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Shade and Rayne were hanging out in the cockpit, relaxing, and Ami was in her own head—literally—tinkering with the SplitSim program, making gestures and motions as she interacted with a UI neither of them could see.

"I think I've refined the program to actually be able to simulate a non-sentient android mind," she said, sitting down. "Its creator could never figure out how to mimic the complexity of AI consciousness, but I was designed for deception, basically mimicry of a false personality, so I reconfigured the program to create a decent facade of android intelligence. And with much less processing power!"

She sounded smug and looked it.

"You... used your spy skills to upgrade the program?" Shade said.

"Yep," Ami said. "Should now be able to sim any split of me I want it to. Or anyone else."

Shade and Rayne's ears perked and they sat forward in their seats.

"Anyone else?" Shade asked.

"I invited Tirra to come and test out the program," she said. "She was enthusiastic."

"She always is," Rayne chuckled. Shade laughed.

"This should be interesting," he said.

***

One of the perks of running the SplitSim program in VR was that Tirra didn't have to be on the ship, or even in the same system, for them to try it with her. When her virtual form popped into existence before them, she was almost as white as the void around them. Apparently, she'd chosen to just stick with her white fur, not a mark or design on her, those big blue eyes sparkling as they darted around.

"So how's this work? Are we really in Ami's head right now? It looks just like normal VR!"

Shade couldn't help smiling at Tirra's typical infectious bubbliness.

"Gimme a sec," Ami murmured, and conjured the virtual bar again, the same amalgamation of all the bars they'd been to.

"Oh!" Tirra said as she found herself sitting at one of four positions around a circular bar table.

From where Shade sat, Ami was across from him, Tirra 90 degrees to his right, and Rayne on his left.

"Ready?" Ami said to Tirra. The white lup?n nodded.

Their reality flickered and suddenly there were two more versions of Tirra. One, on her right, seemed as happy as her original. The one on the left, however, was smirking and had an intensity to her gaze as she looked at all of the others.

"So..." Rayne started, glancing from Right Tirra to Left Tirra as he put things together.

"I'm the Good one!" the Tirra on the right said, bouncing in her seat and beaming. "Based on Tirra's own concept of good and bad, anyway! If anyone wants to know anything, I'm happy to explain! I'm basically the one you guys talk to most of the time, the one who loves helping out!"

"And I'm the one who doesn't give a fuck about anyone else," said the other Tirra, picking at her nails, her attention turned to maintaining her looks rather than speaking directly to anyone in particular.

There was a sudden awkward silence as they all looked at the Bad Tirra. This side of her must have been supressed by Tirra herself, since this demeanor was entirely new to Shade and to the others as well, judging by their looks. Tirra—the real one—shrank slightly into her seat, her ears flicking back with shame.

"Yeah, she's uh... well..." she said awkwardly.

"I'm the side of sweet little Tirra that you never see, but I drive all of her behavior," Bad Tirra said, now flicking bits of dirt and dust off of her fur, still not making eye contact with anyone. "I'm the one who lives vicariously through all of you by listening to your stories, the one who hangs out with you horny bastards because I like sex. I keep you around because it makes me feel good. That's all."

"That is NOT true!" Good Tirra retorted, pouting. "It's about more than making us feel good! I like helping other people!"

Bad Tirra just rolled her eyes and Good Tirra crossed her arms. Real Tirra sat in the middle uncomfortably.

"If I were in charge, we'd get what we waaant," Bad Tirra sang tauntingly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Real Tirra asked. Her bad side looked up with a smirk.

"You would've been with Shade or Rayne by now if Goodie over there weren't so polite," she said.

Shade's eyes widened as they all looked from him to Rayne for a brief and far more uncomfortable pause. Tirra was one of the many he'd met years ago and parted from with a broken heart, one of the few he'd remained friends with despite it; he had used the same excuse as always, that his life was too dangerous for her to be with him, and he knew Rayne had said the same. Tirra was a pacifist and hated violence of any sort. He got into firefights and fistfights on a near-daily basis, and Rayne's job got ugly, even before he joined Shade. Part of him had wondered if she might still have those feelings for him, but he always convinced himself she had moved on and that he'd done the same. The realization that she hadn't was startling.

