Moni Damtro

Moni lives with his younger sister, Madilee. He essentially raised her himself. He is tired, grumpy, and jaded.

Backstory:

Moni and Madilee were members of a rich family who were involved in organized crime to build their wealth. Then the family was betrayed and killed by “family friends” when Madilee was 3 and Moni was 19. Moni always had a feeling the family would end up in a bad situation, so he was prepared. He was able to escape with Madilee and a good amount of money that he had been saving for an emergency like this.

So Moni effectively became Madilee’s guardian. Moni was able to start a new life, working a remote tech job. As Madilee grew up, Moni had her homeschooled as much as possible and really limited the amount of people they were making connections with. It wasn’t a good idea to trust others.

Madilee grew very lonely. Moni gave her all the access to the Internet and VR and AIs that she could possibly want. She was practically raised by the Internet, and he ensured she had access to the most wholesome online groups and the nicest AI chat bots (those were a huge favorite of hers). Her best friends were AI bots. The Internet and AI and VR have been her comfort zone.

Growing up, she would occasionally ask Moni if she could venture out and meet “real” people in “real” life. He would say things like “that’s too dangerous, I’m keeping you safe, and your life is real enough.” If she pushed back any more he would get very hurt and angry because of the trauma he went through to escape with her. It made her feel indebted to him — truly, he saved her life and has given her so much — and she understood where he was coming from to an extent, so she always backed off. He loved her and was keeping her safe. Maybe she felt a bit suffocated, but all things considered, how could she complain? So she never pushed the matter too much. She knew Moni wouldn’t budge.

With enough time and therapy and growing, by the time Madilee is 21, Moni and Madilee are finally able to agree that she deserves to explore relationships with real people in real life. It kind of becomes an exploration of what it means for something to be “real” vs “virtual”… like, are her AI friends real friends if they bring her a real feeling of company? And yet those interactions are so different from interactions with living creatures.