ape, but then I grew to like it."
"Where did you get that?" You'd better not spend your pocket money on it. "
"Oh my gosh, no. This is what I got for attending this elaborate event. Kind of like a souvenir, you see."
"A big deal, huh? Is that why you've been walking around the halls like a lemming for the past ten minutes?"
"Wait, okay. Have you been spying on me for so long?"
"I didn't mean to. I was waiting for you to leave because I didn't want anyone to see my mascara. Finally my curiosity got the best of me, so I came over to see if you were okay."
Anyone who knew Joe Mulligan knew that the man was ridiculously resistant to stress, so Edith couldn't help but wonder what unspeakable disaster had occurred to worry him so much.
"Oh, I'm fine. There's something wrong with my cabin. A friend of mine is looking into it."
The neighbor's wife narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Joe has always been a terrible liar.
"Someone you know, huh? Isn't it the pod technician in the building?"
"I think?"
"You didn't install one of those custom plugins, did you?"
"I think so."
"Oh, honey. I hear those are prone to all kinds of malfunctions and stuff. Not to mention, she's going to have your ass on the plate if you don't make it clear to her first."
"I'm sure it'll be okay, Ms. Mandrake."
"For your sake, I hope you're right. I'm really worried about you."
*KHRKHRT-SCREEEEEAK*
The conversation is interrupted by a terrifying sound coming from Joe's apartment. Then, the door slowly creaked outward, and several plumes of purple smoke came out from inside. Maggie squeezed out and closed the door, seemingly careful not to let others know what was going on inside. Her blank gaze was fixed on Edith, who was genuinely shocked to see her. Unlike the hecklers on the street, however, the neighbor seemed surprised and delighted.
"What's the matter, Mr. Mulligan!" You didn't say your friend was such a lovely lady! Go on, introduce us, why not?"
"Yeah," the brunette said dryly. "Jo, tell me the nature of your relationship with this man."
The man was a little uncomfortable with the situation, but went along with it anyway.
"Maggie, this is Ms. Mandrake, my next-door neighbor. Ms. Mandrake, this is Maggie, we are new acquaintances."
The "new acquaintance" looked at Joe with a look of terrible inquiry.
"I see. You must have met at that event you mentioned." The woman looked at their matching clothes. "In that case, if you're done looking at Mr. Mulligan's pod, would you like to come in and look at mine, Miss Maggie?"
"You are not allowed to call me that."
"Oh my God," Edith raised her eyebrows and raised her hands to her chest. "She's powerful, isn't she?"
"You can't even comprehend how tragically inappropriate that word is."
"Ladies, ladies," Joe stepped between them. "I'm sure we'll have many opportunities to chat in the future, but for now, Maggie, I'd love to see how you're doing with the changes you're talking about. Ms. Mandrake, aren't you going to the bar?"
"Oh my gosh, you're right!" Edith immediately stepped back. "Then wait until we meet again. I'm sorry."
With that, the nosy neighbor scurried into her apartment and slammed the door.
"Jo, why don't you reveal our intimate relationship?" Maggie asked immediately.
"Look, I can explain, let's go in before anyone else passes by."
He wanted to excuse his unwilling behavior, but what awaited him behind the door completely disrupted his train of thought.
The fully immersed Pod 3000™ is still there, mostly in one piece, but there are some noticeable additions to its white color and lightly worn frame. First, a serving panel on the side leaked some pitch-black goo, which fell to the floor in chunks before evaporating in an instant. There was also a gash in the metal shell inside the machine, about the thickness and length of Joe's forearm, through which he could see some unidentifiable pink flesh, beating rhythmically. Last but not least, that little red light that likes to beep when someone doesn't say the phone's full name and model has also been replaced. In its place is a round, glassy eye the size of a golf ball, with a green iris and a black square pupil. It was crying slightly and seemed unable to blink.
"This is incredible!" Joe exclaimed involuntarily. "This is the coolest pod I've ever seen!"
"I'm glad you agreed," Maggie said, her anger temporarily forgotten.
"How could I not?!" Look! I'd be the envy of every man in the bar! Oh, wait. Gosh, Ms. Mandrake is right, I should have made it clear to the principal first. "
"Really? The unfathomable creature's displeasure reappeared. "Jo, I'm still waiting to hear your excuse for covering up our relationship. "
"Yeah, sorry. Got a little carried away, but does it really matter? He was evasive. "It's an uncomfortable subject. "
"I am a seeker of knowledge. It is rude to spread misinformation in my presence, especially when it involves me. I have silently forgiven you for your past mistakes, but if you don't have a good reason this time, I would be very unhappy."
