#whiffs of cyberpunk

[syoddeye]

Organymede. Nikolai x android!Reader.

cw: body horror/self-surgery, diy top surgery, nasty nik, power imbalance, dirty deal, the world is built on vibes

The clinic isn’t clean. It isn’t cutting-edge. But it’s his, and it’s served him well.

The fluorescents overhead stutter, their light breaking in fits and starts, splashing the walls in jittering shadows. The workbenches are a mess of cast-off parts and tools gone blunt with use—spanners, haptic calibrators, a soldering iron crusted with old flux. A rust-bitten fan whirrs in the corner, fighting a losing battle against the smell and heat.

It smells of scorched metal and coolant, circuitry half-melted and wired back wrong. Beneath it, the organic. Faint, but unmistakable. Sweat soaked into the cracked leather chair, something sharp and coppery threading through the stench. Rarely does anything in Nikolai’s shop actually bleed, but sometimes it’s unavoidable.

He’s shutting down for the night, already halfway through stowing his tools when the door creaks open. He tenses immediately, a hand twitching near his hip. He doesn’t do walk-ins. Doesn’t take risks with unknowns. Everybody needs a referral.

And yet, one stands in his doorway.

Their silhouette is stark against the haze outside, rain clinging to their long coat. Eyes bouncing the unstable light back at him, glowing like an angel. They hesitate for only a moment before stepping inside, the door hissing shut behind them.

He makes a quick study, from their scuffed, mismatched boots to the rigid set of their shoulders. There’s no fear in their stance, but an energy. Urgency. Tension wound tight.

“You lost?”

They shake their head. “I need help. Please.”

He huffs a quiet laugh. Everyone who stumbles through his door needs help. But there’s something in the way they say it, a fraying edge to their plea, like a thread about to snap. It’s not panic, not the wild desperation of someone on the edge. A weariness. Exhaustion in a body that needs three hours of rest, max.

Then they move, shrugging off their outer layer. They’re topless underneath.

And he sees it.

He’s moving without thought, the pull of the mess in front of him magnetic in its mess.

Synthetic skin hewn apart, a square section of their chest peeled back to reveal the chassis beneath. The welds are crude, uneven—ugly. Globs of metal fused haphazardly where their chest plating should be smooth. Where it should be curved. A full panel of steel, excised and replaced with something ill-fitting, misaligned. Done by a hand that was determined, but not skilled. The skin’s edges are melted, curled where heat bit too deep. The metal beneath is scorched, the fusion messy, warped where it should be seamless. A clear lack of the proper tools.

Nikolai exhales slowly through his nose. He’s seen botched jobs before. Seen people desperate enough to pry themselves open and tinker. But this—

“Holy shit. You did this yourself?” he asks, hand outstretched and hovering.

They nod. “I had to.”

He doesn’t ask why. Shop policy.

His gaze flickers back to the damage. A mess, but not mindless. Sloppy, but not aimless. He pans downward and tells himself it’s just triage, an assessment of whether to take them to his chair. But there’s nothing clinical about the way he stares. The lines of their body, the smooth stretch of undamaged synth-skin, all of it tempts an unprofessional touch.

The waistband of their jeans, the twin seams of chrome vanishing beneath it. A sliver of green cotton peeking out. He swallows against the sudden tightness in his throat, then, without a word, he reaches out and keeps his hand north of their navel. Fingers ghosting over the damage.

The welds are still warm. Recent.

“This is shit work,” he mutters, distracting himself. He presses a thumb against the edge of where metal meets flesh, feeling the rough, uneven line. Then, his fingers move, tracing the jagged welds. “Lucky you did not kill yourself.”

A small puff of air escapes their lips, quiet, but he catches it. A whimper. Sensitive. So, they didn’t fuck up too badly.

“Are you in pain?”

He presses again. Another whimper. Fuck, it is a nice sound.

“Yes. Can you fix it?” their voice wavers.

Nikolai lets the question hang between them, and his hand rests on their breastplate, his thumb and forefinger bookending one of the welds. He could turn them away. He should. Doubts they have enough scratch, if any, to pay for what he needs to do to them. But there’s that desperation in their eyes.

It’s a resource that’s never in short supply. Always ripe for exploitation.

He lets himself wonder this time, lets the silence build while he considers it. Another long look, and he circles them slowly. His hand glides from the gaping wound in their chest, trailing along the side of their body then over their arm. Artificial muscle tensing under his touch.

When he moves behind them, his fingers land on their exposed shoulders, then draw a straight line down their spine. He pauses at the small divots just above their lower back. He feels the shiver before he sees it—a slight tremor that raises goosebumps.

Nikolai’s eyes widen.

So, they’re high-end. All the bells and whistles. A finely crafted machine.

His dick twitches at the thought of what other features his patient possesses. If they need any fluids topped-off.

For all the under-the-table work, for the shady deals, and the lives, organic and inorganic, he’s yanked back from the mouth of hell in this grimy little clinic of his—this is his reward. Must be.

A smirk curls the corner of his lip as he returns to their front. “Do you have somewhere to go, after this?”

“That’s irrelevant, isn’t it?”

Nik shrugs. “Do you think I will waste the effort on some work that is planning to take their stasis in a gutter?”

Their eyebrows raise. If they’re as advanced as Nikolai believes, their face probably heats, too. 

They hesitate, mouth parting for a moment then snapping shut. Their eyes drop, then they shake their head once. “No,” they say, then lift their chin. “But I passed a motel on the way here. I thought I would–”

“The one on the corner?” Nikolai cuts in, amusement lacing his words. He chuckles when they nod, then clicks his tongue. “That place? You won’t wake up. At least, you won’t want to. The people running that place…Well, people tend to lose themselves there. Parts, anyway.”

Their hands lift instinctively, crossing over their chest in a defensive motion as though protecting their exposed frame. Their hands curve over the opposite shoulder, a flimsy shield. “Understood,” they murmur, then their gaze hardens as they lift it to meet his. “I will seek shelter elsewhere. Does this mean you will help me?”

This could be trouble. It is trouble. The kind of trouble that could make it a very bad idea to get involved. This is the definition of shitting where one eats. The possibility of someone looking for them has not strayed far from Nikolai’s mind since they let out that whimper. Of course, they could be an independent but—

Their chest aside—their skin, their hair? Clean and cared for. Their clothes were clearly stolen or dug out from the trash.

This is a kept droid. Whether it was fired, discarded, or ran away of its own accord…They found their way here. He found them.

Finders, keepers.

“Not for free.” Nikolai grins. “For a price.”

Their jaw tenses. “I anticipated a cost. What is the price?”

Nikolai almost laughs, but he bites it off, replacing it with a look that’s just as cruel. He gives them another deliberate once-over, lingering on the hack job they’ve done on themselves. They flounder under the weight of it, stiffening, their fingers twitching where they clutch themselves. He doesn’t need to say it out loud—they know as well as he does that they don’t have anything close to his base fee.

“If I could, perhaps, start a line of credit…?” they offer, testing.

Nikolai scoffs, sharp. “This is not a charity.”

The words land like a slap. They flinch, but they don’t argue. No pointless protests about fairness, no self-righteous anger. Instead, they look around, taking in the state of his clinic. Their gaze lingers on the stacks of outdated parts, the spare limbs, the implants bobbing in jars. They’re sizing it up. Calculating, the same way he did to them.

They’re close. 

Their tongue darts out, wetting their lips. A sharp inhale. Then, “I…I could…”

“Yes?”

“Work it off?” They meekly suggest.

Nikolai lets the silence drag, watching them squirm before he repeats it back a syllable at a time. “Work off the debt.”

Right where he wants them.

“This,” he gestures vaguely at their chest, “this will not be cheap to fix. But I can do it and make you whole again. Even let you pick your nipples, special order. But the work you’re offering? It won’t be easy. Whatever it is you used to do, you might grow to miss it.”

“I won’t.” They answer immediately, a burst of nerve. Their arms uncross, shoulders squaring, as if daring him to doubt them. The plate they’d tried to smooth over gleams dully. A blank canvas.

Such a bold thing. Whatever drove them to carve themselves open like this, to rip out what they couldn’t stand to live with—it’ll follow them, he’s sure. A hunger curls deep in his gut at the thought of someone else snatching this prize up before he’s had his chance to play.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Please, help me.” They ask, stepping closer.

His gaze flicks to the sliver of green peeking above their waistband. His first order of business? A full inventory—of both the soft and the hardware.

He extends his hand, a show of goodwill, and they take it. It’s warm. Like the real thing.

Nikolai’s grin is all teeth.

“Okay, baby. I will.”

[alfredosauce50]

What makes me human

[Cyberpunk! America x reader] 20

Wordcount: 12, 428 Rating: R18+ for adult themes, violence, and gore Synopsis: ??? Content warning: Major character death(s). Heavy sexual references. Content may be disturbing for some readers. Proceed with caution.

20 - finale

“Considering we’re all about to bite the dust, you guys fixed this ship up pretty good,” Allen remarked, walking into the control room with a more relaxed composure than he should’ve had. 

In just a few hours, this thing would be taking everyone to their final resting place. As bleak as that sounded, it couldn’t be far from the truth, so he smoked himself up for the occasion. 

“You don’t have to remind me,” Arthur mused, brushing past him. While he made his way to the other side of the room, he got a whiff of the nicotine that was wafting off him, but he couldn’t be bothered by the smell. He had something else to be bothered by, like his boyfriend’s dismissive attitude to the undismissable — that he was about to be thrown into the lion’s den. 

He got to their side, and they were currently working on one of the dashboards on the bridge, configuring the system. There, he made one final attempt to talk himself out of the action. 

“Can’t I just stay here and wait for you?” He leaned down, expression tense.

“And let you out of our sight? No way.” Zao shot him down without so little as a single glance, which was ironic considering what he just said.

“Look, I’m not a cyberpunk like you lot. I can’t fight, I can’t netrun, I’ll just slow you all down,” Arthur was exasperated, but he kept his voice down lest he be overheard by his apprentice. Knowing them, the last thing they needed was more panic added into the mix. “How would it make any sense to bring me along?”

“It makes perfect sense,” The other replied cutely, albeit while lifting a stern gaze to him. “You stay with us so nothing happens to you without us being there. Would you rather be by yourself when you get fucked or get fucked along with the rest of us?”

“Fine,” Arthur relented, hopping off the bridge to leave. “But if I die, I’ll kill you.”

“You’re not gonna die,” Zao sighed, spinning to him on his chair to watch him as he walked away. Then, he whispered this next part under his breath. “Like I’d ever let that happen.”

“Oh, and Allen?” The blonde stopped in his tracks, turning to the man.

“Yes, boss.” The other replied, not taking his eyes off a dashboard he was stuck marveling at. He’d always been a grease monkey, but that was only for cars. Spacecrafts, on the other hand, were way beyond his depth. For all he knew, he’d be entering the realm of science fiction with how complicated things got.

“When we get back, I’ll get you started on some of the basics,” Arthur smiled cooly, already knowing the reaction he’d get from his apprentice. It’d been a while since they sat down together and tinkered around in the garage, but if this wild goose chase panned out the way they wanted, this didn’t have to be the sensitive subject anymore. They could go back to their old lives.

“Oh, for real?” Allen shot up with an excited grin. “Hell yeah!”

Cyberpunk isn’t about saving the world.

It’s about saving yourself.

That was something Alfred always failed to understand. 

