April Bonus Story

Hey y'all!

I'm still operating, working on a bunch of stuff, blah blah, lots going on, etc etc. Got a fresh one for ya today, hope you enjoy it!

~Benn

Winning prompt: As a part of your therapy for depression you are assigned a drone. The drone convinces you that the cure is dronification

Suggested by: rayneDrone 4800 (thank you!)

~2455 words

CW:

• Depression/loneliness
• Dissatisfaction with human body
• Some medical themes towards the end
• Social awkwardness/nervousness
• Drones/latex/facelessness/voicelessness
• Permanent body changes
• Light sexualized content
• Sex work/companionship
• Therapy as a reoccurring framing device

~~~

“I guess.. I don’t know. I just wish everything would stop being so loud for a little while.”

You hesitate, not sure what to say next. Your therapist nods. 

“That’s a completely reasonable thing to be feeling after everything you’ve been through.

“I guess. But, at the same time, I’ve been really lonely? I don’t have a lot of friends who aren’t internet friends, and they’re great, but they’re not. I can’t see them? That sounds really selfish, sorry..”

“That’s not selfish. It’s normal to feel a level of disconnect when you aren’t getting in-person social time.”

She glances at her phone on the arm of the couch, then moves to pick up her appointment book. Out of time.

You make an appointment for next session, gather up your stuff. As you get ready to head out, your therapist hands you a sheet of paper with information on it.

“This is contact info for a good variety of companionship services that I recommend. I encourage you to consider checking one or a few of them out when you can.”

There’s a nice breeze outside. Your therapist’s words stick with you as you walk home. You stuffed the paper in your bag like something taboo after you were out of sight. It was something that came up in the last session. The field of companionship programs is broad and diverse, aimed at fulfilling a variety of needs, emotional, physical, social. None of it is unusual, but you’ve always been a little nervous when it comes to the concept. Strangers are, intimidating. But you felt the same way about therapists before starting therapy, and that turned out better than you expected.

When you get back to your building, one of your neighbors is watering some flowers in the little front garden. They are wearing an oversized powder blue jacket over a pink shirt over shiny black latex. The helmet they’re wearing is fully opaque, and glints in the fading sunlight. They wave cheerfully as you pass and you give a shy hello back.

You’ve always wondered if the latex is over their skin, or is their skin, but you don’t know if it would be rude to ask. Also you only know them in passing and definitely shouldn’t start with personal questions.

You manage to put off looking at the paper for nine days.

Listed is a few sex worker networks, a service to have someone go to a movie or a restaurant or something with you, a group that helps you out with housework if you are overwhelmed, and so on. The other side of the paper has a write up about the broader network of the companionship program, it’s goals, the training that workers receive, and the oversight put in place to protect both sides of the connection, especially since this kind of work is at high risk of parasocial overreach. It’s really interesting actually, you had no idea how much consideration goes into all this. Maybe you will actually try something out..

Looking over the groups with renewed interest, one in particular catches your eye. Regional Hive #47615. You remember when the building first went up. It has a strange, curving shape to it, and no visible windows. You remember your neighbor mentioning it when you first met them. Not all the local drones live there, but they tend to spend a lot of time there.

You’re still kinda. Intimidated by drones. But honestly the sort of, quiet, straightforward facelessness thing they’ve got going on is kind of pleasant? And your neighbor has always been really friendly. You end up visiting the hive’s website out of curiosity. Not every drone associated with the hive is in the companionship program, but apparently a lot of them do. They have a really broad set of services they provide, you fill out a survey and get assigned a drone based on what you’re looking for and your schedule. Then they come by once a week or a couple times a week depending. 

You check out a few of the other places, but something in your brain is holding you back. It takes you so long to warm up to other humans, the idea of someone a little.. less human.. is comforting.

~~~

“So, did you end up looking at any of the services I recommended?”

“Um. Yeah, actually. I sent in a survey a couple days ago and haven’t heard back yet.”

“Would you like to talk about it?”

“I think, after I actually try it I’ll have more to say?”

