The Toddleverse

Newer than real. Faster than real. Better than real.

The TotalVerse is reality. Augmented. Advanced. Improved.

Order your TotalSet today.

…

The prospects of the technology were, on their own, tantalizing. Lab-D technologies had outdone themselves, to the point where it seemed too good to be true. A non-invasive neural interface that delivered optical, stereoscopic, tactile, and olfactory feedback with precision that matched reality to a nearly analogue level.

Already, demand far outstripped supply. If getting a PS8 had been difficult, getting a TotalSet to enter the TotalVerse was downright impossible. Scalpers made a mint. Influencers had to call in favors to get their hands on a set. Just owning one was a flex, to the point where people bought knockoff decals that looked like a headset. Visually, it was hard to tell the two metal chips the size of a pinkie nail from a fake, especially tucked behind the user’s ears, which made the fakes all the more appealing.

Martin got his through a miracle. Refresh after refresh after refresh, watching all the store pages, none of it worked.

Then he got the phonecall.

“Hey, Marty–you know anyone who wants one of these headsets? My uncle got one and he says it makes him dizzy, he’s just trying to get back what he spent–okay, you can stop screaming.”

It took a five hour drive upstate to get it, but within a day he was home, and in possession of his very own TotalVerse.

Sitting on his couch, he buzzed with excitement as he wired it up. Two metal dots behind his ears, and a tiny pinprick of pain as the interface booted up. Then, his room came alive.

A woman appeared in front of him, dressed in a purple tank top and matching purple skirt. Her hair, her eyes, and her jewelry were all the Lab-D Purple. His virtual assistant, then.

“Hi! I’m Tallie. I’m here to help you set up your TotalSet!” she said. She looked real, as though Martin could reach out and touch her.

In a childish impulse, he did so, and to his shock he felt real skin under his hands. His eyes widened.

Tallie smiled. “I see you’re touching me. Your default setting is tactile feedback when not in a hazardous environment–would you like to disable that?”

The options were already tantalizing. Sweating a little, glancing around uncertainly, Martin asked the awkward question. “Uh… Tallie. Could we have sex? If I wanted to. I mean–”

“Certainly!” Tallie beamed, the smile highlighting the dimples on her cheeks. “There’s a suite of options for physical sensations. Would you like to customize my appearance first?”

“I–no, not yet!” Martin said. “I just…jeez. Wow. Oh my god.”

“I’ve finished calibrating your TotalVerse body settings,” Tallie said. “Your in-world body should match your own quite well, but you’re welcome to tweak the settings! More dramatic changes within the TotalVerse can be acquired from a licensed vendor.”

There it was. The micro-transactions had made themselves clear; a TotalSet got him access to the servers, the unparalleled virtual reality world of limitless possibilities. If he wanted anything beyond that–rippling muscles, extreme physical enhancements, a dragon to ride around on–he’d need to get out his wallet.

Martin didn’t much care. This was amazing. “Take me to the TotalVerse, please!”

Tallie smiled. “Alright! Lie down in a comfortable position, please! I’ll be monitoring your body for safety, but it’s suggested you take breaks every hour.”

He grinned, laid back on his couch, and shut his eyes.

He opened them in another world entirely.

The TotalVerse.

Or, well, the TotalVerse lobby. He sat in what looked like an enormous convention hall, with prepopulated vendors selling basic cosmetics. Clothes, body enhancements, in-verse pets. He’d spawned with just a white T-shirt, black pants, and generic tennis shoes, but the stores offered him plenty of opportunities to customize.

He’d do that later. For now, he wanted to go out into the world. “Tallie, I want to go somewhere,” he said.

She appeared next to him, still beaming. “Your profile still needs a few details before we enter the TotalVerse–please review the following menus and confirm everything is correct!”

A series of boxes appeared floating in front of Martin, confirming details. Even as lucky as he’d been, “Martin” had already been claimed as a username, but “MartinPalmer” was still open, so he just kept his full name.

The slider options for his body were pretty useless, but he toyed with them to at least give himself the appearance of a slight summer tan and as athletic as the options would allow. He still looked like himself, just more ‘after a good summer’ himself instead of ‘done with a post-christmas binge’ himself.

Still, he enviously eyed the greyed-out section on the slider. This was virtual reality, he wanted the body of an adonis. Of course, if he could do it, everyone could and it wouldn’t be special, but now it just meant that those with wealth or the time and discipline to exercise regularly would get the impressive looks, while he’d still be left out.

There were minimal default clothes, just a few color options for the T-shirt and pants and an optional purple Lab-D Ballcap. He wanted fashion, but instead selected a blue T and white pants, skipped the tacky cap, and to his surprise when he hit ‘select’, they appeared in the air next to him and fell to the ground with a realistic flop.

Glancing around, feeling awkward for stripping in such a large space–even a large, empty space–he stripped down to his virtual boxers and dressed in the new clothes. Everything felt real. If he hadn’t known he was wearing the TotalSet, he’d have no way of distinguishing this from reality.

“Alright,” he said. “I’m set. Take me to the TotalVerse.”

“Are you sure? Once you lock in your account, settings cannot be changed without spending Total Tokens for modifications.”