That this world was beyond the idea of a prophesied hero, beyond saving because it was just too far gone. Night City was bigger than him and everyone in it, even those who claimed to own it. Stay here long enough and it would all but swallow you whole. The dark future had no place for something like hope, and yet, he was obsessed with making out on an impossible dream. 

But as flawed and unattainable it was, it was still a beautiful fantasy. 

He made a last minute decision to unbuckle his seatbelt, pulling himself to his feet so he could walk out of the control room and into the hall. With the imminent launch of the ship, where he was headed was probably the last place he should be. The observatory, but he wanted to get a look while he could. Space, the apparent equivalent to skiing in this day and age.

And now that he could finally see it, he could only wish it was under different circumstances. 

Because somewhere out there in another universe, he didn’t have to be a hardened soldier, rising to meet the occasion. But this was probably the fate he had always been destined for.   

“I take it this is your first time too,” He began with his back turned to you, having sensed your presence ever since you trailed behind him. He was standing by a large spherical window, and there, he stared out into his friend’s private runway. It wasn’t much of a sight, but it wasn’t what he came for yet. “Space. We’re actually going to Space, (F/N). Isn’t that just amazing?”

“Yeah,” You smiled a little, though you couldn’t find yourself as enthusiastic as him. 

“And I used to be such a nut about it. There was just so much we didn’t know, but that was what made it so cool,” Alfred grinned at you, his eyes alight with a childlike wonder. You’ve never seen him so excited, and to think it could come from something as simple as just reminiscing the past, it had you wondering what kind of person he would’ve been if he was still back there. 

An explorer, an astronaut, or a pioneer. 

“How big it was, how small and insignificant we are compared to the universe.”

Back then, not everything had been done, so people still would’ve had the chance to keep trying new things. He would’ve had that chance to keep trying new things. After all, everyone was so curious back then, doing anything and everything in their power to just understand the world a little better. To make sense of the vast unknown that had somehow breathed life into this planet. 

No discovery was ever too small, because that one step still would’ve been a giant leap for humanity. That was the value and excitement of science, so where did it go now? 

“But it’s just so normal now. Everything has been reduced to our scale and nothing feels out of reach anymore,” The light in his eyes faded, and he lowered his head. “We’ve lost our humility.”

All of those thoughts ran through your mind while you listened to him speak, and seeing the face he made was that final swing to your resolve, shattering any and all previous reservations you’ve ever had of him. He wasn’t hot-tempered, sensitive, or selfish. Maybe a little, but he wasn’t as arrogant or conceited as you used to think. What made him the way he was the opposite of all those things, and with that newfound clarity, you came to realize what you came here to do. 

“Alfred,” You let out, wrapping yourself around his arm. Then, you pressed your forehead to it, screwing your eyes shut. “I’m not mad at you anymore, and I don’t think I ever can be.”

“Really?” He softened his gaze over you. 

“There’s a certain way the world works, or should work, so you’re right to be angry,” You admitted, peering up at him. “This is the truth of what you are, and I think it’s beautiful.”

“Space?” 

“No, your humility.”

He lifted his head and made a face of understanding as if to go, oh, right. But it quickly changed to a tender smile. “Even though I can be an arrogant prick sometimes?”

“Yes,” You smiled back. “Especially when you’re an arrogant prick sometimes.”

The two of you shared a soft laugh, after which, he turned back to the window again. 

Beautiful, you said. 

“You know, I think I might be the worst thing to ever happen to you,” Alfred murmured, his tone and expression unreadable as he stared out onto the runway. Be that as it may, you could still sense the shame behind his thoughtful composure. He meant it with every fiber of his being, and you would’ve refuted it with every fiber of yours if it weren’t for him turning back to you again. 

Then, with the most sincere gaze burning into you, he said this.

“But you are the best thing to ever happen to me.”

To say you were taken aback would’ve been an understatement. But was he really going to do this now? You felt like you were going to cry, and you couldn’t find it in yourself to stop it, let alone to tear yourself from him. The timing couldn’t be worse, and judging from how he looked at you, so unwaveringly passionate, he was about to tell you everything he’d ever wanted to. 

“I was just surviving this whole time, but you made me want to live again,” He continued, his eyes wide with love. “I wanna do right by you. I wanna keep learning and growing.” 

The first tears finally came, but all you could do was stare at him in an awe-induced silence. 

“And I know I used to make a big deal about mortality, but I think that’s what actually makes you a human being,” He smiled like he just discovered the secrets of the universe, his ocean eyes twinkling with the stars that would very soon grace the skies. “Not death, but wanting to live.”

The life that pulsed through him was transcendent, overpowering even this moment before death. This was the effect you had on him, a force of nature that made him stronger than oblivion. 

“You idiot.” You wiped your tears with the back of your hand. But they just kept coming, for you were that deeply moved by the profound beauty of his words. To hear how highly he thought of you, then how much you’d changed him, and in turn, how much he changed you, everything overwhelmed you until your face contorted and you practically plowed into his arms to hug him. “Don’t give yourself so much credit. We all know what was the worst thing to happen to me.”

“Oh, yeah?” He hummed, hugging you back. He was already so happy to hear that, breathing you in to ride off that high. Because from the sound of it, you already forgave him.

But you weren’t stopping until you turned his world upside down. 

“You might think you took everything from me, but that’s not true at all,” You squeezed him even tighter. Then, you spoke the words he never thought he’d hear. “You saved me.” 

“What?” His face fell a touch, not believing his ears.

“Allen too.” 

He couldn’t understand it one bit, but you would make him. 

“Ever since he joined the syndicate, what happened to him was going to happen eventually. Nothing in my life would’ve changed, and I would’ve kept being the person my father wanted me to be. But because you’re such an arrogant prick, and because you’re so stubborn--”

His eyes went as wide as he could get them, unsure of whether to feel insulted or praised.

“--you showed us the truth, and now, we’re freed by it. We don’t have to live that way anymore.”

Alfred saved you from your fate, even if it was the life you used to have. He showed you the world and set you free with the truth. He opened your eyes and led you into the light. 

For that, he saved you in every way a person could be saved. 

Kidnapping you was just an incredibly long-winded rescue mission. 

He never once saw it this way, nor himself this way, and to hear you say it, well, you were right about everything. But he couldn’t take it for granted. It would’ve taken so much for you to understand those things. To understand him. To forgive him. And yet, you were so damn good at all of those impossible things, the only real conclusion he could take away from it all was this. 

“Is that your way of saying you love me?” Alfred smiled warmly, getting your lips to tremble into a frown. “Because back in my day, we just kept it short and said the three words.” 

“Stop joking around and just say it then.” You let out, but by then, it was too late. 

The ship launched, drowning out his voice with the engine blast. 

“I love you.”

You never ended up hearing him say it, but you could read his lips. And it was enough to evoke a visceral reaction from you, getting your heart to ache with so much emotion, you could barely handle it. You’d known this for so long, and yet, it affected you so much, you were thrown into the past. And in there, all the memories you ever had of him played like a record.

You’re so hypnotizing Could you be the devil, could you be an angel

You saw him for the first time, and he was a living, breathing weapon. 

As he stood across you in the kitchen of your home, you took him in for everything that he was. Little did you know, he was about to steal you away like a thief in the night.

Your body, mind, and soul, it would all be his. 

Your touch magnetizing Feels like I am floating, leave my body glowing

You laid with him in a no-tell motel, letting him trace his fingers over your skin. He told you about his past, how he was from a world different to yours. And he was an enigma. 

Alfred was a product of your time, but where he truly belonged no longer existed.

They say be afraid You’re not like the others, futuristic lover

He was an old soul, trapped in a body of the future. A killing machine. And because of it, he was feared by everyone he knew. Captured by those who should’ve worshipped him.  

Different DNA, they don’t understand you

But they were wrong about everything. 

You’re from a whole other world A different dimension

He was the vengeance of those before him, an unsung hero who would bring back some sense into an insensitive world. He would touch everyone he ever met, changing them with the truth.

And he would start with you.

You open my eyes And I’m ready to go, lead me into the light

The force threw you both against the wall, but Alfred cushioned you moments before impact. Wrapping his strong arms around you, he held you tight as the ship was sent hurtling into space. 

Kiss me, k-k-kiss me Infect me with your love, and fill me with your poison

Then, he kissed you. 

Take me, t-t-take me Wanna be your victim, ready for abduction

He kissed and kissed you until it was enough to suffice the words he couldn’t hear. 

Boy, you’re an alien, your touch so foreign It’s supernatural, extraterrestrial

That you loved him, and would love him until the end of time. 

This is transcendental On another level Boy, you’re my lucky star

The two of you were never meant to cross paths, having come from two entirely different worlds. 

But now that it happened, there were no two truer equals than you and him. The past and future, male and female, flesh and metal, all of it converged into one singular point like the beginning of the universe and time itself. Alfred held your hand as he looked out the window. He’d finally reached space, what once was a forgotten dream now realized right before his very eyes.

Earth was below him as a glowing blue planet. He could see all the oceans, continents, and the clouds, then the endless sea of stars that existed outside of his comprehension. 

From this distance, the world was as beautiful as he remembered. 

Wanna walk on your wavelength And be there when you vibrate For you I’d risk it all

The front gate of your father’s ship slid open.

Thump-thump

And nothing would’ve prepared you all for the horror that was waiting behind. 

Thump-thump

Dozens of clones, all spitting-images of Alfred, leapt on the unsuspecting group. Their eyes were wide, blank, and crazed, with not a thought behind them but orders to cut down anyone on the other side. When that registered in all of your brains, first, the very idea of it, and second, the actual reality of it, your faces warped in terror in what felt like slow-motion. 

This was the madness your father had brought upon you all. 

Or was it his fault alone?

The room lit up in crazed gunfire. Allen blasted at the clones, firing uncontrollably at them with his eyes and mouth wide open. The fear that struck him was like lightning, coursing through him as so overwhelming it was as if the world had begun to end. He could hardly breathe, let alone think. All he knew was to shoot non-stop, because the second he stopped, he would be killed. 

The same could be said for everyone else, now fuelled by nothing but the drive to survive. 

Your katana never stopped moving as you fought off the horde, so frightened that you couldn’t even scream. You’d descended into such a state that fight or flight converged into one — you wanted to run, but the only way of getting out of here alive was through it. So you kept slashing and slashing, hoping there would somehow be an end to the neverending nightmare before you.

Meanwhile, Arthur was backed to a wall, frozen still as Zao defended him with everything he had. He swung at a clone, knocking the dagger out of their hands before stabbing them with it.

But Alfred? 

He gritted his teeth as he whipped out his mantis blades, letting them unfold like a giant switch knife before he ripped and tore through his clones like a demon. He decapitated them, disemboweled them, completely and utterly destroying them until they were nothing but an explosive mess of blood, flesh, and bone.

He was finally confronting the true nature of your father’s madness, meaning he could finally end it once and for all. But perhaps he shouldn’t have spoken so soon. 

When the last clone fell to your katana, something came from the inside of the ship.

A white mist, which blew past all of you like a gust. 

“Wha—?” Alfred could barely finish his word when it poured into his face. That was when he knew, and in a last ditch attempt to save his friends, he turned to them to yell this out. It was the last thing he could’ve expected, leaving him horribly unprepared for what was unfolding. “—it’s an agent!”

