Dags sighed after Cynthia logged off. There really was nothing to do in here while she was offline. At least it was only probably a few minutes until she would let him know he could turn on this camera and audio.
"When Cynthia goes to sleep, what will I do? Can I also sleep or be in a sort of state of suspension?" He hoped that he could, or this would be an extremely boring night. He desperately needed at least some functions to observe the game world by himself. His system called him a moderator, so surely he would have a function like that sooner or later. As he was thinking about his future hopes and dreams, he finally heard three thumps on the helmet.
"Looks like she's ready. I can finally see some more of the world! Well, maybe just a bit of her room and the view from her window since she wants to sleep." He activated the function of the helmet and saw the real world once again. Unfortunately, he couldn't move the view, but that was fine as long as Cynthia was there to move the helmet.
"Dags, are you there?" Cynthia said, tapping the helmet three times again. The helmet was currently facing her, probably being on a bedside table. She had changed into some cute pink and purple pajama pants with the same shirt from before. She had her long, light brown hair cascading down her back, looking like she had just brushed it.
"Yes, I'm here. Thanks for allowing me to view the outside for a bit. I must say, the room is quite cute. That's a lot of stuffed animals on your bed." He didn't really see too much of the room before. Now that he had a good look at her bed, it looked like a party on her bed with the amount of stuffed animals. Luckily, she had a very large bed to fit all of them.
"Ah! Yeah, I just like collecting them… I mean they're all so cute and they help me fall asleep so- why am I explaining this to you?" She started explaining quickly as her face flushed red, then stopped, realizing how silly it was to get defensive and explain it to an AI.
"Haha, don't worry, I'm not judging you. I know a lot of girls love those kinds of things. Do they have names?" Dags thought her embarrassed expression was cute. He didn't actually get to have a look at her too often, only when she was logging in for a moment. When she was in the game, all he could see was the first-person view from her perspective. Whenever she was embarrassed in the game, he wouldn't actually be able to see her face as it happened.
"U-Um… yes…" Cynthia's quiet voice nearly wasn't picked up by the microphone of the helmet as she spoke. Her face went a deeper shade of red and she grabbed a stuffed animal to hide her face with it. It was a small white bunny with a heart on each of its cheeks.
"Well, you can introduce me some other time. For now I'd like to have a look around. I'd like to know more about you as well." While he enjoyed teasing her, he didn't want to take it too far. Instead he wanted to see what else was around and to learn more of who she was as a person.
"Ah, yes we can do that." She nodded her head rapidly and tossed her bunny back onto the bed, thankful for the change to a different subject. She picked up the helmet and spun it around to face where she looked. The first thing she showed was a piano.
"I've played the piano since I was little. I even got some awards for it back then, but it's mostly just a hobby for me now. I also like to play it if I get sad since it helps calm me down when I play. Father got me this one years ago, and I've always cherished it since." She rubbed her hand over the top of the piano, reminiscing over the past.
"Oh, that's quite impressive. I'd like to hear you play some time, if you don't mind of course." Dags was never very musically talented himself when he was alive. He was more into computers, history, and weapons than the arts. He still loved to listen to music just as much as the next person though.
"Sure! I actually haven't played in a while, so it'll be good practice for me." She spun the helmet around to face her as she talked to him. She had an excited smile on her face as she thought about sharing a bit of her passion with someone. It was a bright and dazzling smile that made Dags speechless for a moment. He shook his head vigorously and forced himself to look away.
"Ahem, thanks. What's next?" He wanted to swiftly move on to the next topic.
"Hm, oh how about my family?" She brought the helmet over to a 3D projection with several people pictured in it. There were 7 people in total. An older man and woman who were likely her parents, as well as five younger people, four boys and one girl.
"These are my parents, Christof and Julia Highglow." She got a bit quieter saying that, but he couldn't see her current facial expression since he was facing away from her. He refrained from asking her about it, since that might be too personal of a question for now.
"These here are my siblings, with me being the middle child. I'm the only girl with four brothers, two older and two younger. From oldest to youngest, Gavin, Wren, Winston, and Hardy." She pointed at them in the picture as she said their names. Gavin and Wren looked to be several years older than Cynthia, and the younger siblings have a similar age gap between each other.
"Do you get along with them all?" Dags asked. He sensed some tension in her voice when she said the first two names.
"..." Cynthia pursed her lips as she thought about how to answer that.
"If you don't want to-"
"No, It's ok." As Dags was about to back pedal, Cynthia interrupted him. She took a deep breath and began telling him about her family situation.
"As I told you, I'm the only daughter of my father. Even though I'm the middle sibling, I've been rather… spoiled, by my father. Over the years, this has made my older brothers resent me for having it easier than them. My father has always worked them hard, ensuring that they would be fit to take over the family in the future." She started slow, but then began speeding up as she ranted about her past.
"My older brothers always toiled away on the difficult lessons they were assigned, but they never complained to our father. They just worked hard, trying to gain his approval. He rarely ever showed them anything like that though, just driving them harder if they improved. Meanwhile he never tried to give me any hardship. My brothers grew jealous and hateful at the difference in treatment, and we grew apart. Nowadays we barely speak to each other, and I'm only on good terms with my younger brothers, but even then we barely interact." Her breathing grew more ragged the longer she spoke. It sounded like she was holding back tears as she explained her relationship with her family.
"I see… Is that why you want to get powerful in the game? To try and show your father and brothers that you don't need to be babied and can make it out on your own?" Some of the puzzle pieces started to come together in his mind. He knew that Cynthia must've been someone of high status since she was given this special helmet, but there was no one helping her in the game like might be expected. She had been alone this whole time, not seeking the help of her family or family's guild, assuming they had one.
"Exactly! I'll show them that I can do even better than they can! I'll make enough money so I don't rely on my father's money. I'll become so successful that my brother's can't say I haven't worked hard!" She wiped away the tears that were building up in her eyes and put on a determined look.
"That's the spirit! I'll work with you to ensure that dream comes true. You'll surely show them what you're capable of in the future!" Dags gave her some more encouragement. He wanted to see her succeed in her endeavor.
"Thank you, Dags… Let's work hard together." She turned the helmet around and hugged it.
Dags once again averted his eyes.
"Did she really have to do that?!" He thought to himself. Her chest was currently pressed against the camera, giving him nowhere to look.
"A-anyway you should get some sleep. It's quite late isn't it? I'll see you in the morning." He wanted to get out of this situation, and fast.
"Oh, you're right! It's almost 1 in the morning… I need to get up in 6 hours for breakfast!" She quickly hopped in bed, and set the helmet in the lap of a giant stuffed bear.
"Goodnight Dags, and… thanks." She brought the covers up and closed her eyes to try and sleep.
"Goodnight Cynthia, see you tomorrow." With that said, he shut off his connection to the outside. It was now time to see if he could 'sleep' in here. He thought hard about sleeping, resting, hibernating, and all sorts of words for resting. Nothing worked until finally, he thought of the word 'standby' and a prompt appeared before him.
[Enter Standby Mode?]
[Y/N]
He shouted in joy at having found the correct command and pressed yes.
[Entering Standby Mode. AI Dags will come back online when the User activates the NanoPhase helmet again.]
Before he could do anything else, Dags lost consciousness.