Author's note:

Hi! So glad you came across this story. I got the random idea from one of my girlfriends and just decided to run with it, and I'm already falling in love with this premise and these characters, so I hope you will too. To all readers of To Be Myself, it's not on hiatus while I write this, I'll be writing both these stories at the same time. To those who like fantasy, gender bender, and transgender elements but haven't read my other works, I think you might enjoy them if you enjoy this. Anyway everyone, enjoy the first chapter and have a wonderful day :)

Today’s the day! I thought to myself as soon as I woke up between my girlfriends. A whole few days off for all of us to enjoy a game we’ve been waiting for since it was announced a year ago. Survival of the Fittest for the Zeeta. Full dive VR is still a pretty new invention by today’s standards, with the first machines being released only a few years ago, which means not many games were out yet. The ones that did exist were massive. Universe simulation space pirates, fantasy and sci-fi MMORPGS, and single player games that have AI almost indistinguishable from real human beings. And now, today, one of the first big multiplayer survival games was being released. As soon as it was announced I texted my girlfriends “So uhm… What if we were all girls and we survived in nature together and we lived in a treehouse and slept in the same bed? As roommates of course, totally roommates!” And linked the trailer to the game. 

Suffice to say they were on board pretty quick. I reached over my blonde girlfriend Ella and stealthily grabbed my phone without waking her up. 10 a.m. The game launched at midnight last night, but when I said these games were huge, I wasn’t lying. I imagine the automatic downloads on our machines could be done by now, but why not make my girls breakfast and wake them up at 11? 

I sneak out of my bed and make my way towards our apartment kitchen. Skye was the real cook between the 3 of us, but she sort of distributed a bit of her magical skills between me and Ella, so I’m not quite as useless in the kitchen as I used to be. Mostly. I checked the fridge. Plenty of eggs, some deli meat, and some leftover chicken from last night. A little bit of cheese and that’d make some decent omelets, sure. Several egg cracks, some low heat, a little bit of salt and pepper, an addition of chicken and cheese and omelet folding later, I was done. Three omelets, perfectly edible for me and the two most important girls in my life. 

After totally not getting close to dropping the plates and utensils on my way to the room, I placed them on one of our nightstands. “Baaaabes, breakfast.” I said in a low voice, just a bit lower than I’d like. God I wish voice training was easier. Both of them stirred a little, so I kissed them both on the foreheads to make them both wake a little more.

“Mmm, Tina?” Skye said, still obviously half asleep, but her eyes slowly opening to the sight of my face.

“Why yes, beautiful?” I replied.

“Oh you shut it.” She kissed me on the lips and looked at the omelets at her side on the nightstand. “Awww babe, you made us breakfast? You’re the best!”

“I do try, yes.” I said sarcastically.

“Keep being a brat and you’re going to get kissed.” Ella said, now fully awake and watching the antics of her girlfriends. I crawl over to her on the bed and kiss her on the lips.

“Mmm, that’d be terrible, wouldn’t it? Just the worst.” 

“You’re just an impossible brat, aren’t you?” Ella jokingly questioned.

“Yup, now let’s eat these omelets before they get cold and then we can see if our download is done.”

“OH SHIT!” Skye loudly realized and we looked over to her in surprise. “I uh… forgot for a second.” I giggled, and she grabbed the plates, passing ours over to us. She took a bite of her omelet and gave a satisfied smile. “The chicken from last night? Nice.”

“Thought it’d be less boring then just reheating it.” I said.

“And you were right honeybun.” Ella said. “This shit is gooood.”

We quickly ate our meals and grabbed our Zeeta’s from inside the nightstand by our bed. They weren’t like most early sci-fi depictions of full dive VR, with helmets or cool looking pods or anything, they were more like choker necklaces with a small piece in the back that connects to the back of your head and sticks in a bit. Not enough for injury or damage or anything, but it needs a direct link to the head. We stuck ours on and laid down next to each other. The piece stuck in and left a small prick feeling in my skin, and suddenly I could feel a new part of my proprioception. The device in a way joins in on your body’s natural activity, acting as if it were another limb or section of the brain. While a scary thought on the surface, there were about a billion failsafes in place to prevent any real accidents or incidents from happening. 

I kiss both my girlfriends before we all will ourselves into VRspace. A moment later I’m inside of my home environment. A cozy recreation of our own apartment, with little bits of the impossible thrown in for the hell of it. An upside down waterfall here, A holographic computer there, etc. etc. This was a shared home for me and my girls, so a second later they showed up as well. 

“Hey babes, how are your downloads?” I bring up my HUD to check my own and find it just finishing up installation. I see them bring up theirs as well, but I can’t check it myself since all HUDs are private view unless given permission by the user. 

“Mine’s done here.” Skye says.

“So is mine.” Ella replies.

“Awesome! Just a couple secoooonds for miiine aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we’re done!” I smile. “Ready darlings?”

They both nod and smile back. 

“Ok, so plan is we all enter the same instance, message each other our locations on the map, and find a good meeting place in between?” Ella asks.

“Agreed. I checked the server statuses earlier and it looks like most of them are full, but the Omicron world looks good. It’s a multi biome server with tons of different weather. Depending on spawn location it may be a tough start. I’m hoping we all spawn in an area with a good amount of greenery and clean water, but there’s a very good chance we’ll all die a couple times to get to a good starting location.” I say. 

“Please tell me the pain receptors in this game are low, dying from heat stroke or hypothermia does not sound fun.” Sky says.

“They’re changeable in the character customization menu, and customizable in game. They’re probably facing lawsuits if not.” I reply.

She breathes a sigh of relief, and after a bit more conversation about plans and the early game, we all hit the launch button. I’m offered a warning that the game features a bit of time dilation that may feel uncomfortable at first until my brain gets used to it. I was already aware, the game gives you one day of time in one hour of real world time, which was about the current limit given to us by technology in terms of time dilation. Our own home environment is programmed to give us a day per two hours, which is much more comfortable to launch in and more than enough time to get any work done for our jobs and hobbies. One hour per day would be perfect for a long term survival game like this though. That means that for seven hours of play a whole week would pass in game, which is perfect for someone to get a normal night of sleep. Fulldive acts a lot like sleep in that it rests the normal functions of the brain, though research was still being done on if it was a sufficient equivalent for real sleep. Different people have different results. I’ve heard it’s been revolutionary for people who suffer from things like insomnia. 

Generally I do enjoy a real sleep pretty often and so do Ella and Skye. And it’s sort’ve an excuse for some real world sex every now and then, though I still haven’t been able to get the SRS I’ve so desired, so real world and fulldive sex both have their own merits. More sensory information versus having zero dysphoria. You win some, you lose some after all. 

I enter into the game's character creator and do my usual settings. Set the default appearance to look like me, set the gender to female, and change up a few settings to remove any of the less desired parts of my body. HRT had been kind, but not completely kind. What I’m left with is a young woman with deep red hair, some freckles, and a small but pretty tall body. Just enough curves and boobs that there’s no question to my gender by dumb cis people, and a bit extra softeness that I’m sure my girls will appreciate, hehe. Behold, my transition goal! An… average looking girl on the slightly attractive side, and very much the type of girl you’d see on the street and think “Yeah she’s probably gay.” (It’s true). 

I click the Omicron server, and unsurprisingly for a survival game, I get no tutorial. After a short time in the cool black space of a loading screen, I feel myself lying on the ground. The sound of the ocean is near, and it feels like I’m laying on sand. I feel the light breeze pass over me, and I quickly realize I’m very naked. My eyes shoot open. 

Ok Christina, you’re on a beach near the ocean, and you’re completely naked. What's the plan?