“That sounds good, I’ll check back in about it next session.”

~~~

17MK. That’s the designation of the drone they assigned you. She uses she/her pronouns. She joined the #47615 almost a year ago, and you have no idea if that means she transfered on that date, or became a drone on that date.

She’s coming by soon. The first visit is shorter, more of a ‘get to know you’ kinda thing. You’re very nervous and just finished cleaning your kitchen for the third time in three days.

When the buzzer sounds, you go down to meet her.

When you get downstairs, you see your neighbor chatting excitedly with her. You recognize the filtered synthy buzz of your neighbor’s voice, but 17MK is quiet, text scrolling across her helmet rapidly instead. Your neighbor notices you, calls out cheerily, then gives 17MK a hug and sends her on her way. She’s wearing a lavender dress, and at first glace you were hard pressed to tell the difference between her and your neighbor, but you noticed pretty quickly that their helmets have a slightly different design.

You introduce yourself. “It’s nice to meet you,” you say, clearly nervous. Your neighbor giggles, doing a terrible job of pretending not to listen.

She introduces herself. [But, you can call me Em] scrolls across her screen in bubbly pink text. And with that, you show her upstairs to your apartment.

~~~

“Can I get you something to drink?” She puts her hand over where her mouth would be in what you guess is a silent laugh.

[Not really my style, thank you though]

What does that mean?? Did she think you were offering her alcohol? Does she not take drinks from clients she just met, which makes an increasing amount of sense the more you think about it? Can she not drink through the helmet? Or does she just. Not drink liquids? Your cheeks heat up.

“O-oh, right, sorry.”

You did some research on what, exactly, a drone is to try and prepare yourself, but it didn’t get you far. Non-drones mostly speculate, and the drones you’ve seen talking about it seem to delight in giving different answers whenever asked. Ugh, you’re definitely over thinking this, she’s probably getting uncomfortable- wait she’s waving what did you miss?

[Hey, it’s okay to be nervous! Let’s just chat for a bit?]

So, you tell her a little about yourself, and she tells you a little too. Apparently she knew your neighbor before joining the hive. You resist the urge to bombard her with questions about being a drone. She communicates exclusively through text scrolling across her helmet, never makes a sound. You get over your shy aversion to looking directly at her pretty fast thanks to that.

Before you know it, she’s out of time. It was a short introductory session after all. You walk her to the front door, and rush back inside to set up another time on her hive’s website.

~~~

“I know it’s probably weird that I went for a drone. You gave me that list so I could get some social stimulation, not.. I don’t know.”

Your therapist nods patiently.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of. You picked what was most comfortable for you, which is why I included such a wide range of options. Drones are perfectly capable of social stimulation, and it’s good if you find comfort in less platonic services as well. There are no wrong answers here.”

~~~

The next time she comes over, she’s wearing a purple skirt and a sweater decorated with a bunny and an exclamation mark next to it. she starts by going over safewords and the services she’s greenlit for you. Everything from chatting to cuddling to more sexual stuff. You get immediately shy when she mentions the latter, so she suggests that the two of you start small. Watching a movie together on the couch. She asks if she can touch you as needed, and reminds you that you can stop her at any time with a word.

The movie is something entertaining and broad. You invite her to sit next to you. She smells artificial, a comfortable sort of plastic-y. The latex has a cool feel when it brushes against you, but her warmth seeps through it. You weren’t sure she would be warm. You are extremely aware of her warmth.

After a few minutes, she leans more against your arm. She tugs your sleeve to get your attention whenever she has something to say. After a little while longer you shift, and somehow, suddenly, you have your arm wrapped around her waist as she settles her body more against yours. Her sweater is tugged up a little by the motion, and your hand rests directly on latex. It’s smooth and a little slippery and tight to her form and when you squeeze her side it’s soft and gives. She moves in your arms comfortably, happily.

