"I could pull them out and make them not be in pain anymore. I don't know whether they'll be able to say what they want, at that point, but I'm willing to try."

"Okay, let's do that." The Davids are surprisingly in agreement. It's a very strange feeling to know that a version of you is suffering out there somewhere—or would be suffering, if he understands how the bar room door works—and that you're in a room full of people who feel basically the way you do about it. Similar to how he doesn't have to look over to see Alioth's rigid posture and determined expression. It's worse, somehow, when it's happening to someone who isn't you, he realizes.

"Alright. Would it go better if a few of you came upstairs to a comfortable bedroom or should I just put them right here?"

Oh. "Good idea—I'd definitely want a private room if it was me. I mean, it sort of is me, but—you know what I mean." Despite intellectually understanding the situation with the door, he can't help feel overwhelming urgent jitters. The atmosphere is thick with it.

"Listen, don't—this is your thing. You know I'll be up there in a heartbeat if you want me to be, but I don't have to. Just take care of things and—let us know when you know, okay?"

"Aw c'mon, Allie." David says blithely, like he doesn't see her holding her composure together with both hands. "All of us got the big surprise of seeing you when we got pulled out. We can't deprive the next guy of the same experience."

While one David waits expectantly by the door to their world, he and Alioth and a second David peel off from the group with a minimal flutter of negotiation, and stand by the cloud of blue sparkles as if to say We're ready. Lead the way.

"I'm still watching down here too, so I can see out the door for the extraction," they say, splitting off a smaller cloud of blue glitter shaped like a cartoon eye to mark their scrying sensor and leading the rest of the party upstairs.

As of the moment before Anda opens the door, the room contains a comfy bed, some flowering plants, chairs for everyone including one for not-here-yet David, and soft blue carpet that must be well over an inch deep.

And once everyone is settled in and a downstairs David cracks the door for a moment: one more corrupted file, one David in the bed in perfect physical health like the rest of them.

David⁂: [ony-agony-agony-agony-ag] [silence]

David⁂: Imago...? Is it over?

But he doesn't feel any different. The white, impossible pain is gone, and ordinary thoughts trickle slowly back, belonging only to him. And he feels like ordinary David. He opens his eyes onto an unfamiliar room.

"What happened?" he mumbles.

"You got captured by the Affini and uploaded, but you're out and you're safe now. The Affini made a bunch of copies of you and some of them are here and some are downstairs. We're in a space outside the universe."

"They were hurting you pretty bad," adds Alioth softly. "How does it feel now?"

"What? NO!" David⁂ sits up and looks around. Bewilderingly, there are two identically-dressed clones of himself standing anxiously nearby, along with a cloud of blue glitter, and— "Alioth? Now why the ████ did you go and do that for?" Looking at her suddenly stricken face, he knows he's being unfair, but the gravity of what he just lost...

"You don't understand anything! That implant was a test, and I was going to earn it. You break in front of Her, and she holds every shard. She promised I'd be— she said that nothing would ever—"

To his complete embarrassment, and entirely without warning, David, beloved of the Affini, sobs ugly hot tears onto the blue bedspread.

This was supposed to be private.

I don't even know if She'll have me back anymore.

Oh dear, did Anda interfere in someone's consensual sex life? Extremely cringe and fail of them if so. They look at the other Davids for some sign as to whether this is the sort of thing it's in the nature of Davids to do and also whether they should fuck off back downstairs or stick around or offer to put this David back or what.

The other Davids are mortified and confused! They would never act like this! Like, yes, the guy has apparently been in a lot of pain but also!!

While one goes to comfort Alioth and maybe suggest wandering downstairs together for a bit, the other turns to Anda and as discreetly as possible, tries to communicate "what do we do now. do we put him back? that seems sort of evil. can you deprogram him?"

This is a private telepathy channel with just you two, Anda says to the two communicative Davids. I really don't want to mess with someone's mind without their consent. Consent from a close fork is almost as good but I'd like to know more of what's going on first. The Davids should find replying by telepathy easy and intuitive.

Out loud: "Is it okay if I read your memories to understand you better?"

⁂: "No!! What? You're—glitter! I don't even know you."
D: "Dude, you've got to chill."

