VR VD Adventures (Zodiac)

[Cristiana]

Valentine’s day was right around the corner. Cristiana did not know what to do. All the good classics had been done. So she was left fending for herself, unsure of what to make of it.

Things were so mundane when it came to Valentine’s Day. There was dinner, dancing and a movie but those were substandard since people did them allllll over. She wanted something other than the old humdrum. Something befitting them.

If that was the case she was going to have to make something. She set out with the girls, Becky and Mindy, getting ideas from all angles. There was little sexy things to wear, again been done to death. All the ideas, and there was nothing new or different. From store to store, the girls and the service workers tried to come up with something. Her heart was sinking with each store and idea. It seemed everyone was on a one track mind. Chocolate, candies, Lingerie, Dinner, movies, Dancing. “My god how many sheep were there in this town?” She thought to herself.

It was time to get creative. She whispered in secret to the girls, who looked at Cristiana like she was mad but they put their heads together and came up with something - different - very different. The girls rushed out in their separate directions to seek out what they needed to gather.

She wanted to make this memorable and special. Not something just for the day, because it was this day and was expected. She wanted flair and style. And that is exactly what she would do.

As the women gathered back together, she went through all the demands, if the girls reached it easily. The girls agreed, and it seemed it was on.

She had a small room built off to the side, where the stage was being set up. The women were going to have an experience all new, something different. She had the room set up painted all black with glowing sticks and lines of wires that showed the way to each of the stations, where each woman was to stand and be hooked into the gear. Mindy and Becky would help.

It was a complete anti gravity VR set where the women would have an unreal experience together. It was most definitely different and strange. She just hoped Zodiac was up for this.

Once inside, the VR world would have them in an Escape Room themed for Valentine’s day. Everything loving and sweet. But the doors were locked, so they couldn’t get to the real adventure area but they had to find their way to it. If they could find the five clues to unlock the door, a secret word of five letters, to get to the final stage. She wondered if Zodiac would like this. It was going to stick out in her mind for sure.

After the full body gear was set, they shut down the room, saving it for the special day.

For Zodiac, since they were using a location out of the way she issued a small note leaving Zodiac to guess where to go.

“To find me take the rail to the side of the Coast.
If you travel to west of the south and find the Acres of Pines
Lead yourself to sixth from the 18 to the 14 and ye shall find me awaiting”
Coastside transit station:Pine Acre Cabins:Cabin 6:18,14

The girls moved all the furniture out of the room. They painted or covered what they could all black leaving only the bright colored lights in their wake to one of each station. Mindy and Becky wore head to toe black except their faces and the glowing stick figures that made the rest of their bodies. It was different and entirely new to this town.

Once inside the virtual room that looked like a cluttered mess of junk in piles. They would have to sift through the room and find things that would help them find the key code to get out of the room. The only clue being given to them - A five letter word for your love.

It was up to the women to sift and work together to figure it out from then on. Granted, if Zodiac was up for it. The feature that Cristiana thought she would like was Zodiac in this world could talk. She got the specialty set, for far too much money, where it picked up on bodily and facial movements and signals to give off the words .. Zodiac would even get to choose her own voice, how she wanted to sound by adjust pitches and frequencies. After that, the words she would say from movement of the mouth or she could type it out. But it was a little flair, extra thing she thought she would enjoy. No more having to telepathically go into someone’s head. At least for one night.

She would see how this went. It was going to be fun but she didn’t know how Zo would react to it.

[Zodiac]

She lay in the scalding hot bath with her eyes closed as the heat relaxed her. The gypsy hated this time of year. Not the idea that there was a day in February proclaiming the virtues of love (and how much you were a looser if you had none in your life) but the raw obsession people poured into it. Every year was the same and even the fury of the Christmas holiday was tame in comparison. Love charms, spells, tokens, potions and readings. Every client that came in the door wanting her to unlock the secrets of amore to them. It was a major pain and a drain on her patience. Of course the money was good, and all the novelties, plush animals, t-shirts and self help books sold briskly. It was the last surge business wise till Spring showed it’s face again and unlike other places that sold candy and flowers, Zodiac had an advantage in making money this time of year over most.

