"Did you find anything that would help?"

"I can't do it, even with Ivy trying to instruct me, I can't just suddenly be a chick and not get weird stares and questions! I can't do this, James," Ivy said, as Lucas seemed actually frightened about whatever the two hours had done to him. "I really could've used a friend. So please tell me, please tell me that you found something that would help!"

James smiled, and motioned toward the hallway. "We need a quiet place to talk for this. But I think I can help. The band practice rooms should be open, they're traveling for that game tonight."

With a nod, Ivy followed James, still moving stiffly as you led her into the empty rooms for band, taking up a practice room. Her eyes darted around nervously before looking at you. "I, uh, sorry, I thought this was gonna be really exciting to try something new but it's like everyone knows something is off already. Beth and Cam won't stop asking me if I'm alright." Something about this nervous Ivy actually seemed interesting to James, where she was finally letting her guard down about trying to fit in. Seeing her nervous expression and her fidgeting hips and hands was cute, in a different way than Ivy usually was.

James flipped through some pages. "Okay, don't worry, I found some settings. I have to get into the menu of the Ascend with some voice commands, are you okay with that?"

Ivy shrugged. "I guess, I don't know how to do any of that. What are you--"

"AscendOS override protocol Doll mode, passcode 1234."

Ivy suddenly stopped talking, relaxing and standing upright, arms at her side. It really was like a sort of hypnotic trance... her face, once a mask that looked exactly like what was kept underneath, smoothed out into a blue screen with the words "AscendOS" on it, and a few squares with various apps and settings associated with them.

James chuckled. He was right, Lucas didn't even bother to set a new passcode on startup. He walked around Ivy's form, looking it over as she simply stood, eyes and mouth closed in order to minimize the breaks in the screen, as she breathed calmly. Both minds were supposedly asleep right now. James put a hand on Ivy's shoulder, to no response. He ran a hand along one of her asscheeks--nothing happened to stop him. He even went so far as to shove Ivy a bit. His girlfriend stumbled one step backward, but immediately caught herself and resumed standing as she had been.

"AscendOS set admin voice profile 'James'. Set passcode 1903."

A pleasant little chime indicated that James's commands were accepted. He stepped forward, tapping on the screen for a moment. Surely Ivy and Luke could wait for a bit while he tinkered. The mask had touch capability, so he scrolled through some menus to look at 'manual body override'. Out of sheer curiosity, he tapped the digital representation of a human body, which was posed in the same relaxed way as Ivy. He tugged the digital arm up until it was stuck out to the side, and then tapped "OK". Almost immediately, Ivy's left arm lifted up, extended out to the side calmly.

James grinned. He didn't want to violate the trust of his girlfriend or best friend, but knowing that this mode is available for customization would be something he would certainly use if he got more of a green light. As tempting as it was to just do something to Ivy while she was in Doll mode, James let that thought stay anchored in the furthest reaches of his mind rather than acting upon it.

"AscendOS default Mixed mode, fifty percent. Exit Doll mode."

Ivy suddenly gasped awake again, like she'd just come out of a deep dive in a pool, looking around. "Whoa. I feel... different. What did you do?"

James leaned against the wall in the practice room, watching Ivy carefully as she seemed to reclaim some of her usual mannerisms, fixing her skirt and such. But she had some of Luke's quirks as well, like knocking on the nearby wall idly while looking at you.

"You wanted a fix, so I turned on Mixed mode. The Ascend unit is literally making a new personality in real-time from mixing Ivy and Luke together. I set it to fifty-fifty, but I have a voice command that would let me change that mix. I could put you full Ivy, full Lucas, or anywhere in between really."

Ivy blinked, nodding a little. "That explains a lot... before, I was hearing my voice in my... hold on, that sentence doesn't make sense now that I think about it, trying again. I was hearing Ivy's voice in the headset, telling Lucas how to act, and Lucas just didn't know how to just act. Now, there's no voices, but I definitely feel like I... kinda get it." She sighs and smiles. "This is a real relief! Thanks hon."

"...Hon?"

"Yeah bud." Ivy nodded. She seemed equally comfortable using both how either mind would talk with James.

James crossed his arms, deciding to issue a little test. "Favorite food?"

"Pizza and cottage pie." That checked out, one food from each.

"Superhero movies?" You knew Luke was a diehard fan, while Ivy could care less.

Ivy shrugged. "They're alright."

James laughed. "Alright, I guess that's enough for me. It's definitely doing quite a balancing act with you two."

Ivy chuckled herself, and then stepped a little closer to James, resting along his side like Ivy would, although she kept her hands to herself. "So... what other modes and features are there? You can mix my mind, that could be really useful. I could be either Ivy or Lucas whenever you wanted, but is that it?"

James shook his head. "I could customize how the mask looks, for one, we could practically download a new face or I could make a lady-Luke face to put on you instead. But things get really interesting with things like Doll mode. That's what I put you into briefly to change settings, it was like you were asleep. But in that mode, I could possibly make customized behaviors and movements and other settings, things that I could even make you do while conscious--possibly without you even knowing it."

Ivy's eyes went wide, and she put a hand on James's shoulder. "You didn't, did you? You're not... you didn't download anything new into my head, right?"

With another laugh, James shook his head. "I don't know how to do any of that yet. I don't know if you'd want me tinkering with that, but I'd only do that with your permission. Well, Ivy's permission. Sorry Luke, but since it's Ivy's body, I would only want her input on that."

With a relieved look on her face, Ivy sighed. "I'm glad you didn't. I have to think about that." She turned towards James, with a bit of a smile on her face. "But, to thank you for your help, maybe there's something I can do to repay you." Her hand trails down from James's shoulder to rest on his chest, as Ivy looked up into his eyes with a little sparkle. That was pretty strange, James thought. But, Lucas was a troublemaker, and that kind of energy inside Ivy could be either devastating or a massive opportunity. She might suggest changing settings, a makeout session, playing some video games, maybe even trying out something more complex with that Doll mode if James was really lucky...

James smiled down at Ivy, feeling more comfortable with this half-and-half Ivy-Lucas than he would've thought. "And what are you thinking, then?"