Chapter 67: Four Dates… One Woman

August 9th

Ripley’s tenth day… dinner with his mother.

”I told you the flower works!” She coddled me in her arms, it was probably the wine. I decided to take a liberty with my income and take her to a nice steakhouse.

”Yeah… you did.” I was being squeezed really tight.

”To think my boy could actually get a date!”

Okay that was uncalled for.

August 10th

Ripley’s eleventh day… preparing for a date with Midnight.

I’d spent the morning hours tinkering with my leg… only to kind of break it apart because turns out once you put in a Feature Link, it becomes very hard to remove one. Not one to look down, I took it as an opportunity to improve the structure, creating a more physically capable and resilient limb.

Yeah, I’d basically built it from scratch, which was a heavy dent in my deposits but something interesting did come out of it.

I could absorb Feature Links.

Absorbing Warpcode… Feature Link consumed.

Data Mimicry V.1.06 updated to V.1.07

Effect: Increased ability to replicate absorbed Feature Links

Huh, interesting.

———

The last thing I expected to see was Mirage wearing black lipstick, a leather jacket and enough spiky rings to punch a hole through my skull. Midnight, in the flesh and blood was a more… spunky version of Mirage.

Midnight spat some gum on the sidewalk. “You took your time.”

”I was on time?” My clock read 9:57, I was early.

”A real man would have arrived twenty minutes earlier.” She glared into me with eyes I was not used to seeing on Mirage.

”So what did you have planned, Midnight?” I tried to remain civil.

”Listen up.” She snapped her fingers. “I don’t think you’re fit to be with Mirage, nowhere near, clear as a Founder’s shaved nutsack you just want to bone her. So here’s the deal, I’ll let you have sex with me, hell, if you’re a good fuck we can make it a regular thing. But you don’t dare try anything with Mirage or my younger sisters.”

To say I was taken aback was putting it lightly. “I- That seems kind of immoral, it’s her body and I don’t just want… that.”

That served to only make Midnight more angry. “What? You saying I don’t deserve a body to have a good time with? You think Mirage’s the only one deserving to enjoy everything an organic has? I don’t choose to spend most of my life in the Net, so when I do get this chance I make the most of it! Mirage knows, she doesn’t care what we do with this body when she’s not in it.”

She made a good point. “Yeah, okay I can see where you’re coming from. Why don’t… why don’t we slow down, you want to make the most of this, then trust me.”

”Trust you? Hah, bitch, you can’t even be trusted with your own arm. I wonder how many times you jack off to her after watching those movies.” She eyed me dangerously, and I was close to reaching my breaking point… but then I eased.

’Midnight’ X ‘Friendship’

I unclenched my fist. ”You’re the oldest of the Personas right?”

”Yeah what of it?”

“Then I can see why you’re protective of them, you called Midnight and Twilight your younger sisters?”

She eyed me with surprise. “Them and Mirage are all I care about.”

”I was serious, Midnight. You’re the one I know least about, everyone tells me how scary you are, but you’re still born from the same stuff they were. I like Mirage… alot. I want to have the chance to really become close to her, and you… I know you carry her contempt with you, so I don’t really blame you for being so wary of me.”

She scoffed. “Pity won’t get you anywhere.”

”You said I wasn’t worthy?” My eyes focused. “Why?”

”You’re a fucking mess Ripley, Mirage needs stability, we all do. I’m not blind rage, she’s smart, she knows what to be angry about and I encompass it because it’s what keeps us together. You know how fucking angry she was when you were half dead on the hotel floor? How angry I became?” She stepped closer to me. “You’re self-destructive, overly ambitious, and will get yourself killed! Then what will Mirage do? I’d fly down to hell and rip your soul back here just for the pain you would cause her!”

“You make really good points, actually.” I couldn’t deny any of it. “I’m a cesspool of fuckups, but lately, I’ve started to change my view on them. I know what I am, what I’ve done, that I’m one wrong day away from snapping half the time. But that doesn’t mean I’m not trying to get better, I am. And I’m not nearly delusional enough to think I can fix a person. Mirage’s problems are her own, mine are mine but… I don’t see why we can’t lend a helping hand, a shoulder to cry on. You’re angry right, just let it out.”

”Let it out?” Midnight half-chuckled. “Please, you already don’t like me when I’m an Avatar, I say anything in this body and you’ll probably hate Mirage too. You know these are hidden thoughts, right? The ones she won’t say.”

