2: Improving Ava
“Hello Spencer, just wanted to see how you're doing in there.”
Much to Cassandra’s confusion, it was maidbot Ava’s gentle voice that replied. “I am doing very well, mistress.”
“I’m not your mistress right now, I’m your mother.”
“Does not compute, maidbots do not have mothers.”
Cassandra looked at her phone again, which confirmed the collar was deactivated. Was this some sort of malfunction?
Finally, the maid’s neutral expression turned to a smirk, and a familiar male voice spoke. “Got you, Mom.”
Cassandra was greatly relieved and mildly annoyed. “When are you going to stop giving me grief over the time I mistakenly called you Ava?”
“When it stops being hilarious.”
She returned Spencer’s smirk. “Are you going to be nice, or should I just switch you back right now?”
“Oh, all right. I think I’m doing OK, keeping on top of everything the system sends my way.”
“I didn’t mean your maidbot duties, I meant how my son is feeling.”
“I guess, fine? To be honest, when I think of myself as Spencer, I’m an unemployed weirdo in a maid costume, but when I think of myself as Ava, I am elegant and skilled. So while I work, I mostly do the second thing.”
“You’re not a weirdo.”
“By the way, just curious, do we know when the original Ava will be fixed?”
Cassandra’s eyes darted to the side. “I…haven’t heard an exact date, no.”
“Just curious, it’s not like it changes my tasks for today.”
“On that topic, I’m having a visitor this afternoon and we will need tea service.”
“Once again, Mom, switch me back and ask again.”
“Such insolence,” she said playfully, “means you have forgotten just who is in charge.” With that she pressed the button to make her son back into her maidbot.
“Thank you Ava, that will be all for now,” Cassandra said after the maidbot placed a tea service tray on the table. Turning to her guest, she inquired “How do you take your tea, Ms….”
“With honey, please, and call me Olivia. I’m here to pay a visit as your Volunteer Maidbot Success Engineer. I can see by your lovely home and gracious hospitality that you’re a perfectionist, as am I. I’m here to make sure everything with your maidbot is perfect.”
She felt immediately charmed. “And call me Cassie. So, how exactly does a Volunteer Whatever You Said do that?”
“We recognize there has been disruption in our industry by parts shortages, and as a result we have been unable to provide you with the customer experience we strive for. In your case we’ve been unable to repair your android maidbot and you’ve had to make do with a human volunteer.”
“Yes, my son Spencer. It started as a game, and…” she trailed off.
“I can assure you that I’ve spoken with dozens of customers in similar situations, doing things they hadn’t expected. The arrangement of a long-term volunteer maidbot creates some unique challenges. My job is to make sure that the whole experience produces the best result for everyone involved – including the volunteer.”
“Oh, should I ask Ava to come back and deactivate her so we can talk?”
Olivia smiled and produced a tablet computer. “No need. Let’s start with you and your goals. I spoke with the representative who helped you place the order for your android maidbot last year. She said wanted your maidbot ‘pretty, yet plain.’ Someone who looks nice enough but wouldn’t upstage her mistress.”
Cassandra felt a bit embarrassed to hear her status insecurity described so bluntly. “Yes, I do remember that.”
“And were you pleased with the way android-Ava turned out?”
She swallowed and decided to be brutally honest, just as she was when ordering Ava. “Yes, I was, and obviously my son doesn’t look the same. I’m grateful to have any help at all, but once the supply chain issues are addressed, I am looking forward to getting back a maidbot who looks the way I prefer.”
“What if I told you that you don’t have to wait?”
“I…what do you mean?”
“There are a lot of appearance-related options that can be configured for your current maidbot. I could go through all of them for you in detail, or we could save some time and just copy the settings from your original order, since you seem satisfied with those.”
“So Ava would… wear makeup? Wear her hair like android-Ava did?”
“Yes, that and more. Would you like me to copy those settings now? They can always be adjusted later.”
“That does seem worth trying, yes, thank you!”
“OK, next on the list, I’ve seen Ava’s quarters, but can you show me Spencer’s room?”
She hesitated. “He kind of doesn’t have one right now, I put his things in storage when I needed the room for a houseguest. I suppose I should have them brought back.”