"Too late now," Bad Tirra said. "He and Rayne are together and that's nothing but fuel for your dirty dreams."

"Shut up!" Good Tirra snapped. "Shade and Rayne are adorable together and I—we—are happy for them both!"

"What're the chances they'd ever roll you into their relationship?" Bad Tirra said. "Sure, they're good for a threesome and sometimes Ami gets involved, but you're basically their therapist at this point, just talking them through their problems. And you pretend like that's enough for you."

There was a quick jerk of movement from Real Tirra, like a sudden spasm, and Bad Tirra suddenly groaned in pain, her hands going between her legs. The table had blocked Shade's view, but it hit him then that she'd just kicked her evil twin in the balls—a jarring reminder that despite Tirra's female-presenting appearance and choice of she/her pronouns, she still possessed a fully functional set of male genitalia. Maybe less functional now, in Bad Tirra's case. Shade and Rayne grimaced and closed their legs out of instinctive sympathy.

"Hm," Ami hummed, as casually as if she were making an interesting observation about a passing starship. The fact that Tirra would resort to violence was telling of her frustration and anger with her evil twin.

"Don't mind her," Good Tirra said, addressing Shade and Rayne. Bad Tirra was still doubled over. "You two are adorable together. And... sure, Tirra still does think about what it might be like if you were together, but she's still happy to be your friend."

"Yeah," Real Tirra said, smiling. "I love all of you!"

"We know you do," Shade said, smiling back.

"And for the record," Tirra continued, smiling at Rayne and Ami, "I've also thought about what it would be like to be with Ami romantically. It's just... Shade and Rayne and I have history and..."

Ami nodded quietly and Rayne gave her a smile.

"Maybe I'm in love with all three of you!" Tirra giggled. "Just means my heart is bigger than the average lupan's!"

Her good side giggled with her.

"Who wants a stupid monogamous relationship, anyway?" she laughed, sticking out her tongue, then looking at Shade and Rayne with a grimace of regret. "No offense."

"Like you could ever offend anyone," Rayne said. Good Tirra and Real Tirra grinned, both blushing, and Bad Tirra groaned.

"So anything else you want us to know?" Shade asked, looking at Tirra's twins.

"I'm assuming her good and bad sides will be similar to yours and Rayne's in terms of sex, if that's what you're asking," Ami said.

"So Good Tirra likes praise, cuddling, wholesomeness, Bad Tirra likes bondage, spanking, rough sex?" Rayne said, taking a pull of the beer bottle he'd just summoned from nowhere, a sudden reminder they were still in a virtual reality.

"Oh, no, actually, I'm the one with all those fetishes!" Good Tirra piped up. "I mean, they might be kinky to most people, but there's a difference between how people behave in the bedroom and how they act in real life! It can be fun to be smacked on the ass by someone you like and trust not to really hurt you—I'd still complain if some stranger came up and did it to me randomly."

"Interesting," Shade mused. Rayne nodded thoughtfully, and Ami's expression stayed relatively neutral; any amount of pause or careful thought she might have given the matter had likely taken mere milliseconds and was done already.

"And you?" Rayne said to Bad Tirra, who smirked.

"Mmm, I'm the one with the real bad fetishes," she growled. "Rapeplay, the rough stuff that leaves a mark, stuff Tirra here'd never admit to."

Tirra grimaced and her ears flattened.

"Yeaaah," she said, her face burning red under her white fur. "I mean, I know I just said all that about separating what you do in the bedroom from how you act in real life, but... I get really kinky sometimes. Certain fetishes I'm still ashamed of, 'cuz, like, even just doing it with someone you trust in the bedroom feels..."

"Bad?" Bad Tirra purred.