“Sure,” Martin confirmed. “Just take me in.”

“Where would you like to go?” Tallie asked.

“Just…wherever. Is there a good place to get acquainted?” he asked.

“Would you like to go to one of the TotalVerse Lounges?” Tallie asked.

Martin shrugged. He just wanted to go anywhere. “Sure!”

“Close your eyes, and I’ll take you there.”

He did.

She did.

When Martin opened his eyes, he stood in a huge, elaborate cocktail lounge. Large steel balconies hung overhead, techno music thumped at a pleasant volume, and hundreds of other people milled about, dancing, chatting, or just taking in the sights. Many wore the same generic T-shirt/pants combination as Martin, but others had more elaborate wear–anything from high fashion to medieval armor. Several had inhuman features; tails, horns, or wings that let them fly from the ground floor to the balcony in a single sweep.

Instantly, Martin felt a pang of jealousy. “How much are wings?” he asked aloud.

Someone snickered next to him. Martin looked over to see a girl about his height, wearing a cocktail dress and a fabulous gold tiara. She had striking red eyes, and a body that drew Martin’s gaze for more than a moment. “If you want to talk to Tallie here, you have to say, ‘Hey Tallie!’–uh, no thank you. I’m done, Tallie.”

“Thanks,” Martin said. “Hey Tallie!”

Tallie appeared next to him, chipper as ever, standing between him and the girl. “How can I help you?”

Martin leaned to the side. “Uh…”

“She’s your Tallie, I can’t see her,” the girl explained, smirking.

“Right. Hey Tallie, how much do wings cost?” Martin asked.

Tallie raised her hand, and a menu appeared with a merchant page. “There are a variety of mod vendors who sell wings–prices range from fifty thousand to eighty thousand thousand Total Tokens. Would you like to shop for options?”

Martin’s eyes widened as he did the math in his head, converting real money to tokens. That was way out of his price range. “No thanks.” Leaning aside again, he asked the girl, “How do I make her go away?”

“You say, “I’m done, Tallie,” the girl explained.

“I’m done, Tallie.” His virtual assistant blinked out of existence, leaving him facing the girl again. “Hi, I’m Martin.”

“Daemon,” she replied. “You must be new here.”

He chuckled. “What gave it away?”

She looked him up and down. “No mods, no clothes, you don’t know how to call your Tallie–trust me, it stands out. Nothing to be embarrassed about, once you spend a few tokens you’ll be looking sharp.”

Martin blushed. “Well, that’s the thing–”

“Ah.” Daemon laughed. “Token poor, eh? Don’t worry, I know some people who can help with that.”

“I’ve got a job,” Martin said.

Daemon smirked. “Why don’t we talk somewhere more…private?”

“Another room?” he asked.

“Off the TotalVerse,” Daemon explained. “I’ll give you my Chaos handle, we can chat–you do have a Chaos account, right? The popular chat service?”

“Oh, yeah. I mostly use it for gaming,” Martin said.

“We should talk there.” Daemon looked around the club. “There’s eyes everywhere, and you don’t want to get in trouble and have your account locked–you only get one shot, y’know.”

“Oh, sure.” Martin shrugged. “Okay.”

They exchanged contact info, and she waved at him. “Talk to you soon, Martin. I can’t wait to see what you spend your tokens on.”

Daemon disappeared in a blink, leaving Martin alone in the club. Glancing over, he walked to the bar, feeling a bit uncertain. “How much is a…how about a lemon drop?”

“Just one token,” the bartender explained, leaning over the counter. With a start, Martin realized that she looked identical to Tallie, save for her outfit. “You want one?”

Martin did the math in his head–one token was cheaper than a drink at a real bar. “Sure.”

From nowhere, she passed him the shot glass, and Martin downed it in one swig. The alcohol hit him–a mild surprise. He’d known the sensory control was solid, but this was incredible–and he wanted to know what else he could experience.

But to experience it, he needed tokens.

“Eh, screw it,” he said. “Hey, Tallie. Take me back to real life.”

“Alright!” Tallie said, blinking into unreality across from him. “Just close your eyes!”

He obeyed, and felt his couch underneath him.

The buzz of alcohol, though, hadn’t gone away. “Tallie, am I still tipsy?”

Standing over him, his virtual assistant nodded. “Would you like to sober up?”

“No, I just didn’t realize it crossed over,” Martin sat up. Reaching out for his phone, he pulled up the Chaos messenger, added Daemon’s user ID, and sent a message. ‘You mentioned tokens?’

Her message came back a second later. ‘I’ve got a lead on a way to generate tokens. Since the software’s still new, there’s a few exploits–from within your account controls, I can underflow the system to max out your tokens. It’ll only take a few minutes.’

Martin’s eyes widened. After the stroke of luck with getting a headset at all, he hadn’t expected to be rolling in virtual currency. ‘Won’t I get banned, though?’

‘That’s the thing–the bug is untraceable. I did it on my own account, you saw what I was wearing, right?’

Daemon had a point.

Martin considered for a moment. He didn’t want to get permanently locked out of his account due to hacking, but if she’d done it…

And besides, what fun was virtual reality if he couldn’t do anything?

