VR Discoveries Ch. 03

I've set up a soft rule for myself that every chapter should have some sexy action in it. No matter how small. After i've done mostly erotic scenes in chapter 1 and 2, I wrote myself into a corner if I wanted to stick to the kind of story i had in my head. So chapter 3 needed to do a lot of the heavy lifting both in terms of character and info dumping. So I looked on in horror as it just kept getting longer and longer. Thankfully after this, Lori and Sacha's story will go into a more episodic slice of life kind of style. And i can actually finish a chapter more than once every 6 months. Hope you enjoy the read, and please leave a comment if you have opinions/feedback. Would love to read it.

A short "nerd" dictionary for this chapter.

RL / IRL - Real Life, gamer slang for anything outside of a game or offline

Avatar - a character representation of a person in a digital space

UI - short for user interface. A menu used to access settings and more complicated options.

*****.

Jeff and me found a timeslot to meet in flesh space on next Tuesday. On my recommendation it was in a small ma and pa café just out of the city center. It wasn't very crowded so we could still talk, but public enough that he couldn't do anything weird. Like pull out a gun with a spinning spiral on it or something. I've done my research on hypnosis on the internet, and it was sending my imagination into overdrive.

I arrived early by like 30 minutes, and found a table out front between an elderly couple and a small group of high schoolers. After a few minutes arguing about it with myself I ordered tea instead of my usual mocha. I was jittery enough without caffeine in the mix.

I was sipping the inferior morning starting liquid while waiting for Jeff, the not-dragonborn dragonborn arrive. Always strange to meet someone who you only saw in VR before. He sent me a picture of his face so that I could recognize him, but in my mind's eye I still saw him with scales and small gold lizard eyes.

Jeff showed up around 15 minutes before our meeting time. Talk of the dragon... I mean devil. I wasn't the only one nervous it seemed. He was around 6'2 with pleasant if ordinary features. Dark hair and eyes hidden behind large rimmed glasses. I could pick out an IT guy from a crowd and he ticked pretty much all the boxes for it. The only thing out of the ordinary was a high end looking dress shirt that he tried to subtly adjust around 3 times before he reached the table. Looked good, but probably not his common clothes. All in all a usual geek. I could deal with that.

As he was making his way to our table it dawned on me that I was about to talk with someone about a virtual orgy we had last week. In public. So embarrassing. I felt my cheeks grow hot. Mother would be outraged. Sacha tried to train me out of the mentality but it stuck like glue. You just don't talk about those kind of things outside of four walls.

I began to feel like I was wearing a shirt that said in big red letters "I'm Lori Brynner and I'm a sexual deviant". Everyone must know that we were about to talk about something weird. I felt the desire to bolt and just go back to my apartment and leave this whole thing behind.

Jeff was similarly awkward, and it took us around 10 minutes of pleasantries before we could get anywhere. Topics ranged from work, to game releases to the material of the chairs. Anything but why we met up. Introverts out of their natural habitat. It was uncomfortable but it grounded me in a way little could. He was one of my people. Then I remembered the whole reason why I was here. Charmed dungeon traps, out of nowhere digital orgies and Sacha...

"So not that I'm ain't interested in your dev project but let's talk about... that" I interrupted.

"That?" Jeff took a second to realign himself, and then flinched like I slapped him. "Yes. Lets." He took a bracing breath and continued.

"So how much do you know about hypnosis?"

"I did a few online searches and did some digging" I began tentatively.

He let out a weary sigh. "99% of what you found on the internet is probably wrong, overexaggerated, fetishized, or all three. In short hypnosis is a way of achieving a calm state of mind where the patient can bypass their logical mind and to interface with the subconscious directly. Letting a person face their inner beliefs and preconceptions. It's a clinical treatment as well. It's actually accepted as an official form of therapy in most places. The trap that you saw in game was originally made for Sam, the catfolk you saw with me if you recall" "

I was surprised at the sudden flood of words coming out of him. During our small talk he was very polite and never used more sentences than was necessary. Then suddenly he spit a whole speech at me. I felt like I activated a trap card of some kind. Gotta love geeks.

"Yeah..." I remembered the red haired catgirl who kept fingering my cunt while I sucked off Jeff's penis. "She left an impression..."