"Alright, moving on," Ami said, waving a hand and dismissing Tirra's doubles, causing both to vanish. Tirra visibly relaxed.

"I know you guys warned me, but I wasn't expecting my bad side to be such a jerk!" she said, frowning. Shade felt the strongest compulsion to get up and hug her, and after a second of pause, he gave in to that compulsion. Ami and Rayne did the same. Tirra had always had some sort of innate ability to magnetically attract group hugs. The four of them separated after a moment and they all returned to their seats.

"I think I've got something that should take our minds off any unpleasantness," Ami said with a smirk.

Shade blinked as two more of himself appeared, once again on his left and right.

"So what is it this time?" he said, looking between them. As before, there was no physical distinction between them, but he did note a difference in their gaze, one more reserved, less likely to make eye contact, the other holding it with a smirk until whoever he met eyes with looked away.

"Well, I'll give you a hint," said the latter, leaning forward. "I'm into Ami and Tirra, but not Rayne."

Shade raised an eyebrow and turned to Ami.

"You already did the gay and straight splits," he said. "What, you just wanted to show Tirra?"

Ami smirked and shook her head.

"The gay and...?" Tirra trailed off, then burst into a giggle. "Wait, you split him into—"

"Yeah, it was great," Rayne laughed, leaning back. "His gay side is so cute."

Tirra laughed. Shade rolled his eyes and ignored them.

"What about you, then?" he said to his other double.

"Well..." the other said, straightening. "I'm interested in all three of them."

Shade looked between them again and it clicked.

"Oh," he said. "And considering you jumped in to explain things and you didn't say anything until asked..."

"Ahh, I see," Rayne said, nodding. Tirra gasped as it hit her as well.

"Dom and Sub versions of me," Shade said. "Well played, Ami."

"Oh! The Dom one's not into Rayne 'cuz you don't top other guys!" Tirra said.

Shade smirked, as did his doubles. They all laughed.

Author's Note: Credit where credit's due, the inspiration for this scene in particular comes from user Marcwolf (marcwolf.sofurry.com) on SoFurry, one of my oldest followers and most frequent commenter to date!

***

"Before anyone asks," Ami started, pulling up a holo model of another organic brain, "I did get this individual's permission before scanning and uploading them. The individual themselves couldn't be here to see us fire it up, but I've also edited the scan slightly to be sure neither of their splits reveal any personal secrets."

"Who—" Rayne started to ask, before a sudden flash signaled the arrival of two more figures seated at the table, one between Ami and Rayne, the other between Ami and Tirra. A pair of black silens, their dark scales marked with old battle scars, a pair of webbed blood red wings unfurling from their backs. Xena??

Shade barely had time to process this before the split that had appeared between Ami and Rayne lunged across the table at the other. Tirra shrieked and leapt out of the way, while the two different versions of Xena began to tear at each other, wrestling across the surface of the table. They ripped into one another with everything they had—teeth and talons flashed, scoring scaled flesh; tails twisted and whipped, wings beat and battered against whatever they could land a hit on. The most jarring part of the fight was the guttural sound that came from the more vicious of the two lizard women, a loud, feral, snarl that came from deep inside her and triggered some primal instinct deep in Shade himself, though he wasn't sure whether he wanted to fight back or run from it.

There was another flash and the version of Xena on top slumped, collapsing atop her twin, who groaned. Shade caught the scent of electric discharge barely overpowering the ferric odor of silen blood and saw the smoking shoulder-mounted turret slide back into place beneath Ami's synthetic flesh. It only hit him then that they were still in the virtual bar and couldn't come to any real harm. His heart raced as he wrestled his instincts back in control, slowly calming down.

"Is it over?" Tirra's voice came from under the table.

"It's fine, Tirra," Ami said. The white lupan peeked out from under the table; Shade had expected to see her pointed ears appear first, but they were pinned back against her head.

