back to James

The stranger gives me a bemused look. “You didn’t really think we went to all the trouble of developing a reality altering app, just to make you the sole user, did you?”

“Y-You mean, he downloaded the app too? Can anyone seriously just download it?”

“That’s not really how it works. We select users, based on how well we think you’ll use the app. It’s pretty rare for two users to meet each other, but of course the more people we give access, the more things like this are doing to happen.”

“And Wesley made Ashley into one of his custom girls, so now he “owns” her in the app?”

The woman, Lily, just looked condescendingly over her glasses. Apparently she thought her silence was answer enough. I open Ashley’s profile again on the app. I’m able to view her basic info, but when he tried to view customizations, the app throws up a popup; “request permission from owner to modify Ashley.” There are two options, “send request” and “cancel.” I cancel and return to Lily.

“Is there any way to get her back?”

“It wouldn’t really be getting her back, per se, you were never her owner. You are allowed to trade girls with other users, or even gift them to each other, but good luck getting that Wesley kid to agree to that; He’s pretty fond of her.”

“What if something happened to Wesley, like, if he died.” I don’t say what I’m thinking out loud, but my intentions are pretty obvious. “What would happen to Ashley then?”

She rolls her eyes at me. “Sweetie, you’re not allowed to kill him. The terms and conditions won’t allow it.”

“I’m not allowed to kill another user?”

“No, I’m not allowed to kill them. Remember, the app comes with a promise that the GC team won’t accelerate your ****.”

“What does this have to do with you? I’d be the one doing it, and I’m not part of the team.”

“I am part of the team, and I’ve made you, the ex-boyfriend, permanently aware of what he’s doing with one of his girls. That means I’m responsible for what you do to him. You might not agree, but that’s how the legal team sees it, and they’re the ones who make the call. If you try to kill Wesley, I’ll stop you.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

“Have fun. I didn’t give you access to custom girls so you could starts fights with other users. We just want you to play with the app and enjoy yourself.”

“Then why – “

I start to argue, but I notice the stranger is already gone. I don’t have any intentions of leaving Ashley with Wes, but for now it doesn’t look like there’s anything I can do. I need to leave before they call the cops or something.

Either way, I’m done with work. I head back to Gary’s place to check out.

By the time I get home, I’m exhausted.

Mom is still up, she’s probably been waiting for me to get home.

Looks over her magazine at me. “How was work, James?”

“It wasn’t bad. It’s money at least.”

“Well, I’m proud of you. It might not feel like much but this is a big step.”

I still haven’t bought any customizations for her. If I understand the rules right, that means some asshole like Wesley could come by any time and just claim her.

I don’t really have a choice. I pick out the option to have her start lactating for two gems.

Surprisingly, when I confirm the purchase, I’m greeted with a new menu. It looks like as a level two user I can buy upgrades to my customizations. There are two level two upgrades that catch my eye. Hotkey – produce milk, and Hotkey – express. Each costs 2 gems.

I look over at mom. She’s still reading her magazine, and I can’t see any sign of a change yet.

I think back to what I saw outside Wesley’s house. The app said he owned Ashley, and presumably that means, I own mom now. It’s a weird thought; mom and Heather definitely don’t think of me as their owner, but the app does, and apparently that’s what counts.

I hold down the produce milk hotkey. I think I can see her breasts start to swell and puff up, presumably with breast milk.

After 30 seconds or so, I get a popup on my phone. “Warning – maximum capacity reached. Further milk production will cause **** discomfort for the target. You can override safety limitations in Settings.”

I look over at mom, I can clearly see how full she is now. Her breasts are visibly swollen and puffed up. I can see from her expression that they’re probably pretty sore, but I guess the app is preventing her from realizing why.

I press and hold the express milk hotkey, and within a couple of seconds I can see wet spots forming on her nightshirt.

I hold down the hotkey until I get an alert saying mom’s breasts are empty, and my that time she’s totally soaked through her shirt. Now I can clearly see the her bra through her shirt. She still doesn’t seem to react at all, though; presumably because the app is preventing her from noticing what’s happening.

I open mom’s profile and set her to aware. She immediately looks down at her shirt and yelps with surprise. She quickly excuses hurries out of the room, presumably to change her shirt and probably hoping I didn’t notice anything.

I wait around a minute, and then press and hold the button to refill her milk jugs. I hear a set of doors open and close as mom moves from her bedroom to the bathroom. She’s probably trying to release the pressure by expressing into the sink or something.

I desperately want to go to bed, but I need to spend the energy I’ve regenerated to play more GC levels.

I select Heather’s avatar and tap the button to start the next level. I run her through a pretty simple maze past some slow bandits and monsters, and eventually get her to a pile of gold and gems, where she jumps up and down in celebration. 5 gems and 150 gold.

Level 5 is about the same, but this time when I reach the pile of gems at the end of the level, my sister’s avatar starts glowing, and eventually releases a shower of blue sparks.

“Congratulations; you’ve reached level 2! Tap to claim your reward.”

On top of a pretty big bonus reward to 20 gems and 700 gold, It seems I have a choice between two upgrades. One is symbolized by an icon of the side profile of a human head, titled “enhanced awareness settings I.” The second one is symbolized by an icon of a security camera and titled “remote monitoring I.”

The idea of monitoring people from afar is cool and all, but one of the hottest things about the app is messing with awareness. I tap the head and unlock the enhanced awareness settings.

“new awareness setting unlocked – normalized”

It looks like I now have three awareness options to choose from. Unaware and aware and self-explanatory, but normalized will apparently keep a girl aware of my customization, but make her think it’s normal.

I reopen mom’s profile and set her awareness to normalized. This way she can react to what’s happening without panicking or worrying too much.

With that done, I lay down on my bed, still dressed in street clothes, and sleep.