He tries a couple of things.

"Seriously, dude, I'm up for a modifier but let's talk about this," D said cautiously. "You don't know what kind of crazy shit might happen. There are fucking hundreds of those and all I have to do is look at..."

Brad was holding something weird. She trailed off, her brows knitting together in confusion. What was that thing? It was like... she didn't, but she didn't have a self or an interiority or a subjectivity.

She looked at him doubtfully, then at the thing he had. It popped in her head, a pop and diverted processing power to emulating one (mind) as efficiently as possible, even emulating an inner monologue. She could feel, but only whatever that modifier was making her feel! Brad was saying something.

He looked funny, Brad did. D could laugh, and like feel it just a little. She stared at her fingernails. She had always had sensation, but had she always felt?

"Is it cumulative?" she heard, and again, "Is it cumulative?" What was the thing she was looking at? It was the thing in his hand.

"I... think so," she managed to say. "It's cumulative. What is it?"

"It says 'edible 20 milligrams' on the back," he said. "I guess they kick in faster than real ones."

"I took edibles," she said. She had meant to ask it but it came out as a sentence, which was just as well because it was true. "You... asshole."

"How many times do you think you saw it?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Saw what?" D asked with confusion. She looked up at him, which was weird. Why did her head feel like that? Her head was in Brad's lap! He was stroking her hair softly and it was so, so lovely. He smiled and there was something in his hand.

"This," he said and for a second D was really, really dizzy. She blinked and shook her head, but it felt like her vision was somehow... laggy. Brad was making her get high, over and over.

"How many times had you- did you show me the thing." A thought occurred to her and she put on her best attempt at a stern face. It was adorable. "Don't show it to me again."

"Ok," Brad said with a smug grin. "You still feeling ok, there, D?"

D was feeling really good, she was leaning forward. She felt the flames from the campfire lick at her face. Wait, that wasn't it, she had fallen asleep. "I had a dream," she slurred weakly. Brad was... she was on her feet! Were they walking?

D stumbled a little and grabbed Brad's dresser. She looked all the way down her arm at the lovely piece of furniture and laughed. She turned her head up to face Brad and it felt like her eyes were floating in molasses. She sat on the bed and closed her eyes. D's breath quickened. The game was on and the announcer was screaming it was a home run! She leapt up, as surprised herself as Brad was (he looked so scared!) and shouted excitedly, then crumpled back onto the bed when her knees buckled under her.

"Shit," Brad said, and it sounded like it came from a thousand different hallways. "I mighta overdone it."

overdonitoverdoniteoverdonitoverdonitoverdonitoverdonit He means to replace us.

D thought about the conversation they had way, way, back, and she was leaning and he was helping her back up. "Thanks," she said, and she touched his arm. He means to replace us. She giggled a little. Dude!, it's like mind control! Wait, she said that.

"What are you saying?" Brad said with concern. What was she saying? Shit, she was saying what she was thinking! She moved her mouth to answer .

"What?"

He waved his hand in front of D. Shit, he wanted to see if she would track it! She tried to but it was already back at his side and he was talking.

"...sorry," she slurred through a thousand barrels of sand, and batted her lashes. "Let me see your hand."

"My hand?" he asked, surprised at her strange interruption. "Why?"

Why? It was something about her eyes... didn't matter. If she wanted to keep hanging out and having a good time with Brad, she was gonna have to show him a good time. She had his hand in hers and she was gently tracing her fingernails in circles on his palm. Had she been doing that the whole time? That was good.

He expected her to say something. Fuck. "Mmm, feels good," she moaned and put his hand to her right tit. "Sexy."

He snorted, which was like a laugh, which wasn't what she wanted. She opened her eyes and scowled at him. "You asshole."

"Sorry, it's just funny seeing you try to seduce me like this," Brad chuckled. "If you're ok being in another dimension and trying to jump my bones, I'd love to hang out some more."

D nodded along. Now that the initial wave of disorientation had passed, the set of algorithms that stitched together a simulacrum of a brain was pretending to think slightly faster. She understood that he was good if she was good.

"I'm great," the thing in his hand was what she was looking at when she forgot what she was doing.