Sam woke up in her bed. She was immediately filled with worry when she saw she had been changed into pajamas. Her heart started pounding, had Kat seen her?

“Sam, are you awake?” Kat asked, poking her head in the door. “Rea’s here, she's going with us to the amusement park.”

“Oh really? That’s awesome,” she sighed. “Hey sis… did you change me?”

“Huh? No, you did, though it was adorable you were so exhausted you started undressing right in front of me,” she smiled, seeing Sam's worried face she continued. “Don't worry, I looked away. Then helped you into bed. Hurry up, I've already made breakfast.” 

A half-hour later, the three girls were climbing into a rented car. Sam had a big smile on her face as she excitedly stared out the car windows. 

“You know, Sam, I’m surprised you’re still wearing your CID,” Rea said from the front seat.

“I feel better when I have it on,” she replied. “Plus Hanna helps a lot.”

“Hanna?” Rea asked with confusion.

“Right, you have that AI assistant,” Kat said. “I should get the new model too. Mine came with our beta tester kits. They were pre-release models.”

“Cool. Cool,” Rea said, “What can she do?”

Sam spent the rest of the drive explaining about Hanna. Her explanation got increasingly animated as she spoke. By the time they had arrived, she had gone on a tangent. And was talking about how similar she was to various anime.

“Hey, you little goof, we’re here,” Kat said with a smile. Her sister had been awkward lately whenever she wasn’t in Loreth, especially the past few days. Kat assumed it was her dealing with dysphoria. Seeing her like her old self reassured Kat. The three girls made their way to the park entrance. Sam’s face was lit up with excitement, she looked just like a little kid again.

“Kat… help, your sister is being adorable,” Rea said.

“Yea, she is,” Kat replied, her expression relieved.

“See, it’s fine,” Rea said, placing her hand on Kat's shoulder reassuringly.

She let out a sigh, not wanting to spoil the mood with her worries. But she was trapped, she had made an appointment with a therapist, but it was still two months out. Worrying wouldn’t help, so she decided to push it to the back of her mind and try to enjoy herself. Besides, Sam seemed to be in a good mood, and she didn't want to spoil it. 

Sam looked around in awe. It was her first time coming to an amusement park. When she was young, her sister promised to bring her, but they were never able to make it. She was too busy taking care of important things. Sam eventually stopped asking. After they got their parent's inheritance, she thought she was too old for the amusement park. But she also thought she was a boy, and that boys had to stop being childish once they became teenagers. 

It was a weekday, so there wasn’t a long line. There would still be plenty of waiting inside, though. A sign at the front park had talked about a partnership with VesTech to host a CID augmented reality experience. Upon entering the park, Sam was prompted to install the app, which she did. After opening it up it gave a short explanation, each of the rides had its own experience. Meanwhile, the whole park had received a themed appearance.

“What that's so lame… mine doesn’t have a retention system, so I left I home.” Kat said, frowning after her sister mentioned the app. “It's not fair that Sam will be the only one…” she stopped talking once she saw Rea take hers from a pocket. “You traitor.”

Rea smiled. “What? I always have it on me…” She faltered as Kat flashed her a death glare. “Look, there's a stand selling CID.”

She pointed to a small stall near the entrance. They were indeed selling Cid and even had a small setup to install them instantly instead of the overnight home kits.

“You did say you were thinking of getting a new one, sissy,” Sam said. 

“Fine, I guess I’ll buy one,” she replied and grudgingly joined the line. It went fairly quickly, there were only five people in front of them, and only three of them got a CID. Once it was Kat’s turn, she stepped forward.

After making her purchase, she sat on a nearby bench and did the basic setup. A few minutes later, she had downloaded the app and was seeing what Rea and Sam were. It was pretty neat, and she hoped it would build adoption of the CID. They were a really cool device and unlike some sci-fi novels or manga, there were already strict laws in place governing what they can and can not do. They also were able to strictly enforce age laws in games and apps. Which helped with their approval. 

The three girls were waiting in line for a coaster, which had been taken over by aliens. They had to fend off the aliens with laser blasters, there was even a kill counter and scoreboard. Some of the kids were having fierce competition. Sam was currently peeking from fake cover and was scored third on the leaderboard.  