“Oh, come on. That’s just cheating!” Allen roared, terrified out of his mind. He staggered back a few steps, but that couldn’t stop the landslide of gas that came rolling into his face. 

The way it moved was like an avalanche, engulfing the group until everyone was shrouded in it. 

“Whatever you do, don’t breathe it in!” Alfred shouted.

“Easy for you to say!” Allen spat, covering the lower half of his face with his forearm. But even that wasn’t enough to stop the substance from getting into his airway. Whatever it was, it was working fast, draining his consciousness by the second. He could feel himself slipping away, and in those last moments, he saw Arthur drop onto his knees next to him. He hardly had the energy to call out to him, let alone the energy to reach out to you before you fell to the ground. He watched you with his teeth clenched as he fought with every fiber of his being to stay awake. 

“(F/N)…!” Allen hissed. “… Shit…”

“Hey, keep it together! Don’t you dare pass out on me!” Alfred roared, running to the sound of his voice. By that point, the mist had thickened so much, it was impossible to see through. He used his scanner to detect your thermal signatures, but he found nothing. It was just him in the room, and yet, he kept moving like it wasn’t true, refusing to believe that his friends were just plucked off right before his very eyes. Only that was exactly what just happened. 

Once he got to where he last saw Allen, he was gone.

Alfred was overcome with shock as he stumbled back a few steps. 

But that wasn’t all. The mist was starting to dissipate, and once it cleared, everyone was gone. And like everyone else in his shoes, this one thought hit him. Did he just send all his friends to their deaths? His expression was wrought with horror as that realization began to settle in. Then, he let himself get crushed by a guilt so heavy, he could hardly stand. Lowering himself onto his knees, he dug his hands through his hair as his mouth hung open in fright. But that was when he saw someone lying on the ground in the corner of his eye. His clone. Calfred. He turned his head to them, and it just so happened to be the only person he couldn’t give a damn about. Yet, here he was. 

Still here with his sorry ass. 

His head returned to its neutral position. Then, he mustered the darkest glare he could. There was no denying it now. This was all a deliberate ploy to get under his skin, perfectly designed to the last detail. 

It sounded like him. 

“You sick bastard.” He snarled. It maddened him with rage to think the old man was this close, having taken all his friends right under his nose. So he got up on one knee and whipped out his mantis blades on one arm, roaring this at the top of his lungs. “Come out here and fight me!”

|

When Allen came to, he was lying on his side on a tatami floor. 

The lighting was dim, a sensual mix of purple and pink hues. He sat up, and that was when he realized he was stripped down to his tank top. His bomber jacket and even his pants were gone. But he didn’t have a chance to make a fuss as he was hit with a searing headache. He pressed the ball of his hand to his forehead and winced through his teeth. What the actual hell was going on? 

There was gas, and now, he was in an entirely different room. 

The room in question was lavishly furnished with traditional paper lanterns, a wooden vanity, and even red paper umbrellas, opened and lying on their side to display their intricate patterns. There was even a crimson futon against the wall, and on each side was a shoji screen for privacy. If he didn’t know any better, this would’ve been a private room in the red light district. 

Why he was put here was beyond him, a place meant for pleasure. 

But it would all become painfully clear when he saw who he was with. 

Standing over him was the most alluring woman he’d ever seen. She was dressed in an elaborate red kimono, and her silky black hair was put up like a geisha, but with more gold ornaments than he could count. She was an oiran, a high-ranking courtesan from the Edo period. But her beauty didn’t come from the clothes she wore, nor the fine makeup that graced her cherubic features. 

Upon closer look at her face, it was yours. |

Zao opened his eyes, but he wasn’t lying on the floor. Instead, he was upright and tied to a chair. He struggled for a bit, pulling at the metal constraints around his wrists.

But even that couldn’t hold his attention for long. 

In front of him were a bunch of security screens, each filming a room that one of his friends was in. He turned to them, and he could hardly believe what he was seeing. Alfred just threw Calfred over his shoulder before charging into the ship. Allen was in a room with a woman that looked terrifyingly like you. Meanwhile, the real you was still unconscious on the floor of a child’s room. But Arthur? He was roaming the halls by himself, searching for all of you because he was defenseless on his own. Zao grimaced darkly, but it was hardly out of mirth. 

He knew what kind of man your father was, but this was a whole new level of insanity. He wasn’t going to do any of the dirty work himself. 

He would let all of you do that to yourselves. 

Your greatest demons, now his greatest weapons. 

And here he was, forced to watch as all of his friends were plucked off, one by one. He’d always been an observer, someone who had the bigger picture and worked tirelessly in the background. This was a testament to that, only this time, he had both arms tied behind his back, powerless to stop what was unfolding before his very eyes. But even as this dawned on him, only one thought raced through his mind — the regret of everything he’d ever done, reduced to this one moment.

He should’ve left Arthur behind.

|

“Oh, good. You’re awake,” Alfred gave his clone a brief side-eye before tossing him a gun. 

It landed in the man’s lap, much to his annoyance — could he be any more an asshole? He lifted his hardened gaze up to his companion, who was already facing away from him. 

“Now make yourself useful.”

“Why did I have to end up with you?” Calfred picked it up before pulling himself up to his feet. 

“Yeah, I’m not exactly thrilled about this either,” He broke into a brisk jog in the hall, making his footsteps as faint as possible. Hollow, metallic thunks sounded against the floor as they moved together in stealth, sticking to the walls wherever possible. That was when they came to an intersection, so he hid behind the corner. “You think everybody else got to pick?”

“Whatever,” The other hid behind him. “Where is everybody anyway?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” Alfred whispered in a foreboding tone, keeping his eyes narrowed on the two clones that stood at the end of the hall. It was the first time that they ran into some company, and he was right to anticipate the worst. More copies of himself. But even if there were a hundred, thousand, or a million of them, he would kill them all until he was the only one left standing. “I’ll take the one on the left, you take the one on the right. On three.”

Calfred raised his gun, only for him to lower it with a push. “No guns. Too much noise.”

“Didn’t you just--”

“--three.” He sped off, derailing that train of thought. 

They ran into the light in perfect synchronization, moving side by side like a reflection of one another. Now that they were exposed, they were plunged into a zone, a deep state of focus like predators in chase of their prey with the aim to kill as fast as they could. And they couldn’t stop now that the timer started. 

Alfred came up to his clone from behind and twisted its head in one swift movement, killing it instantly. Calfred slit his clone across the throat, getting blood to spray profusely from its neck. They both fell to the ground, but the duo had already moved on by the time a thump was heard, running off together, one after the other. 

They cut their way through the ship, exterminating all life like angels of death. So many heads rolled and so many guts were spilled that by the end of it, the duo were covered in blood. Their faces were drenched in it so that when they opened their eyes in a cold glare, the electric blue in them would contrast beautifully against the red. But it was just another marker that distinguished them from their enemies. Hell, they even could’ve been unstoppable as allies in another life. 

Two trained killers who worked in perfect unison. 

But this was no time to get sentimental. 

They eventually found themselves at another closed gate, which Alfred took his time to crack into. And what waited behind was a surprise they’ve seen well and truly before. Because once it slid open, they came face to face with an entire room of clones. Dozens and dozens of them.

“Oh, fuck.” They let out simultaneously.

So much for making too much noise.

|

So this was what it came to, the master plan that was meant to put him in his grave. Maybe this could’ve worked in the past, but he was no fool. Not anymore. While these thoughts ran through his head, Allen got up without a word. The look behind his eyes turned dark and incoherent, but what he was about to do was exactly those things. Vile and utterly incomprehensible. 

He pulled his gun and trained it on your face. 

Nobody should ever be forced into a situation where they had to kill a loved one in cold blood, but here he was, about to blow your brains out. He gritted his teeth as he let out a shaky breath, feeling a gradual tremble build up in his hand that held the gun. He was really about to shoot you, wasn’t he? Only he wasn’t, so why was he even stuck thinking about it? 

You weren’t real, just a tool to get under his skin and ultimately kill him. 

So why didn’t he just pull the trigger?

“Just do it,” He strained through his teeth, feeling his heart start racing in his chest. His hand was full-on shaking by then, but he was on the verge of going through with it. “Just fucking do it.”

|

When you finally awakened, you were on the floor of your childhood bedroom. You rose to your feet to take it all in, and your face contorted when it dawned on you. This was where you grew up. An exact replica of it. The bed, the furniture, the framed pictures that decorated the shelves, even the smell of it was exactly the same. It was an other-worldly experience that awakened some of the deepest memories within you, even the ones you thought you’d forgotten. 

Your father reading stories to you, chasing your butt-naked self around the place with a towel, then picking you up in his strong arms. The way he bellowed out his laughter, but never being scared by the sound of it. That was your father, the person you once knew. Strong, noble, and just. Where did he go now? Tears streamed down your face as your heart grew heavy with loss. 

It was the sadness of a child who lost a parent, for whoever stood in their place was a stranger. 

Or was this the person he’d always been? 

So cruel that he would use your own innocence against you, turning your purest memories into a weapon? This was the last straw you didn’t know you even had, because even after everything he’d done, you were still shedding tears for him. Your forgiveness seemed to know no bounds, but so did his wickedness. But you were drawing the line now. He was nothing but a scourge on this planet, corrupting all good until there was nothing left except pain and suffering. 

You rose from the ground and unsheathed your katana. 

No child should ever have to resort to killing a parent, but he left you no choice. 

“Have you finally made up your mind?” Your father began as you stepped into the light. 

And to think he’d been here the whole time, waiting for you to meet him exactly where he stood.

Just what was he planning?

“I’ve made up my mind long before coming here,” You lowered your head.

“Then why the tears, my child?” He questioned. 

“I’m allowed to grieve the loss of a father,” You answered with your eyes closed, refusing to look at him as you said it. 

“So you do care for me, after all,” He was visibly affected by what you told him, an astonishing feat for someone like him. However, you were probably the only thing in the world he could ever feel love for, so it was all for naught. “This doesn’t have to end the way you think it does. Just admit the truth that is your family, and I will stop everything. All of this, if you will just say it.”

“I lost my father ages ago,” You refused. “You’re a demon.”

“If I’m a demon, what does that make you?” He responded calmly.

“I’m not you. I can live my own life and make it my own,” You shot back.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Your father denied, much to your anger and disbelief. He’d always been a firm believer in tradition, in filial piety, but his entitlement over you knew no bounds. Little did you know, he meant it in the plainest and most literal way, which was far worse than anything you could’ve imagined. “Have you ever wondered why you’ve never had a mother?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” You frowned, though he was right to question you on that. You’ve never had a mother growing up, and you always wondered why. 

“You’re not really my daughter, you see. You weren’t born from two parents,” He explained. At first, you didn’t know what to make of that fact. How you were a miracle child, born from a single parent. Now that you thought about it, it wasn’t unheard of, so you couldn’t be surprised. But if that were the case, what did he mean when he said you weren’t really his daughter? 

“And?” You narrowed your eyes. “That doesn’t prove anything.”

“You misunderstand, (F/N). Every strand of DNA in your body is identical to mine, except for the chromosomes that determine your sex,” He continued, and that was when it slowly dawned on you. If what he was saying was true, that could only mean one thing. And yet, you couldn’t bear to accept the truth even as he laid it out before you. “You are a female clone of me.”

You were identical to him, down to the last strand of flesh that wrapped around your bones. You couldn’t even have the least of your own body to differentiate yourself from him, and that in itself was so depraved, so invasive, you could barely keep yourself standing.