He blushed at my tone. Then quickly kept talking, like he tried to get the words out as fast as he could. "He actually. Well not really. Sam's male RL, but is femm in game. We are dating. Both in game and out."

I tried to wrap my head around that, and Jeff's faltering explanation wasn't helping much.

"So he or she is trans or just crossdressing digitally?"

"Yeah, that. Bit of both. It's complicated, Sam's family is old money, old values. Religious background, the whole nine yards. Would probably disown Sam if he came out. And Sam can't really risk that at the moment. So I try not to get into the habit of calling her her, if you catch my drift."

" I guess so... That's a shit show"

He laughed at that.

"Oh yes. It's a mess. His family tried to get me to take Etiquette lessons on the last get together"

That explained the fancy shirt.

"So how did that lead to the whole hypnosis sex dungeon thing?"

"To deal with the situation we set up our characters in game so we could use them for erotic stuff like this. Even if Sam can't be who he wants RL, he can in game. Quick easy solution. The problem was that Sam kinda knows what he wants but when we got to the actual thing while he was playing his female avatar there were some mental blocks that got in the way, and he couldn't get into it. Toxic masculine BS and the like, religious gay phobias, et cetera. It caused a lot of stress. He wanted to be intimate, but every time we got to it, it just caused further performance anxiety. It wasn't very healthy. After trying multiple things we ended up with hypnosis. "

"Just like that? You mentioned this is a medical thing. Don't you need like a few years of med school or something."

"Tell me about it, I was doing it next to my master's. Pure hell for a few months. The things you do for love. Basically I have an unofficial minor in hypnotherapy. I started working with Sam after that. He is a mostly visual learner so that's why I went with the spiral focus instead of audio or physical triggers as the core. I do my fair share of programming in my job, so I set up the visuals and the audio in the dungeon creator. Took me forever. Had to write most of the code from scratch because the audio channels are limited to save bandwidth in the base setup. Anyway it worked, Sam was into it, I was into it. We tried some different inductions, and some role play as well. Afterwards some of our friends also heard of it. You met Lockheed and Danny. There are a few others occasionally, but the four of us are the core party. We met Sacha a few months ago at a raid, and started talking. Then she recommended a friend who would be also interested. And the rest as they say is history."

He took a little break to collect his thoughts. And probably to breathe some air. He went through that small dissertation in record time. I jumped on the opportunity to get a question in before he spurted more techno babble.

"The way you are talking about it, makes it sound like a form of therapy. But when I was ... there. I felt out of control. Like someone else living in my body. I'm not a ... I mean I would never.." I was looking for the right words but Jeff seems to have got the meaning regardless.

He took a sip of coffee, before continuing. I took the chance to drink from my tepid tea instead of putting a bigger foot in my mouth.

"Yes, that was a massive outlier. Hell, I've only met one other person who went under that deep and fast on their first trance. In fact you really can't make someone do something they don't want with hypnosis. That's a myth. It's mostly just a short path to the subconscious. But while the conscious mind tends to grab onto logic, the subconscious is often a mess of emotions, traumas and repressed desires. You might say that it connects us to our inner selves. But I'll leave that talk to the religious types. In my experience hypnosis can help us get in touch with our wants. Relieve that pressure before it explodes. Maybe let us accept them a bit easier. And it can be kinda hot to be honest. "

Yes, it can be that, I thought. Remembering my masturbation sessions this week. Most of them involving this new found kink of mine.

"It's usually pretty straight forward without much chaos. Under trance you do what you want with minor changes. Without your inhibitions getting in the way. Pretty freeing. It only really gets weird when there are deep seated traumas, or unrecognized desires involved."

"So what? You are saying that deep down I wanted to get charmed and have an orgy with you guys?!"

"Yeah, looks like it. Deep down you wanted it. It still sounds like rape ain't it? Or some weird porno dialogue"

"Pretty much."

"I'm not saying there isn't plenty of space for abuse. Marketing works on the same principle. Hear or see something enough times and a person can internalize it. A person in a trance is highly open and receptive to these stimuli. And "inductions" as it's called can push people in minor ways. Think of it like this. In certain circumstances you would have been open to the whole thing. Like maybe if you had a long dry spell, had a few pints too much and then your crush walked in. That kind of thing."