But the stress was taxing. People began to blur together. Not the way to be doing readings for the masses at all, but all of them were asking the same damn questions. It reminded her of one individual that had become something of an ‘in house’ joke at Pandora’s. He would come in at odd times. Maybe 2-4 times a year. Always in quest of the answer to the question ‘I want to be rich. How can I make this happen?’

It did not matter that Zodiac had spoken to him in the past and given him sound advice on the matter. Did he clean up his act? No. Did he take advantage of free courses at the local University to help improve his job skills? No. Did he sit down and try to plan out courses of action on the subject? No. Did he even TRY to get a job? No. Yet he always managed to come with her fee to explain the cards to him. He did not want an answer that involved any effort on his part. He wanted the quick fix that would suddenly propel him into money. He was very much like some of the clients that showed up in quest of Eros’ favor. They did not want to change in order to find someone. They simply wanted someone way out of their league to suddenly fall madly in love with them with no effort on their part. There was a movie she saw once called ‘Groundhog Day’. That’s what it felt like when Mr I Want to be Rich and the swarm that showed up before Valentine’s day felt like.

It was madness, yet she took their money and tried again. And again. And again.

Of course, not everyone was like this. Some had returned to her over time thanking her for her input. Love finally found or rediscovered. Sadly there was too few of these visits, but they gave her hope. Politely declining gifts offered (save for the candy. Her human employees really did enjoy all the Valentine’s candy she left out for them.) but accepting their thanks and blessing their futures.

She sank lower into the bath. Once under the water, she opened her mouth and exhaled, then allowed the water to fill her lungs. A brief moment of distress till her body remembered it had once used liquid to breath and she relaxed. A makeshift deprivation chamber. Sound and telepathy drowned to a whisper soft enough she could block the rest out.

Blessed silence.

Several hours later she emerged from her watery cocoon feeling renewed. She was about to sit down and check her messages when she heard the cat scratching at the door. It was odd. Usually Ginny could enter and exit the house at will so she never scratched to be let out. Zodiac opened the door and found a small envelop laying on her doorstep. After glancing around to see if anyone was near, she locked the door and returned to her chair and opened it.

“To find me take the rail to the side of the Coast.
If you travel to west of the south and find the Acres of Pines
Lead yourself to sixth from the 18 to the 14 and ye shall find me awaiting”

Her eyebrow raised as the read the card. It was Crissy’s handwriting. What was she plotting now? Hadn’t she mentioned something about a thing for the dreaded V-Day? The girl smiled. It was obvious Crissy had put some thought into whatever it was to make it into a treasure hunt game. Some mindless fun after running the romance gauntlet sounded good to her. She debated sending a reply via ‘Ginny’s Delivery Service’ but with the current cold wave, the cat had been reluctant to go outdoors. She considered for a few moments before opening her mind.

”Yea, I shall journey to the side of the coast,
No one shall see me, for I am a ghost,
Flowing like a wraith to the place of the pines,
And come forth on the day held divine,
To find you where you await me,
And only then will any - see me.”

Zodiac then returned to sorting through her messages.

[Cristiana]

While she waited, Cristiana wanted to get a feel for the system. The advance computer system wasn’t exactly as she was use to. It was going to take a hot minute to learn it. She read through all of the directions when Becky, Mindy and Cristiana had all sat around trying to figure it out. Between the three of them, they got it all covered, and with the help of the mortal computer tech who explained most of it while he set it up, this was sure to be easy. However from experience, nothing was ever that easy.

After easing into the body suit that stimulated the skin to make it feel like it was really happening or as the tech had put it, as close as they have gotten thus far. It was a prototype after the Ready, Player One movie came out to see if they could mimic realistic feeling. She expected it wasn’t going to feel as if someone was touching but give a light sensation in that general area, just as a pain wouldn’t hurt per say but a tingle in that area to let the person know something was going on. Basically as the tech had said a slight vibration like the hand held controller on a video game just not as strong. After all it wasn’t even completely on the market and a few select people had tested it, now it was only being sold to those who sought it out and could afford it. Variations needed to be made yet.