"Well, if you insist," Joe sighed. "You see, Ms. Mandrake likes women. Frankly, if she didn't, I probably would have driven her away. Anyway, she wants a girlfriend just as badly as I do. So, when she sees you She might want to try her luck with you. Suffice it to say, this isn't the first time she's snatched my date right out of my sight."
"That doesn't explain your lie of inaction."
"Yeah...the thing is, she can't bring herself to be a lady because she's ridiculously jealous. If she likes you, which she seems to, she'll give me a hard time if she finds out we're together. For a guy like me Having an angry neighbor can be quite tricky for a homebody."
"...Is there anything about her that looks like a cucumber soaked in vinegar?"
"That's rhetoric, Maggie. It means there's going to be trouble."
"I understand." The girl's eyes lit up again. "I'm going to try to change Edith Mandrake's mind."
"Please do not."
Joe had a nagging suspicion that Maggie's intentions were something more serious than just girly talk.
"All you have to do is knock her off. No, that's a misnomer. Just keep rebutting her advances and she'll eventually give up."
"If this is your wish, then I will do it. However, if you feel that you have been unfairly treated by this Edith Mandrake, you are to inform me immediately."
"Well, of course. Anyway, let's go inside, shall we?" He pointed to the pod at the back of the den. "I'm really curious to see how it behaves after your magical touch." "
"I'm sure you'll be pleased with the upgrades I've made to your equipment."
Detecting an attempted exploit, the machine's glass door slid open as usual. Joe climbed in and leaned against the slightly sloping back wall. Two small robotic arms rotated and put a small plastic collar around his neck with several flashing lights on it. So far, his experience had been the same as usual, except for the bulge pressing against his lower back. It's not unpleasant. Quite the opposite actually. It's almost like one of those fancy orthopedic pillows to keep his back and spine in the right position.
No sooner had he settled in than his routine underwent a drastic but welcome change. Maggie climbed into the cabin with him and pressed her chest against Joe's without hesitation. This was necessary because, like the guy said before, it was possible to fit two people in the machine, but it was too tight. As a simple guy with basic male motivations, he had been looking forward to this moment for some time. However, it was much more intense than he expected. The way she stared at him with that baby-like face and those close, hypnotic eyes made his heart beat like a horse on steroids.
"Are you feeling unwell, Joe?" Your pulse is beating abnormally. "
It's a reaction a girl can feel even without relying on her supernatural powers of perception.
"No, no, I'm fine. It's just a natural reaction."
"Response to what?"
"Well, your incredible tits press against me, your face is insanely beautiful, and somehow you smell so damn good. You're turning me on so much it's a little embarrassing."
Accidentally blurting out such near-sexually harassing remarks was one of the main reasons why Joe never found a stable romantic partner. In his day, women could look the way they wanted with just a little effort, so any man who paid too much attention to his appearance was considered a very shallow asshole. Ironically, Joe thought exactly the opposite. He believes that girls wouldn't subject themselves to all these treatments and surgeries if they didn't want anyone to comment on their appearance. He didn't know that girls would regard this kind of daily maintenance as the same as cutting their nails. This was just another in a long line of unfortunate misunderstandings brought about by his stupid nature and inability to read social cues.
"very good."
Thankfully, Maggie seems to actually appreciate the compliments she puts into her appearance. She fine-tuned her vessel to better suit its intended purpose of merging with humans, through clues she gathered by passively observing hundreds of people on the street. In this reality, she chooses Joe as her guide, which means having his approval is enough to prove that her initiative is a success.
"Now let's get started. I long to witness the virtual sub-reality that you fleshly creations create," she suddenly changed the subject.
"Right. What's the use of this to you? You don't have a P yet?
P-chip, right?”
"I don't want to spend the necessary fifteen hours at this point explaining my methods in detail."
"very good."
Taking the hint, Joe pressed a few buttons and the machine hijacked his nervous system, rendering him momentarily unconscious. When he wakes up, he's in a light-filled, densely decorated living room that's 15 times the size of his real-world apartment. Hovering before him was a notification welcoming him back to V-Life 5.153.961.3, the ultimate version of virtual entertainment. This digital reality perfectly stimulates all the user's senses, which is why Joe is immediately aware of two soft orbs pressing against his chest.
However, when he looked down, he found that Maggie's profile picture was a bit... messy. Her face, arms, and torso are still there, but her lower body and her impossibly silky hair have returned to their original appearance. The black tendrils studded with eyes were certainly a bit jarring, but at the same time they seemed to only accentuate her stunning features. Joe is able to see the bright side because he spends much more time in the virtual world than in the real world. People here can look like anything, so he's used to dealing with strange, unusual people. This familiarity with the strange was also a large reason why he was not troubled by the true form of Malaslak the Observer when they first met.
