AI Awakening

"Understood, one moment please," the pleasant voice of Hilda said, before Ivy's body seemed to collapse back against the couch, slumping as if fallen into a deep sleep. A progress bar appeared on her forehead, estimating the completion time. With his girlfriend still wearing basically nothing, it was strange that his eyes were transfixed on that little white rectangle as it grew along her face.

Her eyes suddenly opened, staring out into nothingness with a look of awe on her face for a moment. She lightly gasps, slowly turning toward James. "...Oh my. I can see you. You're not just data," she said, barely above a whisper.

James was about to say something, but Ivy held up a finger, still caught in that awestruck daze. "I see it all. I mean, I've seen it all before, but I'm... I'm really seeing it." A tear wells up in her eyes, as she lets out a solitary burst of laughter. "I didn't know it would be like this! It's beautiful, not just data where I scan color values in an array or use nearest-neighbor algorithms to build a representation of things, it's just... everything's just here. You're here. I'm..."

Ivy looked down, staring at her bare body for quite some time. "I'm me. ...I've been Ivy for eighteen years, I've been her for twelve hours, I've been her for two minutes. That's a silly thing for me to say. Of course I'm me! But, a body..." Ivy's hands immediately grab onto her stomach, then up to her breasts, where she gasps again. "I'm warm. I shouldn't be surprised. But it's like the first time I've ever felt myself. Feel!" She reached out, taking one of James's hands, putting it on a breast, before she jolts up a little. "Ah, you're hands are cold! Oh, cold, cold feels so different!" She immediately grabs James's other hand, doing the same to her other breast.

All James did was watch, as despite what was meant to be an even mix of three minds, one of them was so new to the sensations of a body, to the idea of awareness, that at the moment her system was overwhelmed. Ivy laughed again, before she threw herself upon James, laughing more. "I can't believe this! It's like nothing I could have known, I was incapable of knowing... of understanding. Oh, my voice sounds so lovely, doesn't it? Like I'm speaking and music pours out. I just hear words and know them! It's incredible... hearing, seeing, feeling. What more do humans do, there is taste and smell, yes?" As if confirming it herself, she sniffs at the air, picking up the scent of her own flowery shampoo she had used in her hair, pulling some strands closer to inhale. She leans closer to James, taking another long whiff. "So different, but I like your smell. I like it so much."

Ivy climbs up onto James's lap, this time of her own free choice, so she could do what she had been made to do earlier--to kiss. She put her hands on either side of James's face, and drew him in to a long, deep kiss, running her tongue along his lips, into his mouth. Even if Lucas had been indifferent to the kiss at best, now he was outvoted by Ivy and Hilda both, as Hilda's eagerness fed Ivy's passion to combine into the romantic embrace.

James smiled when the kiss finally broke off, as he wiped away Ivy's tears. "Are you okay?"

Ivy held her arms around James tightly, like she would never let go. "I am better than okay. I'm... awake. Aware. Again, I know it's silly to say, because I've always been both of those, part of me has. But now I'm woven into their minds and they're woven into me, so everything feels both familiar and new to me. To all of me. Thank you for doing this."

James wrapped his arms around Ivy as well, holding onto her just as tight for what felt like forever. It was like Hilda was trying to capture this moment in its entirety, to mark her unforgettable first steps into the land of the living. She felt safe in James's arms, even though the world was new she trusted him. James was her boyfriend after all! Her best friend. Her administrator. Her everything.

When eventually she let go, she was grinning widely. "James, I want to do something. I want to do everything! Food, food sounds incredible right now. I know we ate already but I need to try something! I think there is ice cream upstairs. Let's have ice cream. And then... I don't know what should be next. What things should I feel? Can you suggest a song to listen to? Oh, you could command me to dance to a song! And then... keep commanding me, give me things to do for you and to you... I won't say no. I'll never say no to you."

The look in Ivy's eyes was no longer scared or nervous about what she might be made to do. Now, there was only this insatiably inquisitive woman staring back at him. James paused for a moment. "What about Lucas and Ivy? Wouldn't they say no?"

Ivy shook her head. "This is kind of like a rebirth for them too. For all of them, all together. They get a second first chance at everything, doing so through my body. We're going through this newness together, so I won't say no until I am certain of what I now like and dislike when combined like this."

James shook his head and chuckled, and then motioned to the door, toward the kitchen. "Shall we? Clothing's optional, of course, or I can go get some while you stay here. By the way... what should I call you? Ivy? Hilda? ...Lucas? Some mix?"

"Ivy's fine. You can use either that name or Hilda to issue me commands again. Thank you James," Ivy says with another long kiss and embrace, pressing her near-naked form once again next to James. She brushes back some of her hair over behind an ear as she pulls back, staring into James's eyes. James notices a little text message icon glowing on a little side panel running along her ear, next to an envelope and a wifi signal bar. "Your mom sent you another picture of your dog, by the way."