Imago

Chapter 10 - Into the Dream

Four hours earlier:

We had just parted ways with Casey and Lyssa, and were about twenty steps from the exit of the mall, when the hottie from the leather store stepped out of the side hallway leading to the restrooms. Mason didn't see him, but I certainly did. Against the warnings of Mason and Casey, I smiled at him and snapped a picture. He pulled out his phone and did the same to me.

As soon as he hit the button, I was lying in a dimly lit room. Candles flickered from various counters, and several lamps had red fabric draped over their shades. I wanted to get up, but my limbs wouldn't work, nor did my voice when I tried to call out.

"You may go ahead and have control of your head movement, and you may speak, but keep the volume low." The voice wasn't in the room with me; it came from speakers next to some of the candles on what looked like a dresser. The tone was also fake, like he was talking through something to disguise it, like in the movies.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"In my bedroom," the voice said. At that point, a door opened and the sexy leather shop guy walked in with a bag of supplies.

"You," I said. "Did you kidnap me?"

"Take a hot second and think," the guy said. He leaned forward and lightly kissed me on the lips. "Run through the series of events in your head. You'll get there."

"Actually, said the voice from the speaker, run through the events out loud for me." That made me jump, though it came out as a shiver, since I couldn't move my body. Hottie wasn't the one on speakers, so I had two guys here.

I couldn't keep myself from responding. "I was walking out of the mall with Mason, I saw leather shop guy here, I snapped a picture, he snapped a picture pack, and then I was here."

"Is Mason the blond boy?"

"Yes."

"And what's your name?"

"Zac." Why was I answering him?

"Tell me, and don't hold back," the voice said, "why were you taking pictures of him?"

"So I could make a copy of him later and see if he wanted to have sex. If he didn't, I'd at least get a copy of those jeans."

Leather shop guy ran his fingers along my fly and lifted the button flap. "Button fly fetish?" he asked, continuing to the growing bulge my dick was making inside the denim. He absently traced circles around my cock as we talked. I didn't feel compelled to answer him, so I stayed silent.

"Answer him," the voice said.

"Yes," I said. Damn!

"I can definitely work with that," the hot guy said softly as he leaned forward and licked my neck. A shiver passed through my body.

"Where are you?" I asked the voice.

"Turn your head to the right." I did. "See that wall of mirrors? One way glass. I'm on the other side." I heard a double knock on the other side of the panes to confirm it. "Have you figured out what happened to you yet?"

I thought about it and only one thing came to mind. "You have a projector, too. Am I an Imago?"

The hot guy kissed me hard, his tongue going into my mouth. My instincts kicked in and I used mine on his. "When you're smart and get the right answers, or ask good questions, Troy here will reward you, like he's doing now."

So I wasn't really me; just a copy. For some reason, that made me calmer. They could do what they wanted to me there and the real me would still exist. I had control of my head, so I pushed deeper into the kiss.

Troy pulled back. "He really went for it when he learned he wasn't real," he told the voice.

"What do I have to lose if none of this matters?" I asked.

"Oh, I really like the way you think, Zac," the voice said.

"I didn't really think that there was more than one projector out there. How many of us are there?" I asked him.

"The shopkeepers and Time Girl have been calling me number twelve, and my instructions were to bring number thirteen here tonight, which is you, so at least that many. I've never met the others."

"I wasn't expecting a clear answer to that," I admitted. "Thank you."

"My pleasure. I'm supposed to give you a little taste of what I can do to give you some inspiration. I think I know why they picked me to do it. We're so very much alike. You're going to enjoy this as much as I will."

"Is Troy an Imago?"

"Troy is an avatar," the voice said. "That's a copy of me inside that body. I don't have to command him that way."

"Was he an avatar of you at the mall, too?"

"Yep. The body is some Serbian porn star named Teodor Markovic."

"Then you have a very delicate and sensual touch," I told him. "I noticed that in the mall when you were putting the cuffs on me."

"Speaking of those," Troy said. He fished into his bag and pulled out the matching collar. "I believe you wanted this before that sexy preppy boy stopped you. He leaned forward and slipped it around my neck gently buckling it on. He gave me another light kiss, but he backed off before I could lean into it again.