Jeff was sweating so much it almost hurt to look at. He was trying to explain and justify it to me even though he was visibly uncomfortable with the subject. Hell I would be too if I had a conversation about my fetishes with someone I barely knew in a public café. And most of all I recognized where he was coming from. He was a geek. And this was his thing. Something he spent waay too much time obsessing over. And he was putting his heart out on a silver platter and waiting for me to judge him for it. But he still tried because in his mind he hurt me.

I didn't have it in me to stomp on his heart. Not after my own experiences in high school.

I let out a cleansing breath.

"Alright. Thanks for explaining that whole thing. " Jeff let out a breath and seemed to deflate with relief

"But I would like to get a copy of the code if you don't mind. I'd rather look into it myself."

"Sure, no problem Lori. I'll send it over." he replied.

After a brief discussion about the how and where to upload, I began to pack and leave.

"It's been great meeting you Jeff, regardless of this whole debacle. And at the end of the day what can I do? If I sued you guys I would have to sue Sacha as well. And even if she is a little shit sometimes she is still my best friend." The word friend stung my tongue as I said it. Liar liar liar.

***

I forced myself to go back home before I checked out the database link Jeff, the not-dragonborn sent me. I realized this week that I had weak resolve when it came to erotic hypnosis. I had my fair share of things I found interesting, and hot. Have my fair share of fetishes. But the intensity of my reaction when it came to this one almost scared me. It snuck up on me sometimes. I stumbled on something barely related, and then bamm. I was turned on like a hormonal teenager. Needless to say, my bookmarks page has been steadily growing this last week. And it was becoming harder and harder to look at a few of them without blushing.

So I promised myself that I would not open the videos in public. I stopped along the way and rewarded myself with a pack of double chocolate chip cookies. I went outside, had a conversation with a near stranger and dealt with a tense situation without procrastinating. I did a good job and deserved a little pampering.

When I got home I turned on my machine and went through the database Jeff's link led me to with a fine toothed comb. I expected a few files. Maybe a candid recording or two. But I did not expect the sheer amount of induction recordings. There were a bunch of them, and all kinds too. Edging, worship, exhibitionism play. Hell I even found a file that went into tentacle rape. Jeff and Sam were busy with these things. I underestimated how much variety there was to hypnosis. And how much effort Jeff put in for his partner. Some of these were near studio level polished. The only limit seemed to be the creativity and dedication of the hypnotist.

I spent the next few hours going over the files. Most of them followed a formula of sorts. A picture, or animation to focus on. Some deep calming sounds to relax to and a short hypnotic induction. A common thread was shedding inhibitions, and expectations. Which resonated with me on a deep level. It seemed that Sam and I were struggling with similar demons. Another usual phrase was a timer of sorts. A sort of termination switch or way out. Jeff's usual phrase was "You will obey these commands for the next hour or until you feel comfortable doing so.". Which was fine by me. Having something happen or someone walk in and still continuing with these would be awkward. This gave an emergency out.

I saved a few favourites to my system for later use. I had to change my panties by the time I finished browsing through the files.

I had no more tasks to procrastinate with. I went over the induction videos and couldn't find any mention of creating love and emotions of affection (except a petplay one which pushed my buttons something fierce). I even found the video Jeff based the dungeon trap on. There was nothing there to push me to develop feelings for Sacha, sexual or otherwise. Meaning the only option left was that it came from me. Well shit.

I took a bracing breath and opened up our chat, unmuted it and began writing my apology.

"Hi Sacha.. I'm sorry for ignoring you this past week. I think we need to talk ...."

***

The default private chat room in VR was an endless white expanse. It was supposed to "showcase the power of VR" and "remove distractions to promote human interaction". But to me it was just creepy. So over the years me and Sacha (mostly me) added to our chat room. We had a few variants over the years. We had a small pool and a water slide. But it proved too distracting. There was a vampire castle themed one after that. It was cool, but breaking out of a coffin every time you logged in lost its charm the 12th time.

