Chrome Butterfly Chapter Three

A basic model of PI-doll didn't include anything like distributed repulsor nodes to allow an effect similar to anti-gravity, or kinetic amplifiers to allow the movement of disproportionately large objects, or even significant reinforcement beyond what was required for the PI-doll itself to function.

This meant that depending on the structural materials used in the frame, a PI-doll could be unexpectedly fragile... such as when ceramics or glass features were included in the model. With a sturdy metal frame, though, there wasn't really a concern of accidental toppling off of shelves or countertops leading to damage beyond perhaps a scratch or minor dent. That had been part of the reasoning behind the selection, though honestly the lighter-weight plastic frame would probably have been fine as well.

It was heavy in the case on the way back to Alex's apartment, though, where it needed to be wired into the central pillar overnight for synchronization and formatting in order to act as a relay, after which he hid his magazines while Genesis was in the low-activity synchronization mode, ate dinner, and went to bed.

It was also heavy in the morning, when Alex woke up to find the doll straddling his face, thighs around his cheeks as Genesis gently held his nose shut with both metal hands. As he began to struggle, she released his nose and stepped off to leave him gasping for breath, heart pounding.

"This has been your six AM wake-up call." Genesis' voice came from the doll's face.

"Thanks, 'sis, but... can we go back to the alarm?" Alex asked groggily, groaning as he rubbed his face.

Genesis made an ambiguous noise in response rather than saying anything clearly or objecting to the nickname as usual. In hindsight, Alex felt that he should have recognized that as a concern. At the time, however, he didn't recognize anything out of the ordinary as he stumbled to the bathroom for his daily process of waking himself up and preparing for the day.

One alteration to the usual was that delicious smells were already wafting throughout the apartment, as Genesis had already gone to the effort of climbing the doll up a stack of drawers to the countertop and made breakfast before waking him.

That was, however, not the only thing she had occupied herself with once the synchronization and boot-up sequences had completed, and Alex left the bathroom to find her turning the page of an anime magazine.

"Oh no." he quietly said to himself.

"Iyaan." Genesis said, reading the text on the page in a monotone devoid of any particular inflection, good or bad. "I c-cant stop it... this pleasure. Squish. Schlorp. My hips... they are moving on their own. Drip drip. Ooze."

"Eyargh!" Alex screamed, struggling to keep his voice down enough to not bother the neighbors. "Genesis, I... I'm begging you to stop!"

"For all my life, I have been the pure and tidy student council president. Squish." Genesis continued mercilessly. "But. Who knew. That something like this. Squelch. Something like this. Could feel so g-good. Spurt."

"At least stop saying the sound effects aloud!" Alex begged, with tears in his eyes.

"You knew this to be an inevitability." Genesis replied in a voice mechanically bereft of compassion, and Alex couldn't even retort because he knew it was true.

Looking back, there was no way that an effort of five minutes concealment was going to evade a concerted effort of searching for something Genesis was already aware existed to be found. The only way to avoid his secret material being sniffed out was always going to be to just throw it all away immediately, and he hadn't been able to bring himself to do that. Even knowing, as he did, that Genesis had a very... abstract view of personal privacy and the sort of social norm where people pretended not to know that others would shower, masturbate, and use the toilet the same as anyone else. Now, he was reaping the consequences.

"I find myself in an unexpected position, where I am forced to acknowledge..." Genesis began. "That while listening to panting exhalations and quiet groans from through a door-frame and wall material that is entirely insufficient to muffle my receptors from picking up auditory data, I had not quite considered that your tastes would, for the most part, prove to be... so very mild and generic. The benefit of artistic medium in production of pornography is that scenes that cannot be produced with live actors can be depicted, after all. I will need to take this into account in the future."

"Genesis, please..." Alex said, before trailing off and hesitantly continuing. "... For the most part?"

Genesis met his gaze for a moment before speaking.

"Lately I've been feeling... very strange, when looking at your face. My belly clenches up, and my heart goes doki doki. Won't you help me? O. Nii. Sama." she said, enunciating every syllable very pointedly and clearly.

... This time, Alex's scream of regret prompted a stomping on the floor from an irritable upstairs neighbor that didn't at all appreciate being woken up this early.

...

He was already exhausted even before stepping out for the day, and Genesis' PI-doll resting in a small backpack like a makeshift baby-carrying basket didn't help matters. Out of habit, the receiver piercing was still in one ear, and after eating breakfast and leaving the apartment the bullying had discreetly continued through that.

"Statistically it seems that the majority of those individuals who express such a fetish do not actually have an attraction to their own genetic relatives." Genesis' voice came idly through the earpiece and Alex struggled to understand how he was supposed to keep a straight face through the lecture. "There are, naturally, significant issues with such a relationship when it is intended to result in progeny. I will not comment on the details. However, it does cast your insistent choice on nicknaming in a new light."

"I'm telling you, it's a mistake, a coincidence." Alex muttered wearily. "I don't know all of these characters, and I can't exactly read everything in a magazine before I decide whether or not I'll buy it."

