Surrounded by many friends and lovers, Aia has always felt lonely. Changing appearance many times, she always felt like she is not enough. Life was passing away, while Aia spent all of her time in the next generation metaverse called Elysium, a real...
Ren invites me to his location not because he wants to spend time with me, but because it will be easier for him to regain access to my account there. Before, I never thought that metaverse supporters were entitled to have their own rooms, so this seems like a great privilege.
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His room is very dark. Floor-to-ceiling windows, and beyond them the city at dawn. More precisely, half an hour before dawn itself, which is why the atmosphere is so sleepy. A blue-grey subdued neon light dimly illuminates a small room. On the transparent coffee table is an empty ashtray with "True Love" written in gothic script at the bottom, and a closed bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin. The floor is strewn with dollar bills. Of course, here in this world, money are useless, but such a decorative element is found in many locations, especially in clubs and bars. Here they make fun of the once valuable currency by trampling it into the floor. Ren has such a small apartment. There is only one sofa and a table...
"Are you comfortable with this darkness or is it just impossible to fix?" I ask, not thinking that my words may sound rude and indecent.
"I like it so much," he replies coldly, typing something on the touch screen in front of him.
After a little spin around him, I still decide to sit on the sofa so as not to feel so constrained.
"Can I open the bottle of gin?" I ask, pointing to the bottle.
He looks at me with a smile in his eyes.
"You're bolder than I thought," Ren replies, shaking his head.
"But this is just a metaverse," I smile, justifying myself for my behavior.
"Girl, do whatever you want, I don't care," for the first time, such a sweet, sincere smile appears on his face. It helps me to feel more confident and freer in communication.
"Excellent," I take the bottle and open it, "Where are the glasses?"
The next second a pair of glasses for gin is on the table in front of me. I start pouring drink into glasses, occasionally glancing at Ren, who is intently trying to regain access to my profile.
"By the way, how did you come to the fact that you began to work in Elysium?" I ask, taking a sip of gin. I activate physical access in advance to feel the scalding bitter taste that starts to warm me up.
"Weird question. There was no choice. I get well paid, by the way," Ren replies a little hesitantly.
I look at the bottle in front of me again, wondering what else to ask him to somehow keep the conversation going. I pay attention to the checkmark that is lit above his avatar. I have exactly the same. Verification of the real face that synchronised with an avatar.
"Did you also synchronized your real face with the metaverse?"
"As you can see. Unlike many, I was lucky with a face in real life," he looks in my direction for the first time. So haughty.
"Well, I can say you're handsome."
I see the shadow of a smile flicker across his face.
"You're cute too. I like."
He stretches, flexing his shoulders, as if he was tired. Like in a real life, he often did this, I still remember it. And he doesn't remember anything. He probably doesn't even know...
"Do you also have physical access turned on?" I immediately ask.
"How did you know?"
"You stretched. Like you can feel something."
Ren rolls his eyes derisively.
"You notice everything."
"Things like that are immediately noticeable here, don't forget about it," I say.
He doesn't respond.
We sit silently for a while and look at each other. At some point, I still break down and look away. This is what I did in real life. I was afraid to look people in the eyes.
"Can you tell me how you met these guys? Or was it a chance meeting?" Ren finally asks in a normal tone. Not mocking, not rude.
"I met one of them in the matchmaking app, so he invited me to the location."
Ren grins and wearily covers his face with his hands.
"What?" I ask, embarrassed by this reaction.
"Waste of time. I often went on such dates. You won't find anything interesting there."
"I haven't used it before, but then I got bored," I say.
"Did you want a relationship with someone?"
"I do. And you?"
"I wanted lots of different relationships. This is what I am here for. I have a desire of affection by many other people."
"Do you also have a large number of physical minutes?"
"Yes. I spend them on girls."
"Sounds gross. You are saved by the fact that in real life you are young and beautiful. And then you have a behavior pattern, like some old pervert, who uses Elysium just for this."
"You express your opinion so openly. I like it."
"Do you always say 'I like it'?"
"Only is I really like something. But actually I didn't expect that I will like you." He moves closer and suddenly kisses me.
"You came for this too."
I'm silent. He seems to understand that I came for him.
"There is nothing to worry about, everyone comes here for this. You look lonely and I am here to fix that," he continues to caressing me.
"Where do you live?" I ask to check him.
"It's irrelevant."
"Don't worry, I won't look for you," I smile.
"Still, I won't tell you."
"I don't know who I need to be to look for users in reality. It's creepy," I say.
"Many people dream about it. People get to know each other, communicate, someone believes that they have truly fallen in love or found their soulmates. And they want to see each other in reality to confirm the seriousness of feelings and intentions. But often everyone is faced with the strongest disappointment. You think that the sea is knee-deep here, everything is accessible, everything is beautiful, everyone is attractive. And then you see the harsh reality, so it becomes unpleasant. It seems that nothing terrible happened, but the sediment remained. The feeling that you have been deceived," Ren explains.
"Why get so hung up on the material and visual? If you like soulmate connection..."
"Because we live in the material world. Don't romanticize it. Even you are obsessed with the 'visual'. Why else would you synchronize your real face with your avatar? Do you want me to tell you? You just feel superior compairing to other users. You are beautiful in reality, and you have confirmation of this fact. But what others look like in real life? It remains only to guess, but it is not customary to talk about their true faces here. People hate themselves. They were instilled with complexes, imposed standards. It has always been so. But you're also self-centered. What you just said about me, rather describes yourself."
"Say what you want."
His denial makes me smile.
"Okay. Thank you for your help and for getting my account back," I say.
"Already leaving?"
"Do you want me to stay?"
"It's not in my nature to persuade. Bye," he answers in that usual cold manner.