‘Fine,’ he said. ‘What do I need to do?’

‘Just go into your user settings and pull a couple ID numbers for me,’ Daemon sent back. ‘I’ll send the list. That’ll let me tweak your account balance.’

‘Okay, great.’ Martin said aloud, “Hey, Tallie. I need some numbers, can you read them to me?”

He read Daemon’s list aloud, and when Tallie gave him the codes, he typed them in diligently.

‘Thanks’, Daemon said.

Martin started to type out a response, but curiously, before he could hit send, Daemon’s name grayed out.

“Weird…” He wasn’t sure what to do next. Maybe he already had the tokens. Maybe it’d all been a scam–but if it had, he wasn’t worried, he didn’t have an account balance to clear out.

“Tallie, take me back to the club,” he said, laying back and closing his eyes.

When he reappeared, he looked around for Daemon, but she was nowhere to be seen. He checked his account balance, but it still sat at a single digit number, his starting balance from opening an account.

“You’ve got a message!” Tallie said. “From an anonymous user.”

“Uh…” Martin frowned. “What is it?”

“It says, ‘Fifty thousand credits, and we’ll give your account access back.’ And then there’s a TotalVerse Banking account number.” Tillie beamed while she spoke, totally at odds with what she’d just said.

Martin looked around the club, shocked. He half expected to see Daemon smirking at him, but all he saw were the faces of other new users in their various attire, a few of whom were glancing at him curiously. “What?”

“It says, ‘Fifty thousand credits, and we’ll give your account access–”

“Yeah, no, I heard you.” Martin gaped. “Tillie, show me user settings.”

“I’m afraid your user settings are password protected,” Tillie smiled. “Can you tell me the password?”

“I…but…” Martin started to say.

He had no followup. He’d fallen for a stupid scam within ten minutes of opening his account.

And then he noticed the warmth in his pants.

Looking down, his eyes widened, shocked as he saw a dark, wet stain spreading down from his crotch, turning the white fabric bright yellow. “Tillie, what the hell?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand the question,” Tillie said.

“Why did I just–” Martin looked around, horrified to see the smirks being cast his direction. In a quiet hiss, he finished, “Piss myself?”

“It looks like your potty training settings have been adjusted to zero,” Tillie said. “You can reset that at any time from your user settings. Would you like to go there now?”

“Yes!” Martin snapped.

“I’m afraid your user settings are password protected,” Tillie smiled. “Can you tell me the password?”

Martin blanched. His account had been bricked, unless he was willing to pay a ransom or continue pissing his pants in the TotalVerse. “I…”

A passing guy snickered. “You got scammed, bro!”

While Martin took that in, Tallie chimed in again. “It looks like your clothes are dirty. Would you like to have them cleaned, or change to a different outfit from your inventory?”

“I don’t have any other clothes!” Martin snapped.

“Yes you do! Your inventory has plenty of options,” Tillie said, raising her hand. A menu appeared, showing he had one other piece of clothing in his wardrobe inventory–a plain, white, puffy diaper.”

Martin swallowed. “Take me back to the loading room, please.”

They vanished from the bar, and reappeared in the starting area.

He took a breath. “How much does it cost to clean my clothing?”

“You may have your clothing automatically refreshed once per day,” Tallie said. “Additional cleanings cost credits, depending on the item.”

“Can I buy other clothes?” he asked.

“I’m afraid that option is password protected,” Tillie smiled. “Can you tell me the password?”

“Dammit!” Martin snapped. “Ok. Ok, this is fine. Can I still, like, buy stuff?”

“Your ability to purchase mods and clothing is password protected, but your other options are currently available,” Tillie said. “Is there something you’d like to buy?”

“No, I just…” Sitting down, Martin took a deep breath. “Shit. So I can either ditch my headset completely, or deal with…ugh. Diapers.”

He’d have to think about it. It was just annoying enough that he might put up with the embarrassment and nuisance, if it meant getting the other benefits of the TotalVerse.

Besides, as fun as the Verse parts were, the most important aspect was the augmented reality. Those settings would be lifechanging, the kind he’d wanted the set for to begin with. If nothing else, getting to bang Tallie whenever he wanted would be well worth the sticker price.

“Okay, Tallie, I’m ready to leave the TotalVerse,” he said.

“Alright! Close your–”

He already had his eyes closed, and he returned to reality. Once again, he was laying on his couch, the t-shirt went away and was replaced with his tank top, and his wet pants…

He was still in wet pants.

Opening his eyes, he looked down, shocked to see that his jeans were just as soaked as his pants in-verse had been.

“Uh…” he said. “Uh…”

All his user settings had been modified. Not just the in-verse settings. If he wanted the potty training back, he’d have to take off his headset completely.

“Uh, Tallie…” he started to say.

She blinked into appearance on his lap. “Would you like to have sex now?”

His concerns faded. He could take off the headset later.

And maybe he could just buy some diapers for regular-day use, too.

...

Hey there, author note!

I'd like to know what you think of the concept in this story. Aside from the plot itself, there's a lot I could do with the concept of a VR universe like this. It's got potential, I think, but what do *you* think?