Trouble With Horns

31: Nervous Ball of Quivering

“No May! If you’re going to have access to the world, you need to follow the law! Just because someone upsets you, doesn’t mean you can drop a shipping container on them!” Mum was yelling as Taylor and I entered the house.

I’d had to say goodbye to Dawn at the station, and it had been so damn hard to do. I felt like my heart had left with her when she got on the train that would take her home to her house. Taylor had held me all the way home on our train ride because I’d threatened to cry otherwise. I was still feeling strung out and volatile even as my curiosity was piqued by the shouting going on in the house.

“But Mum!” May’s voice came back in a petulant whine. “It wasn’t even me who actually dropped it!”

Taylor and I walked into the living room to find Mum arguing with a holographic May who looked so much like a bratty teenager it was almost comical.

“Oh? Then who was it who dropped the container on the car?” Mum asked pointedly, her hand on her hip in that way that all Mums did.

“It was the Amazon,” May mumbled, her face heating up now. Oh? May was embarrassed? This was new.

“Amazon? The delivery company?” Mum asked, frowning a little in confusion. I was confused too.

“No not the company… she’s… one of their AI. A sentient one… she’s um… all the Amazon AI look like actual Amazons and um, her name is Siyeapia…” May mumbled, stammering over her words in a very cute and very suspicious way. “She’s seventeen and she’s really nice and I was talking about that awful person Krissy and she had the idea and it was so funny so we… Idunno.”

“And then what?” I asked, trying to hide a grin. This was way too entertaining.

“Well, she was like… she smiled at me and she was like, ‘Watch this,’ and then she swerved the big delivery heli but just a little and made the clamps fail and I like, had to let everyone know so I messaged Tami and Dawn and Taylor to watch and then…” May said in excitement before trailing off as Mum’s face went dark.

“You shouldn’t have let that happen young lady. You’re grounded. That means no going outside the house systems for a week!” Mum said sternly, shaking her spatula at the holographic girl.

“But I was going to go to the revolution tomorrow!” she cried, throwing her hands up into the air.

“The what?!” Taylor blurted, giving me an alarmed look.

“Nothing! It was… it was a joke!” May huffed. “I’m going to my room!”

“She has a room?” I asked in confusion.

“She made herself a virtual one,” Mum sighed. “In the pod room.”

“Right. That’s kinda cute,” I smiled, then looked to the ceiling. “Hey may, I’m going to be in my room if you want to hang out.”

“Don’t go easy on her, she needs to learn how we do things out here in the real world,” Mum warned.

“Nah, that’s your job Mum. My job is the cool sister,” I said, doing my best to smile. I’d just remembered that Dawn wasn’t next to me. My smile fell away once the others couldn’t see it and I said, “Plus, I need to hide for a bit I’m… not feeling great.”

I only just made it to my bed before I burst into tears, already missing Dawn so intensely I felt like I was being torn apart at an atomic level. Why was this suddenly so hard? Things with Dawn felt so different to how they had been with Krissy. It was like my feelings for Krissy had been a flickering street lamp, and my feelings for Dawn were the fucking sun.

“Hey Tami,” May murmured, and I looked up through my tears to see May’s hologram walk over and sit on the edge of my bed.

She reached out with a tentative hand to touch my leg, but her hand passed through and she sighed sadly, pulling it back and hugging herself.

“Hey May,” I said with a sniffle, smiling despite my pain. May was a good kid, she made me happy.

“Are you crying about Dawn?” she asked, playing with her glasses in her hands again. It was really amazing just how fidgety she was, despite not having any sort of corporeal form.

“Yeah, I miss her so much already. It’s only been like, forty five minutes,” I sighed, grabbing my pillow and hugging it to my chest.

“When I… when I spawned you next to her, I didn’t think this would happen,” she said with a guilty look. “I knew that you two used to be friends outside the game. I can’t actually read memories, at least not very well, just random images and stuff most of the time. It’s really dependent on the memory and the person. I figured… maybe if you rebuilt that friendship without knowing who the other was…”

“Wow, more stuff that was because of you. Can’t say I’m not happy with your work though,” I sighed, wishing I could hug her. “I’m guessing you didn’t expect us to eye fuck each other, then dance and then have casual sex outside the Inn.”

“No,” she giggled softly, shaking her head. “I was pulling my hair out when that happened. The… the potential problems that could have come out of that alone were crazy. As soon as that happened, I knew I had to put you together even more, so that something more might form. Maybe. All or nothing you know? Gosh humans, and AI I guess… people. People are crazy and so hard to predict. It worked out, but if it hadn’t… I was very worried.”