"Question," I asked. "Do you regret not getting the experiences of Troy when you put him away? Like, he's you, but what he does and feels doesn't get uploaded back into you so you can remember them."

"Ah, I can see how you would think that," the voice said. "Check your box and you'll find divots with switches on the sides. There are gems that fit into those divots, and the gems give the box more powers. The one I have lets me fully absorb the minds of my avatars back into me. Before you ask, the shopkeeper had Time Girl bring the gem to me as a reward for learning more about how the box works. I'd copy one and send it to you, but the boxes won't copy magic, which includes each other's imagos. I tried to copy your little blond friend, but couldn't, just like you'd be unable to copy your picture of my avatar." I focused on my lower half and was pretty sure Mason's copied boxers were gone, leaving me commando, so that tracked.

Avatars that I would be inside, and I could absorb them back into myself? That had potential. I told him my thoughts out loud.

"The sexcapades alone are worth it," he replied.

"How did you convince this guy to play along?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, when you projected the model to ask him if you could use his body like this, how did you convince him to say yes?"

"Ask him?" the voice scoffed. "Why would I do that? It's not like I'm forcing him to do things against his will. His image is out there for the world. All I'm doing is riding a mindless copy. He'll never know, and no one's getting hurt."

Interesting. He didn't have any reservations about using the image of someone else. To be fair, neither had I before the incident with Mason's copy. "What if one of them doesn't want their image used in this way?" I asked him.

"What if he had a twin?" the voice replied.

"Now I'm not following."

"Say this guy had an identical twin brother, and the twin wanted to have sex with me. Would I have to get the other one's permission, because I'd be having sex with his image?"

"No, but...," I started.

"Exactly. No, because that would be stupid. Making someone get consent to do things with them is one thing, but consent to use a mindless photocopy? Nope. That's where I draw the line -- too many arbitrary restrictions that mean jack shit."

He sounded like he was getting angry, so I dropped the subject. Mason would not like the guy. The morals of that part weren't that clear to me, either. The amount of fun I could have if I projected my mind into the shell of some hot guy's body...it blew my mind, but getting a waiver each time would be tedious.

After some silence, the time filled with me deliberately not arguing with him, he continued. "Good, I guess that's settled. How do you feel about testing your cuffs and collar?"

"Yes, please."

Troy lifted some ropes from the bag and laced my wrist cuffs to what I assumed was the headboard above my head. He walked behind the bed and put his hands on either side of my chest to slide me further up, past where my head would hit wood if there had been a headboard. Instead, it was something like a sanded and varnished log, long enough to keep my arms outstretched. The back of my neck rested comfortably on it. Troy used some clips to lock the sides of my collar to the log.

"I now give you permission to move your body," the voice told me. "That's mostly because the squirming is really hot."

I tested the tightness of the restraints. They felt good, and I couldn't get my hands free, nor could I do more than swivel my head. The log started moving backward, pulling me off the bed. I finally noticed chains attached to each end, which came together above my head in a triangle, a third chain pulling them up toward the ceiling, where it entered a pulley system. Troy was hoisting me back and up, dragging me by my wrists and neck, but not choking me. It felt nice.

My feet dropped off the bed, and the movement became vertical only, until I was standing tall, with my feet only lightly touching the floor. My chin and the back of my head were providing about half the support for my body, so only about half my weight was on my feet. It wasn't completely comfortable anymore, but it wasn't unbearable. Troy locked the height and slid the top of the pulley along a track toward the mirrors. When he stopped, I was hanging, looking at myself. Damn. It turned me on more than I thought it would.

Troy lowered the height so my feet had my full weight, and the pressure was off my neck and chin. "How was that?" he whispered in my ear. "Did it hurt too much?"

"No," I replied as his arm encircled my chest from behind. He pressed his pelvis against my lower back as his hands explored my front. They didn't touch me below the belt anywhere near the amount I wanted them to. Because of the mirrors, I could watch his hands feeling me up as he leaned forward, nibbling and licking on my ear and neck. The combination of feeling it and watching it happen to the sexy body Casey had designed for me made me whimper like a puppy.

