My brand new other self spent the rest of the day wandering around topics in The Consensus while I finished up my work day, both of us buzzing with anxiety and excitement over seeing Cairn and Lilly again after 3 years of not.  Excitement, as I missed them so very much.  Anxiety, as there was not just the ‘meeting the new girlfriend’ vibe, but that combined with ‘she’s also an alien’ and ‘could we offer you a brain fungus in these trying times?’  It was a lot to process, but the thought of having the same level of connection with the two of them as I had with Sylph was giving me so many good feelings.  Eeeeeeeeeeeee’s internally.

    In addition, or maybe because we were filled with anxious energy, the two of me also spent a lot of the time bombarding Sylph with random mental banter.  I’m absolutely sure it didn’t bother her at all and all of the glares, eyerolls, and threatening mental sharings back at us were merely an expression of love.  Unfortunately for her, the threats were rather interesting ones about things that might happen when we got home, so it did very little to dissuade us from continuing to pester her.  We very much wanted to find out what Sylph had in mind following all of our fucking around in her direction.

    Sylph apparently did as well, judging by the sly look on her face as we were saying goodbye to my family when I was done for the day.  Once we made it outside she took my hand and intertwined her fingers.  “Would you like to go back to my place?  I think I have some things we should take care of there.”

    I playfully nudged her with my elbow and gave Sylph a wink. “Am I things?”

    “Yes, but I also did have something else in mind first.”

    “Awwww…"  I pouted at her.  "Well, what were you thinking?”  My partially sarcastic pout replaced by genuine curiosity. 

    “If tomorrow we are to attempt to talk to your friends about the reality of my situation, and even offer for them to join us and the consensus, we might want to plan out how best to ease them into that concept.”

    “Yeah…  That’s a big part of why I’ve been so anxious all day today.  You’ve given me so many reasons to avoid thinking about that…”  I squeezed her hand and gave her a kiss on the cheek.  “But I probably should be thinking about it.  You had done a bunch of work with projecting possible first contact situations right?”

    “I have.  Yours did not go quite to plan…”  There was that flash of guilt she still felt over her perceived violation of me.  "I know we've learned so much since then and I would like this time to go much better."

    I let go of her hand and wrapped her up in a big sudden hug.  "You've got Badger and two of me on your side this time, of course it will go much better!"

    Badger let loose a mighty "Bork!" in agreement, and we both leaned down to give them scritches.

    "Thank you Badger, I'm sure your help will be invaluable."  Sylph giggled and stood back up with me.  "But this is why I thought we could take some time with the consensus working on how best to do things and making my little home in the grove as inviting as it can be."

    "Awwww.  It's very cute that you've finally shown me you are nervous too.  You've been being all strong and supportive of me and now I get to take care of your nerves too."  I kissed her and it was very nice.  "Follow me, we are getting nachos to snack on while we think."

    I pulled Sylph along to a Mexican food place that had been on Main Street for as long as I've been alive, passed down between a few generations of the Ortega family, most of whom my mom had befriended through her tea shop.  They had the best nachos.  After many introductions and much fawning over Sylph being the brand new girlfriend of poor lonely Marin, we were sent away with a large platter of nachos, a bottle of wine, and some sopapillas for later, all tucked into a wicker basket to be returned tomorrow.

    It was a very pleasant walk the rest of the way to Sylph's cleaning in the grove.  The leaves were growing further towards the rare shade of red that this grove was mildly famous for being one of the few that didn't turn yellow in the fall.  It would still be a few weeks before everything turned and the whole side of the valley became a vibrant and somewhat otherworldly crimson.  

    I wonder if a certain fungus has anything to do with the red?  I felt my other self start poking around with the grove's fungal remembrances for if it was responsible at all for the color.  We shared a mental high five for the good idea.

    We got all settled within Sylph's cave and she began to transform back into the self I first met her as.  She was so beautiful and I was lost just watching her skin change color, her hair turning back to feathers, her face shifting and becoming so much more expressive, and her antlers growing back out of her head.

    “Sylph, it’s been bothering me.  Your antlers, they are beautiful, why do you have antlers?”  I gestured above her head with a confused look on my face.

    She let loose a melodious giggle, “Has that been bothering you the whole time?”

