Virtuality

"It’s ready."

Daphne looked up to see a familiar face. Well, not all that familiar. She’d met Cody in this bar for the first time less than an hour ago. And just over half an hour ago he’d made her a rather interesting proposition.

Even though Daphne wasn’t all that well acquainted with the virtual world, she knew the basics. She’d become accustomed to being propositioned by all sorts of people to do all sorts of things, even in a world as tame as MetroScape. Real or otherwise, the bar scene never changed. But this fellow actually had something she wanted, at a price that seemed quite reasonable.

Money made even the virtual world go round, except here people the currency was experiences and program modules. Cody had offered her a module that would give her a new avatar to choose from. In the old days, people could choose their avatars, but that had resulted in too many worlds filled with superstars and supermodels. So the Domain Lords of each virtual world laid down ground rules limiting what utilities the system made available, and everyone started off with a computer issued image to use in all worlds. Daphne’s avatar, like most other people’s, was based loosely on her real form, loosely on some of her preferences the computer picked from her list, and a little bit of random generation. It wasn’t that she didn’t like how she looked. She was reasonably attractive, slim with long dark hair, and the snug red jumpsuit she usually wore displayed her form quite nicely. But she’d always wanted the virtual world to be her fantasy world, and why settle for less than perfect if you don’t have to?

And that’s where the Coders came in. Coders were computer programmers with the advanced knowledge of physics, materials sciences, three-dimensional modeling, and artificial intelligence required to write software for virtual worlds. Those who had the finances to purchase a V-Net Domain became Lords, and some were employed by Lords to help program worlds, but most remained Players. And depending on the rules of a particular world, a Coder could modify his or her environment. While an ordinary Player usually had to play the game to earn his own room in a virtual world, a Coder might just build his own. Cody had claimed to be a gamma class Coder, which meant avatar modification was well within his means. It was likely he had a collection of dozens to choose from for himself. Of course, men in bars have exaggerated to women about their prowess for centuries. But since it had apparently taken him less than half an hour to produce her new body, she was now inclined to believe him.

"So what’s the deal again?"

"Quite simple," he smiled. Young looking and handsome, this was obviously one of his custom avatars. "I give you the code module, and you get the body of your dreams. But to do this I need access to your avatar. In exchange, you have to do as I say for the rest of this login. Basically, I get to play with you." Another smile.

"And the limits?"

"You grant any request I have, to the best of your abilities. But there will be no sex, no pain."

No sex? That was an odd one, since that was often what men went online in search of. But that still left a lot wide open, and the whole thing had the ring of making a deal with the devil. Still, a new avatar was a rare and valued commodity for those weren’t skilled in the art of Coding, and an hour of serving as this man’s plaything was probably well worth it. Daphne was still mulling it over.

Cody wasn’t new to this sort of arrangement, and knew how to close a deal. "How about this? I’ll give you the module now, and you can see if it’s everything I promised. If it’s not, I’ll just take it back and the deal’s off."

Daphne raised an eyebrow. "A free sample?" Either this guy was really good, or he had something extraordinarily bizarre in store for her. Or perhaps both. "Ok! I’ll do it!" A quick flick of a thought, and she transmitted the access code. She wasn’t worried, since it changed at every login.

Cody’s face lit up with glee. "Wonderful! Here’s the module, as promised."

It took a few seconds for her to receive all of the data. Daphne took a deep breath in preparation. "Alright, let’s see if this works." She switched to the new avatar module.

She wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was surprisingly fast. Her body shimmered briefly, and then it was done. Her dull brown hair was now a lustrous auburn, about shoulder length. Her skin was flawless, features sculpted, eyes an intense blue. And her red jumpsuit was now clinging to a taller, more athletic body with firmly rounded curves that were already attracting attention. "Wow," Daphne gasped.

"Wow, indeed," Cody responded. "Is it to your liking?"

"Yes. Oh my, yes," she was running her hands over her new body, admiring her face in the mirror on the other side of the bar.

"Then we have a deal?"

Last chance to back out. But it was too good a deal. One hour, how bad could it be? "It’s deal!"

"Excellent." Daphne wasn’t sure she cared for the way he rubbed his hands together when he said that.