She put on the bodysuit and the gear that went over it. Standing on the pad that looked something like a treadmill, she clipped on the waist binding that would let her jump but not fall off and keep her hands free if she needed it. Last thing that went on, the VR set over her eyes. Becky came over and asked if she was all good. After confirmation, Becky loaded the interface up, and she was standing for a moment in a completely blank white room while things loaded.

One by one, features loaded, she created her character for the world making it as close to her own likeness as she could. There had been an option to scan herself via a picture and have her likeness imprinted, but she just did it by memory, like a Sims toon builder. As she went through features, like making herself into an animal, or mythical creature she laughed. It wasn’t hard to work this part, and it didn’t look like some bubbling cartoon character, it had a close likeness to her own features and body.

Next she took a quick virtual tour… along a roller coaster. That was when the fun begin!

[Zodiac]

(5:38 PM. Feb 14th)

She drove.

The idea of following Crissy’s clues in a literal sense would have been charming if the temperatures were warmer. She was not concerned for herself but Ginny, as usual, insisted on tagging along. She was beginning to get paranoid now for the animal’s safety and health. As they approached Coastside, the gypsy reached over to pet the furry beast laying on the passenger seat.

”Hopefully she remembered V Day treats for you as well, my love.” She turned right past the station and drove on. Her curiosity had been buzzing over what Crissy had planned. In the back she had a few gifts for the woman and a couple bottles of wine. Typical schlock. The gypsy would be the first to admit she had no clues when it came to this holiday. For something so many put so much focus into, the choices were quite…boring. Hopefully Crissy would like the plants she had brought to brighten up the place. The rest?

Oh well, she tried.

She turned off the main road. Tires grabbing into the snowpack with ease. She was beginning to relax on the idea of winter now. Brigit had smiled and so had the groundhog from Pennsylvania. Spring would show it’s face soon (not soon enough for her, but soon.) She did enjoy watching the snow touched landscape passing her windows as she entered Pine Acres. A couple of wrong turns (she had never been here before) but soon she found the place.

A garage to the side sat open like an inviting cave. She pulled the mini bus inside and set the brake. Before she could shut off the engine, the garage door began to descend. ”This must be the place,” she ‘said’ to the cat. Ginny meowed her agreement and followed the mystic out the door. Getting her purse, a tote with the gifts and other party favors, and the plants barely left her with one hand to work with. The garage did not connect directly to the cabin, so they had to exit and walk around to the front of the building.

On the porch, she stomped her feet free of snow and used the key. She knocked before opening it. A habit of hers. Having a key did not mean you would not walk in on something not meant for your eyes. Ginny darted into the perceived heat within as Zodiac managed to work her way in with out dropping anything. She sat the tote and plants to the side before closing the door and found herself in darkness.

”Ohhhhh-kay.” she thought as she looked around. Not a spot of light could be seen. Zodiac pulled her keys from her pocket and aimed the tiny pen light down at the floor. She saw the door mat, but the floor around it was black. She turned to the door and discovered black. Ginny returned to where she stood-meowing as if saying ‘What the ****?’

”I agree,” the girl replied. Either they had entered the wrong cabin or Crissy was suffering from a major bout of depression or worse. She lifted her hand and willed Mystic Illumination into play to try to get a better look around them.

”HEY, HOE!” she shouted to Crissy’s thoughts. ”You forget to pay the light bill or something? I like the idea of the dark side as much as anyone, but this is overkill!”

[Cristiana]

“HEY HOE!” The words came across clear in her mind. She was in mid jump from one building to another, something less impressive since she could do it herself at any given time, but for a mere mortal it would be most impressive.

