I'll go ahead and say this from the start, Yes this even happened and is canon but shall not affect the story greatly or immediately but from now on i shall begin adding more different PoV’s and expand on the world. Hope you enjoy.
Also these events happen AFTER the end of Volume 3 and BEFORE volume 4. It shall not be addressed in the main story but can be considered a side chapters. ENJOY!!!
----------------------------------------
Virtual Reality technology has been around for a while already but only recently were private "towns" made for housing virtual rooms and meeting people from around the world outside of the games everyone play.
Normally these Virtual towns were sunny with warm never raining or anything but with the arrival of the end of the year and the the most awaited holiday every last town was covered under a half meter of snow which everyone could enjoy.
Another bonus of this holiday is that normally a specific town remained inactive for an entire "month", which is one week in the real world, but this time it had become active much earlier.
The town was home to the several thousand juvenile convicts that were participating in the feedback research for the LIFE company.
The town had become uncommonly active during the last week because the LIFE company had given a special right to them for the last two weeks of the the year so that the convicts could personally log out of the game when they choose. It meant that they had two months of being able to freely enter and leave as they wished like a normal player.
In one specific "home" Techno, or Nathaniel Rover was outside the virtual space looking at the visage of the house that was almost a clone of all the others. He pulled up the menu and after a short purchase the front of his house was covered in lights and a christmas tree appeared in the front yard. Entering the "home" showed a second house that was the true Virtual home which was decorated with even more decorations and only because he insisted against it his little sister hadn't turned it into a cookie house like in christmas books.
She was running around with a few other kids who were her cousins and the kids or siblings of Nathaniel's crew within Etheria.
They all had coats and winter clothes because even here the virtual reality technology made sure to mimic everything how it should be.
Nathaniel smiled seeing his sister happy playing and moved to enter the house.
Inside the now large two story house, that had grown due to the weekly "salary" both Nathaniel and Sasha got, where his family and crew as well as the crew's family.
Even the two GM's were here but under an alias since they were still hiding the fact. Nathaniel said they were good friends from school. Their families already knew his situation and played along. The idea was that only the girls have met his family so their wasn't much to hide.
Still that didn't stop he men of the crew from teasing him which earned them a good knuckle sandwich.
Today was christmas eve and it was one of the few time all these people, which meant people other than crew mates, could come here.
Nathaniel was still someone closed off towards strangers but his recent improvements with talking with his own crew had made it somewhat easier to talk with their families.
They spent time talking, a few watched movies while the women cooked the banquet for the celebration.
The warm atmosphere of the house was far different from normal due to so many people.
Nathaniel himself was able to sometimes show a small smile.
At the moment it was already 8:20 pm and the kids were returning inside.
Seeing the kids come in smiling while rubbing themselves, Nathaniel called them.
"Sasha, take everyone to the bath's to warm up. Oh and be careful in their." He said.
"Okay bro! Come on everyone!" She said and ran off down the corridor with all the kids.
"Should i go with them?" Mom asked.
"They are old enough to take a bath, besides there is a safety i bought for the bathrooms to prevent injuries." Nathaniel said.
"Maybe i will join them just to be safe." Sarah said.
(A.N. Sarah is Greer in Etheria.)
"Might as well go." Nathaniel said with a sigh.
Too many kids would end up causing trouble though my dad went himself to the boys bath to make sure they don't do anything.
"I almost feel jealous seeing how much you dot on Sasha." Alexandra said.
(A.N. Alexandra is Annabeth)
"You have a brother." Nathaniel said.
"Yeah but..." she said and looked at the coach where the "large" man that was her brother sat. He was a very large man both fat and muscular. In his hand was a can of beer and he was laughing with her father and a few Victor who was bordering on having a drinking contest against the man.
"Yeah...i get it." Nathaniel said while looking at the man.
"Nathan? How is your body coming along?" Alexandra asked trying to keep the talk going.
"Well its going slow. The material is hard to come by." He replied
She knew all to well what kind of race it was. Once she found out about that races she asked permission to talk with the main AI Ariel and with higher ups permission she got the formation the AI had on this race but she only got the same thing that was released. When techno guided Bulk and Surge to make the same upgrade to a new race they gained the Machina race and released the race information but the method to become the race was kept secret.
"I'm still trying to learn to control the new crafting method which is incredibly hard." Nathaniel commented.
The two continue talking quietly about Etheria.
In the bath Sarah was taking a bath with the girls who were all thrashing about.
"Now don't jump around in the bath. It's dangerous even with the safety Nathaniel bought." Sarah said grabbing Sasha.
In return Sasha made a mischievous grin before groping Sarah's breasts making her yell.
"Kya! Don't!" She said letting go of Sasha and hiding her breasts behind her arms.
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
"Hey hey, Sasha, you should be careful or she will snatch your big bro!" One of Sarah's little cousin said teasing the poor girl.
