Garlio_th3_great... or just Garlio knew he was lucky enough that he associated more with his screen name than his real name... He lived in a studio apartment with all the blinds perpetually shut. The virtual clocks only being important so he could sync up with electronic events. He was smart, but unmotivated and not really on speaking terms with his family. He was barely on speaking terms with his little sister who would occasionally berate him for doing nothing with his life and talents. Technically speaking Garlio traded stocks... He was good at it, and it earned him enough to pay rent, electricity build, and buy games/upgrade his computer when he needed. You'd think he'd be fat, but he was actually pretty thin as he rarely had an appetite. He was a wreck, and without simulated human interaction you'd call it self imposed inhuman torture since he got most of his food through delivery. He... had a good mind... had... Then he made a mistake, got ridiculed, tried to pick himself back up with his network of support, got slammed down again, withdrew.... withdrew...
*bang bang* went a fist on his door. Garlio sighed and opened the front door and saw... his little sister. Now in her mid twenties she had been much more successful than him, and avoided whatever mines he had stepped in... and now "Take this!" she shoved a flash drive into his hand. "Use it! Think of it as a game or something, if you don't... I don't know... I'll just give up..." Then she closed the door on herself. As far as an ultimatum went...
Garilo just went to his bed, and lay on it staring at the flash drive. Probably had some sort of software on it... maybe had some bit of spyware to send back info to the developer... her sister most likely...
He plugged it into his desktop and if it turned it to slag he'd just sue... it had a program on it that... wanted him to connect his phone first and then it'd install on both devices... Garilo was annoyed but did so, and it looked like a... rehab program or something. It was named "Practice socializing for a new you!"
"PSNY... no clever anagram I guess..." Garilo muttered. It probably was more intended for the phone and the desktop would make tracking or doing data easier or something so Garilo used his phone to open it up. Garilo's brain raced for a second as a pulse of electrons hit it, and for a split second his amazing brain activated fully for the first time in years. Instinct, somehow this program was scanning everything despite there being no way his phone would be able to scan- His brain felt a bit woozy after being pushed to max for the first time in years. On the phone's opening screen there was a pop-up that read "User well versed in app culture, initial tutorial canceled." then he found the main menu that looked a bit like a standard app's home. A pleasant start with options to continue, a friends menu that had a white 1 surrounded by a red circle... probably his sister, a daily menu, a "task" menu... He just pressed the "task" menu and it had a bunch of chores like "Get food from the grocery store", "Go for a walk", or "Say hello to a neighbor"... Garilo supposed that they were trivial enough, and he should at least... try it... He put on some clothes that were a bit... dusty... and loose... still they were clothes and it wasn't like Garilo had forgotten where the basic grocery store was... He just had to google and put it into maps.
It wasn't that far away, just a few minutes walk. Some thin, lanky barely shaven man walked past the neighborhood park when his app went off "Socialization practice detected, auto generation name "Neighborhood park, kid's play" found. Play scenario (will automate your task)"
Garilo was curious so he accepted and then... from inside the park saw his body walk past the park on his task and Garilo got an insight through intuition... Was this some hallucination while the app automated his body doing his chores? Garilo looked down at his body and saw it was low to the ground, covered in a pink dress...
"Hi, Wanna play!?" some hyperactive girl asked loudly behind Garilo who got spooked and... then noticed a damp spot near the front of... his dress? The hyperactive loud dress went to the front with a gap in her teeth, pigtail strawberry blonde hair, and a look like "Eww, did you wet yourself?"
Garilo's face flushed red as a bunch of other kids turned and... Garilo ran to the bathroom and locked him... herself in a stall crying to herself and... and... "Mission failing." the voice of the app said as Garilo started hyperventilating. Garilo tried telling himself this wasn't real, he wasn't making a fool of himself, this wasn't even him... this wasn't even real. "Failure immanent." ...not real... "Failed mission" went across her eyes as Garilo... stumbled in the parking lot of the grocery and fell on the ground, but managed to cushion himself on his arms... It hurt... reality hurt... even the simulation hurt... The people around him were staring with concern. One thought about seeing if Garilo needed help but was hesitating... Garilo had failed... He picked himself back up and went back to his apartment... locking himself back into his room.
There were some daily tasks that he had managed to complete "Attempt a chore, Attempt a mission" he tapped them complete and it gave him some points and... It just felt so hollow as the scars on his heart felt like a fine scalpel had run itself across them... His friend's tab's notification turned from 1 to 2... he decided to open it and saw that he had a friend, his little sister April... and she had a message for him.
"You actually used it! Thanks you wont regret it, I'll be checking on that mission once it's done." Then maybe a minute or two later there was another message "Perhaps we could co-op a mission together? I think I could do something when I get back home." Garilo just lay in bed staring at his phone in a daze for who knows how long? He didn't even bother checking the time difference. But there was a game invite with an auto-generated name "Memory of the past, Playing with April. auto task, rest." ...there was the invite... if Garilo wanted to accept there was the invite right there waiting for his thumb muscle to twitch... Garilo's eyes stared at the app... already tired...