"Ok, I’m yours for the next hour. What do you want to do first?"

"It’s alright, you can finish your drink," he said. They made small talk for a few minutes. Funny he didn’t feel pressed for time.

"You had some doubts about my Coding ability, didn’t you?" he asked.

"At first, yes." She glanced down at herself. "But not anymore."

"Let me show you some of the things a really good programmer can do," he smirked. "My first request."

"Go ahead."

"It’s simple really. I just want you to take a very deep breath. Don’t stop until I say so."

She giggled. "Alright, this shouldn’t take long." She let her breath out and started inhaling.

Cody couldn’t suppress a soft chuckle when he saw the perplexed look on her face. She kept inhaling, and with a start realized her breasts were filling with air. Surprised, she stopped.

"No, keep going." Cody gestured for her to continue.

What have I gotten myself into? Daphne started to inhale again, and her bust filled out, stretching the front of her jumpsuit. Her breasts grew bigger and bigger, the outline of her terribly overfilled bra quite visible as her swollen mammaries overflowed it and pressed it tightly against the red cloth. She looked at Cody expectantly, but he just shook his head. She undid her top two buttons to make room, exposing about half a foot of bulging cleavage. Just as it appeared as though she might burst right out of the front of her clothes, the expansion stopped - - and shifted to her butt.

Though her huge bust now blocked the view of her lower body, she could feel the air rushing into her hips, widening them as her buttocks swelled out behind her. And still she inhaled, taking in even more air. The swelling slowly crept downward, fattening her thighs, then plumping up the entire length of her legs. By now, most of the bar patrons had halted their conversations to stare at this spectacle. It wasn’t until the seams of Daphne’s jumpsuit began to groan in protest that Cody relented. "You can stop, I think that’s enough. For now."

Daphne exhaled in relief, but only emptied her lungs. Her body was insanely bloated with air, her tightly cinched belt accentuating the fact that her bust and hips were more than double their former measure. "But - - how?" she gasped. "How did you do this to me?"

"My dear Daphne, one doesn’t achieve the rank of Gamma without learning a few fun tricks. Besides, I didn’t really do it to you, you did it to yourself. As long as I have your access code, I can give you body all sorts of neat little talents." He offered his arm. "Shall we go for a walk?"

"Uh, sure." Arm in arm, they walked out of the bar.

Daphne’s insanely voluptuous form was drawing the stares of many passersby. People gawked, and a few moved in for a closer look, but nobody interfered. Most were smart enough to realize that such a dramatic modification had to be the work of a Coder, and the would just assume that either Daphne herself or the man she was with was that Coder. They would watch, but in a world with as few enforcers as MetroScape, nobody would interrupt them.

As they walked, Daphne noticed her jumpsuit was gradually growing more snug. It had been programmed to adjust to whatever body it was on, so she wasn’t worried about bursting it, but it was still stretched out farther than it had been designed for, and stretching further with each passing minute. Slowly but surely, her cleavage bulged upward in her neckline, tiny glimpses of swollen flesh peeking out between her buttons. She shuddered to think how huge her butt must look now. "Cody! I’m getting bigger!"

"Yes, you are," he replied calmly. "The air you inhaled earlier is expanding inside you. Another nifty little trick, don’t you think?"

Her walk was turning into a waddle as her thighs plumped up, pushing her legs apart. "When will it stop?"

"When the hour’s up."

Daphne stopped in her tracks. "But I’ll be huge!" Her breasts already resembled two overinflated party balloons, protruding out far ahead and to her sides. And her hips were so broad, she could just barely touch their widest point with her fingertips.

"Yes," Cody nodded. "How do you feel?"

"Just fine," Daphne said. She wasn’t uncomfortable, despite the tightness of her clothing. It was more of a snug feeling all over. Her body was still quite soft and cushiony. It was actually kind of nice in a way, like she was her own giant pillow. "This is very strange, but I’m fine."

"I have another proposition for you."

Daphne noticed an air tank had suddenly appeared beside him. As a Coder, he’s probably just generated it himself. "I dunno," she said, looking down at her enormously inflated form. "Last time, I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into..."

"I have half an hour left. But if you spend just thirty seconds hooked up to this tank, I’ll stop inflating you and let you go early." Again, that mischievous smile.