“Good job holding the position, now board the evac shuttle,” came a man's voice through a fake radio in the app. 

The ride attendants checked their restraints, making sure the ride was safe. They took up their assigned positions and gave the signal to go. The ride operator pressed go and the coaster began to move. A fake countdown began in the app. As the coaster began its climb, a UFO rose up alongside it. The aliens began to blast the coaster but hit a force field. Its surface crackles with energy from each blast.

The voice prompted them again to brace for a jump as the coaster reached the top of the hill. As it fell, a warp star effect overlaid their vision as it plunged downwards. The UFO kept pace with the coaster, flying around it as it went through the banks and curves. As they went through the loop the UFO flew through it and for a moment they were looking at its top. As they went up a second hill, an allied ship showed up and began to shoot the UFO. Both ships flashing with light and energy. As they reached the second drop, the UFO exploded moments before they jumped again. At the end of the ride, they “landed” back on Earth and exited the coaster. An augmented display blocked the queue, which helped the illusion. 

“That was so cool,” Sam said excitedly as she bounced and giggled. 

“That was pretty neat, it’ll totally change theme parks everywhere. Imagine an interchangeable ride where you can have different experiences,” Kat said with a grin, her gamer mind working on all kinds of scenarios and themes. 

“This needs to catch on,” Rea said.

They went on several more rides, a boat ride that was being plundered by pirates. A car ride through a city under siege by a super villain. A wooden roller coaster ride through a cataclysmic disaster. Even between rides, there was plenty to do, the food court had been transformed into a fantasy fair. The girls recognized many of the races as ones from Loreth Online. Unlike the game, they paid no attention to the real people around them, other than to avoid running into the ones wearing CID.

After dark, the rides all changed to night scenarios. Some were similar, but others were fundamentally different. The coaster became horror themed, and around the park roamed monsters, mostly fantasy ones, but there were a few “horror movie” monsters. They stayed until the speakers announced that closing time was in one hour. 

Sam begged to go on one more ride, but her sister put her foot down. “We want to try and miss most of the park traffic.”

She pouted and was led along by her sister. Rea was teasing them both. As they passed the booth, the CID guy was still there. He asked them to fill out a quick survey on their park experience, which they did. The man handed them ten-dollar gift cards for the CID app store. The three of them climbed into the rented car and went to their next stop. Traveling to a nice sit down place for a late dinner.

“So, Rea, how are you liking the game?” Sam asked.

“It's fun, we have been progressing slowly but steadily. We’re only level nine. How about you two.”

“We’re both level fifteen,” Kat answered

“What how?” 

“We’re special,” Sam giggled. 

“You’re both cheaters,” she whined.

Sam stuck out her tongue, and giggled. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you leveled up sometime.”

“Sure, we definitely need to play again.”

“So are you coming home Rea?”

“No, I'm being picked up after dinner.”

“Awww,” Sam pouted. “Well, still we should play sometime soon.”

The tree girls caught up with each other. Drinking, not alcohol, eating and laughing. The food was wonderful, Sam’s taste had returned to normal. Maybe her transformation? Whatever, she had time to think about it later. For now, it was time to have fun.

*****

It was late when they both returned home. Sam was falling asleep on her feet as Kat helped her through the door. Her sister was so adorable, Kat could almost feel her sister's nearness. 

“Let's get you changed, you goofball,” Kat said.

Her sister had a great day today, the dark cloud that hovered over her seemed to disappear, at least for today.

“But I don't wanna go back,” Sam said, falling asleep on her feet.

She carried her sleepy sister to her room and grabbed some pajamas for her, handing them to her. The girl pulling her shorts down, Kat saw the slight peek of her sister's panties before she turned around. She didn’t really expect her sister to be wearing girl's underwear already. The sleepy girl tossing her clothes on the dressed. 

“You adorable dork,” Kat said, helping her sister climb into bed.

“I love you, sissy,” Sam said softly, her voice light and musical.

“I love you too, Sam, get some rest,” she replied, giving her sister a kiss on the cheek. For a moment, something drew her attention to the slumbering girl. She was so cute, more so than Kat remembered. She softly closed the door and went to her room. Yawing, she changed into her pajamas and went to bed. Work was going to be a pain in the morning.