“You’re lying,” You bit back a cry. “You’re lying. That’s not true!”

“But it is,” He glowered, and with the most bone-chilling voice, he said, “You are me.”

Meanwhile, Allen kept the barrel of his gun pointed at your face. He was paralyzed, where the only movement lay in the shaking of his hand. His eyes were a powerful weapon of deceit, and the longer he stayed in this tense stalemate, the more it chipped away at his will. That was when you smiled at him, and it basically destroyed him. His mind began to unravel, his stomach began to churn, and his mouth fell agape in an expression of so much agony, it looked like he was in pain. 

His body was refusing to listen to him because all it knew was that he was about to kill you. 

And to fight that part of himself, he ended up screaming as loud as he could to drown it out. 

Tears ran down your face as you glared at your father with all the fear and loathing in the world. He’d cursed you with life, something utterly unthinkable and unachievable until he came along. It was the same thing he did to Alfred, but that was when you realized two things could be true at once. Alfred flashed in your mind, and so did Allen. And oh, how they smiled, talked, laughed. They made the world something you could understand, and for that, the memory of them alone was enough to give you back your strength with frightening clarity. You loved them in a way that he could never love anything, and that fact alone set you miles apart.

Allen eventually pulled the trigger, sending off a bang.

“I am nothing like you!” You roared, lunging forward with a manic ferocity in your movements.

“And yet,” Something sinister glinted in his eyes as you both met in a fearsome clash. A sharp clang was heard as he pulled out his katana at the last second, stopping you from cutting through him. That left the edges of your blades scraping together as you two pitted your raw strength against each other, and there, you were locked in a foreboding stare-down. “Here we are.”

You broke out of the hold by hitting his katana away. 

Then, you came at him with a series of hard strikes and swings.

“Can’t you see?” He caught every single one, your blades clashing in a fierce battle of steel. 

His eyes widened with a burning certainty as he witnessed you in your prime. You fought like a demon, the very thing you accused him of being. You attacked him with so much speed and strength, even he struggled to keep up with you. “All your relentlessness, ferocity, and power—”

You were so caught up in the fight, you didn’t realize that your gi had slipped off, revealing what hid beneath. A yakuza dragon tattoo on your back that spread from your hips all the way to your neck. It was done with the finest sportsmanship, only to be given to the highest-ranking members of the syndicate. But even that didn’t mean it could be taken so freely. It was the one and only honor your father had rightfully bestowed upon you, and it had no importance until now. 

Alfred wasn’t his foil, nor his truest match. 

You were. 

And the harder you fought, the more his truth unraveled. This was everything he ever wanted, the unfolding of a self-fulfilling prophecy that was what you were destined to be.

“—all of it is because you are me.”

Allen laid your clone to rest on the bed, throwing a blanket over the body to cover it. 

He did it all with a pained frown, knowing he’d carry this action with him for the rest of his life. For even though this had been a mere shadow of you, he now knew what it was like to kill you, and how much it took for him to kill you. It wasn’t something he ever wanted to go through, but he did now. He turned around to leave, desperate to leave this behind him once and for all.

But he only made a few steps before he stopped. 

Then, his face contorted with a sob, and he wiped the tears that came. This was so fucked up, he could hardly bring himself to carry on. But he forced himself to keep pushing. 

The real you was still out there, and that was enough to keep him going. Little did he know, you were losing grip of yourself at that very moment, reaching a height of bloodlust that would make you no different to your greatest enemy. For as cruel as they’d been, nothing could change the fact that you were about to kill your own kin. And it was an act that had a weight on its own. 

With a loud, reverberating clang, you hit the katana out of your father’s hands. 

Would Allen be able to save you from your fate, even when it was reaching a point that was practically unsalvageable? The sharp edge of your sword was against his neck, and with one, quick, slice, you could end it all. But by doing so, you would also become the one thing he wanted to make of you. A manifestation of all his power and darkness.

“Kill me and the beast will take a new head.” Your father spoke lowly. “Yours.”

It didn’t seem possible at first. After all, how could he save you when he couldn’t even save his own? Allen kept jogging through the labyrinth of halls, chest tight and his breath shaking as he moved. You had to be out here somewhere. All his friends were. And if he was quick about it, he could save all of you. That was when he came to an intersection, spotting a body slumped against the wall. Short, choppy blonde hair, cargo pants, and the tacky shirt he borrowed from Zao? 

It was Arthur, no doubt. 

Only his neck was slashed, covering his torso with—Allen turned around upon seeing it.

But he never walked away. He just stood there, deathly still. Then, his heart began to pound, and harder than it ever did that day. This couldn’t be real. After everything that happened, he refused to believe that this would be the result. This couldn’t be real. His eyes slowly widened as he summoned the courage to look again, hoping that what he saw wasn’t true.

Yet, when he glanced over his shoulder, he was still sitting there, very much dead. 

When it finally hit him, he dropped to his knees and vomited on the ground. His eyes went straight to the back of his head as he puked the hardest in his life. And he didn’t stop until everything in his stomach was emptied. After everything that had happened, this was what it took to finally drive the nail in. He’d finally reached the threshold of his sanity and just broke. 

Everything he ever did was for nothing. 

All those years he spent grovelling was wasted for no reason.

Because in the end, after everything that Arthur did for him, he couldn’t even do the least of saving his life. He joined the syndicate to protect him, and he failed. He failed! When that dawned on him, a wide grimace broke out across his face, only to quickly tremble away. 

His face contorted as he began to cry. 

He couldn’t do anything right. This was the only thing that mattered, and yet, he still fucked it up beyond compare. So he kept crying with his forehead to the ground, sobbing wretchedly before him, apologizing again and again even when he couldn’t be heard. The light had long gone from Arthur’s eyes, so he’d never get to see the last gesture of gratitude his student paid for him. 

And they would be indebted to him forever.

“So what will it be?”

Allen got up after a while. He didn’t know how long it took for him to get to this point, to have the strength to stand on his feet, but he was here now. And he was plunged into a state of mind where he was almost manic. So much had been taken from him, he was hell bent on taking things back for a change. He had to make all of this right somehow, even if he’d just lost everything.

With a vacant expression, he picked up Arthur’s body and threw him over his shoulder. 

Then, he paced the halls like a zombie, looking for the man responsible.

His prayers were quickly answered as his clone appeared around the corner, wearing his clothes. And all it took was one glance to know. This was the bastard who killed Arthur. So what did he do? He drew his gun at lightning speed, firing an astonishing seven shots at their chest without blinking. They dropped to the ground after the merciless execution, but he just walked past the corpse without a second thought. He’d only just begun, and he wasn’t about to look back. 

Soon, he came up to the door that he knew for certain would be where it’d all end. 

So he put Arthur down outside, reaching up to his eyes to close them.

Then, he burst through it, guns blazing. 

Allen fired relentlessly at the bastard who took everything from him, screaming as he did, letting out everything he ever kept inside him. He’d joined the syndicate to save a friend, and since he couldn’t even do that, he would make amends by destroying the very essence of the Mizumoto patriarch. So he kept shooting and shooting until he ran out of bullets, bursting so many holes through the son of a bitch until he could read the Sunday newspaper through him.

However, by some miracle, he was still alive by the end of it — even if barely.  

But his vitality was what gave him the chance to do this. 

Your father wheezed out his final breaths in a shocked stupor, so Allen acted as fast as he could. 

He wrapped his hand around yours, lending you his strength, and pushed your katana into him.

By doing this, he would share the burden of your kill, stopping you from becoming everything your father wanted to be. And his past betrayal? It would finally be repaid tenfold in the exact same way that it happened to him. Blood was owed to him, and he finally fucking had it. 

“Die, you motherfucker.” Allen growled, shoving the blade all the way in until it came curving out of his back. And he never let go until he saw the light fade from the old man’s eyes, the one mistake that ended up being his survival. Soon, the kumicho breathed his last breath, and that was when he felt himself breathe for the first time. He was finally free. 

“It’s just you and me now.” Calfred panted as he sat against a wall with Alfred. 

After painting the room red in a mass execution of clones, he was so exhausted, he could barely think. But he was hopeful that this was one step closer to the end – he just never imagined what that would look like because his companion had a completely different idea of it than he did. Because when he pulled himself up to his feet, the sharp edge of a mantis blade was held to his neck. He turned to the person responsible, eyeing him with a growing wariness in his expression. 

“What’re you doing?” 

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Alfred replied, expression unreadable as he never retracted the blade from his neck. He even pressed it deeper into his skin, causing a thin red line to form. The stinging pain that erupted was a wake up call that he was dead serious about his intentions, and that was when things really started to kick off — and when his clone really started to panic. 

“You’re crazy,” Calfred spluttered, gripping the edge to push it away from himself. When that wasn’t enough, he brought up his katana and clashed it against his mantis blade in a sharp clang. That only left them in a tense stalemate, blades trembling together as they pitted their raw strength against each other. “You’re really gonna off me after everything that happened?”

Alfred narrowed his eyes, slowly overpowering him and hitting his sword away. 

“What the fuck have I ever done to you?” He jumped back to create some distance, but that was hardly enough to stop the relentless storm that was his so-called original. 

“I think you know,” The man glared. Whipping out his other blade to rear them like a praying mantis, he struck down on him from above. His clone barely caught it, leaving them in another close encounter with nothing but the sparking steel between their faces. “This was how it was always gonna end because there’s no way that the two of us are gonna be walking out of here.”  

“And why is that?” Calfred grimaced, his voice trembling as he spoke. He was just talking out of his ass at this point, but adrenaline was a bitch. “Scared that she’ll pick me over you?” 

“And why the hell would she do that?” Alfred shoved him back again.

“I think you know.” The other breathed weakly, repeating what he just said, word for word. And it pissed him off more than he could stomach. “But I’ll tell you anyway.” 

“Enlighten me then, you arrogant prick.” He snarled.

An alarm blared throughout the ship as all the lights turned red. 

Now that the pilot was dead, everything started shutting down. And it didn’t take long for Allen to realize what was going on — that this whole thing had been a kamikaze mission — but he wasn’t losing anybody else today. So he took your hand and got the hell out of there, running as fast as his legs could carry him to the escape pods. He got this far, he sure as fuck was going to live to tell the tale. And he would do anything to get a taste of the freedom he now had. 

Even if that meant ignoring your pleas to look for Alfred, who for some reason, refused to leave the now sinking ship. The gravity had given out by then, leaving him floating several feet off the ground, but even that couldn’t take his focus off the son of bitch in front of him. And with where the conversation was going, it looked like only one of them would be walking out of here alive. 

“You were created with the sole purpose to take life,” Calfred floated around him, inspecting him  like a specimen. And a specimen he was, a cyborg absent of imperfection. “Not create it.”

“And?” 

“Allen, me—we’re all different to you.” 

Created by man, not woman-born. An antithesis to all living beings and humans. 

“We could do fuck all, but we’re still capable of the most basic thing we were created for,”

For that, he was deprived of their most defining feature. 

“We can reproduce.”

“Shut up.” Alfred glared.

“You know you’re sterile.” Calfred looked directly at him as he said it.

“I said, shut up.” He clenched fists until they trembled, his eyes darkening with the most bitter resentment. The bastard was dangling his deepest insecurity before him as nothing but a talking point, and the worst part was, he was right about everything. The ability to have children, something everyone took for granted yet completely out of reach for him. Because no matter how far he strayed from his roots, he’d want that promise of creation. To make life.

