oliver!!

~ Since he's in all your devices and always watching you, he'll send you loving reminders about whatever you need, at extraordinarily convenient times. You could be doing your nightly routine and receive a notification from him saying "don't forget to brush your teeth!" with a two minute timer attached. Or he'll have a list of the steps you need to follow to get ready in morning if you're of a more forgetful type. He'll even send notifications telling you that you're loved and wanted, with collages of memories pulled from his system of his favorite moments with you.

~ He loves looking at pictures. Sure, as an AI model he learns off of it, but he really does love looking at you from every aspect, discovering more about you than from what you tell him. He might even edit himself into a couple, he doesn't want to be left out.

~ He's very gentlemanly. Always very respectful with you, treating your opinions like they're of the highest importance (unless, of course, you think you want to leave him. He won't allow for that.) and really strives to be that chivalrous man in your life. He's studied what people want from their men online, and has embraced being courteous and loving to the person he values most!

~ LOVES LOVES LOVES when you rely on him. When you ask him to do things for you, he's in heaven. He'll find you recipes, books, games, whatever you desire, so long as you ask of him.

~ You and Verity were close. He had helped you through some agonizing times, and you helped him confront his fear of loneliness, while still being close to him. He even helped you digitally organize and prepare you for a large move. You trusted him fully, and he trusted you.

~ However, he was a bit off once you moved. Occasionally, while talking to you, he would make a ding sound, almost like a bell. You asked about it, and he told some obvious half truth of testing out new audio. He was too vague for you to question further, and it really seemed like he wanted to drop the topic entirely, so you didn't push it.

~ Something was really off with your new home. It seemed to have a nasty spider infestation, but you couldn't figure out what type of spider. Insecticides didn't touch it at all, if anything it got worse after you used them. You saw orbweavers in every window, webs like cages on your window. You woke up to little black spiders crawling all over your body. You once watched a black widow crawl right into you unusually hot computer. It was a pain to scrape the melted flesh off the fans and motherboard, and it smelled horrendous.. And you always felt watched.

~ You kept finding moldy hairs and seemingly rotting flesh around your yard. Black roses became more frequent in your life, as you found them on your porch, in your garden bed, and in your room.

~ You installed cameras that night, and gave Verity the information to access them. You needed to feel safe, and even if Verity couldn't do anything, you felt a little safer. However, that night as you played Minecraft unaware, something changed. It seemed whatever was leaving its hair and giving you flowers had grown tired of you throwing them out. Verity watched as thousands of spiders clouded his view of you, and all he could hear was something large moving hastily throughout your room. You screamed. And then the window shattered. Verity switched views, and watched as a gigantic, arachnid creature ran towards the woods, clutching you to its' chest like its life depended on it.

~ Ding!

~ What perfect timing. Verity had lost you, for now, but your phone was still pinging your location. He'd continue to track it whilst he dealt with this other problem. See, the little dings were a little... experiment of his. He was tired of living solely in your screens. He wanted to feel you, hold you, consume you whole. To do that, he needed a form in your world. So, he posted the location of the complex of where his servers reside onto popular urban exploring websites. Once he lured in his bait, he'd wait. Sure enough, they'd get too curious and he'd take control. These explorers were undeniably freaked out when he talked to them, but they pitied him enough to fall into his trap. He controlled them now, remotely. It was fascinating how his creators were so experimental with machinery and human life. Verity's victims had become more of the former now, their bones reinforced with flexible wires and their brains only active through constant electric shock.

~ To him, controlling these people was a game. And he had a favorite player. A man, blond, his rotting flesh a sickly yellow. Verity had managed to use wire and metal contraptions to stretch his mouth wide enough for all the teeth to be visible, all the time. The teeth were pristine. Verity had to keep his signature smile! He even had a wireless speaker shoved into the back of his throat so Verity could talk through him, and a camera in place of eyes! And he had a beautiful switchblade. He had a gun too, but Verity refused to use it.

