• POV: S'mouth.

I suppose I should have been suspicious... Metagamer kept taking herself offline from our Hive Mind... but honestly I figured she just wanted some... privacy, with her boyfriend. I mean, just cuz I was asexual, didn't mean she was... as embarrassing a thought that was.

My point is, I hadn't realized she had been discussing something that concerns me, with her partner. Maybe because I don't entertain "paranoid" ideas. At least not without panicking that my chip might be malfunctioning.

Whatever I said, right here, would determine my entire future. Possibly the Stability of my Hive Mind... whatever I said here. Either by Accepting or even rejecting her proposal... would change... everything... so why couldn't I think of a single thing to say.

"S'mouth?" I heard her call my name, but I continued to sit there... frozen...

She had come to visit me, in my house on the Wizarding Furs Map Grid. She asked if she could visit me, and like always I said "yes". After all, it wasn't that uncommon, that my Asari counterpart visited me in person. Or any of my Counterparts really. We already operated as a tight net family... this would just make it official... which was...

"Don't you think this is a little weird?" I eyed her. "I mean, we're part of the same hive mind... you're basically asking to adopt yourself?"

She rolled her eyes at me, "We may share a subconscious, but we are very different people. For example, I wouldn't have put it as rudely as that."

I blushed, quickly looking down at the floor. "Sorry," I began nervously pawing at the ground, with my hooved leg.

That's the thing. The implant I have, to treat schizophrenia... Well, when it was combined with the last generation of the Oasis... it kinda... fractured my personality. The technologies reacted badly with each other, and although they eventually were able to add a software update, to balance the personalities... There were still 6 versions of me, each a different aspect of my personality. As well as totally independent and truly self aware.

It was like getting reincarnated a bunch of times, only we all shared the same body.

In truth I wasn't even that, as those original 6 personalities were trapped in our hub world. They sent out copies of themselves, into each MMO they enjoyed. From there, we copies recorded and transmitted everything we saw and experienced, through a "Hive Mind". I was technically just an AI, although a perfect copy of my original.

And AIs did have the same rights as humans. In this virtual reality they had permanently installed their bodies into. Earth kinda died and the humans thought hooking themselves into pods, connected to a super computer, was the only way to save the species.

Few players had implants. And those that did were either the Original programmers, who were basically a council of god Kings and Queens, and Administrators. Which were pretty much the Sheriff and deputies of our virtual universe.

New implants, like the ones the Programmers have, are better designed to intentionally create hive minds. Although they don't split your soul apart. Instead, they allowed for a copy of yourself to exist in various MMOs, and programming levels. Which are controlled by the subconscious, while being a perfect recreation of the individuals personality.

Metagamer sighed, forcing me out of my own internal ramblings. My mind tends to wander... especially when I'm nervous. "I know you want a guardian. And I have practically been raising you already. Along with Sodaroo and The Haunted Child. I've talked about this at length with them, and they wouldn't mind being your uncles.

"Besides, Aech and I have been wanting to get Parzival a little brother, one that won't freak out the two are on the Programmer's council.

"I... have school here."

"I know," Metagamer nodded, "And you don't have to worry about transfering, or us trying to interfere with your duties as a Deputy, we can hang out afterwards."

I fidgeted, could I really do this? She was basically me, or rather, an aspect of me... it be so weird.

"What's your boyfriend think about this?" I dared ask.

She smiled at me, "My 'husband' is eager to meet you."

I fidgeted more... At the same time she was speaking with me, other versions of her were having similar talks, with other versions of me. The others in the hive mind were snickering, but still sending out waves of encouragement.

As one, all the mez finally said. "I... I guess we could try it... for a little while... see how things go..."

Meta shook her head, before reaching out and ruffling my mane. "It's so cute when you stutter in Stereo."

I blushed, "You talk in Stereo too... sometimes..."

She gave me a light pat. Then, to let me feel better about myself, all the her's began speaking. "I'll call my husband, and arrange a play date between you and Parzival."

I blushed deeper, while the Muskys and Koles laughed at me.

• POV: Parzival.

Everything in this village was so colorful!!! EVERYTHING!!! It hurt my eyes to be surrounded by so much PINK. There were hundreds of pink houses, with straw roofs, and girly shops, looking out of a toy catalogue.

Aech and I quickly exited the "Tele-Booth" and walked onto the street, just to be assaulted by color

We were a few city blocks away from my new brother's place... that meant we had to walk the street to get to his house.