"What's this?" Troy asked, his hands sliding under my button up and teaching the lines of the compression garment through the t-shirt. He opened the two buttons that were keeping my shirt closed. He walked around me and flashed a pair of scissors. "Remember, you still have these clothes with your real body, so don't freak out. He made a snip in the top of the t-shirt and set the scissors aside to rip it in half down my torso, revealing the garment beneath. "Is this what I think it is?" He slowly and carefully snipped the tight material off, letting my stomach fall loose.

"I see," the voice said from the other side of the mirror. From that close I could just barely hear another voice at the same time -- higher in timber, though that didn't surprise me from a voice changer.

"Deal breaker?" I asked.

"Not even close," he said. "What else are you masking about your body? I can adjust away the flaws you don't like, but I need to know what they are to do it."

"I have makeup on to cover my acne."

"Easy enough. Troy, clean his face." The reveal didn't take very long, and I was soon staring into my own blemished face. "Tell me, Zac, how long have you had your projector?"

"Four days, I think."

"I'm guessing you haven't learned spot metamorphosis yet, then. You're going to love this."

Troy turned on the overhead lights so I could see clearly and moved my head closer to the mirror. "I've found a certain celebrity who uses such a rigid and complex skin care routine that her face is flawless. I'm only going to tweak the skin health levels of her onto you," the voice told me. I watched as the redness faded and my skin got softer, developing a really nice tone. That skin on my face, with my new hairstyle, gave me tingles down low.

"Nice," I breathed.

"I agree. You really are rather nice to look at."

Troy backed me up and turned my body to stand in profile. "Before doing the stomach," he said, smacking my ass, "we might as well do this right." He pinched some of the loose denim back there and pulled it back and forth, making it flap.

"Good catch, Troy. Do you know who has the best butts, Zac? Figure skaters. I may not go too far with it, because they also have tremendous leg muscles to balance out the look. Maybe halfway?"

I could actually see my ass inflate, filling out the back of my jeans, and making them start to tighten around the thighs. I really liked that feeling.

"Zac, is it just your stomach you'd like fixed, or do you want your fat levels reduced all over?"

"Can we try both?"

"Sure."

My midsection, thighs, and chest all shrank slowly, and I almost missed my face getting thinner. He stopped before it started to get hollow, but my stomach still had a pooch. "Yeah, your posture and core strength suck. I'm going to have to go in on just the stomach." My middle reduced even more, sucking in to become abs. I didn't think my dick could get any harder, but I felt it pulsing against my jeans. The waistband and belt weren't holding them up any more; my ass was.

Troy chuckled. "He's panting just seeing himself like this." He ran his fingers down the line in the center of my abdomen, and my lust skyrocketed. He popped the buttons of my fly open, leaving the belt and top button closed, and fished my dick out of my fly. Like every time, the way he touched me was loving and gentle, and I groaned at his touch on my shaft.

"Decent. Workable. But let's turn it up a notch," the voice said. I guessed what he was talking about and watched my dick stretch three more inches.

"That definitely has some weight in my hand," Troy said.

"That pretty boy in the red pants," the voice said. He must have been referring to Casey. "He seemed pretty gay. Do you think he'd like to play, too?"

"We could ask him."

Casey, as he looked at the mall, appeared in front of me. "Oh my god, Zac! Are you alright? Let me get you out of there."

"Don't you dare," Troy told him, and he froze in place. "He's here because he wants to be, aren't you, Zac?"

"Yeah," I panted as he stroked me gently.

"You, pretty boy, were brought here to see if you wanted to participate. If you say no, you'll vanish from here and not remember this. If you say yes, you'll drive Zac here even wilder than just me alone. Oh and this is a dream, so none of this is happening in real life."

That was a lie, but a nice one.

"So, if I say yes here, it won't be cheating?" Casey asked.

"Nope. It's your subconscious doing what it wants to do. Does it want to do Zac? Do you think he's sexy?"

"Fuck yeah," Casey said.