”I know… so let’s do something real stress-relieving.” An idea popped in my head. “Follow me.”

The walk was short from her place, but eventually we ended up under a bridge that looked like a dump. Because it was one, everything here was gathered over a century of wasteful metal thrown over the bridge for fun — a tradition for some reason.

”I used to come here when I was younger to loom over any Shardware pieces, Hoaqin came here to smack shit up.” I picked up a hefty wooden beam, tossing it over to Midnight. “Think he was more successful between our endeavors. Just break a bunch of shit and yell about things you hate.”

”You can’t be serious.”

”I am.” I raised my eyebrows, smacking a rod into an old couch, the boing of the springs intensely satisfying. “Honestly, I think I need it too.”

———

“Who the fuck does Topaz think he is? Taming me?” Midnight grabbed up a television, throwing it to the floor as a rush of adrenaline shuddered through her. “He gave me one fucking bar of chocolate after we spent 80 hours in the Net, I was the only one awake! Of course I wanted food!”

“Should have shaved him bald!” I yelled after, bringing down my claws to crush a desk.

”Good idea!” She helped snap my desk in two. “Okay, fine! You pass!”

”I pass?” I had no idea what that meant, but then she stood on the tips of her toes and planted a soft kiss on my cheek. I’d almost gotten used to her tough demeanor that seeing her blush was nostalgic. “I kind of wanted a boytoy… hope you’re good in bed.”

Before I could even think of a response, lavender light returned in those eyes, fluttering to survey the scene in front of us. “That was… entertaining to watch. You handled her well, I thought she would be too much.”

“She’s strangely relatable, kind of refreshing to see someone who speaks their mind.” I took the gamble, removing a woodchip from Mirage’s hair. “You look cute with black lipstick.”

”I… thank you.” She peeped, turning her eyes away. “And… I should have told you, but yeah if any of my Personas do want to… erm… do the deed. It’s not something I hold against them, we have an agreement.”

”Oh, yeah… I… you know… it’s-”

”Yeah, I get it.” She chuckled it through the awkwardness.

“So Daylight tomorrow?” I confirmed.

”Yeah, she’s excited.”

”So am I.” I smiled, and her eyes droned out to my face for a few still moments.

For a second, I thought something was going to happen here between us, but neither of us moved. The stillness encapsulated us, but maybe that was enough for now.

———

August 11th

Ripley’s twelfth day… and he’s on a date with Daylight

Daylight’s date was far less eventful than Midnight’s. We went on a walk, visited a cafe, took some pictures at a park before dropping her off back at her place.

”You’re such a gentleman!” Dressed in a frilly pink and blue dress, it was the exact opposite of what I’d seen yesterday. I liked this too. “No wonder Midnight actually liked you… so want to erm… do something more fun?”

”Depends… what do you have in mind?” Mirage had given me the go… in some sense. I- I guess?

”It’s going to have both us screeeaaming…” Daylight teased.

”Then I can’t wait.” Okay, I decided that if I got uncomfortable at any point of this, I would stop. I had that much self-control.

Turns out I had no self-control, throwing down the controller as Daylight beat me for the eighth time on the console game. Some stupid animated racing game where we threw red and green shells at each other.

Abruptly, as the ninth match ended, she kissed me on the cheek, a warmth cradling her sky-blue eyes. “I’m missing you already, Rip.”

Mirage blinked out, laughing as she noticed the controllers in our hands. “Yeah, I hate this game too. She always tries to win bets using it.”

”I’m never doing this again… well, I mean, I am — the whole going on dates with you thing… but fuck this game.” I struggled to not toss the controller into pieces. “So… you and me now?”

”Me and you.” Mirage repeated, a hint of a smile on her face.

———

I actually chose the venue for this date, a shopping center with a multitude of entertainment facilities and other avenues to explore. We took our time, first going to an arcade where we played games I actually could beat her at, though I suspected she went easy on me for the shooting game… I knew my limits.

Then we went clothes shopping, and I was having the time of my life. She came out of the stall in a pretty revealing v-neck covered over with a translucent pink top and black pants….

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I… liked one article of clothing a bit more than the rest.