    “Actually no, and I’m not at all sure why it hasn’t as it seems such an obvious thing I would have been curious about.  I guess just the rest of you…”  I gestured vaguely at the rest of her, “completely distracted me from curiosity about just that.”

    “That makes sense, I appear to be very good at distracting you.”  

    She lightly trailed her fingers down my neck and my eyes rolled back in my head as my body involuntarily shivered. 

    “When I first landed here three weeks ago, the first animal to notice me that I was aware of was a young deer.  Their antlers reminded me of the growth patterns in a plant-like species I had been studying on the last world we visited before coming to earth.”  Sylph sighed happily.  “It was a wonderful reminder of the ways evolution winds up shaping things so similarly across even light years distance.  So I put some on my head.”

    “Well that’s a reason.”  I nodded to myself.  “I think my brain was lost trying to find some functional reasoning for why you might have them, antenna maybe?  But why would you need that when communications were all your silly quantaglobin proteins which are all spooky action at a distance, no antenna required.”

    More giggling from Sylph, “Remember that is only your society, at least the harmful aspects of your society that don't see aesthetics as functionally valuable."  

    I nodded my head, I had to give her that one.  Curse you capitalism!

    "Also, your mind is still such an amazing wonder to me and only drives me to explore you more.”

    “To boldly go where no alien has gone before, into the recesses of my chaotic head.”  I stepped closer to her, wrapping my arms around her waist.  “I’m sure I can find some more things I’d like you to explore.”  An eyebrow waggle completing my innuendo.  

    Sylph got that predatory look in her very large golden glowing alien eyes, but she was distracted by some grumblings of a very patient dog seated to the side of us.  Badger needed food.  My tummy grumbled in response.  I needed food as well

    We set Badger up with their dinner, and Sylph indicated for me to set our little picnic basket down right in the center of her bed. 

    "Sylph, trust me, you do not want nacho bits in your bed.  Not fun to sleep on.  I learned the hard way."

    Sylph just laughed at me.  "I'm so sorry you had to find that out the hard way."  She was still giggling, but finally settled herself.  "You've seen what my bed is made out of though?"

    I nodded, placing my hand off the very soft and self heated expanse of clover and moss.  

    "Any… nacho bits, as you called them… will just be pulled down into the foliage and composted."  She giggled again as my jaw dropped.

    I had to see this work.  I set down our basket and pulled off the lid, extracting the wine and desserts to get to the nachos.  I grabbed a slice of olive off the top, which pulled with it a string of cheese, and dropped it on the bed.  I stared in amazement as the clover leaves separated and drooped allowing the cheesy hoop of olive to slough off and slowly sink into the bed.  I felt where it had once been and not a hint of grease remained on the clover.  My shocked face turned back to Sylph.  The wonders this woman has brought me.  "I love you, this is brilliant!"  I kissed her, she was amazing!  "Can you make changes in your bed?  Like, could you make a sturdier raised spot between us so we can keep these cups from spilling?"

    Sylph nodded and dramatically waved her hand over her bed, releasing a few glowing spores that floated down.  Shortly after contact the greenery of the bed began to change.  A circular portion grew up and the clover leaves broadened, overlapping with each other.  Two recessed circles formed as well.  

    She made cup holders!  I stared dreamily into her eyes.  "You never cease to amaze me."  I eagerly pulled the nacho platter out from the basket, poured each of us a glass of wine, and we dug in.  The nachos were wonderful as always.  

    In between bites we discussed plans for what to do with Lilly and Cairn tomorrow, while our separate instances of self mingled in The Consensus within gems simulating how best to tell them of Sylph's origins.  

 

---

    I added facets for each Lilly and Cairn as contacts to gems on this discussion.  Into these gems I poured whatever knowledge on who they are that I knew they'd feel comfortable for me to be sharing with others.  Tweaking simulations here and there according to how I'd know they react.  The whole time empathetically receiving a growing excitement from the other minds within The Consensus, eager to know and connect with the people who were so important to me as I was so important to them; a fact that was continuously at odds with and steamrolling over my imposter syndrome.