"Show his dick how hot you think he is," Troy said. It wasn't the voice telling him to, so he could resist it, the same way I was able to resist answering Troy's questions. I could tell because he was hesitating. It was good to know that the avatars had no magical ability.

"How much do you want to fuck Zac?" Troy asked. "How hot do you think he is?"

"With those tight abs and giant dick, he's hotter than my boyfriend," Casey confessed. "I want that massive cock up my ass." Neither of those were really mine, but it didn't matter at the moment.

"You know how to get it ready," Troy prodded.

Casey stopped resisting and dropped to his knees, the head of my dick sliding into his mouth. A loud moan left my lips in response.

As Casey worked my pole, Troy took his shirt off and circled around to stand behind me again. He resumed touching me all over my torso, paying extra attention to my nipples, as he alternated between which ear he was kissing.

"So, you sexy thing," he growled in my ear, "are you a top, bottom, or vers?"

"I've only ever been sucked off," I admitted. "I've had that happen a lot, though."

"Interesting," he breathed. "I guess we're going to have to cover the basics. Casey, keep him going, but don't let him cum." Troy returned to the mirror, then vanished. Did the voice just reabsorb him?

In seconds, the half-dressed copy of him was back, followed shortly by a second one. The first one returned to position behind me, while the second stood behind Casey. "How big a dick can you take, Casey?" the voice asked.

"My boyfriend's is five by four," he replied.

"Then I'll make Troy's seven by five. Are you cleaned out?" I saw the bulge in the second Troy's jeans shrink a bit.

"Not today. I wasn't planning on seeing him. Do you need me to?"

"I'm not going to worry about it. By the looks of you, you're probably squeaky clean as far as the fingers can reach. But it's a lesson for Zac."

The first Troy spoke into my ear. "There's some prep work involved in anal, unless you want a mess. The first time you top, you'll probably want the bottom to flush out their hole in the bathroom. It'll take 20-30 minutes, a balanced solution, and a squirt bottle of some sort. Some tops will flat out stop if they get a whiff of what's usually in your ass.

"Before you yourself are a bottom, you might want to do some training on your hole to loosen it up. A few weeks of using bigger and bigger toys up there will get you ready."

"I don't have that stuff," I said.

"You have a projector and the internet, sexy," he said, slapping my ass lightly. The feeling of that while Casey was blowing me started bringing me close. "Are you going to cum?" he asked.

"Yeah," I whimpered.

The other Troy pulled Casey back, leaving my dick hanging. "Way too early for that," he said. He stood Casey up and ripped Casey's shirt open, sending buttons flying everywhere. Casey's chest and stomach were smooth, creamy, and unblemished. There were no abs showing, but also no visible fat.

He started blushing. "I know I'm not much, but...," he started, but the Troy that held him pulled his head back to kiss him, which shut him up.

"But nothing," my Troy said. "Muscles aren't the only type of sexy, twinkie-pie. What you got is a whole different flavor of hotness, and never forget it. What do you think, Zac? Are you the least bit turned off by his body?"

I'd seen Mason shirtless. While Mason was slightly more tanned, taller by a few inches, and slimmer, to the point where his ribs showed a bit, Casey's body wasn't too far off. I didn't hesitate answering. "I want him pressed up against me," I admitted.

I didn't have to wait long for that to happen. "You absolutely have my permission to kiss me, Casey," I whispered, and he did -- fiercely. He was a phenomenal kisser, and his skin pressed to mine felt amazing. The Troy twins were pressing against our backs, punching us even tighter together.

Second Troy whispered something into Casey's ear that I couldn't make out, but Casey whimpered, "yes."

"I'm going to stand to the side so you can see both what I'm doing to Casey and how much he likes it," second Troy said. He backed them up and I immediately craved Casey's body against mine again. It was probably the closest I'd ever come to Mason's. Troy number one resumed playing with my torso, only touching my pulsing dick once in a while to make sure I was staying hard, as if that were going to be a problem.

Second Troy pulled Casey's shirt the rest of the way off, tossing it to the floor, leaving him dressed from the waist down. I'd forgotten how nice his tight cherry red chinos looked on him, rolled to show off his socks. Troy ran his hands down Casey's chest and stomach, reaching his belt, which he slowly unbuckled. He opened Casey's button and zipper as well, to loosen the pants, but then he shifted position, turning Casey to face the mirror, so his back was to me.