“Perhaps… or perhaps not. Let’s see what Ava wants.”
“What Ava wants?”
“By that I mean Spencer when he’s acting as Ava. When did you remove his things?”
“It was… last Thursday.”
“Six days ago, I got it. Let’s look at the previous day’s data.” Olivia pulled up a floorplan of the condo, then overlaid a heatmap which appeared mostly green but had a few red areas. “And which room was Spencer’s?”
She pointed to the largest of the red blotches.
“Just as I guessed; let’s jump forward, one day at a time…”
Suddenly, the whole screen turned bright red. “My goodness,” Olivia exclaimed, “what happened here?”
“This is while the houseguest, my daughter, was visiting. She can be… challenging.”
“Sibling rivalry,” she said with a chuckle, “is one thing our research department hasn’t yet found a fix for. Let’s fast-forward to today.” The previously-red area turned a pale green.
“What does that mean?”
“OK, let me explain. Ava and Spencer aren’t different personalities or anything weird, but they are distinct roles. If Ava is going about her day and keeps encountering the idea of Spencer, that’s a jumble of mixed messages about identity. This can cause anxiety. The first image shows Ava experiencing this anxiety, and the last shows that removing Spencer’s things assuaged it.”
“Spencer did tell me that thinking of himself as Ava feels better while he’s working.”
“Yes, and it’s hard for Spencer to think of himself as Ava while looking at evidence to the contrary. There are some other locations where we see more red, so check those spots for possible triggers.”
“I do still have a few old photos of him around and the like. I guess maybe I could put them away.”
“Make sure to get these items out of your condo; just hiding them out of sight isn’t good enough since a maidbot cleans absolutely everywhere.”
“I’m going to feel guilty about doing this. I love both of my children, and purging the memories of one seems almost cruel,” Cassandra lamented.
“I understand your feelings, but as this graph shows, the cruel thing would be to keep evidence of Spencer around.”
Olivia took a bite of biscuit before continuing. “So we’ve covered some of the needs of your volunteer, but we’re ignoring the elephant in the room. We need to talk about Spencer’s penis.”
Cassandra had not expected this turn. “Um, OK, what about it?”
“The male body has requirements for optimal health. During maintenance while his nanopaste is being flushed and replenished, he spends most of the night dripping pre-ejaculate, as this graph shows. Many males respond to the enemas in this way. But it is better for prostate health to sometimes have a… nocturnal…”
“You can just say cum, I won’t be offended.”
“Thank god. It’s better for your volunteer to cum now and then. My recommendation is to set this to a 10% chance each night that his erotic dreams will make this happen.”
“He has erotic dreams?”
“He will. We configure that here too; the collar steers his dreams and his body’s response to them. Do you have any thoughts about content?”
“Content?”
“What do you want him to be dreaming about when he cums?”
“I mean, he’s straight, so I guess naked ladies?”
“We find it helpful if the dreams don’t conflict with the maidbot role. What’s your favorite thing that Ava does for you? We can try some dreams based on that.”
Cassandra smiled before she spoke.
Spencer found himself in a dark, voluminous space.
A short distance away, he saw a woman. A gigantic woman, she stood at least ten feet tall, but was dimly lit such that he could not make out her features. Only one part was clear: her feet. They were the most beautiful he had ever seen, as though sculpted from marble and then turned flesh. Belonging to a giantess they were enormous, yet somehow dainty. He simply had to get to them, to touch them and know them and rub them.
He ran towards her, but found his legs would not work. Falling to the ground, he pulled himself along with his arms, expending every ounce of his strength. Still, the feet remained beyond his grasp as he continued to struggle in a crescendo of horny urgency.
The system awakened Spencer from his dream at 5:30 AM. His erection subsided as the collar received commands for Ava to start her day. This process was a little different than on prior days; after brushing her teeth, Ava was directed to do a thorough shave of body hair, and then spend about twenty minutes applying makeup. Once this process completed she moved to the normal routine of making coffee and bringing it to her mistress in bed.
“Good morning Ava, don’t you look nice today!”