The still mobile and conscious version of Xena heaved her limp double off of her and sat up with a huff, then immediately set about tying her twin up—with her own limbs. Shade watched in shock as the winged silen hybrid swiftly took the other Xena's clawed hands and feet and bound them with her long tail. He grimaced as he heard the sound of snapping bones several times and turned away uncomfortably, distracting himself with the reactions of his friends. Rayne was grimacing in a similar fashion, Tirra was half watching between her fingers, and Ami was taking in the entire sight with a look of awe.

"Ohh, I've never actually seen it before!" the android whispered, sounding actually excited.

"Seen... what?" Rayne asked. He seemed unable to turn away himself, though for a very different reason. He and the rest of the organics in the room flinched as there was another series of sharp cracks and a quick movement from the Xena in the middle of the table.

"The Shilkaran Knot," Ami breathed. "It's a silen technique involving binding an aggressor with their own body."

"Yep," the still-conscious Xena said, letting out a tired huff as she finished her work. "Never thought I'd do it to myself. That was a fun challenge. The last few I did this to weren't asleep, either."

She slid off the table and landed gracefully in the virtual chair, leaning it back on two feet and hooking the edge of the table with her taloned toes.

"So..." Rayne said awkwardly as Ami sat the brutally bound split of Xena in the chair between her and him. "You're the 'Good' one?"

The other Xena chuckled darkly.

"Most of you would disagree, probably call me the 'Bad' version and her the 'Worse' one, but yeah. From my point of view, I'm the 'Good One'."

She looked down, glancing over herself and admiring her fresh new wounds with a grin that bared her sharp fangs, stained with her "Worse" twin's blood. After a moment of awkward pause, she glanced up, looking around at all of them.

"Oh, you wanted details," she sighed and sat forward, the chair hitting the floor and scraping loudly. "Difference between me and her?" She gestured between herself and her twin. "I'm in control. Both of us like to kill. Sometimes we even love it. But I know who to kill and when."

She leaned back again, her whip-like tail lashing idly behind her.

"Murder's a 'crime' to the rest of the galaxy," she laughed, sliding her arms behind her head. "To me and my kin, it's just a part of survival. Might as well enjoy the ride while I'm on it."

Ami waved a hand and both splits of Xena disappeared. Shade heard Tirra let out a breath he wondered if she'd been holding this whole time.

"Well, shit," Rayne laughed breathlessly, causing Shade to do the same, joined by Tirra's nervous giggle and Ami's much fuller laugh that showed her level of comfort with this whole situation—she was as used to death as Xena.

"You said it," Shade chuckled.

"I knew her life must've been fucked, being raised by a goddamn dictator, but..." Rayne trailed off with another nervous laugh.

"Yeah, it probably seems that way," Ami said. "Born in a war, made to kill..." Shade glanced up, not sure if it was Xena they were still talking about. "But again, good and bad are subjective, cultural. The silens are brutal, yeah, but for their faults, they're also proud warriors. They find honor in battle and death. You see it as good and bad. Maybe she's just living her best."

Shade found himself staring distantly at the table for a moment, lost in thought as his mind swarmed with a confusing mix of emotion. He wasn't entirely sure how to feel about the fact that Ami's philosophizing had made him feel a small—but nevertheless very real—amount of sympathy toward his peoples' mortal enemy.

***

"This might be a bad idea, but it'll at least be interesting," Ami said, pulling up a series of holo-model brains, three organic and one android processor. The models then split into eight more, two per original, twelve model brains in total.

And suddenly, there was a blinding flash as their pseudo-reality shifted. The table was suddenly very crowded, with a series of familiar faces gathered around it; a split of each of them now sat on either side of each original. Good Shade sat to Shade's right, Bad Shade setting his feet up on the table to his left.

Shade's heart jolted when he looked across the table and saw Good and Bad variants of Ami, but calmed quickly when he recalled she had mentioned that this was not a fully sentient mimic of her consciousness like her first evil twin was. Still, his fear rose again when she met his gaze with a malicious grin and he remembered the intense struggle between Xena's good and evil sides.