Thirty seconds could be a long time when you’re getting blown up, she thought to herself. But then, another half hour could be even longer. "Thirty seconds, and that’s it?"

Cody nodded. "That’s it."

"Well - - alright."

"Wonderful!" He handed her the mouthpiece which was attached to the tank. "Put this in, and I’ll turn on the gas. After thirty seconds, you can let go if you want. Sure you can handle that long?"

She flashed a confident grin. "I can take whatever you can give." She bit down on the mouthpiece.

"Ready - -" Cody put his hand on the valve. "Go!" He turned the knob.

With a soft hissing, Daphne’s body began to rapidly fill up with even more gas. She felt it first in her bosom as it pushed outward, her nipples plumping up as her breasts grew fuller. Her hips and legs got their fair share as well, fattening up at a surprising pace. But this time she felt a bit different as she blew up. Her belt, which fit rather tightly sitting atop her incredibly blimped out hips and butt, was being pulled taut again, but now from a growing pressure in her stomach.

"Twenty seconds," Cody called out.

Large bulges of flesh puffed out above and below Daphne’s belt as she continued to expand. She threw a few concerned glances downward at her waist, and Cody got the message. He reached over, and with great difficulty unbuckled it. With a loud "fwumph," Daphne’s belly surged outward, her waistline vanishing. Now unrestrained, her torso inflated even faster, pushing her breasts outward and beginning spread out even past her hips.

"Ten seconds left," Cody called to her, but Daphne only absently noticed. She was far too concerned with the swelling that was beginning to show in her arms. And even that became a minor concern as her feet began to lift off of the ground. He’s filling me with helium!

Daphne’s eyes snapped wide open in alarm, and she looked down to Cody for help. He just stood by the tank, humming softly. Higher she rose, until the hose was stretched out to its full length. She dangled in the air, head down, plump arms and legs flailing uselessly in the air. People who were passing by stopped to stare at the gigantic red woman-balloon hovering above them.

"Time’s up! You can let go now."

But letting go meant floating away, as Cody well knew.

Daphne tried to speak without letting go of the mouthpiece, the only thing holding her to the earth. "You...tricked...me!" She managed to get out a few words without losing her grip.

Cody shrugged. "A deal’s a deal." He turned around and started walking away.

"NO!" She almost lost her grip again. What am I gonna do? Her body swelled up bigger and bigger, her arms and legs becoming so distended they no longer looked like limbs; from her hands and feet, they filled out and merged smoothly with a body that was now nearly a perfect ball. Every moment of indecision was costing her precious time and adding inches to her girth. Stretched far past the limits of its intended use, her jumpsuit began to fail. With a sharp pop, a button flew off, exposing a bit of her stomach. Two more pops followed as the stitches along her backside began to tear. Her hands and feet slowly vanished, engulfed by her increasing bulk. Even her face began to fill out, her cheeks puffing up, and even her lips swelling to an alarming plumpness. And as Daphne felt the pressure inside her rise rapidly, she realized she was faced with a choice of letting go, or bursting. Reluctantly, she released her grip on the mouthpiece and let herself rise up unto the sky.

The ground fell away, the people shrinking and disappearing from view. She rose up, higher than the tallest buildings, up past the birds. MetroScape wasn’t the most sophisticated of worlds. The sky only went up so far, and Daphne stopped rising when she hit the "ceiling," a few hundred feet above the city. She didn’t actually hit anything, her upward motion simply stopped, leaving her floating in the sky.

She sighed. Since she wasn’t in danger, there was nothing she could do until the next logout check, still almost half an hour away. Oh well, this wasn’t so bad. Just an overall feeling of extreme fullness and gentle tension. Completely immobile, her body was acting like a cushion and restraint for herself. Helpless to do anything else, Daphne relaxed and settled in for a nap.

Even from the ground, Cody could see the tiny red dot that he knew was is beautiful creation. Ah yes, Daphne had made such a wonderful balloon. Through his binoculars he could clearly make out the details of his art. The softy rounded and bulging face, the taut, full body, just barely beginning to burst out of her clothes. Simply marvelous. It would be a while before he’d be able to pull this trick off again in MetroScape, but there were other worlds to explore on the V-Net...