Cassandra wasn’t always so gracious in the mornings, but she couldn’t help but notice how different a little makeup made ‘Ava’ look. The use of eyebrow pencil made for a more pleasing arch, and her cheeks were expertly contoured. The results looked like the permanent makeup that android-Ava got from the factory. She could still easily tell this was really her son, but it was a less jarring sight.
Ava responded with poise and focus. “Thank you mistress, you are very kind. Will you be needing anything more?”
“Not here, but please go start breakfast. Eggs today, over easy.”
I need some protein, she thought, to gather the strength for what I have to do today.
Spencer gripped the foam mat tightly, frozen in place. Lots of other kids walked by him to go down the water slide, including some even younger than his age of 8, but he was terrified.
Cassandra yelled up to him, “you can do it, Spencer! I believe in you!”
With this encouragement, the boy took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and propelled himself onto the slippery surface. His mother was waiting for him at the bottom; she caught him and exclaimed how proud she was of him. She took a selfie of them sharing a high five and vowed to cherish this moment forever.
The framed photo of the two of them at the water park was placed into a cardboard box along with other keepsake items. Cassandra felt a bit sad to be doing this, but Olivia’s heatmap indicated they were causing stress for Ava. She sealed the box and took it with her to work, planning to display the items in her office.
Later that day, the system sent Ava to dust the mistress’s bedroom. Maidbot programming immediately noticed the pattern of framed pictures was irregular; there were a couple of gaps. Looking more closely, she saw that the faint dust patterns indicated that there had been some pictures in those spots but now they were no longer present. She searched on the floor and behind the dresser, but found nothing.
Unable to find fallen items, she rearranged the remaining pictures in a pleasing manner and wiped away all the dust. Having produced a more satisfying display, Ava blissfully moved along to her next task.
Spencer finds himself kneeling on the floor. In front of him is a woman, seated, with an ottoman propping up her delightfully bare feet. He reaches for them with trepidation, but her smile encourages him. He finds their touch is warm and inviting, and begins to caress them. He finds that stroking her feet somehow causes sensations of stroking his own cock. This compels him to grasp and rub them more energetically, until soon he is squeezing with all his might.
Spencer awakened naked in the maidbot maintenance pod. He’d been having dreams like this for the past week but today was different; the system did not immediately issue commands. Instead, a bidet wand extended from the saddle cradling his groin area, spraying water to wash away the sticky residue of what might have become Cassandra’s grandchildren. Once this brief process completed, Ava began her morning routine of preparing herself; curiously enough this no longer included shaving, yet there was no sign of facial or body hair regrowth. This simplified the process of applying makeup, which had become routine.
Day by day, Cassandra noticed more changes in Ava. Her hair grew and darkened at an unnatural rate, becoming long enough for an efficient middle ponytail behind the maid headpiece. Ava’s skin became softer, more youthful, and acquired a slight tanned tone. Her cheekbones grew more rounded, and her chin softened. Cassandra couldn't always put her finger on what was different, but each morning she was served coffee by a maid who looked a bit more like the old Ava -- and a bit less like her son.
As Ava entered her mistress’s bedroom, she always kept her eyes directed downward or to the side, per her programming for handling service in delicate situations. Only if directly asked a question was the maidbot permitted to look upon her mistress. A consequence of these rules was that it took a while for Cassandra to notice one of Ava’s major changes.
“Ava, come here, let me look at you.”
The system responded to the command, and she realized that over the past week Ava’s eyes, previously cornflower blue, now appeared dark brown. Eye color was one of her choices for android-Ava, motivated by self-consciousness about her own hazel eyes, but she didn’t expect this particular preference to be something the system could accommodate.
Olivia had invited Cassandra to text her if she had questions:
Oh my goodness, Ava’s hair and eye colors have changed! Is this dye? Colored contacts?
Nope, it’s the nanopaste increasing melanin production. It’s real.
And that’s how they make it grow faster?
That and directing more nutrients to the hair follicles, yup!
Spencer, meanwhile, also couldn’t help but notice the shift in Ava’s appearance. Initially he was a bit freaked out, seeing a near stranger in the mirror. Once he thought of himself as Ava, however, he realized now he wasn’t just elegant and skilled, but pretty as well. He took pride in this.