Becky, however, was already on it. “Hello Miss Zodiac. So lovely to see you again today.” She said in the sickeningly sweet tone she used when she was dealing with Cristiana mostly, and never really meant it. “Welcome. Cristiana is awaiting you inside.” The woman didn’t mention the inside was in the interface system of the computer, not yet anyway.

“She planned something different for you. And we hope you like it.” Becky grinned taking the black bodysuit from Mindy and held it out to Zodiac. “You will require this of course.” Now that alone was something different indeed. It was going to be strange, that was for sure.

Cristiana who had already finished the beginning stage, setting up her body and facial features, went back to the starting process so she could help Zodiac get through it. Setting up the face was easy, you pick the basic model closest to how you want it then use the slider bars to increase or decrease the size. Once it was where you wanted you accepted and moved on to the next part. It was for every aspect of the body including the bosom and bottom, which would be interesting to see how they seen themselves, verses how the other one sees them. She wondered if she did an okay job of making herself in the virtual world.

[Zodiac]

“Hello Miss Zodiac,”

She jumped as the sound broke the silence of the black tomb. Zodiac turned and saw one of Crissy’s people standing there. The tone of voice setting her fangs on edge. She disliked fake people and this one always managed to sound the part for some reason.

”Hi,” she answered as she gathered her things and followed the woman along. They eventually ended up where there was light and she blinked in surprise in what the other woman was wearing. A catsuit with glow sticks?

Okay, now she was clueless what Crissy was up to, but she did not expect it to involve others. She saw a second woman dressed the same holding a third outfit in hand. The first explained that Zo ‘needed this’. ”Wat da fuc, wat da fuc, wat, da, fuc?” she thought to herself. She sat down her bags and accepted the suit. It felt like spandex but had a different quality to it.

”Okay, where is the bathroom?” she demanded. Changing for whatever was one thing but she wasn’t doing it in front of the hired help. The pair insisted they were told to help her, but she declined the offer several times before they gave up and pointed the way to the bathroom.

Inside she hung the suit over the shower curtain rail and looked it over. She found multiple places where something could be attached to the outside. Inside the found the points. They reminded her of those tab sensors they would stick on you in a emergency room. But the weirdest part was when she ran her fingers over the inside of the suit. She swore it felt like tiny fingers was touching her back.

”Weird,” she shrugged. She checked where her hands would go and the hood. Extra parts like gloves and a face mask could be added as well. Only a hole in the back of the hood stood out. ”Spend two hours on the hair, wreck it to get into a costume,” she fumed. Zodiac decided to do her hair first before attempting to get into the suit. Some scrunchies allowed her to eventually get her hair into a manageable tail.

She then stripped down to her underwear and sat down on the ‘throne’. When she tried to slip her foot in, she discovered this was going to be a total strip down. The feet actually had places for the toes to go, so when she tried to put it on over her nylons suddenly things became cramped. Reluctantly she pulled her foot out and stripped to nothing.

Now it was easier. It reminded her of liquid latex as the cloth formed around her perfectly. Up to the knees was easy, but past that…

”Who the **** was she expecting? Daenerys Targaryen?” she grumbled as she slowly worked the outfit up. The cloth seemed to fill in every area it encountered a bit too snugly for her liking. She took a break when it got to her waist.

Once she finally was in, Zo began to stretch and move. The suit finished adjusting to her quickly, but she did not like that shrink wrapped feeling she had in it. That and the feeling of tiny fingers touching her everywhere. The hood hung against her back. She would allow the hired help to get her hair through and in place. Despite the restrictive feeling of the suit, she had a full range of motion.

”Okay, let’s see what is next,” she sighed as she left the bathroom and went looking for the helpers.

[Cristiana]

Mindy:

When the woman stepped out from the bathroom, Mindy straightened up from leaning against the covered wall. “We will help you.” She said in what she hoped was a comforting voice. After that it was helping Becky carefully put the hood on without messing up her hair too much. They did their best. After she was zipped up and tucked in all the right places, Mindy lead her to the platform by saying 'step' when she needed to go up one step, when she needed and working with Becky to hook the woman into the VR game system.