"I will not! I have a boyfriend!" She replied.
"Yeah, if anyone gets my bro its Alex! I won't let some rando person take my big bro!" Sasha said puffing out her nonexistent chest.
"Yeah yeah, not get in the bath and warm up." Sarah said pushing the girl over to the large tub with warm water.
She slowly entered because the warm water was much warmer than her body so it felt hot. Slowly a relaxed expression spread over her face until she closed her eyes from the blissful warmth.
Sarah entered after her and sat next to her before pulling Sasha and making her sit on her lap. She laid back and sasha's head followed using the floating breasts as pillows.
"Buuu...trying to win the little sister to take the big brother! That's cheap!" One of the kids say making Sasha frown.
"Stop saying stuff like that!" Sarah said and flicked her cousin's forehead as punishment.
"Ouch!" She said rubbing the sore spot.
The other girls in the room started laughing at both of them before they calmed down and began chatting about other stuff.
Soon enough they all got out and dry themselves before getting dressed in warm indoor clothes and leaving the bath.
Returning to the living room Sasha sees her brother talking with Alexandra and a grin appears on her face.
"Hey Sarah! What's the name of that flower that everyone says you got to kiss when you stand under it during christmas?" Sasha asked with a glint in her eye.
It didn't pass unnoticed by the GM. He senses have grown more sensitive because of the feedback system, at least what they were allowed to use.
She looks around as sees Nathaniel and Alex before realizing what the little mischievous girl was planning.
"It's called a mistletoe but let's make it fun." Sarah whispered.
After that Sasha opened up the purchase menu and found the mistletoes and purchased a few putting them over several people who were couples and would actually kiss so they could pressure Nathaniel. It included Sasha's own parents.
When the trick was done she innocently walked over to her parents with an innocent and curious expression.
"Hey mom, what's that pretty flower on the ceiling?" She asked.
The two looked up and spotted the mistletoe and blushed a bit.
"Why are you two blushing?" She asked in fake innocence.
"Its called a mistletoe and when a boy and girl are under it they need to kiss." Her mother explained.
Sasha smiled and looked around. The conversation had drawn the attention to her and everyone was looking up.
"Hahaha! Guess you got to kiss your wise sir!" Victor shouted laughing making everyone giggle.
"Sasha's father coughed before looking at his wife who shrugged and hugged him before giving him a kiss.
It went just as she planned and now she pointed to the other couples.
"Look there are more there!" She said and everyone started to look up seeing all the mistletoe's. Finally she pointed towards her brother.
"LOOK THERE IS EVEN ONE OVER BRO!" She said almost gitty.
In contrast her brother paled as he looked up and took a few steps forward and crouched in front of her with his eyes narrowed.
"You put them all there didn't you." He said.
Sasha evaded looking him in the eye.
"Of course not it's just that i noticed them just now." She said looking down while twisting her body around trying to hide.
"Don't, try to hide Nate! You were caught under the mistletoe so puckerup." Lucas said.
(Lucas is Bulk as the man who lost a harem to denseness)
"Shut it! You dense harem killer." He replied making everyone laugh. His father came over and whispered in his ear.
"Come on, the kiss doesn't need to be lip to lip."
Nathaniel had a stern expression but the heavy blush on his face made a strange combination of embarrassed with emotionless.
"Well i'm kissing my wife." Victor said since he was under a mistletoe.
One by one all the others did that dame leaving Nathaniel and Alexandra even more embarrassed because now they couldn't escape.
Everyone was looking their way making it even worse.
Alexandra even looked excited but was hiding it under her embarrassment.
"Come one, Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" Lucas began chanting and everyone followed making them an even brighter shade of red.
"Grr! FINE!" Shouted Nathaniel. In the spur of the moment he turned and kissed Alexandra's cheek then walked away glaring at Bulk and his crew. His eyes were saying "You all will pay up later."
Everyone was clapping and cheering while laughing seeing all this while Sasha was high fiving Sarah.
"Yay it worked!" Sasha said as she hugged Sarah.
The two looked at Alexandra who was so red it wouldn't be surprising if you put an egg on her head it would cook. They both grin and high five again before Sasha dragged off the laughing kids to her room for her to show the scaled models of all her "toys" in Etheria. With admin assistance the town Nathaniel owns allows only a select number of players to start in it. These kids are a few of them, it's mostly so she can play with them but it was an accomplishment since it virtually made the town a private base.
Later that day everyone enjoyed the dinner before going out to enjoy the snow filled town and the amusement park with everyone. This day showed all those who worried about Nathaniel's mental health that he is on the fast track to recovering from his trauma.
In the further side of town Bianca was having a much smaller party with the seven true friends she made in Etheria. She was slowly surpassing her depression with the support of her friends who sought to see her smile a real smile just like Nathaniel's friends and family strived to see his real true heart filled smile.