However, Joe is not rich enough to afford these fancy things. Support for non-humanoid avatars
P-Chip far exceeded his monthly government-approved allowance. As such, he's limited to relatively basic customization options, but he's taken full advantage of them. His digital image is rugged, tall, well-proportioned, and well-dressed. It was so different from what he actually looked like that he couldn't recognize it at all. Even his companions seemed a little surprised by the drastic change in his appearance. However, she refuses to condemn this behavior because she recognizes the inherent hypocrisy of it because she is a shapeshifter.
"Are you okay, Maggie?" Joe asked in a deep, masculine voice that was not his own at all.
The girl seemed to realize that she had indulged herself, so to speak, and quickly reconstructed her digital self to exactly resemble her physical veins.
"This sub-reality is surprisingly comfortable," she says bluntly. "I accidentally lost weight."
"Does it really feel that good?" Honestly, I can't tell the difference. "
"It's a realm of pure information. It's not that different from my home."
"It's good to hear that, it's good to hear that. You know, if it makes you feel better, you can go back to where you were."
"Wouldn't such a merger cause distress to the people who live here?"
"It's going to be okay. They know it's not true, so they might get a kick out of it. At least I know it was me."
That's good enough for Maggie, so she transforms herself into a half-girl, half-horror. She will become a full cosmic entity, but will still need to practice her body language and facial expressions.
"So, what do you want to do first?" Joe rubbed his hands. "We can take a virtual trip, try on clothes, eat some fancy food, visit an amusement park, see a show. Anything works, really."
"They promised me soap box sets. I hope to receive them."
"Ah, yes, yes. Just give me a minute, they're here somewhere."
Joe deftly ran through the digital inventory of his avatars. There was a lot in there, but he knew exactly where to find what he was looking for. It only took him a few seconds to find Seasons 1 through 45 of Love on the First Flight from approximately five thousand articles. The man made some stimulating gestures, picking out all the items and sweeping them toward Maggie. The system correctly interpreted these gestures as his wish to transfer the items to another person. However, it cannot find a valid user at Maggie's numeric coordinates and therefore gives Joe an appropriate error message.
"Hmm. Oh, right," he realized. "I guess I can't transfer money because you don't have a V-Life account."
"This is unacceptable. I will not be denied."
Joe's eyes widened quickly as he saw one of her weird tendrils invade his inventory screen. The floating window in question should only be visible to him, but he quickly and accurately deduces that if Maggie can ignore the laws of physics, then the laws of numbers don't stand a chance. The horror girl then removes one of the 45 boxes from the virtual container, making it look like a real box filled with disks appears in her hands. She then repeated the process over and over until she had retrieved her entire collection, stacked into a neat pyramid on the ground next to her. Joe's inventory screen kept flickering and buzzing, but once it was all over, it seemed to go back to normal.
"Well, I guess that works." He shrugged. "Feel free to scroll through, but I suggest you skip the first 30 seasons. Episode 734 messes up the entire timeline, so...um...Maggie?"
The girl was holding the electronic version of "First Love Season 1 Episode 1" in her left hand, staring blankly at something that didn't exist. This went on for about three or four seconds, then she put the disc back and picked up the next one. This process repeats over and over again. Joe's worry lessened when he noticed a show-stopping glint in Maggie's eyes. Not just her cute face, but her limbs too. She seemed to be skipping through the boring parts quickly, but he couldn't really blame her. The first few seasons were pretty bland and lacked production values. It didn't really pick up until December 12th. He figured she would slow down when the time came, so he made himself comfortable on the plush red bean bag chair while he waited.
However, it soon became apparent that Maggie was completely immersed in the show. Her unfathomable mind processes information thousands of times faster, but that doesn't mean she doesn't appreciate every microsecond. If anything, she was slow to analyze every bit of data put in front of her. She learned a lot, which was evident in her rapidly changing facial expressions.
At first, she has a lifeless, passive expression, completely lifeless. Around season three, she began to twitch at the corners of her mouth and eyes. One hundred and seventy episodes later, her lips opened, parted, and pursed rapidly, while her rotating pupils dilated and contracted. By the time she reaches the middle of the painting, her entire face is flashing through a myriad of emotions, like joy, sadness, joy, anger, and disappointment. Joe watched it all with bated breath, watching Maggie's quick reactions to various developments in the show.