“One more step, erm not step as in walk up a step I mean ... I mean for the mask. Uh.. I will get the mask on you now ma’am,” She said putting the mask over her eyes, not that she could see well in this pitch blackness. She wanted so much to tell about the voice thing, but she held her tongue.

“You should be all set. Watch your eyes because I am going to turn on the machine now. It will be bright for a split second. Counting down… 3...2...1 Enter.”

Becky:

After the door opened to the bathroom, she noted Zodiac’s appearance and immediately went to her side to help her. Between all the hands, some holding hair and some getting the hood down onto her head. Mindy was soothing her as best that Mindy could. She had to give her things to do. But for her credit, she did not mention things to Cristiana’s love interest that Cris had clearly said do not spill the beans. Becky went beside Cristiana when her and Mindy finished getting the woman in the gear.

Her job was to watch over Cristiana while Mindy’s was to watch over Zodiac. The plans were very clear in this case. The two were to use the monitors to keep track and make sure there were no malfunctions. Becky used the countdown to start up the machine for Zodiac from the console once she did both her and Mindy had access to Zodiac’s side.

She looked over to Mindy and the two sat in their stools waiting, because really as long as things went okay, there was nothing for them to do.

Cristiana, after what seemed like forever, she finally seen a player two beginner character start up. Now Zodiac just needed to make her character. Cristiana spoke, softly and calmly because she didn’t know what Zo’s reaction would be to entering into the game and seeing a fantasy world around them. Right now, they stood in a dirty alleyway but it was like a cross between the 1940’s era and a cyberpunk world, and thus far Cristiana had been in it refining the details. It was going to act much like an escape room. Solve the puzzle and then you could exit out and for them the only time limit was daylight but that didn’t matter much for Cristiana.

Cristiana:

It was a pretty basic start. Pick your gender, facial and hair features. The game could use your own body by the suit or you could design it yourself.

“Zodiac, don’t click off the voice options. You can talk in this world. It will use the motions of your chin, neck and other muscles to dictate what you are saying. So… I will finally get to hear your voice. And you will hear it again, if you can remake it. We can fool around with it later and make funny voices but… this is my gift… a world of our own and a voice in it.” She didn’t bother to say it, just moved her mouth like she was going to and all the words came out.

“Hello my love.” She finally said waiting to see what her avatar looked like when she finally hit the big start button. They could always go back and alter things later but for now, she was excited to see her.

[Zodiac]

The mystic understood why at least one of them kept a hand on her, but she didn’t like it. Normally a person would have balance issues till they got used to the constricting feeling of the garment. In her case, however, drifting an inch above the floor helped a lot.

She bit her tongue as the hood went over her face. Eye, nose and mouth holes and her hair pulled out the slot in the back. Then a visor. ”Wha da fuc is this?” the one girl kept trying to explain just before she made the visor explode light into her eyes. Zodiac grabbed the woman and the console till the stars passed.

Once her eyes had cleared, she ‘saw’ the simulation environment around her. ”Another nasty alley? Just like home.” she thought to herself as she looked about. She also saw an option screen that would let her select how she appeared to anyone else.

Crissy’s voice distracted her. As much as she loved the idea the woman was trying to give her…

”Dear one” she spoke to her mind. ”I have no clue what my real voice ever was, and I never spent much time trying to mouth words properly to give this toy of yours anything to really work with. I can try it, but my speech will probably be garbled.” She felt bad. Crissy had obviously spent a lot of time and cash on this idea.”We can try, I guess, but no promises.”

Her eyes went back to the options. There was an entire catalog of faces, hair, body types, colors, clothing and all the details. Where to start? She wondered if this could be scaled down from being part of a massive VR system to a catalog of sorts. It would make clothing shopping so much easier. Just plug them over your body double and see what they’d look like with combinations. She finally grinned as she began to play with the options. ”How about a 7 foot tall Amazon?’

