She lets her gaze wander over the area and watches four young people playing volleyball. Suddenly, she notices a detail she hadn't noticed before: All four are wearing something on their wrists that looks very familiar. "Emma, look over there at the beach volleyball court. Am I mistaken, or do they all have an emitter on their wrists?" Emma follows Alice's gaze and looks at the volleyball players. "Oh wow, you're absolutely right! They're all wearing emitters!" Alice's eyes shine. "Isn't that amazing? It seems like we're not the only ones here with a partner who has been transformed. And maybe we're not even the only ones having fun with our transformed partners in public!" She giggles. Emma nods, equally fascinated. "Definitely! I wonder what kind of objects they are. And how they're experiencing this right now." They watch the volleyball players for a bit, trying to make out any details. "Do you think we should go over there and ask them?" Emma suggests. Alice thinks for a moment. "I don't know. I'd rather stay here in the warm bubbling water. But... what do you think... Do they all wear someone? Or why do they have emitters?" Emma giggles. "Maybe they're all wearing their partners as swimsuits. But I bet they synchronized all their emitters to cover a much larger area to stabilize a very specific transformation. I read that this is supposed to be a new feature in the upcoming new firmware, and beta testers can try it out right now." Alice's eyes light up. "You mean you can combine emitters, but the energy field can only hold a single transformation stable? How much larger will the field be? With two emitters, twice as large?" Emma keeps her eyes on the volleyball players. "I don't remember exactly. I think it was about squaring or something. But it also said that it depends on the distance between the emitters and so on." Alice is fascinated. "So their field over there must be quite large. Now the question is, what is this transformation they're doing this for?" She watches as one woman prepares to serve and then tosses the ball up. "Now I know! It's the ball!" Emma laughs. "Right, that makes sense! Their ball is a transformed person. That's why they're so careful not to let the ball go so far out of the field. They want to keep their partner inside and transformed!" Alice smiles. "I bet the ball is having so much fun right now. Being tossed around, hit, caught and squeezed, feeling the sun on the surface, feeling every movement, every touch..." she sighs. Emma smiles, "You're right. It must be amazing to experience the game like that." Alice feels Jake's spandex hugging her body and imagines how he or she herself would be to be the volleyball. She remembers that Jake can't hear Emma's words so she wants to tell him what they see. "Sorry, Jake, I forgot you can't follow our conversation properly. Would you want me to explain what Emma and I talk about or is it clear to you?" *Oh yes, please explain. I'm curious what you're talking about. I love it when you talk to me.* Alice smiles. "Well, we were just looking at the volleyball players over there. And we noticed that they all wear emitters on their wrists. Emma thinks they might have synchronized them to cover a larger area and stabilize a transformation. And we had the idea that their volleyball might be a transformed person! Isn't that incredible? Can you imagine what that would be like? To be a ball, tossed around, caught, squeezed, hit..." she sighs. Jake's voice is filled with wonder and curiosity. *Wow, that's amazing! I would love to be a volleyball someday. To feel the hands of the players, to be tossed and caught, the impact when being served must be great...* he trails off, his thoughts consumed by the idea. Alice smiles, she loves how excited Jake is. "We'll have to try that sometime. Do you remember when you were the beach ball?" Emma chimes in. "Does Jake like the idea of being a volley ball? Or would he want you to be the ball?" Alice hesitates for a moment, her mind racing with all the possibilities. "He says that he would love to be a volleyball. But I have to admit, the idea of being the ball myself is kind of tempting too. I mean, to be tossed around, caught, hit... it must be an incredible feeling. But at the same time, the idea of watching Jake experience it... that's pretty hot too." Emma grins. "Well, you'll have to flip a coin or something to decide. But I think either way, it would be amazing to experience that as a couple." Alice nods, feeling excited just thinking about it. "Yes, it would be. We'd have to look into the details of how to set that up." Jake wants to answer Alice's question about being that beach ball. *A beach ball... there is some kind of memory that I once was a beach ball... But I'm not sure... What was it like?* Alice smiles, happy to reminisce about their previous adventures. "Oh, you were amazing as a beach ball! You loved every second of it. The feeling of being inflated, the way I could roll you around and squeeze you. And you loved it when I licked your valve. It was so cute." Emma giggles. "You're really something else, you two." Alice blushes a bit. "Well, we like to explore new things. Speaking of which, Emma, what do you think you'll do when you get home? Will you talk to Mike about being a sentient object?"