Michael

The sound of people groaning and shuffling around filled Michael’s ears. His consciousness felt fuzzy as he gradually began to wake up.

I can’t get comfortable. Why is my bed so hard and bumpy…?

As he struggled to find a sleeping position that didn’t hurt, he gradually realized that all the groaning wasn’t just a podcast left on or something. It was coming from real people, including himself.

Why did I sleep in a room with so many people? I did that in college once. Had enough of drinking after that. There’s no way I would’ve gotten drunk again, though, especially not after…

The fogginess in his head was fading, and he was finally clearheaded enough to remember Luna. His eyes shot open and he bolted upright.

Looking around, he found himself in a vast room, dimly lit and made entirely of stone. There were stone pillars throughout, which were lined with glowing stones, as were the walls. What looked to be at least a few thousand people were all rolling around in pain on the rocky ground, with only a handful of them having woken up like he did.

As most of them weren’t human, he realized they were all probably other players, or at least NPCs. The ones who had managed to get up already were looking around, just as bewildered as he was.

How did I get into the game? We never actually started playing… And VR isn’t advanced enough to simulate this kind of pain. What the hell’s going on here?

He looked around and saw Luna, or rather, the avatar she had created. She was in pain just like he had been only a moment ago. He reached out to wake her up, but stopped.

What’s with my hand? It’s not mine or even my avatar’s.

He looked at the rest of his body, and what he saw was light skin, pale blue hair, and even breasts.

“What the hell…?” he muttered in an unfamiliar voice, one that was higher and softer than it should’ve been.

But I didn’t actually create this character?! Doing that even costs money and I wouldn’t have wasted money on something like that!

Luna let out another pained groan. Michael then tried to log them out, but the UI wouldn’t pop up.

Oh, come on, now what?

He sighed.

Luna first, everything else later.

He reached out again with his foreign hand and gently shook his daughter.

“Luna. Sweetie, it’s time to wake up.”

The girl only groaned again in response. Having to wait, Michael then looked around the room more carefully and spotted Amber lying not too far away from him.

Shaking Amber’s shoulder this time, he said, “Amber. Wake up. I need your help.”

His friend groaned in pain, and he groaned in frustration. He shook her again.

“Amber! Please wake up!”

Slowly, her eyes opened.

“Huh…?” she muttered as she looked at him confusedly.

“Amber, I’m Michael. I don’t know what happened, but somehow I’m logged in as this character I didn’t actually create, I can’t log us out, and we’re in this weird place full of people who are in pain.”

She looked around, taking in the bizarre sight as her consciousness caught up to reality. “Michael…?” she finally said.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Where’s Luna? Oh, right here. Um…” Amber tried all the mental, physical, and oral commands to open the UI, but nothing at all worked for her, either. “Okay, this is strange and concerning, but let’s help Luna, first.”

They moved to either side of Luna and tried shaking her again. It took a while, but she did eventually wake up. The girl looked between the two of them.

“Amber? And…” Luna clearly recognized Michael’s temporarily-altered avatar, but had no idea it was him in that body.

Michael showed a small smile that he wasn’t actually feeling. “Hey, sweetie. You remember creating your character, and then your dad changed his to show you how yours would look in the future, right?”

She nodded.

“Well, I’m your dad. Somehow, I’m now playing as that character. I look like this, but it’s me in here.”

I’m pretty sure she understands that people’s appearances can be drastically different in VR, so I hope she can accept this…

“You’re Dad?”

He nodded. “Yeah, it’s me, sweetie.”

Her eyes started watering as she wrapped her arms around him.

“I know you’re not Mom, but I miss her.”

He held her close and gently rubbed her back. “Yeah, I miss her, too.”

This is awful. I guess I am technically a female parent at the moment, though.

After a while, Amber asked, “Mike, are you doing okay?”

“About as much as I can be, I suppose,” he responded. He noted that the number of awake people had now reached the hundreds while they had been sitting there. Those other people were trying to wake up the others around them and discussing with each to figure out what was going on. No one had approached them yet, though.

“I mean your body. It all feels completely real now, right? You’re not experiencing any gender dysphoria?”

He frowned and paid attention to all the sensations he could feel. “…I’m not sure? I like my real body, and while I don’t want to be in this one, I don’t seem to be having that feeling of wrongness I’ve heard about. It feels weird, but not exactly wrong. I’m not really sure why that’s the case.”