Can you calm him down somehow? Put him in a time chamber until he's normal? Make him an actual chill pill? This is so messed up.

"David, it's fine. I said I'm fine—Anda, you grant wishes, don't you? Can you figure out what this David's wish is?"

"I don't have to be glitter if you'd rather I looked like a human or something; I started out human. Is there anything you want me to do or any situation you'd consider an improvement on your current one?"

⁂: "It's not about— " With a sudden violent motion, David⁂ beats his fists against his face. "Augh! I want to go home! But I can't anymore! She promised me that once the Affini had me, they would never let go. 'No power in the known universe can separate an Affini from her floret or lessen her devotion by one bit.' That's the first thing they promise, when they're just voices; the gifts, the pain, all that builds on that absolute trust. Well I guess I've been ruined, now! I don't even know if I want to forget, since it's true they're not—not all-powerful. I don't know if they'll have me. I don't think they'll want any cuttings of me. But just send me back."

Uh, okay, I...don't feel comfortable about sending this guy back, honestly. Wouldn't be fair to him, because he's not thinking straight—what happens when he changes his mind half a year from now?—and I don't want a brainwashed version of me floating around out there doing who knows what while looking like me.

Yeah, and if they've got him, then they can probably just rewind him to make more of me if they want—no thanks, I'll pass. Although I guess they can already do that since they scanned the original David...

They can already do that, yeah, I was going to get to that after this one was okay--a bunch of the ones who thought they were just running around on Fovos didn't believe me or didn't want to stop doing what they were doing. So they could copy more off of those. But we have options there.

"I don't know a lot about Affini. But I know some things about love and devotion. And if someone really loves you, then being temporarily separated from them by someone else isn't going to make them love you less. I could destroy your physical form and unscramble your data pattern in their computer, and from your perspective and theirs it would be like you never came here, just like you stopped existing for a fraction of a second and then started again. But if you want that, then before I do it, I'd really like to understand a little more about why. So I don't accidentally hurt anyone else the way I hurt you."

A heavy sigh as David⁂ tries to calm down enough to think straight. If there are other florets like him, he really does want to stop Alioth and the rest from well-intentionedly ruining their lives.

⁂: "I can explain it, but that doesn't mean you'll get it. I mean, I thought they were brainwashers, too, before I knew. But the story goes: imagine you knew that somewhere out there in the universe, maybe far in the future, is a person who adores you—you in particular. They know all about you and cannot wait to meet you and are coming to be with you as fast as they can. Imagine what that kind of certainty does for you when times are tough. They can heal any wound or weakness. They can lift you out of any struggle—make you better than any challenge you'll face. And whenever you'd cut off pieces of yourself to fit how the world wants you to be, or punish yourself out of hatred, or cower from your greatness because you're afraid or think you're worthless—they heal that too. No more knots in the soul."

⁂: "Like, I know I had a pretty good life beforehand, but I—I really liked the David I could have become with them. There's something about...if you can submit to someone's trust completely, you can find all the hidden places in yourself—things too vulnerable to know alone, and so you never do—and give them peace. You can grow in whole new directions. I—my other implants are gone, too, or maybe just deactivated. But you become like Them, eventually. That's the story. That's what they want the whole universe to sing about them. That somewhere out there, they love you enough to find you wherever you are tired and hurting, and that they will never give up on you. I really believed they were powerful enough to keep me safe through anything I'd ever suffer again. It was...really nice."

Anda has had thoughts about something like that, sometimes, about whether they could really be a friend to every individual person in a world. It turns out they can't, not without way more self-modification than they're willing to do. They can be friendly with everyone, they can be helpful to everyone, but genuine friendship and affection is always going to be rarer.

"The one who loves you, did they make the other Davids? Or was that someone else?"

⁂: "The one who loved me was called Imago." Sad small laugh. "She wanted that name and that voice, even though an Affini body carries enough minds inside her that she is never really just one person. It felt like she was...the whole world, and the only thing in it. She was cultivating me, you know? Starting from that original David and finding ways to build upward. I guess I don't know for sure who made the Davids or how much She was really doing Herself. But I saw a few offshoots of me before I was taken, and they were all Hers."

"Did you know how many other Davids existed before a few minutes ago? Did Imago explain why they wanted to cause you a lot of pain? Did they ask your permission?"