"Don't worry," the evil Ami sighed, leaning back and crossing her arms behind her head. "My original here has made a few tweaks to my software, made me less homicidal. Not that I couldn't kill every one of you."

She emphasized this point by allowing the auto turrets to emerge from her shoulders, aiming around at each person she glanced at.

"You, behave," Ami growled to her trigger-happy twin.

"Of course, I'd argue taking away the inclination to kill makes me less you," Bad Ami continued, "but if we get into the insecurities again, our 'good' counterparts are just going to start philosophizing on the nature of good and evil all over again and reassuring their originals and we'll be back and forth all day."

There were a series of groans, sighs, and scoffs from the other Bad splits around the table.

"We're back in the bar again," Bad Tirra sighed, picking at her fingernails. "Of course all they want to do is talk. Ugh. I don't even know why I'm here. If they wanted to see some interesting interactions out of us, they could've at least put us in a virtual bedroom and let the Bad ones fuck each other senseless."

This time, the Bad splits all chuckled. Shade actually found himself smirking with interest, until he realized his Bad side had the same smirk and dropped it.

"Nothing stopping us from doing that right now," Bad Rayne said.

Shade noticed a smirk from Ami now and Bad Rayne moved like he was trying to stand up, but looked down at the seat of his chair and grunted, the chair scooting slightly across the floor with each motion as if he'd been glued to it. He looked up and glared at Ami, whose smirk widened into a grin.

"Aww, you just ruin all the fun," Bad Shade pouted. Ami frowned and Shade knew his evil twin was manipulating her, using her bond with him and the fact that he had his face. He elbowed his Bad split in the ribs and he groaned, doubling over. Shade assumed the only reason he didn't retaliate was that Ami had taken away all of the Bad splits' ability to be violent.

"Bet I can still cause trouble even without killing everyone here," Bad Ami taunted. Shade half expected Ami to just delete her evil twin or maybe treat her to her own version of the Shilkaran Knot, but Ami looked almost interested, waiting to see what she'd do.

"You like gossip right?" Bad Ami said, turning to Bad Tirra. Previously completely uninterested, Tirra's bad twin perked up. Bad Ami stood up and pointed between Real Ami and Shade. "These two are in loooove!"

Shade's gut twisted and his heart lurched, and Real Ami shot up from her seat and threw her Bad split to the floor, where she vanished. An uncomfortable silence followed.

"Awkwarrrd..." Bad Rayne said.

Rayne glowered at his evil twin, and Tirra's broke into a laugh.

"I was fucking right!" she cheered between giggles.

"Well, I guess we don't need Rayne anymore," Bad Shade sighed. Shade turned to face him with a growl, but then his bad twin and all of the other bad splits vanished.

Ami and Shade's eyes met for a fraction of a second—a tiny twinge of guilt for him, probably a terrible eternity for her. He turned and his gaze landed on Rayne, who looked away after an equally long and painful glance.

"I..." Rayne started, then stopped, then tried again. "For the record, it's fine if you two are..."

"We're not—" Ami started to blurt quickly, but stopped when she looked at Shade again and his ears pinned back. "I-I mean, we're..."

She yelled in frustration and brought a fist down on the bar table, her entire quarter of the table shattering into shards of what had once been metal. Shade wondered if she had reprogrammed the virtual table's structure to break into more pieces so it was more satisfying to smash. She was breathing heavy. And she didn't need to breathe; doubly so in a virtual world.

"My original here has trouble with her emotions," Good Ami said with a gentle smile.

"Yes, that wasn't clear before, thank you," Real Ami huffed.

"And I think what mine is trying to say with his awkward silence is that he has his own trouble given his peoples' tendency to be strictly traditional," said Good Shade on his left. Shade himself felt his face heat up and was sure his blush could be seen under his fur.

"If we're all jumping in and helping our originals vocalize their inner feelings," Good Tirra said. "My own would like to mention she feels terribly guilty about putting pressure on any of you to the point that revealing your true feelings was more difficult."