I was blushing like mad. Knowing I was going to be seen like this. Sure there was nothing wrong with my Buckaroo Banzai outfit (besides the fact Aech made me wear short shorts with it, instead of pants). But it wasn't the clothes I was wearing so much as my Avatar.

I was wearing the Avatar I normally did: With the grey skin, wavy white and blue hair, and the blue circuit board tattoos... but this was one of it's duplicate Avatars...

Again, that wasn't the issue. It was part of the game that you could have backup Avatars, and even tweek them a little. It was, specifically, the fact Aech made me wear the freaking 7 year old version of me. Yes I normally LIKED being 7, but not in gorram PUBLIC!!!

The closest I got was wearing this Avatar at school. But that was a special, high end school, especially for high profile kids, that liked to keep their privacy.

Wearing a kid Avatar, in school, was one thing... but this... this was different... I was out in public, in my favorite and most recognizable Avatar... not even any "Clark Kent Glasses" to hide my identity!!!

"Aech!" my torment only increased. Walking over was another programmer!!! A dark blue winged unicorn, with a crescent moon as her butt sticker. She was just a foot shy of the 7 foot Cyborg.

Her Avatar let her shift between Pony, Anthro, and Human forms of the character "Princess Luna". Some people preferred to get Avatars of Canon characters. There was a bit of a stigma about that, but most people didn't actually care... beyond thinking the people who used such Avatars were huge fanboys and fangirls... which in Hannah's case... may be pretty accurate.

Though the public at large made an exception for her... as they tended to think of her as truly the "Divine Alicorn" she wore. Given she was a programmer, and all but demanded she be allowed to fulfill all duties, an AI of the pony would have had.

"Hello Princess Luna." Aech smiled at her, while I hid behind his leg. Hoping she wouldn't recognize me.

Aech's Avatar was a giant... even with my 7 year old Avatar, I felt like a flipping toddler next to him... it didn't help his Hub World, which we shared, was designed to be proportional to him.

"What brings you here?" Luna grinned, "Didn't really think you were one for My Little Pony." she pointed out. "Much less this small village of bronies, in the Harry Potter nitch, of Furry World. This place is so obscure, I'm surprised anyone's here at all. Much less 3 Programmers."

3? Damn, she recognized me.

"I'm not," Explained Aech, "I was more a transformers kid." Oh that old war. Which was better, 1980s Transformers, or 2010s My Little Pony... many had died in such a bloody conflict. "But my wife's newest Sidekick lives here. He's a deputy at this map's Hogwarts."

Luna laughed, "You mean S'mouth? Someone is actually trying to tame a kid who named himself a play on 'Smart Mouth'?"

Aech smiled, "I'm sure he's not that bad. I'm actually on my way to introduce him to my son."

Luna looked down at me, as if seeing me for the first time... but my appearance, as a little boy, barely phased her.

"Parzival?" She nodded. "I was actually wondering about your opinion on all the recent Hacker guilds that popped up?"

I blinked, not expecting such a normal topic... well, normal for Programmers, anyway. We were expected to deal with stuff like this.

"Hannah." Aech gave a stern look at the blue pony. Though it was not quite a glare, "You know better then to talk business with someone that's wearing a Child's Avatar."

Princess Luna looked just as disapprovingly at him, "The kid is obviously uncomfortable. I'm just trying to give him a sense of normality. You shouldn't push him so hard. Just coming to this map is a big step. You need to let the kid set the pace he is comfortable with. You shouldn't expect him to fall in line with the cultural norms of the Little community, the second he agrees to step into it."

I just blushed, and went back to hiding behind Aech's leg. Somehow, them arguing over the best way to raise me, wasn't helping me feel less awkward about being out and about.

Only Hannah could get away with talking to Aech like that, at least in regards to me. It was considered improper for people to give others advice (without being asked) on how to raise their wards, or even their Sidekicks... but Hannah was so close to Aech, and been involved with the age player community, since before the Dreamscape Helmets. She was a trusted friend to Aech. As she had also been involved in his modding community.

Aech sighed, "I have been waiting decades just to adopt him. Now that he's legally mine, I want to get him comfortable with-" he motioned his hand at the scene around us. There were dozens of pony kids running around, with their Caretakers watching nearby... and at least half of the foals were wearing diapers in public...

I don't think I could EVER get comfortable with this.