For the last 2 years we've been sticking to the current set up. It was a small fantasy style wooden cabin with windows showing ragged snowy peaks outside. It had all the comfortable looking bits. A pair of large beds pushed next to each other. A blazing fireplace. An assortment of sofas, duvets and a bunch of fantasy doodads for decoration. And a massive screen to watch movie marathons on. Practicality had to come over style after all. I tried to find a fitting high fantasy screen, like an elven vine frame or something. But they all went for over a thousand dollars online in this size. Cheapskate 3d artists.

This was our place. In many ways it was an altar to our friendship. It was something we built, and used and refined together. What right did I have to knock it all over? To make it all messy by adding sex and relationships to the mix. Just because I couldn't handle my hormones. I took a bracing breath and focused on my calming exercises. Deep breath. Hold. Breath out.

We were friends. We liked each other. Trusted each other. We could move through this.

I leaned on the familiarity of this place today to not freak out while I waited for Sacha to join in. It didn't really work. I was still a nervous wreck.

I was using my usual "standard" avatar. It was based on my real life looks. In reality I had dark hair I mostly wore in a loose ponytail and blue eyes. More angles than curves and with elbows of doom. But of course I pumped it up a bit in digital. Who wouldn't? I added a few more sizes to my breasts. A few more kilos to my hips, and a little more muscle all over to cover the bones. I did a few minor changes to the height of my eyebrows and the shape of my nose. I also added a few highlights to my hair and eyes. None of which I could ever pull off in an office setting. But they looked great in the MMO engine. Overall i looked nothing like my actual body. Sue me.

I heard a soft chime,as Sacha joined the VR chat room. She rocked a casual jacket and shorts combo. And looked much like all her avatars usually did, a minor variation on her actual RL body. She never really understood my fascination with customizing and changing avatars. She was on the small side, with dramatic features that could land her in any model magazine. I always forgot how short she was. She radiated this energy that made her seem larger than life. She subtly changed her hairstyle since we last talked. She used to have a choppy pixie cut that would have made most sci-fi heroines proud. Now Sacha wore a slightly longer bob, all the way to her slender shoulders with a few curves to it. The blond locks framed her face lovingly. It made her look more feminine than usual. Almost soft. It was the style she used to wear when we first met in the flesh. It made me almost back off from my plan. It reminded me of all the time we spent together as friends and confidants. Could I sacrifice that? For what? Some steamy sex? Did I even have that right?

Then Sacha fully loaded in and her avatar turned to me and flashed that patented impish smile. "Hi Lori. its been a while."

My stomach made a flip in reaction. I expected Sacha to follow that up with her usual squeeze/hug/tackle/submission combo. But she stayed at a distance today. A distance that I never really thought would be between us. Worst of all. My heart hurt because of that minor show of rejection but i was also luxuriating in having her near again. I was so far gone it wasn't even funny. Whatever our relationship is going to be after this. I couldn't keep up our previous arrangement. Not without lying to myself. Or worse. Lying to Sacha.

"Yeah, hi Sacha. .... yeah. Missed you too." I said. It felt totally inadequate for what I was feeling. But that would have to do. Stick to The Plan Lori. Small talk first. Then reconnect as friends. And when I feel that she can handle a big shock, I can slowly bring up the whole orgy thing. Nice and steady. Maybe I should wait with it and only do the friend reconnection thing today. Might be too fast.

But first things first. We were both standing around 3 feet from each other. Neither of us dared to jump back into our usual flow for fear of hurting the other. So I gathered my courage and took the plunge. I opened up my arms and took a tentative step forward. When Sacha didn't back away I hugged her fiercely. She snuggled into me and held me back. Her hair brushed up against my nose. I felt my muscles relax all over. Like everything was right in the world. I wished we could stay like this forever. But I could also feel a little traitorous heat down in my belly. A slow insistent pulse that awoke as I felt Sacha nestle into me.

I gave us a minute to just hold each other. It was nice. But I had to think of The Plan. The next objective was to keep it light and smooth over the previous problems. I looked up a few topics of conversation options before our meeting. I never had to use those tactics before with Sacha. But when I thought about talking with her now my mind just froze up. I went with option D, the latest patch notes for our favourite games. Nerd solutions for nerd problems.