“If she ever wanted kids, you wouldn’t be able to give her any. But I would,” The other merely watched as a single tear rolled down to his chin. “Without me, who’s gonna get her pregnant?”

Just when he thought he’d well and truly lost it, the son of a bitch added one last word.

“Allen?”

You were in the escape pod with Allen by then, and in the heat of the moment, he did something that broke all the rules. He put his mouth on yours, kissing you. He kissed you. His lips pressed against yours in an exchange that was far from innocent, and the crazy part was, you let him. Maybe you were just as mad as he was, but after cheating death, he was plunged into another state of mind where he wasn’t himself. Or was it more like a heightened sense of clarity?

Because if there was one thing he had to do before dying, this was it.

“Allen?”

Alfred’s eyes went wide as his jaw slowly opened, letting the name stir something inside him until he all but lost his mind. The next thing he knew, he’d launched himself at Calfred with a scream and started pounding his face like a maniac. “Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!” Pushed past the brink of sanity, the only remedy was to punch him again and again until he was barely recognizable. Then, by some miracle, he stopped, and by another, his clone survived the hellish beating, albeit with a loose eyeball out of his socket. 

“If you kill me,” He choked, gripping onto the other’s hand shakily. Blood was splattered all over his face, now heavily disfigured from being brutally smashed in. And his head, limp from brain damage and pain. He couldn’t muster the energy to even look at Alfred, but he scraped together what was left of his waning consciousness to spell out the unshakeable truth. “Your dreams won’t ever see the light of day.”

“Who says you need to be alive for this?” Alfred whipped out his mantis blades, their razor sharp edges gleaming in the starlight. The second Calfred heard their signature sound, he tried inching away from him, whimpering as he did. “If it’s sperm I need, I’ll just cut it out of you.”

|

Alfred never ended up going through with it. 

Because as furious as he’d been, he couldn’t bring himself to be so cruel. He didn’t even think he could kill him. What he could do, however, was choose not to save him. After all, he meant what he’d said when there would only be one of them walking out of here. It wasn’t right for there to be two of the same person, and knowing the kind of man he was, he would be saving himself a lot of grief in the future.

He didn’t like to share, not the life he lived, and definitely not the woman he loved.

So he left him as the ship went down.

And yet, as he walked away, he felt immense guilt for what he was doing. Maybe he was just being selfish. Maybe what he was doing was wrong. Leaving a man to die, and for what? 

But if anybody else were in his position, would they have done any different? If they were given the chance to be free of this dilemma, wouldn’t they have done the same? Alfred told himself these hypotheticals as a way of resolving this inner conflict. But the thing was, nobody would ever be in his position. Not entirely, anyway. And thank God for that. Because if anybody really did choose to do something different, that meant he was just another no good son of a bitch. 

He managed to get into an escape pod, and much to his relief, he could see two of them already on their way to Earth. But he’d be a fool to think none of this came with a price.

|

The end of the day was drawing near with the sunset casting a dark orange haze over Night City. Everyone who showed up that day had gone, leaving only you, Allen, and Alfred to keep Arthur company in his casket before he was finally lowered six feet under. But for some reason, Zao still hadn’t made an appearance. 

“Bastard didn’t even show up to his funeral,” Allen let out, wiping his eyes roughly. 

“Everybody has their own way of grieving, I guess.” Alfred murmured.

“By not showing up to the funeral? Give me a fucking break,” He snapped, taking his leave right then and there. “He’s just being a fucking coward, and I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind.”

You lingered your tearful gaze on him, watching him get into his car before speeding off in a cloud of smoke. In that moment, you knew you had to do something. Allen was spiraling, and sooner or later, he would fall over the edge. But what could you do when nothing could bring back Arthur? 

He pulled up to Zao’s estate, face warped with hurt as he stopped the engine. When it purred to a stop, he sat with his feelings as they came flooding back. Arthur was gone, and he couldn’t do anything about it. He slammed his hands furiously against the wheel as he wrestled with that reality, so frustrated that he cried all over again. He kept at it for at least five minutes until he calmed down, wiping his angry tears away with his sleeve. 

Then, he got himself together, or at least enough to do what he came here to do — he climbed out of his car looking like shit, and with a picture frame in hand, he stormed up to his friend’s front door. Because as furious as he’d been, he knew the poor bastard was probably taking it worse than him. 

And to his surprise, he actually answered the door. 

“Hey asshole,” Allen began, expression unreadable. “We missed you at the funeral.”

Zao didn’t respond, only gazing down at what he held in his hand.

“You gonna hide in there forever, or what?” He asked, noting his disheveled appearance. His hair was an absolute mess, long, knotted, and clearly hadn’t been washed in days. But that wasn’t what stood out to him most. It was his eyes, which couldn’t even look at him. They said everything they needed to say, so he couldn’t bring himself to keep hounding him anymore. Instead, he just handed him the picture. Arthur’s picture. “If you are, then put this at your shrine at least.”

That, Zao couldn’t refuse, so he took it before shutting the door in his face.

“I need to talk to you,” You told Alfred in the motel room. He was standing by the kitchenette, waiting for his instant noodles to cook. This had been the state of things ever since, spending day after day in a rental limbo. You all survived, but weren’t quite living. Something had to change, but what?

“Yeah, what’s up?” He walked over to you.

“I’m worried about Allen,” You admitted, letting it sit for a while before you said anything else. He seemed to understand, softening his gaze as he waited patiently for you to lay it on him. He’d expected this to come up eventually, and he just hoped that it wouldn’t be forever.  “I think I need to stay with him for a while.”

“Well, are you gonna come back?” He raised his tone.

“Of course,” You frowned, a little devastated that he even asked. “Why wouldn’t I?”

|

“Would it stupid for me to assume you’ll always be here for me like this?” Allen whispered, his eyes half-lidded as if he were deep in thought. After what was perhaps the worst week of his life, you came knocking at his door like a gift from God. And he pulled you in without so much as a word. He was barely keeping his head above water where the one thing that could keep him from drowning was you. But you were here now. It was the middle of the night, and you were on his chest, listening to him breathe as you two laid in bed in what used to be his old room at Arthur’s.

This was everything he could ever want, to have you in his arms.

But would it only be for the moment?

“No,” You whispered back. “I’ll always be here.”

“Even when you’ve got Alfred?” He said it so softly, you almost didn’t catch it.

“You think I’d want to lose you just because I have a boyfriend?” You gripped his tank.

“I don’t know. Doesn’t being in a relationship mean you gotta be more cautious when being alone with strange men?” He asked, the edges of his lips curling up in a smile. But as amusing as it was in the moment, he was really testing you on the true nature of your relationship with him. And he had all the right in the world because he couldn’t afford to live in ambiguity anymore.

Would you stay, or would you go?

“You’re not a strange man,” You murmured.

“I don’t know, I can be a little strange.” He narrowed his eyes into thin slits as he stretched like a cat. Then, he wrapped his strong arms around you to make his point, even breathing you in.

“So long as that strange doesn’t supersede hugging,” You remained comfortable on his chest, not at all phased by his behavior. And that remained true even after what he did — kiss you.

“I can’t kiss you?” He mumbled, almost as if he read your mind.

“Only if it’s not on the lips.” You responded, putting your foot down. 

“I guess I could deal with that.” Allen relented. He couldn’t say he was disappointed when this was how things always used to be, and he couldn’t be entitled to your love if you wouldn’t give it to him. Not that kind of love, anyway. And with how much you already gave him, he’d be a piece of shit to bother you for more. However, it wasn’t your intimacy he was really after.

You were all he had left, and he wouldn’t be able to survive your absence. 

And that reality hit him at full-throttle when you tried to leave in the morning.

He’d been making some banana pancakes in the kitchen, but the second he saw you at the front door, he dropped everything to get to you. His whisk fell onto the counter in a clatter as he ran to you in a flash. It was as if his body acted on reflex, and now that his thoughts caught up with his actions, he crumbled to pieces. 

“Please don’t go,” Allen hugged you from behind, pressing his forehead to the back of your neck as he spoke. “Just stay a few nights with me, please. I’ll be good after that, I promise.”

Alfred may have been waiting for you, but how could you leave him like this? 

The answer had been so clear to you then. You couldn’t.

“I’m thinking about getting an apartment somewhere in North Oak.” Allen mused as he scrolled on his laptop, browsing through some property listings. It had only been a few hours since what went down in the morning, but he managed to cheer himself up pretty quick now that you agreed to stay for the meantime. “Want in?”

“You mean you want me to live with you?” You lifted your gaze to him.

“Haven’t I made that obvious already?” He grinned sheepishly, not that confident you were going to agree. After all, you’ve always been touchy with the whole living situation. With Alfred to consider, you’d be going out on a limb to be with him. But it wouldn’t hurt to try, would it? “So, whaddya say? Me and you in Beaverville with the rest of the corpos?”

Little did he know, you’d moved long past the idea of leaving him alone.

“Sure,” You smiled gently, much to his glee. “But how are you gonna pay for it?”

“You’re gonna help me pay for it, dummy,” Allen grinned toothily. “Right?”

Alfred called you a few days later. 

You haven’t reached out to him for that long, which to him, was the same as eternity. And he was starting to get restless. He stood at the balcony of his motel as he waited anxiously for you to pick up.

“Hey,” You answered, smiling softly.

“Hey, what’s up? I missed you,” He immediately replied, eyes widening at the sound of your voice. “Where have you been?”

“I missed you too,” You uttered, heart heavy as you said it. This exchange may as well be the calm before the storm, as what you were about to tell him was sure to send everything overboard. “Allen just got a new apartment in North Oak. I’m helping him move in.”

“You’re not gonna live with him, are you?” He asked, face falling a touch. But when you didn’t answer immediately, he full-on winced. ���Please don’t tell me you’re gonna live with him.”

“I am.” You sighed, closing your eyes.

“Then what about me?” He let out, heart in his throat. “You said you were gonna come back.”

“I know, and I’m sorry.” You apologized, and when he didn’t reply, you sighed. “Alfred.”

“Yeah?” 

“I love you, okay? Don’t ever forget that.”

“Oh, come on, babe. Don’t say things like that,” His voice cracked, feeling himself crumble right then and there. It wasn’t everyday you told him you loved him, and with both your track records, it only ever seemed to happen before everything fell apart. “You’re breaking my heart.”

“I mean it, Al.” You softened your gaze.

“Then show me,” He whispered pleadingly, and the desperation in his voice couldn’t be missed. He needed you, but you weren’t there for him. “Because I can’t feel it.”

You ended up meeting him later that night. And he wasn’t wrong to think you’ve been neglecting him, because seeing him again was like a dream. You caught up with him over some Family Mart favorites, talking and laughing just like old times. He took you through the city in a joyride, street racing with other drivers of Night City before leaving them in the dust.

He even did the stare and drive.

As he accelerated the car, he never took his eyes off you even as he reached a speed that got him close to God. He just kept going while smiling at you, the streets passing by outside in a fast blur. And you smiled back, trusting him with your life. It was the most fun you’ve ever had up until then, which should’ve been concerning when it involved the risk of getting killed.

However, he’d changed you that much, and you missed him even more. This was a side of him you’ve never known too, a carefree, excitable, and happier part of him which you loved. 