Meanwhile, Ginny continued to slink about in the darkness. The few times she was discovered, she avoided their attempts to catch her with sinful ease. What she was seeing now was confusing. The way her person and her other person was acting made no sense. The other person was acting like something was in front of her, but the cat’s eyes saw nothing. Jumping as if she was moving from one thing to another but it was just the floor. After a few moments of watching the nonsense, a couple of real leaps took her to a vantage point on top of the server that was running the program. She settled down on the warmth the device was generating and relaxed.

[Cristiana]

Becky:
The young woman sat back in the chair. With her cell phone in her hand, she was texting one of the ladies from work. Being here with Cristiana did not mean that business stopped, it just made it so she was held up from her daily goings on. Instead of being there the little handheld device was keeping her linked to each of the four businesses, and should anything happen they all knew her phone number to get in contact. But, this was a slight different than all the other texting. There was a hint of humor and it looked like it was going somewhere. She hadn’t yet asked the woman to dinner or out for a night. How does one explain she is going to drop everything, including the woman on a date, if her bossed called. That was what killed most of her semi romantic interests.

Mindy:
She was now use to the dark. Her eyes had adjusted as much as any eyes could to the soft glows coming from around the rooms. It was Mindy who seen the cat, Ginny, walking about trying to figure out what was going on with her human. Mindy chuckled into the back of her hand watching the feline. She looked up to Becky who was nose into electronics again. She sat pulling her phone out. While Becky conducted the business she opened her apps and started playing a matching game, where you put three of something in a row or dropped down jeweled boxes. Tonight was going to be a long long night, it was time the ladies, like the cat got comfortable because they were not going anywhere for hours.

Cristiana:
She gave the avatar a cheeky grin, even though the other woman was still picking her forms. “Pick a voice, any voice. We can go back and change anything later. Me, I am unimaginative and made me look as much like me as I could. I sound as whiny as I normally am, or least how I think it is in my head.”
Perhaps a few things will need to be changed when Zo gets in, but from her stance, she tried to make herself look as much like she did and sound like what she thought in her own mind she sounded like. This would be an adventure as to what the version inside her head looked like and what really was her reflection. From Cristianas view, she was chunky with medium boobs, her nose and chin pointed and hair pretty much an afro in a bun… and to not even mention the *** that took up a city block. Or at least that is how she seen herself. The voice was nasal and whiny. In her mind this is what she seen and heard of herself. Was it really the truest reflection? Perhaps Zodiac could help her.

[Zodiac]

”Okay, okay. Hang on, Hoe.” Zodiac laughed as she worked the final combinations. The body was no real issue, but she was listening to sound bytes to find something close to how she sounded within her own head. She’d be damned if that pathetic noise that came out of her mouth when she did try to talk be the sound for the evening.

She finally found something that was close and added it in. Her basic form was what she saw in the monitor screen daily with a few tweaks. A few inches taller, her hair longer and fuller. ”It’s like playing dress up without the mess.” she giggled.

The suit powered up once she entered the simulation. She smiled at Crissy-now able to see her in her avatar form. Zo resembled something out of ‘Xena the Warrior Princess’ with her choice of attire. She was being silly now, but she imagined the main goal of it all was to have fun.

“Ahh-oooh ink?”

She frowned. She had given up ages ago trying to mimic mouth movements. At times she did it in crowds to cover her telepathy, but usually there was enough noise and distractions to hide her errors. She refused to get upset. No one else here but Crissy and two people who would not dare mention this to anyone.

“Kissy!” she stepped closer. No, that wasn’t right either. The sound was perfect. A soft, lilting voice that held an edge of timidity and calm to it. It would be perfect if she wasn’t murdering the words.

“Kuh…kuh…Kah-see.” She looked in to Crissy’s eyes as she continued to try. She refused to cry, but the more she tried, the more annoyed she was getting with herself. She finally stopped trying and hugged the woman in front of her.

”Why is your butt so big suddenly?” she whispered mentally.