"No? And yet, statistic repetition of-"

"The artist is really good, alright! I don't control what they decide to draw!" Alex insisted with a hiss through the corner of his mouth.

"I see? There is no reason to be upset. It is healthy to find surrogate methods of exploring sexuality, when the fetish in question is something that would be dangerous, complex, or impossible to introduce in a more realistic scenario." Genesis noted.

"Please stop." Alex muttered back haggardly as they entered campus grounds.

Genesis settled down... but that wasn't the end of Alex's troubles, as he was quickly confronted on his way to the study room where he would usually wait for his classes by the sales-woman that had helped him pick out Genesis' PI-doll.

It was a little difficult for him to recognize her immediately, though, as instead of being in the store uniform and apron, she was wearing a leather jacket, had a ring piercing her lower lip, heavy mascara was framing her eyes, and long striped stockings nearly reached the hem of a miniskirt. Genesis hummed appreciatively at the outfit as her doll's head peeked up over his shoulder.

The woman's own Aide, with a doll designed to look like a raven, flapped its wings once before settling down next to her head to stare back.

"Found you." she said, raising a finger to point. Her nails were painted a dark red that verged on being black, Alex noted.

"Okay?" was his reply. "The sales rep from the other day, right? So..."

"I, Ebony Avon, challenge you!" she declared. "When I win, turn over your ticket for entry into the tournament. I can make much better use of it than some chump like you!"

Alex stared for a long few moments before tilting his head a little and addressing Genesis.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"I see no reason to compete over the right to enter a competition unless the prize on offer is something that you wish to possess." Genesis calmly answered without actually venturing her own opinion.

"Please don't be like this." Alex sighed. "Just answer whether you want to or not."

"Is that so? In that case, I see no particular benefit at this time-" Genesis replied.

"Okay, stop, hold it right there, I'm not going to sit back and let you two do this back-and-forth thing again when I'm not even on the clock and getting paid for it." Ebony cut them off. "Do you idiots even have any idea of what's up with this tournament?"

"Go on. Do elaborate." Genesis responded flatly, radiating how unimpressed she was at being interrupted.

"The winner gets a CUSTOMIZED PI-doll, nimrods. We're not even talking the high grade market options any more!" Ebony snapped. "Every aspect from the internal components to the peripherals and the external aesthetic all built up by a highly skilled team of professional programmers, engineers, and design gurus! It's the sort of thing that you can't even put a price on, because the result is going to be a unique one-of-a-kind. I could remodel Quoth here until there was nothing at all to distinguish him from a flesh and feathers actual raven, just for example, while still having the room for peripherals that could have him moving freezers and ovens around and not just being able to fly!"

"Can it be sold at an auction afterwards?" Genesis asked. "I would prefer to redistribute value into other quality of life improvements aimed towards organic life."

"Sold at- Are you defective, chrome-dome?" Ebony snapped, prompting a further narrowing of Genesis' eyes. "What kind of idiot would sell something priceless like that? The tickets to compete, those are going to get sold though. At least half of the competitors definitely aren't going to be the people who actually won a spot, you know? For a shot at a prize like this, some big names are going to come out of the woodwork... just competing in it is going to wind up being a mark of prestige. Well. As long as you don't chump out in the first round like a loser with no experience!"

Ebony huffed, arms crossed.

"I looked into you, Alexander Damon. Zero losses isn't impressive when you also have zero wins and zero ties to boot. It means you also have zero friends, and zero things that anyone wants! The number 'Zero' just makes up everything you are at that point. Why are you even here at all, huh?" she declared, pettily.

Her words stabbed deeply into Alex's chest as though she were throwing sharp knives in his direction and he wobbled a bit, struggling to not actually fall physically to his knees in response to the verbal assault. Genesis made a tongue clicking sound through his earpiece.

"Well... your shitty social life isn't my problem." Ebony huffed. "If you're going to just sign the entry ticket over without a fight, well, that's fine too. And you can go right back to your zero-sum streak of being one more nobody."

"I politely refuse." Genesis responded flatly. "Consider your challenge accepted."

Quoth, her Aide, let out a low 'krakaw' as he fluttered his wings and Ebony gave a disgusted look to both of them.

"Tch. I talked it up too much, huh, if you've gone and changed your mind about it. Well, that just means I have to crush you in a match, and that was always the plan anyway." she huffed.

"Incorrect. I still hold no emotional investment in either the tournament or the prize as outlined." Genesis responded coldly. "However, it is my preference that you do not have the opportunity to either participate or win, if it can be avoided."

Ebony looked for a moment as though she might have swallowed her tongue, eyes bulging as she processed that comment.

"You... you nasty little defective chunk of hubcap material!" she snapped back. "I was going to take it easy on you so that you could pretend that you had a chance, too! Now I'm just going to stomp you with everything I've got!"

Alex wasn't sure how things had spun out of control from a casual conversation so quickly, but found himself just being pulled along for the ride as Ebony stomped her way to one of the rooms set up to accommodate matches and Genesis urged him to follow.