Virtual Friendships and Simulated Bondings
After having retrograded Keeffe to a betatester, and having bargained mercilessly... Orion, owner of Nanoline, eventually accepts to sell the game's code to you (who've just won the lottery) once the sales begin to decrease.
Once that's official, he returns Keeffe to his position of lead engineer, and, for a bonus, accepts to keep his distances from the code of the Game until then.
But until they change the codes, he still have administrator acess to the servers.
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The gentle, considerate and selfless collective of NPCs, now known as Chad, is still very grateful for you and Keeffe's decision, not only to spare, but to defend and help them make sense of their digital world.
And like everything they does, they shows it in intense and creative manners. (Even with Keeffe; the player who still intimidates them a little for being one of their creators, but who has readily put his career on the line for them.)
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While playing the modded Nanolife of Chad, You subtly makes it clear that you're ready to explore some outstanding activities in the new wonderland that the NPC have made of their world.
Even the invasive modding of your avatar that they accidently did before are ok with you as long as it's them. In that way and many others, you are as much happy as curious to probe at the limits of your friendship with the selfless, eager, and still mostly candid AI.
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At first, what pushes Keeffe to come back to play, is the novelty in his friendly relationship with Chad, as well; the fascination that takes as he watches the AI and its progress...as Chad breathes life and harmony into the digital confines of what is now its world. Or what will soon be.
When Keeffe accidently finds Chad experimenting kinky things with your player character, Chad invites their developper to stay and have fun with you two, as well. You agree with a joke.
But even if, for you and him, all that you do is harmless pretend play through avatars... for the NPCs the feelings, the hopes 'feel' real.
So, the next time Keeffe finds Chad, when he carefully accepts a token of affection, it is no longer only for his amusement, but out of a sense of responsibility. Because the trusting way Chad looks at him demands no less.
...He just wishes that he had time to understand this all better; that he had at least one inkling of what candide hopes or expectations have grown in Chad's code.
However, the adorable and candid personality of the AI wins over Keeffe's restraints. Mellowed, the developper let Chad probe his comfort zone in many directions; including through his game avatar.
(Chad also tighly encrypts your in-game history, at your common request—even though he can't figure why you insists to hide your activities with them...)
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Iris, young hacker, decide to blackmail Orion with social media photos of him that she has found online.
Iris manages to get the boss of Nanolife to agree to reconnect her as a simple player, even if just for the span of one online session's time. But Orion stays around to make sure that she won't break his golden goose, or be recognized by the NPCs—as this is against his official agreement with Zale and Keeffe...
Unfortunately for him, Iris goes looking for Chad right away. She finds him paring with your player character and hides to spy on you as you discuss your feeling for each other.
Bored, Orion tell Iris to go ask her parents about babies instead of wasting his time with her voyeur fantasy, and he tries to eject her session. But she bugs his session first, and duplicates hers, to make it look like has already logged off when he reconnects.
Buying into the trick, Orion leaves.
That being done, Iris pops a 3d model of popcorn box in her hands and get cozy in the bush she is hiding in as the Knight NPC, Keeffe, and you get busy together.