With his left arm, Troy held Casey up, while his right hand traced a line down Casey's spine, sliding inside the waistband of Casey's designer briefs. I could see the hand continue inside the back of Casey's pants, staying in there to move around. Casey was writhing, but the expression on his face in the mirror told me he was loving it.

"Stick it in," Casey commanded, and gasped as he was obeyed.

"Normally, I would have added some spit," his Troy said, "but Casey asked for it dry." Casey moaned and begged for him to go faster, and even add another finger.

"Curious about what he's feeling?" my Troy asked.

"Yeah."

"How curious," he asked playfully. I caught on to what he was asking.

"Do it," I told him.

I couldn't look down because of my collar, but I could feel my belt opening, followed by the top button of my jeans, the last one holding them together. I felt his hand enter the back of my jeans, a finger tracing a line down the crack of my ass. I loved it! His finger reached my pucker and he rubbed it gently, tapping it frequently, but not going in.

"Do you like it?" he asked.

"Fuck yeah," I moaned.

"What do you think about me getting it wet and going in?"

I thought for a second. It was a step, but I could feel my hole trying to let him in, like it was kissing his finger. Was that even possible? "I want to try it," I said softly.

He slid my jeans down so the waistband sat below my ass cheeks, then stuck his index finger into his mouth. When he brought it back down, he ran it along my hole, adding more pressure. I could feel myself loosening. He brought his hand up and added more saliva. "Stop me any time it's too much for you," he told me, pressing harder, and the tip popped inside. I groaned, not quite sure what to think of that sensation.

He moved to a crouching position. "You're still too new to this. I'm going to do something a bit gentler."

That's when I felt his face press up against my ass and something wet and warm touch my back entrance. Was he licking me? I'd never heard of that being a thing, but it felt amazing, and OH! Holy shit, was I not prepared for it to go inside me. I moaned and giggled at the same time.

"He definitely likes that," Casey's Troy said.

The tone of my voice got higher as I moaned and begged for him to never stop. I could feel my voice straining against the volume control the man behind the mirror had placed on me. After tongue fucking me for a few minutes, his finger went back in, that time with no problem, and he was deeper than his tongue had been. He added a second finger to stretch me more and it only hurt a little, since that was about how far I'd been stretched by his tongue.

"Now for the best part," he said, and I wasn't sure what he'd changed, but I suddenly felt waves of pleasure shooting through my ass and up my dick. I could feel my eyes tearing up from how good it felt. And he kept doing it, making my dick bounce as I felt an orgasm building.

"I'm going to shoot!" I cried out, but it came out as a restricted croak due to the volume inhibitor. His fingers left me immediately. Fuck! That was the second time he didn't let me cum.

"So, we've learned that you're a guy who can be brought to orgasm through prostate massage," Troy remarked. "That means, if the guy is positioned or curved right, he can make you cum just by fucking you, without touching your dick. I'm a bit jealous. That doesn't work on me."

"This Teodor guy you're riding doesn't experience it either?"

"It's even worse with him. Anal's just flat out uncomforable in his body, unless I'm using him to top. Casey, does that happen with you?"

"No," he said between pants. "But I definitely would like a dick in me, and soon." His Troy opened his belt and jeans, yanking the buttons open in a smooth line with one pull, making a satisfying line of pops. He pulled his dick out, then stopped, looked at me, and winked. He closed the top button and buckled his belt, leaving his hard dick out. He pulled Casey's pants down to his ankles, though. He spit in his hand and lubed up the head of his dick, then slowly pressed it against Casey's hole. He slid in pretty easily.

"If you work at it, your hole can take a dick this well," his Troy told me.

My Troy used only a single finger, grazing up and down the underside of my shaft. It was just enough to keep me hard as I watched Casey get his ass plowed by the sexy model. I got lost in bliss for a bit as I could feel light touching under my balls.