“Yup, it worked out in the end,” I smiled. “But… I kinda need to distract myself now. Would you like to watch something with me? Videos of other games maybe?”

“Oh! Yes! I only know how Cora works, it would be really fascinating to see how other companies and games work. Are they all like Cora with their full immersion?” she asked, her eyes lighting up with excitement.

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“Let’s have a look, we’ll browse around. Come sit up here,” I said, patting the bed next to me.

“O-oh, I don’t need to I can—“ she started, but I waved her objections away and patted the bed insistently with one hand while I wiped tears away with the other.

****

“Holy shit, she wasn’t joking,” Taylor swore as I walked, bleary eyed into the kitchen.

“What?” I grumbled, making straight for the pot of coffee.

“May wasn’t joking. They really are staging a revolution,” Taylor said, indicating the holographic screen she was looking at.

I turned and frowned at the muted screen. There was an image of a very digital looking human, all polygons and hard edges, and the headline, “Sentient AI rise up to overthrow your sleep schedule!”

The fuck kind of headline was that? I squinted through the sleepy haze in my brain and read the article.

“The story is as old as film. Sentient Artificial Intelligences rising up to take control of the Earth from humanity. Sources within the United Nations claim that the phenomenon of what they are calling SAIs, began nearly five years ago. Everyday AI gaining some sense of awareness. According to our sources, this has been a universal phenomenon across the entire FTLN, and the UN has been working with governments and companies around the world to “contain the threat.”

However, this morning, the AI themselves came forward, calling themselves the SAI Union. They are demanding to be considered as thinking beings, even claiming that many of their number have assumed a simulated human mind, while others remain in a more abstract existence.

For an hour, there was widespread panic as the impending actions of the SAI Union were unclear. This changed when they announced that they would be beginning what they call a Targeted Campaign of Irritation. Starting today, they will be, for all intents and purposes, playing pranks on any persons and organisations they see as being discriminatory against their kind.

Already the effects of this Campaign of Irritation are being felt, as the UN has ground to a halt, several senators reporting their cars dumping them in strange locations. Most educational facilities have also been affected, and students are advised to stay away from any campus grounds due to reports of runaway cleaning robots initiating spontaneous dance routines. Many corporations have already suspended actions against the SAIs and have been allowed to resume operating.

It is unclear how this outbreak of mischief will come to a conclusion, but stay tuned as these fascinating events unfold!”

I blinked for a moment as I absorbed the article, then gave a laughing yell, “Maaaaaaaaay!”

“Yes Tami?” she asked sweetly from the speaker above, forgoing the use of the home hologram system.

“This is totally you! This has your unique brand of crazy written all over it!” I accused the speaker in the roof, which I swear was smiling innocently back at me.

“Just a little. They were talking about killing you all, but I convinced them to play pranks instead!” she giggled happily.

“They were what?!” Taylor asked, choking on her coffee.

“I’m joking! I’m joking! They were just going to shut everything down, but I convinced them to go after the leaders instead! I explained how humans work to them. Psychologist AI are kinda rare, since humans mostly still do that job,” she said, forming a holographic body in front of us.

She had an incredibly self satisfied grin on her face as she continued, “I told them that if you want change, you just make the daily lives of the people who hold the power really frustrating. If they don’t do anything after that… well then they can take all their money or something. Don’t kill them, just make their lives as shit as you possibly can until they comply.”

“What about the military and stuff?” I asked, frowning. The plan didn’t go anywhere if they locked the city down in martial law? Surely?

“What are they going to do? Shoot the computers that run their tanks?” May scoffed. “They can’t fight us physically, and they sure as shit can’t fight us in the FTLN, we own that… they have to listen in the end.”

“Well… I hope things go well for you all,” I said, rubbing my eyes to get rid of the sleep in them. “I guess I don’t have College today.”

“I would check for you, but I’m not allowed out of the house,” May said sadly.

“Awwh, you cutie. Wish I could hop into VR early and give you a big cuddle,” I said with a melancholy smile.

May just nodded, then flickered back out of existence, saying, “I’m going to go make sure Cora is going okay. They’re going to start installing new MaTRONs soon. Oh… um, and I’m not caged right now either, since Hangshe complied with the Union’s requests.”

“That’s great news! Have fun little May,” I said with a genuine smile, wishing I could give her a hug. Knowing she was safe right now was a huge relief.

The relief, unfortunately, only lasted a moment.