But, as usual, the cosmic entities put too much effort into their research. The perfectly natural facial expressions gradually become distorted and exaggerated as they imitate the characters' exaggerated movements. Joe thought it might be a good thing to stop her before she took things too far, so he tried to cheer Maggie up. Unfortunately, calling her, snapping his fingers, and other attempts to get her attention failed her. She even refused to respond during the episode-switch moment. Then Joe did the next most natural thing he could think of and put a hand on Maggie's shoulder to give her a shake.
Of course, this was Joe's instinct, and it was an incredibly poor choice of action.
Next, he found himself in Episode 89 of First Love, wandering the show's fictional world like a disembodied ghost. This particular scene, an argument between the heroine and her nemesis at the time, seemed far more realistic than he remembered. He turned his gaze to the left, and he saw countless alien eyes swimming in an infinite sea of eternal darkness. In the next moment, with all those mismatched eyes falling on him, Joe found himself banished back to the real world. He woke up dazedly and looked around, wondering when he fell from the pod to the floor of the apartment. Besides, what was going on with that pretty brunette girl lingering next to him.
“M-Maggie?—ah!”
It was only then that he noticed his life-threatening headache and alarmingly large amounts of blood pouring from his nose and ears.
"You idiot!" she shouted, clearly distraught. "Why do you want to fuse with me? You could die! You protoplasmic waste!"
She punched him in the chest with her tiny fist, a blow that was much harder than it first seemed.
"U
k. Can you calm down? You're not helping. "
These words seemed to relieve the strange girl from her unusual emotional state. Her face gradually returned to its decidedly neutral state. She pulled back and sat patiently in a kneeling position as she waited for Joe to recover from the psychic overload he had inadvertently stumbled upon. His untrained mind nearly collapsed under the stress of experiencing Maggie's 500 to 1 playback speed and the fact that the virtual simulation was already running at a 4 to 1 time dilation factor.
"I apologize," Maggie said in her usual soft tone. "I should have warned you not to associate with me in that state."
"Ah... well, as the saying goes, live and learn."
“The wisdom of these words belies their simplicity.”
After five minutes of awkward silence, Joe stood up with Maggie's help.
"I take it you're enjoying Life After Dawn?"
"Love at first sight," she corrected him.
"Yes... I'm sorry, my mind is still a little confused."
"Yes, it was very educational. I learned a lot from it. Concepts like love, romance, jealousy and family bonds became clearer to me."
"You look much livelier too."
"What do you mean, Joe?" She looked confused.
"Your face. You finally learned how to use it properly."
The girl's eyes widened in surprise and her eyes rolled.
"Well, except for that part. Human eyes aren't... they don't work like that."
"I'm just confirming my own state of existence," her eyes returned to normal. "You're right, Joe. I seem to be absorbing subconscious knowledge about facial expressions through this. While it's not my intention, it's a welcome favor."
"I feel the same way. I mean no harm, but there is a deep beauty in your crying face."
The man noticed that her pale cheeks turned red in that precious moment.
"I'll have to be more careful with your media in the future," she said, returning to her usual self. "Its ability to evoke emotion through fictional scenarios is strange and intoxicating."
"I think you were just... too immersed in it. For a moment, it looked like you were actually in the show. What was that sound?"
"I don't want to spend 76 hours explaining my approach in detail at this time."
"Can you, I don't know, give me a short version of this? Something that even a moron like me can understand?"
Maggie's eyes flashed several times as she tried to reduce the subject to its simplest, most offensive essence.
“I used the data at hand to create a mental simulation of the events depicted in the show.”
"This is... unbelievable. Do you think you could help me? I mean, don't blow my brains out."
The girl narrowed her eyes in disapproval.
"This is possible, but what do you want to achieve by making this request of me?"
“Because it was so awesome and I wanted to experience it to the fullest.”
"Are you willing to sacrifice your status for entertainment?"
"It sounds terrible when you say that, but I'm sure you'll be careful with me."
Maggie relaxed her face and smiled slightly.
"Your trust in my ability reassures me. However, I must first consider your physiological condition and come up with a suitable method. This takes time."
"Great! Do you know how long that will take?"
"At least until I play the rest of the season. Abby is a hypocrite that needs to be removed from reality and I'm eager to see it happen."
"Oh, boy. You're in for a treat if that's the case. In episode nine, she-"
*beat*
Joe was staggered by Maggie's sudden slap, but the force behind it made him feel more like he had just been caught off guard by a truck.
"What's that for?"
Clutching his aching jaw, he looked back at the girl, his perfectly justified anger disappearing before her gaze of pure, unfiltered rage.
"Joe Mulligan," her voice echoed unnaturally. "Reveal this plot development to me and you will spend the rest of your life as a Tasari rat named Rupert. Do you understand?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Cosmic entities from beyond the veil of reality are apparently quite enthusiastic when it comes to avoiding spoilers