As the movie goes, you get bolder. You want to feel more, to see more. It’s almost more curious than horny, but also definitely horny. She moves her arms to make it easier for you to pull her sweater off. Pull her over, she climbs into your lap. Letting you treat her like a doll. You press your flat palm against the curve of her belly, up between her breasts. It feels like her body is human under the latex, but you don’t see any seams or zippers or anything that indicates where you would start taking it off. And really, you know it doesn't come off. The more you touch her, the more time you spend with her, the more sure you are that she’s not human, no matter what her body is feels like. She’s a drone.

You roughly grasp one of her breasts in one hand, as she arches her back slightly and rests her head back on your shoulder. But really, she started trembling excitedly as soon as you started touching her. She explained it earlier, that she can switch into a mode at will that essentially makes her entire body an erogenous zone. You said that sounded exciting. With your other hand you pull up her skirt, and stroke her warm, smooth, quivering thigh. Her panties are dark blue lace.

You catch a glimpse of her helmet, and it just displays a lightly pulsing pink heart in the center.

Eventually, she has to leave. You spent most of the time cuddling her and feeling her up on and off. You’re kind with embarrassed at how focused on her you were, but she is as always completely unfazed.

~~~ 

“Okay, why don’t you tell me about this new friend?”

“Yeah. Their name is 87AE. They insist on being called the whole thing, no shortcuts.”

“Right.”

“They’re my neighbor? We’ve talked in passing before, but lately we’ve been hanging out a little. They’re nice.”

“That’s good to hear. How did that start?”

“They were, ah, teasing me about 17MK. That just kinda turned into a friendship”

“And you’re still seeing her?”

“About once a week. That’s.. also been nice, but in a different way.”

“Seems like you’ve been spending more time with drones than humans.”

“Yeah, I have. There’s just something comfortable about them? I can’t explain it..”

~~~

“Sometimes I wish I was like you.”

It tumbles out of your mouth so easily, like it’s been waiting for this moment.

17MK nods. She’s getting ready to leave soon, so it’s probably not the best time and you wish you could take it back and put it somewhere else.

[You could be, if you really wanted to]

Your skin feels really cold for a moment and you shiver.

[I was in the same boat once. The Hive helped me. But you can’t take it back you know]

“Would you take it back, if you could?”

She shakes her head.

[I don’t feel any way I don’t want to feel anymore. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.]

She gestures at herself.

[Plus, just look at me. I look like this, all the time, forever. It’s amazing]

You can’t help but giggle.

~~~

“And you’re sure that this is the right decision for you?”

You smile at your therapist.

“I’ve put a lot of thought into it. More thought than any decision I’ve made in my life really. Yeah. I’m sure.”

~~~

“Lie back, and make yourself comfortable.”

You take a deep breath, trying to calm those jitters you can’t seem to escape.

It’s been a whirlwind of a week. You’ve learned so much during the integration process. Finally an appropriate time and place to ask questions about drone physiology. The answer of what exactly a drone physically is has of course been way more complex than you expected.

They’re all different. Every one of them. The process is customizable on an extremely granular level. Some drones don’t have a speck of their original body left. Some are fully mechanical. Some aren’t even cybernetic, the mechanical bits are just equipment. It’s a surprisingly personal process for something that is widely considered to be unambiguous erasure of individual identity.

You gave your last confirmation an hour ago. Like, if you freaked out now they would stop. But you’ve made up your mind. You are going to be indelibly, permanently altered, your body reshaped, your face erased. You’ve seen what you’re going to look like after, gone over it dozens of times. Completely unrecognizable, yet more truly you than anything you’ve seen in the mirror. Shiny and smooth and simplified. Artificial and warm. Why settle for human anymore?

The drone in charge of the integration procedure, 9X91, is finalizing commands on a console by the machine. The machine is massive and complex and you can’t really tell what you’re looking at anywhere you look. It hums. The integration assistant, 7Y89, nods to you.

“Deep breaths. This is to numb you for the initial procedure.”

87AE said they’d meet you when this parts done and you’d hang out.

7X89 affixes a mask over your nose and mouth. You immediately feel lightheaded.

And you smile. The jitters have stopped.

It’s so close now, you already feel at peace.

~~~