However, she insisted that I find something other than the hoodie or sweatshirt I wore most days. I didn’t want to tell her I wore baggy clothing like that to hide the presence of my glowing nipped, so instead I pointed out the hypocrisy considering I always saw her in those type of clothes. Still, I couldn’t deny that I felt pretty snazzy when I came out in a navy button-up with a stylish black puffer jacket that fit well.

”Drippy. I like it… but… it’s missing something.” Mirage walked over near the counter, picking out framed glasses from one of the aisle’s selections of items. She placed them over my eyes, smiling through the glossy reflections I had over them.

”There you go.” I don’t know what changed so much for her to be twirling her hands. “You look good in glasses.”

“I do?” My eyesight had always been sound, still had some Cradle genes in me from my dad’s side.

”I like… I think they suit you. It’s cute… I like it.” She admitted.

I bought the glasses upon hearing that. But I also picked up a large cowboy hat I found interesting. “You know who would look good in this?”

She eyed the hat with interest. “Who?”

”Diamante.” I snorted. “Could you imagine it? Cowboy robot?”

”You know-“ Her eyes lit up. “I actually can imagine it. Buy it!”

I did so. At the drop of a hat. I made that joke and she actually laughed, but called it dumb, but hey, she had a beautiful laugh.

We ended up going for a movie too, an actual cinema which was my first time. I was not prepared for how loud everything would be, but I calmed down once her hand slid over my own…

After, we decided to slow things down and head back to her place with some much needed alcohol. We were tempted to go to a bar, but Mirage turned it down at the last second, claiming she was pretty… loosely lipped when drunk.

The drinking went nice, keeping an old comedy movie running in the background as we made idle talk.

”What does it feel like when they take over?” I managed to keep my sobriety mostly together.

”Like… a deep blanket?” She got pretty loud when she drank. “If I want to sleep I can, but sometimes I go into the Net too, though it’s not as good as when I’m awake…”

She took another sip of the wine, relaxing closer to me as we watched the movie. I couldn’t help but take a glance at her, she was cute, beautiful, attractive and smart… and I guess I didn’t notice how long I had been staring at her until she looked back.

”See something you like?” She got closer.

”All of you.” I got closer.

That was all it took for our lips to meet, a spark between us ignited into an inferno of perfect harmony. I knew this was right, that it was what was meant to be. The kiss only deepend, Mirage’s arms finding their way to my chest and pushing up to my shoulders as neither of us wanted to let go for air.

My hand caressed her cheek, stroking right under her jaw so that I felt her purr in my mouth. The heat between us softened as we each parted for breath, but not for a second did we take our eyes off each other.

“Ripley…” She gasped. “I… want this, but-“

My heart was ready to snap.

”-But I need you to be sure of this… I’m not- not someone fit for this… I don’t want to hurt you.” She spoke with her breath. “You should… know who I really am. What I am.”

”What do you mean?” I kept my arm around her shoulder, but even now I was doubting that.

”I grew up… trapped in a NeoCore facility, you know that.” She glanced at my chest. “Truth is, a part of me never escaped it.”

”You mean, emotionally?”

”No, Ripley.” Mirage bit her thumb. “I- I’ll explain it from the beginning. I was part of a secret division organized by Beauregard Mazhyr known as Firewatch. I don’t know who my parents were, maybe I was born in a Cradle,bred for the position, but all I know is that as a child I was scanned to have a brain with a high aptitude for Warpcode manipulation, so they shipped me off to the facility where I spent most of my life strapped into the Net.”

”That’s… I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what to say, but I hoped holding her hand was enough.

”It’s okay, I barely remember it now.” She squeezed back, but I couldn’t not notice the slight tremble in it. “I- I was good. Enough that they raised me up to Gold Grade by the time I was 15, but I wasn’t the only one there. There were thousands of children like me, built in hierarchies of Iron up to Titanium… all to decipher the Old_Data.

“It’s… terrifying. We never breached beyond the Firewall, but we used specific filtration points where bits of the Old_Data could slip through. Nothing dangerous enough to threaten releasing the MALtitan but even that much could corrupt us… we- I saw so many of my peers lose themselves to it. Become less human. They used a massive Proxy Network led by a Platinum to control the whole operation. They would control the Titaniums, the Titaniums would control Golds and we would control… the Silvers and so forth. It resulted in what I could only describe as a hive-mind of thought, thousands of Iron Features co-ordinated to control the streams of data we deciphered.”

”That… couldn’t have been healthy.” I felt stupid saying something so obvious.