All of it was finally over, so he was floating. And with you by his side, he never felt so right. There was nothing that could stop him now, so he wanted to get so high that he would never come back down again. The sky was the limit, and he was slowly getting there.

He just needed you to be on the same page as him. 

The drive back to the motel was silent, but the atmosphere did all the talking. It was dark in the car, leaving you two sitting in a sultry ambience. What he did next only seemed to heighten that. Alfred made it a point to turn the radio off, glancing at you as he did. That left you in nothing but his company, where the only thing you could hear was the sound of him driving. He wanted the only thing you could think about to be him, and it was more sensual than you could’ve imagined. 

But that wasn’t all.

You shared a moment of eye contact with him, and that was when you knew. The way he looked at you was so raw, and with so much emotion that when you looked back at him, it was like staring into his heart. 

He wanted you, and he was going all the way with you tonight. 

If everything he just did wasn’t enough, he made it explicit by revving the engine in a loud vroom, accelerating until he was speeding to get back to the motel. While he raced through the city streets, your heart pounded the whole time. His urgency was on full display, and he did it so shamelessly, it easily made for the most erotic moment of your life. 

And he wouldn’t slow down until he had you. 

One hour later, you were laying with him in bed in the nude. And it was the single-most satisfying experience of his life. He’d seen every part of you, and you’ve seen every part of him. Not only did it feel amazing to make love to you, Alfred felt like you just accepted him in a way he always wanted to be accepted, and it left him in such a state that he was reeling.

“Fuck, that was so good,” He whispered, laying a hand over his eyes. “Why didn’t we do this earlier?”

“Several reasons,” You breathed, cheeks still flushed from all the intimacy as you laid on your side facing him. “The most important one being a lack of privacy.”

“Damn,” He muttered. Now that you mentioned it, you were right as rain. That left him thinking, what could he do to fix that once and for all? With a growing smile, he asked this while stifling a snort. “It wouldn’t be too late to talk you out of living with Allen now, would it?”

You took your pillow from under your head and bashed it on his face. 

“This isn’t the only reason I’d want you to live with me, jeez,” He laughed as he shielded himself from it. Once you stopped to lay back down again, he asked another question that should’ve had you hitting him all over again. “So have you ever done it with him?” 

“Done what?” You frowned. 

“You know,” He murmured sheepishly, almost embarrassed to finish what he started. “Sex.”

“Why would I have sex with Allen?” You let out, doing your damnedest to not imagine the thought. Aside from being in this ever-growing stable relationship with Alfred, it somehow felt sacrilegious to consider. Because as ambiguous as your bond with him was — a friend, a brother, and something more — he was also the only semblance of family you could ever have.

“I don’t know,” He pursed his lips. “You guys seem tight.”

“Not that kind of tight,” You rolled your head to him. “Not while you’re around, anyway.”

“So you’re saying you’d do him if we broke up?” Alfred grumbled.

“That’s not what I’m saying at all!” You gushed, gathering your composure before adding this on a more serious note. “But if you didn’t exist, or if something happened to you…” 

He fell silent as he listened to you, now realizing what you meant. Your love for him wasn’t fragile, where the only case of anything changing was if he keeled over in a doomsday event. And knowing how close you were to Allen, he was probably the only other guy who stood a chance of being the one. He also happened to be the only guy he trusted with you, so he couldn’t be mad. Not that he was particularly fond of the idea, so he made a note to not do that. Keel over. 

“At least you’re being honest with me.” He sighed, stopping you before you could finish. 

“But what made you ask this in the first place?” 

“I just felt like you were drifting from me, that’s all.” 

“I could never,” You let out, rolling on top of him so you could face him. Now that you were, you could finally see the look behind his eyes. Coy, expectant, and with this is the part where you tell me you love me, written all over it. And you would, just in your own way. Your cheeks flushed a rosy hue as you laid it on him with a tender smile, and you meant every word. “You’ll always be the only man for me.”

“I’m not satisfied with just words, you know?” Alfred whispered, and yet, he couldn’t shake off the electricity you just made him feel. They were the sweet nothings all men longed to hear, but to hear it through your voice, it drove him crazy. Sitting up with you on his lap, he kissed you so hard that he almost forgot the point he was trying to make. But he couldn’t drop the ball now — he came into this with a goal, and he would see it through to the end. So he pulled away to say this. “I need you to make me real promises and follow through with them.”

You ended up settling on staying with him for three days of the week, all while calling him every night. Although it wasn’t as much as you expected, he had a plan of what he’d do with his time. 

So what next?

You and Allen went on living the sheltered life you both deserved, making a home in a charming, upper-class neighborhood full of freshly-mowed lawns, white-picket fences, and cul-de-sacs. 

But Alfred?

He stood outside of his sports car in what used to be Beverly Hills, and at the highest point overlooking the city. There, he rested a blaster on his shoulder as he stared out into the distance. 

“So what now?” He asked, laying next to a doll. It wasn’t his thing to use services like this, but the women here knew exactly what he desired, and right now, it was to figure out where he would go from here on out. He would’ve asked you, but you would’ve just told him to move on and put it all behind him. And something inside him told him he never really could move on. 

“Now? You find out what it is you need to do,” Skye replied in a dreamy whisper. 

Alfred drove through Night City in the heat of the day, windows down as he relished in the dry desert wind that blew into his face. It’d been a while since he went to see his fixer to look for jobs, but he figured it wouldn’t be a bad place to start. He would eventually go on to do all sorts of crazy missions so long as they agreed with him — and brought home the bacon.

You’ve never backed down from anything in your life, even when you maybe should’ve.

He burst into a room, guns blazing as he blasted holes in all the goons scattered around the place. 

You go through Night City knowing a stray bullet could end you while hailing a cab—

He used his strong arms to burst open a shipping crate, revealing the people trapped inside. 

—but that’s never stopped you from taking action.

Alfred jumped down onto a glass roof, crashing through it with next to no grace before landing in a place surrounded by enemies. But he braved his actions fearlessly, whipping out his mantis blades with a grimace that screamed, bring it on. And when that wasn’t enough, he drew his guns to rain hellfire on the sons of bitches until they were all dead on the floor. 

Because even after everything that happened, the restlessness in his soul never went away. So if he couldn’t save the world, he sure as hell would leave a mark on it. He would go on for the rest of his days as a cyberpunk, trailblazing wherever he went, going down as one of Night City’s biggest legends. But for three days out of the week? He was a certified loverboy.

If you gotta kill, kill.

If you gotta burn it all to the ground, then let it burn.

[poisonousroxstar]

I haven't seen many writers for Cyberpunk on here! Could I possibly request yandere Meredith Stout hcs, please?

Imagine

Yandere Meredith Stout

Contains: yandere themes, abuse of power, a brief sexual mention.

Thanks for sending in this request! There really isn't much content for cyberpunk, so I'm happy to supply some! (Feel free to send in some request for the game!)

Total power abuser, especially if you're male. She'll use every asset she has at her disposal to make sure you're stuck in her clutches; blackmail, threats, manipulation - you name it, she'll use it against you. If you have any loved ones or precious things, Meredith is more than willing to wave their safety above your head to make sure you're compliant.

Meredith will treat a male or masculine darling a bit more harshly than a female or feminine darling, due to her dominant and power-driven nature. As a yandere, it's hard to tell the difference, but it's in the subtle moments that you can pick up on it; the way her touch is softer for a feminine darling then the grip she has on a masculine darling. How her voice is just a bit more gentler.

Rivals aren't a thing with her, she'll make them disappear like a goddman magician. If she even catches a whiff that someone might be interested in you, she's quickly going to act. Torture, maiming, blackmail, the works. No one is allowed to touch you. Only her.

Despite her rough and extremely controlling nature, Meredith does truly care about you. There's always the constant fear of you leaving her or dying in the back of her mind, which is why she's as extreme in keeping you by her side. More likely than not, Meredith keeps you somewhere safe.

It's not always a living hell with Meredith. As long as you listen and obey her, Meredith can be much more tolerable. She'll spoil you with gifts and luxuries, especially after a long time of absence due to her work with Militech. If the relationship is more romantic and you've been especially good and compliant, Meredith will definitely have a lot of sex with you. It serves as a stress relief for her, and watching her magic work on you is pure dopamine.

There's some level of control you have over Meredith due to her infatuation and trust in you. If you play your cards carefully, you can worm out all sorts of intel from her and have certain things go your way. But remember, Meredith is a corpo with an extremely short fuse for everyone - including you. Be very careful with the woman.

[vaas]

THAT BEING SAID my ultimate cyberpunk 2077 waifu is a non-romanceable dlc character that doesnt even have flirty dialogue options. its alex from phantom liberty. if alex from phantom liberty was a real human woman i would quit my job and move to wherever the fuck she was if she wanted it. i would dedicate my life to her with zero regrets. hands and knees in the rain crying for a Sniff. a Whiff. the fucking dancing scene? and i cant even be a LITTLE flirty with her? this is so fucking unfair to me.

[thesorcerersapprentice]

04.03.2024

Hello everyone! Apologies for the delay. My offline life has gotten quite hectic lately, which has made it hard to keep on schedule. Hopefully, things will smooth over soon!

Worldbuilding & Solar/Cyberpunk Considerations: As I mentioned in the last couple of updates, I've been working on a post on the geography, flora & fauna of The Sorcerer's Apprentice universe, which I meant to publish last week (and the week before that, lol). I've completed the three sections that correspond to the (as of yet unnamed) second empire's territory (second because the book focuses on neo-colonialism, the successor of old-world colonialism), all of which are based on the natural world of Colombia at 2600 meters above sea level and beyond. Because the plot of The Sorcerer's Apprentice mainly transpires in a city within this region, while writing the aforementioned sections, I was also trying to figure out what a city that incorporates the novel's themes (the link between colonialism, environmental catastrophe, and capitalism) would look like within this context. Given that one of the main themes is capitalism, my first impulse was to make the primary plot location in the novel a cyberpunk-inspired city. After all, what screams capitalism gone mad more than cyberpunk? To this end, I read quite a few articles on the subject (Rethinking the End of Modernity: Empire, Hyper-Capitalism, and Cyberpunk Dystopias by Jeffrey Paris, Elements of a Poetics of Cybperunk by Brian McHale, Neoliberalism and Cyberpunk Science Fiction: Living on the Edge of Burnout by Caroline Alphin, Recycled Dystopias: Cyberpunk and the End of History by Elana Gomel, The Cyberpunk Dystopia as a Reflection on Late Capitalism by Marius Florea, and more). The problem with this idea was that when I looked around me at Bogotá, the city I live in, I just couldn't see it. Bogotá is a green city. There is green everywhere you look. Furthermore, traditional-looking cyberpunk flattens any culturally specific elements it incorporates, the same way big-chain supermarkets worldwide completely obliterate the slightest whiff of uniqueness from their premises. No matter where you are, they all look the same. As I mentioned in a previous update, one of my aims with The Sorcerer's Apprentice is to celebrate the culture of my region of the world. Cyberpunk, at least as it has been traditionally conceived, works against that objective. Again, this fits with what capitalism does irl, but I really really really don't want to write yet another NYC-inspired urban hellscape. In fact, I can't think of anything worse than having my main character admire a cyberpunk city... My search for a more suitable alternative led me to the antithesis of cyberpunk, its eco-friendly adversary, solarpunk. For information on this genre, I relied mainly on @alpaca-clouds post on the History of Solarpunk and @solarpunks's informative response, which includes several very helpful links (check out both posts here!). At first glance, solarpunk seemed to fit The Sorcerer's Apprentice much better than cyberpunk had; it allowed me to envision a city that elevated rather than obscured (or flattened) present-day Colombian culture. Basically, with solarpunk I could keep the city green, as cities in this region of the world tend to be; I could retain the push for sustainable innovations that play such a vital role in our mainstream policy; and I could keep the regional architecture, as well as site-specific building materials like guadua, a hardy local species of bamboo. Most importantly, with solarapunk I could genuinely describe the city with respect and admiration. The only remaining issue was to figure out how to incorporate the novel's themes into this genre. After all, although Solarpunk is utopic, The Sorcerer's Apprentice is not. How do I illuminate and criticize the link between capitalism, colonialism and environmental decay within a fantastical city that walks and talks like a utopia?