    I wasn't surprised when we reached a consensus, that the best plan was a simple case of slowly escalating honesty.  No more lies or gracefully obfuscated truths about Sylph's origins or the circumstances of our meeting, but easing the two of them into the concept that Sylph isn't exactly from here… here being Earth.  We could move on and take them for a walk to the grove.  Show off the cave and demonstrate the fungal biotech.  My favorite possible outcome we'd have to dissuade them from was the idea I've been swept up in the machinations of the Fae rather than aliens.  Sylph and I were still nervous, but overall, far more hopeful now than we were earlier.

---

 

    As we got deeper into the bottle of wine, I pulled out the dessert.  "So now these are sopapillas.  I have so many wonderful memories of growing up with these."  I shared a collection of them with Sylph.  Both mothers and the triad all jammed into a corner booth, my sticky fingers touching far too many things in my goal to fill them with as much honey as I could, it spilling out over my face and hands with each bite.  “I tend to be slightly less sticky after I eat them as an adult though.”  I blushed a bit as Sylph giggled at me and I showed her how to bite open a little hole and start filling.

    I took my first bite of the honey filled goodness and of course my anxiety wouldn't just let me have that alone.  "Sylph, what if Cairn or Lilly, or more likely any of the triad… What if they don't want to go the symbiote route?  I mean I'm not at all worried that any of them are just gonna cut ties and bolt."

    “With any big change in relationship with others, comes the possibility things won’t work out how you want them to.”

    “I know that!  I just want to… I don't know… offer an alternative I guess.  That way I don't have to accidentally pressure them into altering their biology.  Less people are as interested in that as meeting me would have led you to believe.”  My mood brightened a bit with an idea.  “I still want them to be able to be a part of the consensus.  It needs to be accessible.  It needs a human interface that isn’t as invasive as a brain fungus.”

    Sylph grimaced at the use of the term, but nodded.  “That does make sense.  What are you thinking?”

    “Can your little pool there display text or play audio?”  I pointed at the small water basin in the middle of Sylph’s cave.

    She looked thoughtful for a moment, “Yes.  Spores can generate light, sound, and tactile sensation.  It would need some form of control node to translate The Consensus into a form un-altered humans could comprehend.”

     “Nice!  No wait, they’d have to use it here."  I hung my head down.  "That wouldn’t work if Cairn and Lilly wanted a connection after going back to California.”  But then I had another idea!  "What if we gave the grove Internet access!?"

    "What?"  Sylph gave me a very good look of incredulity.

    "I'm serious!  We put a computer in here, hook the fungus up to it, and give it access to the Internet."  I beamed at her over the ingenuity of my idea.  "Then we give it some control nodes so it could parse and use the internet and communicate with anyone who's not down with the fungus."

    She took a second to move from her prior doubt to her lovely thoughtful expression.  "Well, it's possible.  It'll most likely take a very complicated neural network to interface properly.  That's beyond my capability, though there are several within The Consensus that would not think that much of a challenge."

    "We'd have to make sure it could hide its location and generally it's existence from anyone though.  If the government, corps, or some douchebag hackers got wind of or access to it that wouldn't be good.  Do you think we should try?"  I looked at her excitedly.

    "I think The Consensus would value the idea, even if it were just something to consider as a thought experiment.  You should suggest it."

    "Well then other me shall do just that."  

 

---

    Gathering up my thoughts on basics of how the internet works and the concept of forming an interface between it and the grove and set it into The Consensus.  It floated there for a short time, prodded by various minds, tasted for its contents.  Then suddenly a multidimensional gem sprung up in its place.  Facets created for each relevant topic intersection.  Partially overlapping other discussion gems pulled into place through common facets.  Minds joined the new discussion and got to work, and I entered to watch.  

    There were already gems within The Consensus discussing the architecture and topology of the human internet, what aspects of it the aliens could pick up from stray satellite signals that happened their way.  In line with their “Prime Directive” they had taken a mostly hands off approach and settled for merely monitoring and studying, aside from a bit of harmless online shopping.  This request would be more involved.  Making a more permanent and reliable connection, a direct interface between a node on the alien’s distributed entangled network, to a node on the human networks of monetization and control of information.  There was a minor sense of revulsion at what humans had created, but also the acceptance and understanding that there were still many who did use the internet for purposes very similar to The Consensus.  It was the closest thing the humans had, and also a thing that could become a tool for building shared values and trust.