"You're purring," my Troy pointed out. "And that smile is to die for." I checked the mirror and, sure enough, I had a smile on my face I'd never seen before. God, I was cute at that moment.

"I'm about to blast," Troy number two said, bringing my attention back to them. He pulled out and brought Casey to his knees, jerking his dick in front of Casey's face. Casey grinned. He must have known what was about to happen, because he closed his eyes and let the orgasm splatter all over his face.

The Troys traded places and number one started fucking Casey, while number two played with me, licking my shaft up and down and getting it soaking wet. "You're going to fuck him last, and shoot deep into his guts," he told me between licks. I knew it would be a bad idea in real life, but both my Imago and Casey's were both just going to vanish into nothing, as would the Troy twins. Could Imagos even carry diseases?

When it was time for Troy number one to shoot, he added to the mess on Casey's face.

"You look really hot with cum all over your face," I told him.

He smirked. "I'm ready for yours now."

"His is going inside you," one of the Troys said. I lost track of which was which. One stood behind Casey and held him up around the top of his chest, and the other held his legs up as they brought him face up toward me. They aligned his hole with my dick and slid him onto me.

"Fuck yeah!" I tried to yell as my dick was squeezed from base to tip. He was so tight on me.

"Fuck me, Zac!" he also tried to yell out. The fact that he was demanding me, by name, to fuck him, made my dick pulse.

They slid him up and down my cock, and I was glad for the support of the beam I was chained to, or I would have dropped to the floor. I'd never fucked a guy, and it was infinitely better than my hand could ever do.

It didn't take long before I felt the pressure building for a third time. "I'm cumming!"

"You're allowed to this time," they said in unison.

I let out a muted scream as my load made its way from my balls and up my shaft, pumping wave after wave of built-up pressure into Casey's ass. They gently lowered him onto the floor.

As I calmed down, the two Troys milked Casey to climax, spraying onto his own chest. He lay there panting for several minutes. I wasn't sure what I thought my first time of anal would be like, but that definitely surpassed anything I'd been imagining. They let the two of us come down from our afterglow.

"God, that was so hot," Casey said, fully recovered and crusted in dried cum.

The Imago of Casey vanished, and the voice chuckled. "Oops. I left the absorption switch on." Troy snorted a small laugh in response.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means the real Casey is going to remember this," Troy said. "Relax. He's going to think it was a dream, and it'll fade eventually. Probably the most erotic dream he's ever had."

"Oh, he should be fun to talk to in the morning," I mused.

"It'll be a dream for you, too," Troy said.

I remembered the bracelet. This was what the letter meant by remembering dreamlike states. "It won't," I told them. "Apparently, the shopkeeper knew this would happen and sent me something to wear to sleep to make me remember it clearly."

"Well, once you've reintegrated, stop by the leather shop at any time and have Troy take a new picture of you so we can do this again," the voice said. "As much fun as this was, if I use the same picture, you'll be back at the beginning of this night and won't know anything you've learned. I'm definitely interested in experimenting with you more and seeing just how kinky you get. I also think I want to sound proof this room so I don't have to limit your sound output. There were times I thought you were going to be a screamer, and I definitely want to hear that.

"You're into me? You can play with anyone you want, and you want to keep playing with me?"

"I like how your mind works and how open you are to the things I like. So far, in order for me to really get my freak on, I've had to be in both bodies. You're willing to push your boundaries, and I find that sexier than any runway model or porn star body. So, willing to pop back in the future?"

"It's a trek to get to the mall on the regular, but I'll try to get there in the next couple of weeks. Trying to explain having anything I want, like a car of my own, without giving any magical secrets away, is surprisingly challenging as a teenager."

"Preach," Troy said, then his eyes got wide, like he said something he shouldn't have. I caught it and put it together immediately. The voice was a teenager, too. If I were to place money on it, I'd say he was a student at Yates High across town, considering he was basing himself in the mall on that side of the city.

"Until next time, Zac," the voice said quickly, and I was suddenly in my own head.

When I woke up, the clock next to me read 4AM, and I was hard as a rock. Did I dare try and project someone to see if they wanted some quiet sex? I opened the laptop and looked up the name the voice had mentioned for Troy's body, Teodor Markovic. Sure enough, I found model shots of the man, including one in the exact outfit Troy had been wearing.