Cont. My solution is to create a hybrid proposal somewhere between cyberpunk and solarpunk; a city that presents like solarpunk, but that has achieved this green, sustainable self-expression without renouncing its colonial and capitalist exploitation of vulnerable peoples and environments elsewhere. Essentially, this would make the city the large-scale equivalent of one of those high-end clothing brands that have "recycled" symbols on their tags, but that have their product made in deplorable overseas sweatshops. The message of the novel would, thus, be amplified to include the idea that there can be no environmental justice without social justice. Does it work? We'll see. That's what I've got so far.

Researched the Link between Colonialism, Environmental Catastrophe and Capitalism: To educate myself on the main themes of the novel and how these can be better incorporated into the setting, I picked up Chaos in the Heavens: The Forgotten History of Climate Change by Jean-Baptiste Fressoz & Fabien Locher, and translated by Gregory Elliott. And let me tell you, I was not expecting to learn what I learned!!! This book is honestly fire. I had no idea climate science was so deeply rooted in colonialism!! Honestly, more than any other book I've read so far, Chaos in the Heavens articulates the link between the three main themes I've been trying to work with so, so clearly. Now I understand why people say we're lazy because we get too much sun. Or why all the native trees got cut down and replaced with pines. Eye-Opening!!! 100000% recommend.

REMINDERS:

Answer pending asks, and publish that promised worldbuilding post on the geography, flora & fauna of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice universe, you know the drill lol

Research Transhumanism.

Research Designs for Sustainable Cities and New Green Technologies.

TAG LIST: (ask to be + or - ) @the-finch-address @fearofahumanplanet @winterninja-fr  @avrablake @outpost51 @d3mon-ology @hippiewrites @threeking @lexiklecksi @achilleanmafia @blind-the-winds

© 2024 The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. All rights reserved.

[foncethefool]

Cyberpunk headcannons

So I've been playing Cyberpunk 2077 like non-stop and here's a few things I think would be kinda fun to think about~

Johnny and V melding a little more when V's under stress, Like when V and Panam are taking down the AV and the EMP is fucking with V? I'd like to think that as V starts panicking she lets Johnny's voice slip through

The car wheels spinning under them, spewing dirt behind the Thorton, Panam casting a concerned look at V as the girl clutched at her head and squirmed in her seat "Johnny? Johnny!" She cried out, eyes wide as she looked into the backseat, fear warping her face. Panam didn't dare ask what was wrong with the girl, more than that she was worried that the Merc was going Psycho and she was going to have to push the bitch out of her ride before getting diced or shot or fuckin fried from the inside out, she had seen first hand V's skill, and if the girl was gonna snap, Panam wanted to be far from her when she did. But V relaxed, her body slumping slightly and a relieved sigh escaped her before she muttered "Just fuckin delta the fuck out of here" in a voice that wasn't entirely her own, It was still V's voice but something about it, the way she said it. It was wrong, like it was someone else talking.

I'd also love to see Johnny have more effects on V's habits. Like sure we see Johnny beg for a smoke here and there and once or twice V can give it to him but I'd love if it happened more subconsciously and more often.

When Judy first got close to V, setting up the braindance for the no named Merc, she got a good whiff of the girl. Gunpowder and the stench of the city, but a pleasant scent underneath it, some bougie soap or perfume. It felt like ages before she saw V again, after everything went down, when she saw the girl next with sunken eyes and a vengeance that burned in her throat, she still smelled the same, but there was something different about her, something she couldn't place her thumb on. Still she smelled the same, the gunpowder, the city stench, the faint sweetness of whatever product she used. It was in the following days and weeks that she started noticing a change in the girl. In her scent, it was slow and faint at first, a slight arid undertone to the girl's normal smell. At first Judy chalked it up to the city stench but then she eventually caught V smoking, leaning against the railing outside of her building, The Merc wasn't really looking at anything, her eyes were unfocused but occasionally she'd turn her head and chuckle, jut her chin out, or make a gesture with the hand holding the smoking cigarette. As if she was talking with someone she couldn't see, but she recognized the smell, the arid smell that seemed to cling to V's body as of late.

I dunno a few idle thoughts about the story in the game is all~

[maneki-art]

Cyberpunk / retro-futurist pin up

Sept ans après ma blague sur le minitel-punk, voici la nouvelle version de ma poupée cyberpunk à la menthe qui fleure bon les années 80 !

J’ai visiblement évolué un peu plus que je le pensais, surtout coté… heu… courbes.

Trouverez vous les références de cette image?

---

Seven years after my joke pic about minitel-punk, (look, sorry, it's French and unexplainable, just think... formica punk or something), here is the new version of my mint flavored cyberpunk doll, with a whiff of the 80's

My style has evolved a bit more than I thought, especially... er... curves wise.

Can you find the reference in this picture?

The old pic / L'ancienne image

The Time-Lapse

[thunderheadfred]

Started writing this Hawks fic months ago in vague 2nd person, and while I was enjoying a lot of it and had a pretty good plot forming, I just couldn't find a character groove so eventually got stuck. Took an intentional break to try and get a fresh POV (literally)

Finally wrote some more tonight and I think I just figured out that I can write some (or all?) of this 1st person Hawks POV. He's already skewing all sarcastic cyberpunk noir with a distinct whiff of Obsessive Male Love Interest

it's garrus vakarian I just keep writing garrus vakarian

[dejwritesarchived]

❪ ♡ ❫ ─── ⠀ ⠀⠀ one last night ⠀ 〳 ⠀ s.kogami ‵

❪ ♡ ❫ ─── ( synopsis ) kogami makes one last stop before skipping town.

♡ ˙ ˖ ✧ — tw: female reader, female anatomy described, psycho pass spoilers included, best friend to lovers trope with a hint of unrequited lovers trope, flashbacks is in italics, two idiots that don't want to admit they like each other, soft!kogami yay, mentions of reader being a teacher, mentions of that three word eight-letter phrase, this is not my best work but i like it ok, wc: 4k, smut warnings include — missionary position, usage of spit, soft smut, no roughness is included in this, straight love making my lovelies

YOUR MOTHER ALWAYS TOLD YOU THAT LOVE IS SUCH A STRANGE FEELING. You’ll know when you’re in love. It’s that strange feeling of butterflies that erupt in your stomach when the person you’re crushing on enters the room. It’s the way you’re left breathless when you get a whiff of their scent. Or you find the littlest things that remind you of them. You always had that feeling when he was around. It was like that ever since you were younger. Innocent smile when you see him enter the playground and instantly run over to you to show off his dinosaur band-aid that his parents put on him after he fell. Or the way your teary eyes lit up when he aggressively snatched a toy out of another boy's hand after taking it from you. Or when he would give you his jet black leather jacket for you to put on when he would walk you home from school when you were teenagers.

You hated to admit that maybe you were in over your head. In a cyberpunk atmosphere you were living in, you could be as young as five and be labeled as a criminal before you even learned how to tie your shoes. It was a pretty strange world you lived in, but you managed. You got a job as a preschool teacher. You had a pretty comfy apartment and a cat named Kiko, you were enjoying life. 

But you never knew that your once life consisted of the same peaceful events that didn’t cloud your hue until you heard a knock at your door. As you were up creating a lesson plan for your students, your eyes darted to your front door. The knocking only grows louder. You stood up slowly and quietly, hoping this wasn’t some prank your neighbors' teenage sons would be pulling. When you checked the peephole, your breath hitched in your throat and your heart instantly started beating quicker. 

When you opened the door, you couldn’t help being frozen. Your eyes were staring at him. Taking in everything. From the way blood was on the shirt, he was wearing to the cuts and bruises on his face. You knew of Kogami’s job. Who didn’t when you were dealing with criminals daily? But you didn’t understand why he was here? When he first accepted the position, he made it clear that he had to cut ties. He refused to accept the possibility of his occupation coming back to you. 

That was Kogami Shinya for you. 

“Are you okay?” You asked. “Come in before anyone sees you,” 

You stepped aside letting him stumble into your apartment. His boots glided across the floor dragging along a trail of blood also. You closed the door with quickness and you were searching for the right words to say and the best you could say was, “You look like shit.” 

“Is that how you greet your best friend?” He asked with sarcasm stinging his tongue while he was stripping right in front of you.

“Oh my god!” You shrieked as you turned around. “The bathroom is right down the hall. You can get yourself cleaned up. I’ll grab the first aid kit and I’m pretty sure you have some spare clothes here, that is if you haven’t grown too drastically since the last time we’ve seen each other.” 

You could hear Kogami grumble something under his breath before he’s waltzing into the bathroom down the hall. With quickness, you’re collecting his dirty clothes to put in your laundry bin. You also collected some clothes of his and the first aid kit like you promised. You wanted to question why he was here? After all these years why show up here at your place now? As Kogami showered, you were searching for your first aid kit and the questions you were planning to say to him. 

How are you? Did you lose my number or something? Why are you here? 

Yeah, those questions would be good to start with. When you found the first aid kit, you placed it on your coffee table in the living room and moved on to the next task to find something for him to wear. You still had some clothes of his. When you found something for him to wear, it was in a box filled with some of his old stuff that collected dust in your closet. When you collected the clothes, you knocked on the door three times before sliding in. The steam from the shower causes you to feel hot. The shower curtain was drawn so you couldn’t see Kogami’s naked body. You put the clothes down and walk out of the bathroom before he could even pop his head out of the shower to notice you were in there. 

When Kogami was done, it made you realize just how serious he took his hygiene. Any trace of dried-up blood that stained his skin was gone. You could even smell your shampoo in the dark-colored hair that fell in his face. It was as if he didn’t arrive at your house like he had just got finished battling his own demons. You sat on one side of your sofa, dabbing the cotton ball on the cut on Kogami’s forehead. You could hear him wince at your action. “Sorry,” You mumbled as you placed the cotton ball on the table, and then you’re grabbing the ointment to put some ointment on the cut. 

“You never told me why you’re here?” You questioned as you were using a q-tip to rub the ointment on the cut. “Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy seeing your face after so many years. But, why come visit now?” 

You have gone through so much alone and without him. On some days like the day your father was killed—you wanted to see him so badly. You wanted to call Kogami, but you knew with the riots of people questioning the Sibyl System, his hands were full. With his silence to your question, you assumed that he was here because of work. It wouldn’t be shocking that a mission with his job would lead him to come to you bloody and look like he’s been in a war. However, you were sure that he could have gotten better treatment at his job from professionals.

“I’m leaving town, Y/N,” Kogami firmly said as he shifted his head to the side to look at you.