I felt horrible, about myself, that I even WANTED to walk around as a kid... I had grown up poor and isolated. My only friends had been in the Oasis... my aunt was great, but she had a long line of hard loving losers. None of those jerk offs had made for a good father figure... but Aech... he was my closest friend. And I never could wrap my head around the idea that he was born a girl... which he really seemed to appreciate.

Needless to say, I was mortified when Aech caught me running around in a child's Avatar. Yes the moment I inherited the Oasis, I began introducing new concepts, like mentors being an official relationship status.

I changed things to make it so players could adopt other players... but I didn't want anyone to know I set it up like that for personal reasons... that I made it mandatory to wear child Avatars in colleges, all because I WANTED to be able to do it...

I was terrified how my best friend would react... but turns out... he kinda loved it... Aech even expressed interest in role playing with me.

Stuff like him being my "Daddy" and "getting a letter from school" about how I had been bad... it did suck that most of our Role Plays involved me getting spanked, put in time out, or forced into a diaper (which I hate hate HATE, but Aech could convince me to do anything). Seriously, like all our Role Plays had me getting punished at some point...

But they also consisted of us playing with vintage videogames or action figures... playing sports like Quidditch or even something as simple as catch... giving me pretend swimming lessons, or bike lessons... reading me bedtime stories... it was amazing...

Then he decided he wanted to be my Mentor. I was more okay with that, as "Sidekicks" were popular even outside age players... but from then on, our games were real...

He set up real rules (like a bedtime), which he told me right from the start that if I broke any of them... He would punish me for real. I admit, the idea thrilled me as much as scared me...

Those first few months were great... until Art3mis found out.

• Flashback

Before even the invention of Dreamscape Helmets.

I was laying over my best friend's lap, about to recieve a spanking for my messy Lair.

The Cyborg was a giant of a man. He was quite literally over 7 feet tall... with my 7 year old body, compared to his sheer height, I felt more like I was a toddler.

I fit so perfectly over one leg, with my legs and arms barely dangling over... I was just so freaking tiny in comparison... His very hand was larger then my butt!

I was so insanely scared, as I realized just what the size difference meant for my poor bottom... I was at least glad we were in my lair. He had all his own furniture proportional to himself... so I legitimately felt like a toddler with how big everything was. At least here, everything was normal people size. I still felt tiny... but the right amount of tiny.

I couldn't help but squirm in anticipation. My grey backside was about to become very VERY red.

"What the hell is going on!?" A voice raged at us.

I looked up to see my savior. My first thought was it was the Halliday AI, that sometimes came by my lair to hang out with me. That he had come to rescue me from a tanning... but it turned out to be the last person I wanted to catch me in this situation.

Art3mis looked as equally devastated as disgusted.

I quickly jumped off Aech's lap, and pulled my shirt down, to cover my front.

"This isn't what it looks like!" I yelped.

"It's bad enough your cheating on me!" Art3mis screamed.

"I'm not!" I tried to explain, but she wasn't hearing it.

"But did you have to get in this freaky ass shit!" She glared down at me, and I wilted at the level of revulsion in her eyes. "I should have known something weird was going on with all those bizarre features you sneaked into the Game Mechanics. I should have known it meant you two were god damn Pedophiles!!!"

Before I could even get angry that she compared me to something so vile, she put hands to the sides of her head. It happened so quickly I had no time to stop her... she disappeared in a puff of Pixels, having logged out before I could say anything.

• End Flashback •

Art3mis had come into my lair that day, to surprise me... or rather, to catch me off guard... she thought I was cheating on her with Aech, ever since my relationship status updated, with him listed as my Mentor... and wanted to confirm her suspicions... what she actually learned was so much weirder...

No I wasn't sleeping with Aech. He just wanted a son and I needed a male authority figure...

Our fight continued for days after that incident. Where I tried to explain what Aech really was to me... but it just resulted in long drawn out arguments...

Unfortunately... I had no answer for her... Aech was... different... he meant a lot to me. It wasn't romantic, in any way, but I couldn't justify it... or even explain it well...

Thankfully Art3mis kept it too herself why she divorced me. She was ashamed to confess she fell in love with a "deviant"... but eventually, as Child Avatars got more accepted... she gained a greater understanding of how those relationships worked... and realized I had been telling the truth. That my relationship with Aech was platonic.