As the picture was printing, I remembered that the voice had just taken the image without asking. He made decent arguments, but they still didn't sit right. I decided to try a different approach.

"Don't move or speak," I told him as he materialized. "Turn around. You may only answer me in whispers, and make no other noise. Do you have any questions for me?"

He started whispering in another language and I realized my mistake. I sighed and deleted him, then re-projected him with Mason's knowledge of the English language. The ability to incorporate aspects of someone else would be very helpful indeed.

I tried again with the same instructions. "You are safe here and will return home after I ask you some questions. You will not lie or mislead me in any way. First question: would you be interested in having sex with me?"

"No."

"Would you be interested in having sex with any other male?"

"No."

"Have you ever had any sexual contact with other males?"

"No."

"Thank you, Teodor. The next set will involve some hypothetical situations. If someone were to make a sex doll that looked like you, how would you feel?"

"Do I get some of the profits?"

"It's just one sex doll, not sold on the market. Say a man has it made and it's a perfect copy, then he had sex with it. What would you think?"

"I wouldn't like it, but I couldn't stop it. I tried to before, and it didn't work."

"Explain, please."

"Some fans made me in their Sims games and shared it around, and I saw videos of them doing disgusting things to me in their games using mods. I got the videos taken down, but there was nothing I could do about their private games. It is fully legal for them to have imaginary homosexual relations with my image. I have learned to live with that."

I hadn't even thought of that. People had been doing that exact thing to celebrities for over a decade. "Thank you, Teodor. Your answers have been enlightening. I have one more task for you that will seem strange, but no harm will come to you. I will turn my back so I don't invade your privacy. I want you to put all your clothes onto the bed and take a photograph of them. Make sure to get a good shot with everything. Once the picture is taken, you may dress. Once I see the picture in my camera, I will send you home. Do you understand?"

"Yes." I turned my back and let him do his thing. A couple minutes later, he let me turn around and showed me the camera. I nodded, thanked him, and deleted him.

I wasn't sure whether his grudging acceptance of reality counted as consent, so I left him in peace, though I was still horny. I put my jeans from the previous day back on, along with the belt and shoes. Following that, I used the picture of `Carter' from the end of the day, but used the final shot of the same body that still had George inside as the mind, putting him back into the most recent copy of his body, wearing Mason's sexy outfit. I only gave him one instruction: not to be louder than a whisper.

"Hmm, nice outfit," he said. "I take it this is what you guys put Mason in while he wore my body."

"Yeah. Look, George, I'm not going to waste time here. "It's super early in the morning, I'm horny, and I don't have a lot of time before school. Are you interested in a quickie with me?"

The look on his face told me all I needed to know. He didn't want to hurt my feelings, but he also wasn't interested. "Zac, I like you, and you're decent looking, but I need to exist some more in this time so I can come to grips with everything. My world got completely rearranged, and I have to figure it out. I guess I'm not saying I'll never have sex with you, just not right now."

I hadn't even thought of things from his perspective. "Sorry. You're right. I wasn't even considering how you could be feeling. I'm going to put you back so I can deal with this. Do you want me to keep you in that outfit for now?"

"Sure. It's fine." I snapped a picture to keep him up to date and deleted the Imago. Then I printed it off and wrote `George: current' on the back.

I printed off Teodor's outfit. No one could say no to that. I quickly changed into it and got onto my bed. He was taller and thicker than me, so everything was loose and lightly grazed my skin in ways that drove me wild. I pulled my dick through the button fly and stroked myself off while basking in his scent and writhing in his clothes. I shot within minutes, finally taken care of. I cleaned it off me with his shirt and then deleted the outfit.

That was when I remembered I was going to let Mason sleep as well. I didn't have time, but I still had another option. The picture of him sleeping on the air mattress was taken about an hour before he woke up, so that one would be well-rested. I used that as the base and the picture of `Carter' as the mind, to put the most recent copy of Mason's mind into the rested body.