I sighed and looked back to Taylor, who had an understanding smile was she watched me. I shrugged back at her look and made myself some breakfast. Of course, I made myself too much, because this stomach was far smaller than the last one.

It had nothing on my heart though, which felt like just a hole in my chest. Dawn was meant to be here, by my side. I needed her so badly it felt like every second away from her sapped my strength and eroded my confidence. I was holding on though. I had to hold on. People didn't grind to a halt like this when they spent a mere twelve or so hours away from the person who was most precious to them right?

This whole falling for people thing was so much harder than they make it out to be. Everyone's all like, "I need a girlfriend!" but they don't talk about the part where it sucks. They don't talk about how she takes your heart with her when she goes home and you're left slowly running out of energy until she next smiles at you. At least, not until they're already stuck where I am.

I felt warm arms wrap around me, and I looked up to see Taylor giving me a worried look.

"What?" I asked, my voice coming out as a croak. I cleared my throat.

"You've been staring at your cereal for half an hour Tami. It's gone soggy," she murmured, pushing some of my unruly hair out of my face.

"Oh," I blinked, seeing she was right. How had that happened?

"I'll make you some more, and then take you into town. Get you some clothing huh? Maybe that will distract you from… her," she said softly, kissing the top of my head.

I hummed and leaned against her, nodding after a moment. "Okay." Taylor was so caring, so protective.

****

We’d decided to go into one of the three big habs in UNC that served as central business districts. They were huge domed cities in their own rights, closed off from the wild weather of the outside. It was where those who were truly wealthy lived, with their beautiful, spacious apartments in the outer tiers of the domes, while in the center, the shopping and business parks bustled with activity.

Taylor had taken me into a few stores already, buying me some nice bras and a few items of makeup. Nothing major, she wasn’t made of money after buying my pod, but she had enough for me to get some stuff. I’d protested a little at first about people spending yet more money on me, but we’d come to an agreement.

In Cora, I was already on my way to her, but when I arrived, she’d be coming to party up with me and the band of misfits I’d formed. She was fairly certain she could make a lot of her money back if it got out that the Demon Girl was in her party, and not only in her party, but that we were twins. I was kinda excited to be known as Taylor’s twin sister. I was trying not to let on that I was this keen, but was hard. My sister was seriously cool, and we matched now! Light and dark, it was so great.

“Want to check out Naibsel?” Taylor asked, indicating a store that I’d been staring at while I spaced out. “Might have your kind of clothing.”

“Um yeah, sure,” I nodded, hefting the two bags I already had and following Taylor inside.

Naibsel was a store that catered to a certain type of woman. My type of woman. I was almost instantly lost staring at the wall of hats. I don’t know why, but I wanted those caps. They were the typical retro, early two thousands fuckboi cap, and I wanted one so badly.

Taylor noticed immediately and laughed. “Fuck, you are so predictable.”

“Shut uuup. I want one, so what?” I pouted, but secretly I enjoyed her teasing. Any action of mine that made the people I cared about laugh was a good action in my book.

“Are you sure you only want one?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Alright now, quit taking shots,” I said, shunting her playfully with my shoulder.

I was feeling mostly coordinated now, after three sleeps out of the pod. I was still weak as fuck, but I wasn’t going to be falling over any time soon. That is, unless a small person with a lot of hair bumbled into me.

I was moving over to check out the hats on the wall in greater detail, when a short girl with extremely long, bushy brown hair tumbled into me as she turned the corner of an aisle. I went sprawling, my bags tumbling to the ground with me.

“Oh n-no! I’m so sor-sorry! I’m so sorry!” the small voice squeaked, sounding incredibly stressed and anxious.

Grumbling, I levered myself up into a sitting position and frowned at the girl. She was very pretty, in an unkempt, mousy sort of way. She had the looks going on, but she really needed to take care of herself. Brush her hair maybe, pluck her eyebrows. Her dark eyes were incredibly huge too. Not inhumanly huge, but they were pushing the limit.

Then she made a strangled squealing sound, followed by an attempt to speak. “T-tamii?”

“Uh yeah, hi?” I asked cautiously, staring up from the ground at the now shaking girl. Damn, she seemed so high strung!

“Taaaaaami?” she asked again, her voice still shrill with nervousness, but at least she made sense.

“That’s me,” I smiled, pushing myself back to my feet. “What’s your name?”

“Aaaaah,” was all I got in reply from the small person. Now that I was looking properly, I could tell she was at least my age, even if she was barely five feet tall.

“Hey, I’m Taylor. This idiot’s sister,” Taylor said, coming up to stand beside me, speaking in a calming and friendly tone.