”I probably would have died if I stayed there.” She shuddered. “You know how time moves differently when you’re in the Net, well the deeper you go, the faster it becomes. You could spend years down in the VoidNet’s Gold layer and only have minutes pass in real life… Across the years, I don’t know how many decades, or even centuries, I spent down there.”

”How’d you get out?”

”One day… we delved deep. Just about skimming the massive globe of flame protecting us, I’d never been so scared in my life. We spent what I think is… years? Pulling apart and making sense of some old media files, but then a Titanium MALware emerged and we weren’t prepared enough. It was chaos, Ripley, hundreds of us slaughtered, our consciousness devoured. I acted in survival of myself, and delved into a rogue Datasurge… but the MAL attacked… and somehow it dragged us beyond the Firewall.”

”You were in the OldNet?” I hardened my hand around hers, she needed it.

”Time… loses meaning. Maybe it was seconds, centuries, a millenia, but it felt like an eternity. I was just data being transferred and molded, torn and rearranged, but… the MALtitan, for a moment I glimpsed it.”

She stared up at me, and I’ll never forget what I saw in those violet jewels. A primal dread so deep that it penetrated the oceans. “It looked back at me. That was the last thing I remembered before I woke up, my consciousness… it had been flung somewhere else entirely. Into the body of a comatose girl located in Westcrook who was never going to wake up. I replaced her. This body isn’t mine. It never was, it belonged to someone named Nicole Steadman. Waking up, having a family I didn’t know cry at the sight of me, I was an alien. They said I had amnesia, and for what it’s worth… her parents were beyond nice to me.”

”What happened after that?”

”I was fourteen, but maybe in terms of thought I was centuries old. Centuries old and I’d never seen the sun, couldn’t remember the last time I breathed in fresh air, never cold or hot. Everything was so new that… I hated it. It was all too much. So I ran away back where I was most comfortable, the Net. Without a BUG, it was dangerous, but I was still capable… maybe I was hoping for a way back. I don’t know, but every second I lived I felt wrong. Like I’d lost something. My Gold BUG… so I did what I could to get back to it, easily broke into a few accounts and stole some Shardyne. Then I got one for myself.”

”Was that… when you figured out you were PsuedoGold?”

”Yeah, awakening four Features as an Iron sent alarms through my head. It still wasn’t enough, I felt instinctively broken, incomplete. A lie. A mirage. So I ran away from a home I never remembered in desperation to complete myself, joined up with groups of NetDelvers, betrayed them once it meant making money. Repeated that cycle for three years until I met Missy… she… I know you haven’t really spent a lot of time with her given the mission but she helped me… made me feel stable. But it was still all too much, I was fractured, alone and-“

”Then you got the Personas.” I held her close.

”When I upgraded to Bronze. Midnight came first, I poured all of my rage and contempt into her, but what was left was someone delusional and happy even when things went wrong. Daylight took that, but then I was a mess trapped in between the two emotions, so I split myself into two. Twilight became my mirror, a beacon of reflection that I could use to rearrange myself. Somewhere, she became more confident than me, a brighter half compared to who I was.”

”You’re still pretty damn bright.” I let her shaking body sink into me.

”You know… Ripley, when I saw you… I thought you were a lost cause. I was against saving you.”

”Why did that change?” I gently stroked her hair away from those tears trickling down her face.

”Because you… I don’t know, Ripley. It wasn’t any specific moment, you were thrown around constantly because you didn’t have the weight to match the momentum. But, then, I saw the way you analyzed the world around you. Took in the things people were saying like a sponge, you weren’t resistant to the change. When I look at you, I see someone who can put themselves together no matter how many times they get torn apart.”

”I’m not any of that.” I said my feelings. “I’m… one bad day away from breaking. I just, lately I’ve been able to extend my need to be alive and well to the people around me. For once, maybe, I’m living beyond myself.”

”That’s what I mean, Ripley. All I ever do is watch people, observe their actions and predict what’s to come like I’m the fucking Allseeing. Yet, never once did I predict any of what you would do correctly. You should, by all accounts, be dead. But you didn’t and I’m… happy for it. You were probably the only person I knew that understood my feelings, why I… filter my thoughts. Why I can’t handle them myself. Maybe Missy understood it to some degree… and that’s why she paired us up in the beginning — but you genuinely have that experience yourself. It’s just… you surprised me.” She pulled her body closer, I just leaned my arm across her shoulders…

Minutes passed where we just felt each other’s weight, taking in our own isolations and thoughts, but feeling her relax in my arms. Neither of us were alone, so I stared at the ceiling, contemplating what we were. ”Damn… forget partners in crime. We’re partners in pain.”