    Within the gem there was a turning of focus on me, and a projection of appreciation for the perspective, the possibility, and the beginnings of consent to interact with humanity on a far more encompassing scale.  The Consensus hugged me again and it was good.  

    Oh crap, I forgot to mention something!  *Make sure you remember that if the grove does interact on the internet, it will be tracked by individuals and AI algorithms.  If there are enough weird interactions it might flag the wrong people or systems to pay attention.*  I packaged up a rudimentary understanding of Internet privacy issues and various places I knew of to learn more and sent that in as well.  The addition of information caused the gem to further shift and warp around me as new facets were added.

    The gathered minds beamed at me another projection of appreciation, but this ongoing mind-hug was cut short…

    I was suddenly pulled out of my discussion in The Consensus as my shared memory was being flooded with sensations and emotions of desire through the other me.  Sylph and I were naked and doing naughty things without me… well I was there, but only one instance of me.  I warred within myself on the possibility of closing myself off to what was going on outside my mental void.  Feeling like I had to cut myself off from Sylph.  I hated the thought and was plagued by it's seeming necessity.  Anxiety rose up within me and I was spiraling.  The failsafe started to pull me back from sensation and memory.  There in the empty space with me was the other me.  Crap, I just cock-blocked myself!

    'OMG! I didn't even consider how awkward this would be with two of me!'

    *Yeah that was a bit surprising… but I guess not that surprising actually.  I now get social anxiety over interacting with myself!  Yay!*

    'Don't worry, you'll probably find something embarrassing in the consensus at some point that entirely distracts and messes me up too.'  

    The sparkling presence that made up the other me within the void suddenly gained a spectral hand.  Ey reached out to my essence and gently made contact.  A soft electric tingle rolled in a wave across my thoughts, leaving comfort in it's wake.  I shivered and relaxed into that touch.  In that moment, I felt both of us, the divergence of mood and thought that had been building, culminating in the moment my failsafe started to pull us both into the void.  In that moment ey touched me, we were in sync and the divergence was gone.  The overriding thought of that moment of synchronicity was how much we both very much wanted to get back to Sylph.  Sylph who moments ago had been naked and straddling my body, and she was probably concerned now.

    The connection was separated, hand removed.  *Well that was an interesting and pleasant sensation*

    'Yeah.  I didn't know that would happen. I just needed to comfort you.'

    *And I needed the comfort… which is probably what you felt, being me and all…  Anyways, you should get back to Sylph, I'll be okay now.  I can work with Fungie to tune things out.*

    My other self turned back to me, a mischievous glint in eir presence.  'Yeah, you could do that…  Would you like to join us instead?'

    We both knew the answer to this question right away.  The idea formed mutually between us.  One instance connecting with Sylph in the physical world, one instance connecting with her in the mental.  The two of us working together, overlaying two dimensions of contact with Sylph to show her how much we loved and desired her.  With a mental nod we both turned to focus on Sylph.

---

 

     My body was relaxed when I came back to it, laying on my back in Sylph's bed.  Sylph was laying next to me, gently stroking my hair.  I opened my eyes, turned to look at her, and smiled.  "I'm back."

    She smiled back at me, concern filling her big glowing eyes. "Are you okay?"

    "I am now."  I leaned into her hand.  "That feels very nice."  I took a moment to further enjoy her fingers on my scalp.  "So, unsurprisingly, my other self felt us getting a little horny and it overwhelmed poor other me feeling left out, but not actually… but we have an idea."  The mischievous glint I gave my other self was back now in the form of a smirk upon my face.

     Sylph's face shifted as she received a sharing of the idea from my other instance.  The warm concerned smile moving through shock to amusement to desire.  She nodded and I lifted up on my side to kiss her.  

    The actions of other me overlaid upon my memory.  Ey was directly connected with Sylph, projecting eirself as a physical form pressed up behind her, touching and kissing her as well.  My instance of brain made sense of our overlaid memory through me seeing a spectral image of another me.  I could see, but not touch, but for Sylph, it was as if two of us were now on the bed with her, entirely focused on her.

    We were going to have a lot of fun tonight.