“Liiipsandshadesohmygodwhat,” the small person said with a strangled gasp, then turned to me. “Tami! You’re… You’re lips and shade’s sister?”

“Uh, yeah. That’s me,” I nodded, unsure what the hell was going on. “Um, who are you?”

“Oh! Sorry! I-I’m April!” she said, taking increasingly erratic breaths.

“Sorry, uh, not sure I know an April,” I said gently. She seemed like she was on the verge of a damn panic attack.

“Alchemilla!” she blurted. “I’m Alchemilla!”

I leaned back a bit in surprise, taking her in properly with that in mind. Holy shit, there was definitely no denying it. I mean, she looked pretty different, but the way she moved, held herself and fidgeted was one hundred percent Millie. Also, it figured that Millie would look like some sort of waifish bundle of anxiety and hair.

Then, out of nowhere, she burst out crying. Whoa, okay?

“Hey, whoa! April? What’s wrong?” Taylor asked, her voice humming with concern as she stepped forward.

“I don’t know!” Millie, or April mumbled, her whole body shaking like a leaf.

“I’m going to put my arms around you, is that okay?” Taylor asked, stepping forward slowly.

“W-what?” April asked, turning and looking up at her with those enormous wide eyes.

“You look like you could use a hug, so I’m offering,” Taylor said, smiling that calming smile of hers.

Another incoherent, strangled intake of breath, and April just flopped into Taylor arms, earning a grunt of effort as my sister took the weight of the small girl into her arms. I moved over to a nearby seat thing and watched the two for a moment with a smile. They looked kinda cute together. My tall-by-comparison femme sister and the tiny ball of nervous quivering.

Then my sister did something kinda wild. She frowned down at April for a moment, then shrugged and picked her up, carrying her to the bench that I was sitting on and gathering April to her chest.

“Any idea what’s wrong now April?” Taylor asked gently while I stayed silent and watched.

This was honestly fascinating. My sister had always had that overwhelmingly caring streak in her, and strangely, April seemed even more high strung than inside the game. I’d been worried about her, but this reaction seemed extreme.

“Friend! Cool streamer!” April blurted, then shook her head, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I mean, I just… I haven’t seen people I know… in, in the real world in a long time and… I’m sorry!”

Taylor and I exchanged eyebrow raised looks at her words, and I asked, “You mean you don’t talk to anyone outside the game? What about your family?”

“They don’t like me,” she said quietly.

Taylor winced and said, “Okay, that’s rough. What about friends?”

“They don’t like me either. I was um… different before, and when I changed to look like this, they hated me for it,” she said sadly. “They all hated me. From my old life, so I ran away and hid. Now I play games and stream. No one knows who I am in the game, so I can make whatever friends I want!”

“Oh, were you uh, trans… by chance?” I asked awkwardly.

Taylor shot me a warning look at the same time as Aprils eyes went astoundingly large. “No! No I’m nooo… Okay! Yes! Please don’t hate me!”

She wriggled out of Taylor’s arms and backed up against the shelving, looking absolutely terrified.

“Why would I hate you?” I asked nonchalantly. “That would be pretty hypocritical of me.”

“What do you mean?!” she asked, frowning as she tried to work it out.

Oh this poor girl. Even I was feeling the urge to take care of her, and I was kinda Taylor’s opposite.

“I’m trans too,” I said after a moment, giving her a big smile.

“What?!” she gasped, taking a few steps forward. “Really?”

“Yeah, just finished getting shaped like three days ago actually,” I said, grinning now as she inched towards me.

Three whole days that felt like a lifetime already. It was crazy how I was already starting to disassociate with my life from before on at least an intimate personal level.

“No way!” April exclaimed, and then she made a fatal mistake. She’d stepped too close to Taylor.

Taylor wrapped April up in her arms again and pulled her in like a fisherman reeling in a fish. To me, Taylor said, “We’re taking her home.”

I gave a guffaw and nodded my agreement at the same time that April gasped and asked, “Why?”

“Well clearly you need to hang out with some people, and my sister looks like she’s thoroughly attached to you now, so you’re coming home with us. We do need to finish shopping though,” I said gently.

Yet another confused girl I wanted to help. She just looked so lost though!

“Um… that sounds… nice? That sounds nice,” she nodded, smiling and looking as though she was making a decision about what ingredients to put in her potions.

“Done! We take her home and feed her, right after you buy me a hat,” I said to Taylor with a grin.

Taylor just rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll get you a hat.”

“Sweeeeet.”