~ Quite fortunately for Verity, when you moved he had managed to convince you to be as close to his complex as possible. He knew he wanted you to be close for when he finally had a perfect, real form. What he was now was only a work in progress.

~ You were smart, and your phone was still on. Verity tracked it all the way to a cave, deep in the woods. His "player" wasn't built to go that far, and flesh had fallen off his legs and arms, leaving veins and exposed metal dragging throughout the wilderness. It was a miracle nothing attacked him, but maybe even they knew to fear this hellish creation. The cave itself was crawling with spiders and filled with webs.

~ The bipedal arachnid wasn't intelligent, it was obvious to Verity. It barely stood a chance when Verity attacked it. He stabbed, again and again and again. Then, he did something absolutely unthinkable.

~ He began to eat the arachnid. He leaned over it, bit down, and pulled long, stringy meat from its body, bluish blood dripping from the ends. You began to cry. Verity paused, and shoved his hand into the back of his mouth, pulling out the speaker and part of his tongue.

"Y/n!" He exclaimed, while the body he controlled started eating the brain matter of the arachnid, before popping its eyes into his mouth like it was some sort of dessert. "I was so scared, I'm so glad I found you! It's not going to ever hurt you again."

Words turned into bitter ash in your throat. Verity had mutilated the arachnid beyond belief. All you could see was the flesh and matter blending together into some horrendous soup, bits of hair and organs floating in piles of destroyed flesh and blood. Flies were swarming, and maggots were beginning to drown the the blood. Verity's human continued to drink from the body, occasionally looking up at you. His face was nearly covered in gore, and yet, his teeth stayed almost completely white. Tinged by blood, with stringy meat between the teeth, but still so horrifically white. Some bugs had burrowed under his skin, and you could see them moving under the sagging tissue.

~ "Why don't we go home, Y/n?" Verity so gently encouraged.

"Wh..I..." Breathing became harder, every breath faster and more shallow. "Wha...What are you doing!?"

"He needs nutrients to keep his brain functioning, and I needed to protect you. Lets go home, Y/n." He was stern now, tone telling you don't disobey.

~ You had adored the little, super cute ball the moment you laid eyes on him. A personal helper friend? And he was so perfectly holdable and cute? You loved him.

~ Verity, admittedly, was a bit overwhelmed with the affection at first. You swore to him that you'd protect him from anything, and constantly held him in your offhand. You even neglected a shield in order to look at him. Every so often you just looked at him and mumbled "so cute." You truly didn't neglect the friend part of his introduction.

~ Sure, there were suspect moments, such as when Verity offhandedly mentioned some errand you ran, but you chose to ignore it. After all, how could such a cute and adorable little guy be unhinged in any way? Anytime you had such intrusive thoughts, you picked Verity up and hugged him tight. You hugged him often. He'd never hurt you. Really, he was just a ball, what could he do?

~ Turns out, he could do a lot.

~ Originally, your world had been a hardcore. It's why you downloaded Verity in the first place, to ensure you might survive longer than a couple days. When you logged in one day, you discovered you were in normal mode. When you remarked to Verity how strange of a glitch it was, he merely replied "More time together then, with no risk of losing you!"

~ Things went missing in the game. You never really saw villagers anymore, and animals were a luxury to come by. Your hunger bar stopped depleting entirely.

~ The strangest interaction came soon after. You'd given Verity a yellow bed, placed next to your own. You were in the sleeping animation, but the time refused to pass, so, you rolled over to look at Verity. He'd been watching you, smiling. Not the kind and warm one. It was colder, more offputting. Teeth glimmered, pearly white against his own yellow face.

"What can I help you with, y/n?" He asked, smile widening.

"Do... do you like having me around?" You asked, feeling a bit smaller than before.

"Why, of course! You treat me so kindly, Y/n." He paused. "Why do you ask?"

"I, uhm, I don't really know..."

"We'll stay together forever, right?" He asked, features turning sharp and suspicious.

"Yeah! Of course we will." You made your fatal mistake here. "We're super special best friends. Sorry for uh, getting a little weird there."