She chuckled, gripping my arm a little tighter. “I don’t feel pain when I’m with you.”

”What do you feel? Elsa?” I met her gaze evenly. We both felt it then. Even as August passed and the weather began to cool, I felt nothing but the warmth in her eyes.

”This.” Elsa’s lips met mine again, and this time… we didn’t stop.

———

“So.” Twilight began next to me while I was half dozed off, she stretched wide underneath the blanket covering Elsa’s unclothed body. “Sex as good as you thought it would be?”

”Better.” I admitted with a smile, blinking myself awake.

”You’re better than I thought you would be.” Her violet eyes pierced through the darkness of the room. “Not your first time doing that with a claw?”

”You probably have the addresses of my past flames.” I pulled the blanket off myself, opting to sit up. “Right, we never got to our date.”

”Didn’t want to interrupt the moment… was quite the watch.” She breathed closer to me. “I like you, Ripley Donovick. It’s weird, I wasn’t built to be a recipient of love or affection by Elsa’s design but… when I do look at you, there’s this warmth I get even as code. I can feel it properly now that I’m inhabiting her body, and it’s so… lively.”

“Twilight…” I felt like this was the part where I should light up a cigarette. “I like you too, is that wrong? To like both you and Elsa?”

”Nope.” She hooked her hands over my waist, nestling deep into my warmth as she forgot herself. “You smell good… like nice oil and metal. No wonder, she’s so into you. Oh, right, you asked if it was wrong to like us both? Not really, we’re both just different reflections of the same person. Kind of romantic actually, you like ‘me’ even when we’re split apart… god knows how you’d fall if we were one person.”

”Yeah, I’d probably die.” I welcomed Twilight’s embrace, feeling the warmth of her body entering my own. “I like the ‘you’ when you’re confident, and when you’re reserved… it’s… weird when I think about it. But I enjoy every bit of you. All of you. Each of you.”

Twilight smiled warmly, but crimson eyes stared at the wall as she slowly sat up. “Even when I’m full of nothing but aimless contempt?”

I gave them space. ”Please Midnight, that’s not all you are. You keep that rage from aiming at your sisters, you’re protecting them.”

Blue eyes wet as they met my own. “What about the times I can be annoying with my joy, seeing through rose-tinted lenses in a world full of smoke and misery.”

”That joy has made me smile more times than I could count. You’re not annoying Daylight, most people are just… too broody to accept anyone else to be happy.” I held their hands.

Two purple eyes filled with tears joined me, one bright violet and the other a dull lavender. “And when we’re incomplete? Broken?”

“I’m not exactly whole myself… I think that’s the thing with us. Our cracked edges meet, what looks to be two fractured messes clicks together like puzzle pieces when we’re together.” I tussled her hair behind her ears, wanting to take in their beauty wholly.

Light sprawled in her lenses, twisting between the colors of her Personas until they dimmed back into Elsa’s familiar gaze. “I really like you, Ripley. It’s unfair.”

”I really like you. All of you, you mirage of wonderful things.” I confessed once more.

She turned away, some hint of embarrassment creeping across the warmth of her cheeks. “I… fuck, I’ve never been so conflicted in my life.”

“Conflicted?” I ran my hand up her back, tangling my fingers into her hair.

“I push people away.” She admitted. “I… barely even consider myself a person. Others see me as something… unique. A specimen. Sometimes I let them see me like that.”

“Oh, you’re certainly unique.” I smirked. “Uniquely dumb in that you can’t recognize just how wonderful all of you are, how much… I’ve valued my time with you. There’s no one like you Elsa, no one like Midnight, Daylight, or Twilight. But a specimen? Who the hell looked at you like that? Want me to punch them?”

She cracked a smile at my joke, before kissing my cheek. “Fuck… I’m going stay something I never thought I would. Can’t believe I caught feelings on a first date like this.”

Now that caught my interest. “And that’s?

”Do you want to…” Elsa stammered, her words choking out. “Be a thing? My- our boyfriend?”

I could only smile at that.