I left a note next to him on the bed explaining the change of plans while I went to shower. When I came back, he was just waking up. "Morning," he muttered. He looked at the note and nodded. "That's fine. Do I have time to get cleaned up? This version of my body is still rank."

I printed him off his shower basket and turned around so he could strip and put on the robe. Without hesitating, I gathered that outfit into a pile and got a picture. I took another of just his boxers, printed that one off, and put them on.

The image of myself in just his boxers that greeted me in the mirror filled me with a dual reaction. I remembered the body Troy's owner had given me, and how hot I thought it was, but I also had the memory of seeing myself before bed, and not being repulsed by my natural self for the first time in my life. My face wasn't as filled with acne as I'd always made it out to be, and my stomach wasn't as big. Had I just been blowing up everything I was insecure about in my head?

Only then did I put on my outfit from the day before, including the compression garment. Baby steps. After fixing my hair in the mirror, I was back to really enjoying what I saw. Only the makeup was missing, and I wasn't sure it was all that necessary. I was going to put it on anyway. I felt like showing off.

Once a freshly cleaned Mason returned in his robe, I printed off something for him to eat, making a fully cleaned, rested, and showered best friend. "This is you with all of your physical needs taken care of," I told him. "Probably good to have this on hand." I snapped a picture. "See you Wednesday unless I get an opportunity to bring you out earlier."

At a quarter to six, a knock on the apartment door caught my attention -- two quick taps, at just the right time that I would catch them. I opened the door to find a small gift box, and an envelope with my name on it. I brought them to my room to open them up.

The box held a smooth, creamy pink stone, like strawberry milk, and a second, smoky gray one. Thinking I understood what they were, I opened the note.

Congratulations, Zac.

You have passed the first test and earned an upgrade for your Imago Projector. This is the Stone of Stasis. Any Imago created with this stone active will never degrade, decay, or age. They will also no longer require sustenance to maintain their living systems, though they can eat if they so choose. Food will remain in their bowels undigested until they can expel it in the restroom.

You learned a different lesson than your new friend you met last night. You learned the lesson of bodily autonomy and consent. Because of that, you have received a stone to help you maintain and care for your Imagos, rather than the one to exploit them.

Still, since you understand how not to use it, you can have the pink one as well, which is the Stone of Absorption. You may eventually find some non-exploitative uses for it.

Best regards, The Shopkeeper

Author Notes:

This was the end of Arc 1: Lust. Zac has conquered the lust challenge...or has he. Is Mason's influence on him lasting and permanent, or can Zac be swayed to the dark side?

Another Imago box, another user, and another way of thinking. Is Troy a bad influence, or will Zac be a good influence? I definitely know which way I see things going from here, but Arc 2 is mostly still unwritten, and someone reading this might just convince me to take things in a different direction. As of sending this, Wrath 1 is written, Wrath 2 is half done, and Wrath 3 is in process. Seriously, if you have thoughts on what you'd like to see, let me know.

June is a bit hectic for me with Pride stuff, and I have a short story to write and narrate for an audio anthology on Youtube before I can really dig back in to Imago, plus I have another story, "Hero In Waiting" which is also fighting for my time and brainpower. If you want to know the status of Imago at any given point, I track progress in my Discord channel.

I have a Discord channel where I post status updates of my writing, and that will serve as a nexus for my other works on Nifty for easy access. I really like interacting with people there. Here is the join link: https://discord.gg/kVUrhJ7

Writers: I'm co running an audio anthology to be released on Youtube at the end of Pride month in June. This is the second year we're doing it, and we got a pretty decent turn out for year 1. If you'd like to participate with your own narrated short story, let me know and I can hook you up with the link.

I also have a Ko-Fi for TIPS ONLY. None of my work is behind a paywall, and the Ko-Fi is only there for anyone who wants to make my life easier. There is no pressure to donate, and only gratitude in return. The link is in my discord channel, linked above, because it looks like being linked to there directly from Nifty is against Ko-fi's TOS.

If you can, the Nifty Archives rely on donations to keep the lights on. You can donate at https://donate.nifty.org/

~Jayce ( jaycemarvel501@gmail.com )