Tirra herself nodded quickly, looking ashamed, her ears flat, her pawpads pressed together. Good Tirra turned to look expectantly at Good Rayne, who just leaned back in his chair.

"What?" he said. "My original's already said his piece."

The group laughed and Shade welcomed the relief brought by the unexpected humor.

"Really, though," Good Rayne said. "Like he said, it's fine if the two of you have feelings for each other. I'm happy to welcome Ami into our relationship."

"But I don't—" Ami started, then stopped, still frustrated.

"She's trying to say she doesn't exactly want a full-fledged romantic relationship, but she doesn't want to hurt Shade by making him think those feelings aren't there," her Good side said.

"Oh, this program does have its uses," Ami muttered. Good Ami smiled.

"Well, if you don't want to be fully romantic all the time... you don't have to be!" The comment came from Tirra this time. "You don't have to be in or out."

Good Tirra nodded, putting an arm around her originator.

"Lup?n society raised Shade, Silen society raised Ami," Good Tirra said, her tone gentle. "Neither has opened up enough yet to accept the idea of not labeling everything, shoving their people into little boxes—though the lup?ns are trying. You can be friends and romantic partners at the same time. Or one or the other, whenever you want. You don't have to let your planets define how you work."

Ami blinked, looking at Shade, and his heart rose. The world around them flickered, distorting for a moment; Ami was processing, and this world was inside her head.

"Oh," Ami said softly, all of this dawning on her. "That... that could work."

Shade smiled, then looked at Rayne, who smiled back.

"And that's why we all love you, Tirra," he said. "We can fly around saving the galaxy all we want, but you're the one who saves us."

Tirra let out an affectionate coo and clasped her hands together under her chin.

"He got all sappy about it, but he's right," Ami said. "I'm no good with the emotion stuff. I don't wanna think about where any of us would be without you."

Shade decided to show his gratitude by just walking over and pulling Tirra into a hug. She squeaked in surprise; possibly the first and only point in the entire time Shade had known her where he'd been the one to surprise her with an affectionate embrace.

"Aww, you guys!" Tirra squealed, immediately returning the hug.

"And hey," Shade laughed, pulling back from the hug, "of anyone, a vigilante smuggler, rogue android, and less-than-legal cop should have no problem ignoring society's expectations."

Rayne and Ami laughed, and Tirra giggled, but more out of reaction to the other laughter.

"To ignoring the fuck out of society," Ami said, raising a virtual bottle of alcohol. Shade found one in his hand and raised it, as did the others.

"Hear, hear!" Rayne agreed.

"Oh, I also want to straighten something out," Tirra said, and Shade could smell the fruity beverage she was drinking on her breath. "My bad side was really just trying to stir up trouble before..."

She reached up and put a hand on Shade's arm, stroking the fur.

"I did have feelings for you..." she said, then glanced across at Rayne as well. "Both of you. But I've moved on. I was just, you know... feeling guilty about it. My bad side caught me off guard and I didn't want to hurt your feelings by immediately being all, 'No, I don't love you!'"

There was a round of awkward laughter.

"And then you worked through all that with Ami and... well... she had kind of the same thing, except she does have feelings for you, just not all the time, and I—"

"I get it, Tirra," Shade said softly, smiling, stopping her before she could spiral into a ramble. "I've had to move on from a lot of girls I didn't want to put in danger or who didn't fit with my... lifestyle." There was another laugh from the group, more hearty and less awkward. "But you'll always have a place in my heart or on my ship, whenever you need."

This time, she leapt up and hugged him tight, making him groan.

"And besides, it's kind of refreshing," he said when she'd let go and he could breathe again. "I like our friendship. I'm glad we could get all of this cleared up."

"You said it," Ami sighed, sounding exhausted. "Not that I wouldn't also welcome Tirra aboard anytime, but if any of us bring on any more romantic partners, we're going to have to get a bigger ship."

They all laughed.