The man looked at the steak and nodded once, until he cut into it. “Useless bitch, you over cooked my steak again.”
Julia froze, her eyes wide with fear, “I’m sorry, Poppa.”
With a snort of disgust, he cut out a piece of the bloody meat and began to chew it. “Do better next time. Just as useless as your mother always was. Even more, at least she had other uses that you don’t.”
Julia hung her head as a tear fell from her eyes, “I’m sorry, Poppa.”
The man leaned back, eyeing her with a sneer on his lips, “And this.” He picked up the paper he had brought out to the living room with him and began to crumple it before her. He watched her face fold with grief as he did so. “Trash, like most of the others you’ve done. I told you the orc should be fucking her, like the useless slut she is. I wanted a bite mark on the elf because the orc is playing rough. Yet you drew that trash.”
Her head slumped and she curled further into a ball, her plate forgotten. “I’m sorry Poppa, I did my best.”
“Your best is still trash,” the man said as he went back to his steak. “Since you failed at the drawing, we’ll just have to do a photoshoot instead.”
Julia began to shake, “Yes, Poppa.”
“If you don’t do as you’re told during this shoot, I’ll have to get the paddle, you understand?”
“Yes, Poppa,” the girls voice was a barely audible whisper as she rocked in the corner of the room.
She stayed like that as the man finished eating and stood up. “You have ten minutes. We’ll be doing the schoolgirl scene again tonight, so make sure you’re ready. And if you don’t have that plate licked clean before the shoot I’ll apply the paddle.”
“Yes, Poppa,” Julia whispered again as she grabbed her plate and began to jam the food into her mouth. She kept her head down, so she missed seeing the laughing sneer on his face.
They followed Julia as she literally licked the plate clean before rushing to her room. She tore her clothes off, and Alburet had to look away. He felt his gorge rise, as well as his anger, at the way Fluff was being treated.
Ten minutes later exactly, he came into her room carrying a camera. “You’re dressed. Well, no paddle yet, it seems.” He motioned her over to her desk, “We’ll start with the regular shots then move onto the better ones.”
Julia avoided looking at him, “Yes, Poppa.”
They watched as the photoshoot started off normally enough. When he told her to bend over the desk and pull her skirt up, Alburet spun away from the scene. “I need out,” he said.
He blinked as he was suddenly standing next to the bed Fluff was sleeping on. Karen and Stacia both stood with their eyes closed, Stacia still gently humming her haunting melody. With a shuddering breath he looked down at the poor abused woman sleeping there and his heart clenched.
“I’m sorry, Fluff,” he whispered as he sat on the bed next to her sleeping form. “I know you wanted me there, but I can’t watch that.”
He was still there some minutes later when Karen and Stacia opened their eyes. Karen was rigid with anger, “That sick fucking bastard.” Her voice was strangled with rage as she seethed. Her eyes went to the sleeping form next to her and her face twisted into a mix of pity and sorrow. Dropping to her knees next to the bed, Karen gently reached out and stroked Fluff’s ear. “I’m sorry, Julia, your life has been horror until now. I will be here for you.”
Alburet watched Karen for a moment before he stood up, “I wish I could tell my old coworkers about that sick fuck.”
“Nay need,” Stacia said softly. “He be nay longer alive. His heart failed him years back. Sadly, she was nay able to face the world after all he had told her and done to her. She has been mostly a recluse all this time. Her drawin’ and photos be all tha’ keeps her goin’ now.”
Karen and Alburet looked at Stacia, their faces still reflecting their anger. “How can any father…” Alburet began but Stacia cut him off with a raised hand.
“She has nay faced tha’ memory yet. She will in time, but she still be tryin’ to come to terms tha’ what he did to her was wrong. Once she has, I will show her the memory that she has hidden from herself. Paval was nay her father.” Stacia looked at each of them, “ya can nay tell her tha’, but it may help ya deal with what ya just witnessed.”
“Why did she want us there?” Alburet asked.
“She be afraid tha’ once ya know her for how she thinks she be, ya will toss her away. She wanted to face tha’ head on. She has nay been able to break the conditioning Paval instilled in her. She still thinks she be ugly and useless, and deservin’ of all the abuse he heaped on her.”
“Gods,” Alburet whispered as his eyes went back to the sleeping Fluff. “She thinks we’d spurn her?”
“The one time she tried to seek out help, the doctor was nay understandin’.” Stacia sat on the edge of the bed and gently stroked Fluff’s foot. “He did nay listen to her and could nay do as I do. Instead, he gave her drugs and sent her away. She never went back and figured tha’ Paval was right all along.”
“Useless bastard,” Karen snapped as she stroked Fluff’s ear again. “I won’t turn away from my friend. I wish she could see herself like we do.”
Stacia smiled at Karen then at Alburet, who was nodding in agreement. “Good. Tha’ be what we be doin’ next. Me plan is to show her the truth compared to her memory next. Will ya continue to be there with her?”
Alburet and Karen looked at each other before they turned to Stacia, “Yes,” they said in near perfect unison.
“Tha’ we will do tomorrow, then, iffin Fluff agrees,” Stacia said, getting to her feet. “Karen, if she starts crying just stroke her softly and tell her ya be here for her. Master, ya be comin’ with me.”
Following Stacia out of the room, Alburet chewed over what he had just experienced. It had been so similar to what Victoria had done to him that he wondered about how it worked.
As they entered the room Stacia shut the door behind them and paused there. “Master? Are ya okay? I can sense a deep unease from ya.”
He turned to her and pulled out his Mindstone, “I need to find something out, Kitten.” He sent Victoria a message and waited.
Message from Victoria AI:
I can explain, but would rather do so in person, as it were. Can you spare me five minutes?
He sent back his reply before putting his stone away. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, Kitten, then we can talk.”
“Did I do somethin’ wrong?” Stacia asked as she leaned against the door, her face filled with worry.
“No, Kitten,” Alburet told her, giving her a hug, “I just need to figure something out and the person I need to ask isn’t here. Five minutes, okay?”
“I be waitin’ for ya,” Stacia held him until he vanished from her arms.
~*~*~
Seamus looked across the desk at Vicky. “How is it that Succubi in the game can walk people through memories like you did with me?”
Vicky leaned back in her chair, “Their coding is similar to parts of mine, so they can do the same thing with fully immersed players. With that ability, they’re able to help reconstruct a person’s memory, restoring parts that have been lost or, in some cases, deliberately suppressed. The fine print in the EULA grants Mindblown permission to survey the mental and emotional states of immersed players, and help is being carefully offered to those that need it.”
He sat there, lips pursed for a moment, “Everyone who plays is subject to this?”
“Yes, though we don’t take any action without the request of the player.” Vicky chewed her lip for a moment. “We don’t want to harm anyone, but we would like to offer help to those people who want it. Fluff for instance. Or Karen if she decides to accept it. And so on.”