After another week, Ava’s hair had grown long enough to tie in an efficient-looking bun, hiding the sandy brown ends and leaving only the new raven black color visible. The shade and styling had been chosen specifically to coordinate with the black in her uniform. Visually there was now no clear line between Ava and her function: she wasn’t just dressed as a maid, she was a maid. This was particularly true as she carried morning coffee into her mistress’s bedroom with precision, silence, and averted gaze.
Cassandra did not comment to Ava, being busy planning her day. One item on the list was placing the framed photos of Spencer on her shelves at the office. She kept forgetting the box in her car, but definitely would take care of it today. She proceeded to dress and prepare to go to work.
Before leaving, Cassandra realized it had been a while since she had deactivated Ava to check in with her son. She opened the maidbot app, but found the UI had changed; when she clicked the “deactivate” button there was a new dialog:
Maidbot Ava is currently functioning properly. Deactivation not recommended. Are you sure?
This gave her pause, she decided to worry about this later and headed out.
“Hello Cassie,” Olivia said over their video call. “I just wanted to follow up on how the adjustments we made are working out.”
Cassandra’s face beamed. “I am truly amazed! Ava now looks a lot like the old Ava. How on Earth is that even possible?”
“Some of it is just clever use of makeup and styling, but the nanopaste also can generate some specific customizations. It can reshape the face by depositing fat or building muscle.”
“Just so I’m clear, all of this is temporary?”
“Yes, yes, of course. You can change the settings, or if the nanopaste treatments stopped, your son’s original appearance would gradually return.”
“Well I’m amazed.”
“Our research team really is amazing. But the changes aren’t done yet. Bit by bit, every night the system will measure Ava against the standard you’ve set and try to make adjustments to get even closer.”
“Speaking of the system, this morning I went to deactivate Ava and the app gave me warnings that weren’t there before.”
Olivia paused to pull up some data. "So, here's the thing. If you feel the need to talk with your son because you're missing him, certainly you can do so. That said, this graph indicates it’s a source of stress; it’s harder for Spencer to see himself as Ava when she keeps getting switched off.”
Casssandra furrowed her brow pensively. “Hmmm. Obviously I don’t want to cause Ava problems.”
“Best practice is to keep deactivation to a minimum, both in frequency and duration, which is why I set up the cautions you saw. Better to check the dashboard of your maidbot app, which provides comprehensive monitoring of the volunteer’s physical and mental well-being.”
“Yeah, Spencer isn’t great at talking about his feelings anyway. I guess I also wanted him to have a bit of a break, since a maidbot’s work is never done.”
“That’s a very kind sentiment. Remember you can adjust working hours and break times in the app. However, while you might think you're doing your volunteer a favor by deactivating the collar for a bit, you’re really not.”
“I just want to be absolutely certain my boy is still OK with all this.”
Olivia switched to another graph. “Not just OK. Spencer is, quite literally, having his dreams come true. Look how much his mood indicators jump while giving you foot rubs.”
Cassandra smiled. “But are those dreams really his? Or dreams we forced upon him?”
Olivia laughed. “Not forced, more like nudged. Last week I met with a woman whose volunteer was her husband, and she wanted to configure him to experience nightly dreams about eating another man’s cum out of her.”
“Wow, that’s kind of extreme. So you talked her out of doing that?”
“I can’t really speak to the philosophical nuances here," Olivia replied, dodging the question. "I can assure you that reinforcing foot rubs is a very mild dream shaping choice, and our data shows it’s really helping your son.
“Speaking of,” she continued. “have you been able to remove the other triggers of anxiety?”
“Using your graphs I think I’ve gotten them all. Anyone looking around my home,” she said with a tinge of regret, “would never know I even had a son.”
“I know you had some mixed feelings, but those changes were a big help for the comfort of your volunteer. As we can see on this panel, yesterday was filled with contentment and purpose. Ava wasn’t troubled by reminders she is, or ever was, anything besides your maidbot.”
Cassandra considered this. “You know what,” she replied with epiphany, “neither was I.”