It had taken decades for her to understand their wasn't anything sexually deviant about what Aech and I did... yeah it included spankings, and kisses to the cheek, but as time marched on, and age players began to become more popular... partly due to my influence, but mostly due to Aech actively working to make all sorts of fetishes more accepted.

Once kids stopped being born, and players started to openly adopt Child Avatars... well it just became common place.

Art3mis was still adamant that I should have discussed it with her BEFORE ever agreeing to Aech becoming my "Daddy"... she actually called him my "Daddy". It was very deliberate, to show she better accepted me.

However, we never got back together, as too much hurt had been done on both sides... but we did become friends again... eventually...

Though for a long time, we couldn't be in the same room without screaming at each other... but that's the thing about immortality, you can't hold a grudge forever.

But yeah, we both moved on. I even had other girlfriends, even a few boyfriends, both AI and organic, but nothing stuck...

Most of the people I ended up dating were those that were at least willing to use Child Avatars. While most weren't Ageplayers themselves, I did meet them at school. So they were at least more accepting that I had a mentor that spanked me... I tried to be upfront about that to anyone interested in dating me.

But, while Aech allowed me to date... I wasn't allowed to... do more mature things. I would get spanked if I so much as jerked off!!!

And now... I'm Aech's official Ward... he's my "Tribe Father"... I'm still terrified what people will say... but I admit it's an irrational fear.

I'm not stupid. I have noticed how commonplace Ageplayers have become, but it still worries me... I did lose the love of my life when she discovered my lifestyle... it left me with a bit of paranoia about others turning their backs on me... which was stupid.

It was public knowledge that the very Programmer we were talking to, was an ageplayer. Princess Luna had even babysat me a bunch of times.

"What do you think, Parzival?" Aech suddenly asked me.

I blinked, I had been lost in my own thoughts as they discussed me.

"uhhhhhhh..." I tried to think of a way out.

Aech rolled his eyes as Princess Luna chuckled, "Would you like to have a playdate with my daughter?" She asked. "It might be easier for you if you spent some one on one time with an actual Age player."

I blushed... a playdate? That would be pretty cool... though I wondered how talks devolved, from arguing over the best way to raise kids, to setting up a playdate. Regardless I answered "S-sure." as I squirmed.

Aech smiled at me, "Keep in mind, if Hannah has to spank, your getting another spanking at home."

My blush only deepened, "DAD!!!" I accidentally exclaimed. My face full out exploded once I realized what I said. I even WHINED it!!!

The adults just chuckled at me, while Aech ruffled my hair, "Just behave and you won't have to worry about it."

I quickly nodded, just wanting this talk to be over.

"Anyway," Aech smiled at Princess Luna. "I need to get back to introducing my kids today. Good day Hannah." Calling her by her real name. The two really were that close.

Luna smiled, "Good day, Aech." but Luna understood, Aech didn't like his girl name. "It was nice catching up with you. We really need to meet outside of work more often. Bye Bye." She spread her wings and flew into the air.

• POV: Smart Mouth

I was panicking as I ran around my condo. Going back and forth, from room to room, grabbing various accessories to make myself look nicer.

As I passed Metagamer, for the 10th or 12th time (I lost count), she snagged my arm and made me stand still in front of her.

"There is no need to be so nervous." She insisted, as she pulled out a brush... one that is frequently applied to my backside. Luckily she began running it through my mane, instead of across my bottom.

"Meta!!!!" I whined, "Your ruining my hair!!!!"

"You wanna look nice, don't you?" was all Meta said, as she brushed me.

I just sighed but did my best to stay still. "I need to put my pants on." I tried to reason.

I was running around in my training pants. They were bright pink, with little Daleks printed all over them. They definitely weren't diapers, just pullups. I had to wear them to bed, because I had set my "Settings" to "Bedwetter".

"You had your chance," Meta insisted, "I told you to get ready an hour ago. Now, I will decide what you wear."

My face turned bright crimson. Meta just loved putting me in the most adorably embarrassing outfits. AND TODAY OF ALL DAYS!!!

"No, Mummy!!!" I begged, still getting used to calling her that... but in that moment, I felt very small. "I'll pick something right now!!!"

"Too late." She insisted, "I just got a text saying they arrived in town. it should only take them a few minutes to find us. So either I dress you, or you meet them in your nappy."

I did the only thing I could do... I whimpered... honestly not knowing which would be worse... and sure I didn't really have a choice...