“Hmm… Well, as long as you’re not feeling bad. Keep an eye on it, though, and tell me if you start to feel that way.”

“Yeah, I will. Have you noticed anything about yourself that feels off?”

She shook her head. “It feels pretty much just like my real body.” She touched her pointy ears. “Except for these, but longer ears aren’t that big of a deal. I don’t have any major physical changes to deal with.”

A small orc man and a muscular tigerkin woman walked up to them. The orc had blond hair with purple streaks, indicating [Light] element magic with a modifier for applying buffs and debuffs, which was referred to as the [State] modifier. The tigerkin had green hair with deep red streaks, indicating [Wind] element magic and the [Impact] modifier, which allowed her to hit things harder. Like everyone else in the cavernous space they were in, they were wearing nothing but shoddy tunics.

“Are you three okay?” the orc asked.

Amber replied, “Feeling better after waking up, but thoroughly confused and concerned.”

The tigerkin sighed. “Same with everyone else so far. No one knows what’s going on. If you’re not waiting for anyone else to wake up, we could head to the larger group that’s forming if you like?”

Michael shared a look with his friend and looked down at his daughter, who was just turning her head toward whoever was speaking while still holding onto him.

“Yeah, let’s go,” he replied.

She nodded. “I’m Sarah, and this is Victor.”

“I’m Michael, and this is my daughter, Luna.”

“’Michael’?”

“Huh? …Oh, I’m not used to this, sorry. My avatar was actually a snakekin man, but somehow I ended up like this instead.”

“What do you mean?” Victor asked, concerned.

He explained to them how his current appearance was just supposed to be an example for his daughter in the character creation process.

“That’s rough. Are you doing alright? Like, any discomfort or anything?”

Michael then repeated what he had said to Amber, about how it feels unfamiliar, yet still normal somehow.

Sarah replied, “My cousin is trans and I’ve seen her go through a lot, so it’s good that there don’t seem to be any major problems like that right now.
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“But, uh… because this game allowed for so much freedom in character creation, there were a lot of trans people who loved it. That then resulted in a bunch of transphobes playing just so they could try to find and harass them.
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“So, just for now, I think that introducing yourself with that name could be bad, at least until you know you can trust someone.”

He scowled.

I really don’t want to deal with this shit. But they’re right. I’ve never personally experienced harassment like that, but I’ve seen it happen.

Sighing, he said, “Michelle, then. It’s not too different, I guess.” He knelt back down to his daughter’s level. “Luna, sweetie?”

“Yeah, uh… Dad?”

“Until we log out, I need you to call me ‘Mom’, okay? Can you do that?”

“Okay, um… Mom!”

He closed his eyes. This is way too surreal. We need to get back to reality.

“Um… M-Mom?” Luna asked, confused over whether she was referring to me correctly.

“Sorry, sweetie. Just keep calling me Mom for now, okay?”

She nodded. “Okay.”

“And I’m Amber,” his friend added, now that the two of them were sorted out.

The five of them walked toward the large group, avoiding the squirming people on the ground along the way. Luna was holding her dad’s hand and sticking close to him.

“Are you sure that’s okay?” Amber asked him.

“Not really sure, but for now, I don’t know what kinds of attitudes the other players might have. I’d rather deal with as little hostility as possible in this situation,” he said.

“I understand that much, but you looked kind of pained back there.”

“…It felt wrong, in the sense that I’m not the one who should be called that. It’s also strange because this isn’t my identity.”
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Before Amber could comment on that, he added, “But it’s not gender identity stuff. I don’t understand why I’m not feeling bothered. Like, this doesn’t feel normal, but I’m not like screaming to get out of my skin or anything.”

“Well… Okay, then. But please tell me if there is anything like that.”

He nodded. “I will. I’ll need your help if that happens. Not that you aren’t already being helpful.”

“I want to help, too!” Luna interrupted.

He smiled at her. “Yeah, I’ll be counting on you.”

“What do you need help with? I don’t get it.”

The four adults all laughed a little at Luna’s adorableness.

Amber told her, “Your… mother, just wants someone to keep an eye on her. If it looks like she’s hurt or not feeling well, could you come and tell me?”

“Okay! I’ll keep you safe, M-Mom!”

He hugged her. “Yeah, I’ll be counting you, sweetie.”