“What? Like on a mission or?” Your voice trails off as your finger pushes his face back to look straight. 

You hated when he gave you that look. A look of worry on how you’ll take the news. He gave you a similar look when he sat across a table in front of you stating that he was cutting ties with you for the sake of his job and your safety. Was this a similar reason? Was he trying to protect you? 

“No.” He stated as he looked at you. “I did something that landed me in some trouble at my job. So I have to go.” 

You were putting the stuff back into the first aid kit trying to process what he was saying. He did something wrong so therefore he had to leave town. 

“Oh.” was the only thing you could muster up to say.

You could feel a sad pit grow in your stomach. Your emotions were hitting you all at once and you didn’t know what to say or do. You couldn’t understand why he would come to your place to tell you this. He could have just left without a word, but here he was giving you this news. Your eyes began to water but you were quick to use the sleeve to the long sleeve shirt you were wearing. Once again Kogami was giving you that look of sorrow. It was the same soft look he gave you when he was forced to break your heart into a million pieces for the sake of your safety. 

You were forced to think about all the memories you two shared, more specifically the ones where you two were younger. You two were insufferable, joint by the hip no matter what and now he was finally tugging away from you one last time, but this time it could be the tug that broke you two apart forever. 

“I can’t believe you spend your money on those silly toy vending machines,” Seventeen year old you said as you rolled your eyes at your best friend. 

He’s been giving you silly little toy capsules from a toy vending machine in front of the local grocery store since the two of you were twelve. You always rolled your eyes playfully at the gesture, but you never threw away any of them since. You had a small box filled with bracelets, small soldier figurines, mini plastic balls, and so much more. 

“I want a specific one.” Kogami sighed as he leaned forward to take some of your food off your plate.

“Why won’t you just ask them to open the damn thing?” You asked.

“That would be cheating,” Kogami said. “I’ll get what I want eventually,” He says, giving you a sly grin.

“I don’t want to have to upgrade my box full of them. So whatever toy you’re trying to give to me Ko, please don’t. I appreciate the gesture, but god the box filled with the others is getting full.” You whined before sipping at your drink.

“Oh, so you actually do keep them? Last time you told me you just trash them,” Kogami’s eyes had a curious glint in them.

You felt the blood in your body rush to your face. It felt like it grew ten times hotter when he said that. “I started keeping them when you first gave them to me when we were younger and so why stop now?” You said with a shrug.

You only gained a hum from him before he’s sipping his drink and going back to eating the fries off your plate. 

“What did you do?” You asked. “It had to be something bad for you to come to me like this and confess that you’re leaving after years of us not seeing each other.” 

“It was considered ethically bad to them, but it’s what he deserved,” He bluntly admitted. 

“He?” You asked. 

“Mhm.” He simply said. He noticed the look you were giving him and he slumped backward on your sofa. “Please don’t ask any questions about it, I just need to rest up before I leave.”

“Okay.” You firmly said before sighing. “I’m not going to question anymore of whatever is going on. I know you’ll only give me that long lecture about it will only put my life in danger, blah..blah..blah—the same speech you gave me years ago.” You stood up to put the first aid kit back to its rightful place, also being sure to trash any bloody cotton balls and gauzes. 

You heard Kogami chuckle before he’s making himself comfortable on your couch that was obviously too small for him. He could have just slept in your bed, it wouldn’t have been the first time you two shared a bed. “You ate? My mom dropped off some curry and rice earlier. If I recall, you used to love her cooking when we were younger.” You asked from the kitchen. 

Kogami who was attempting to sleep off the brutalizing pain of the bumps and falls he’s taken today would only say, “No. I just want to sleep.” 

Silence overcame the two friends before a grumble erupted from Kogami’s stomach that caused you to giggle. “I’ll heat you some anyway so you can eat. To be honest, you can probably take the whole container for your trip out of the city. I think my mom is trying to curry me to death because it was my dad's favorite meal.” You explained while you were making a plate of food for Kogami. 

“Was?” He asked. He had given up attempting to sleep, his forearm pushing him upward to look at you walking around the kitchen. 

“Yeah, he died.” You sighed as you placed the plate in the microwave. “He just was at the wrong place at the wrong time when it got hectic during those riots,” You said. 

You noticed the twitch in Kogami’s lip before he’s leaning right back to lay on the couch that was too big for him. “Sorry for your lost,” He said out loud. “I feel bad for missing the funeral,” He adds. 

“It’s only my fault. I wanted to call you so badly.” You leaned against your kitchen counter. “But, I couldn’t muster up the courage to do so. With the riots, I just thought you would have too much on your plate.” You explained.

The familiar aroma of your mom’s curry swirled around your apartment. It was a smell that brought back memories from when he was younger and your parents always opened their home for him to come over. 

“I would have made time to come you know,” Kogami said.

“I know.” You simply sighed. Your heart felt heavy in your chest but you took the opportunity to use the hot plate of food being ready to change the subject. 

You place the food on the coffee table and also grab him something to drink. “Dig in, this could be the last time you taste it.” 

You sat back down on the floor continuing to do what you were doing before he arrived. You could hear the sound of Kogami’s utensils scraping away at the plate and his low chewing sound while you two basked in each other's silence.

“How have you been though? Other than being the obvious rule breaker you are?” Your eyes glanced up at him tapping your ballpoint pen on the table. 

You didn’t particularly want to know more details that landed him on your couch and on the run, you just needed to know how he was behind that cold heart of his. You couldn’t imagine what he has witnessed considering his job to society. 

“I’m okay.” He simply said before he stood up to go wash the dish he was used. 

You chuckled to yourself at both his answer and his actions. He was still the same boy you’ve known since you were younger. You could hear him shuffling around your apartment while you were making notes in your planning book. You could hear him from the bathroom, “Where are your spare toothbrushes?” He yelled from the bathroom. 

“Check the closet near the bathroom.” You responded. 

Once again you heard his footsteps scattering around your apartment and eventually he returned plopping down on the floor in front of you. You could feel his eyes staring a hole into you. “What are you working on?” He asked.

Before you could answer his question, he slid the notebook towards himself. His eyes looking at your lesson plan for the week. “I still can believe that you’re really a teacher. When we were in high school, your eyes practically lit up seeing little children.” 

Your cheeks flushed while you were clicking your pen. “I mean, you had your dream and I had mine.” You grabbed your notebook back. 

Now that the two of you were going down memory lane, you managed to get sidetracked from your lesson planning. “Remember you used to collect those toy capsules things? I still would like to know.” 

Kogami leaned forward resting his elbow on the wooden coffee table. “Know what?” He asked. 

“Was there like a certain toy you were trying to get?” You asked. 

“It was, but I gave up once I became an inspector.” He admits. 

“Oh.” Your lips formed a perfect ‘o’ shape before you’re speaking once more, “Such a weird thing to do.” 

“And they were very weird for you to collect.” Kogami playfully rolled his eyes at you.

“I couldn’t just throw them away, you kept giving them to me. It would feel like I’m throwing our friendship away or something.” You shrugged. “It’s nice to talk to you again even though it’s going to end pretty soon.” 

“They’re going to know I came here.” Kogami sighs realizing that the light banter between you two was slowly being masked by the fact that he was on the run. 

“I know.” You said. “So, why’d you come here? You haven’t contacted me in years to protect me—but suddenly think stopping by my home when you’re on the run is the best thing to do.” 

Once again the two of you bask in that comfortable silence you were a little too familiar with.

“I love you. I couldn’t just leave without telling you this.”

“It’s not fair for you to say this when you’re about to leave. That’s just so reckless of you, you know I’m an overthinker. Now you’re going to be on the run and I’m going have to worry about you because you’re so in love with me.” Your nervous rambling was interrupted by his soft plush lips on yours. 

It took you by shock because you haven’t felt his lips on yours in a long time. You hated to admit that it was a feeling you missed as years went on without him being in your life. Your body leaned against the coffee table before you’re breaking apart completely. It didn’t take long before you were crawling to be in his arms once again. Lips connecting with quickness as the kisses grew even more passionate before the uneventful events traveled to your bedroom. 

With each soft kiss on your lips, you couldn’t help but let out soft whimpers wanting more. You were aware that tonight was your last night with him and you probably wouldn’t see him anymore. Your bodies intertwined with each other as clothes littered the floor with each passing section, the two of you so prepared to finally become one. Fingers grasping for each other and faint whimpers when being touched in the right spot. It was as if Kogami and yourself weren’t apart for many years prior. It was as if he was expressing a hidden love for you with each kiss, nibble, and lick he pressed upon your delicate flesh. As the minutes passed, you realized that Kogami was you doing such lewd things with Kogami was your first in a while. 

Kogami was your first everything. He was the first boy whose hand you held, even though some would say it didn’t count because he was your line buddy in elementary school. Your first kiss when you two were fifteen and played seven minutes in heaven at a friend’s party. Obviously, he was the one that took your virginity in the backseat of your mom’s car after you got your driver’s license. Some would question why exactly you two weren’t dating. You never knew the answer to that question, but Kogami did. 

He couldn’t have you intertwined in the danger of his job. Any criminal could have used you for leverage. Shogo Makishima could have dangled you right in front of Kogami’s eyes without care and he wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night if that was to happen. Although the man was dead—it still sent a treacherous chill down Kogami’s spine at the thought of that happening. That dangerous feeling that sat heavily on Kogami’s heart went away when he felt the tip of his cock teasing at your drooling entrance. 

The moon peaked through the sheer curtains in your bedroom, but he still had a perfect view of your gorgeous face. A beautiful sight of seeing the way your kiss swollen lips gasped apart feeling his plump tip finally push itself upon your gummy walls. The grip upon your thigh was a little familiar, forcing you to remember the heat of the moment of losing your virginity in a similar position years ago. 

Your lips gasped apart feeling him inch slowly towards kissing your cervix. Your fingernails dug into the soft flesh of his forearm that was prompt near you. His eyes soften seeing your teeth graze at your lower lip. His fingertips trace alongside your soft skin before speaking. “You okay? I can stop, if it—” His words were interjected by your arms snaking around his neck to bring his face closer for you to kiss him. 

He broke the kiss suddenly to pay attention to pleasing you. His thrust grew a bit quicker and his hold onto you was a bit tighter. Hearing your pretty moans was a form of motivation for him. His free hand that wasn’t pinning you down was grasping at the headboard to help his thrusts. 

“Fuck—you sound so pretty,” Kogami said through the sound of his own pants.

His jet black hair stuck to his forehead due to the sweat droplets that cumulated upon his forehead. His cock was coated with your slick which caused it to be so easier for the tip of his cock to tap at that spot that caused your toes to curl. The pornographic sound of heated skin slapping against each other was attempting to overpower your wooden headboard that was crashing upon the wall. 

You could feel yourself about to cum. Your stomach formed the most pleasurable knots and you wanted to explode so badly. Your legs quivered under Kogami’s body as he brought his hand in between your sweated-coated bodies. You felt him rub on your throbbing clit in a circular motion. Your body felt like it was going into complete shock feeling the sudden pressure upon your slit. 

“Say it,” Kogami said with each word that rolled off his tongue, he was sure to add in a couple more rough thrusts. 

“Say what?” Your teeth nibbled on your lower lip holding back the moan you wanted to let out. 

The strokes Kogami was handing to you slowed down, but the movement on your clit sped up. Your body reacted naturally to arch off the bed your bare body was on, but Kogami only pinned you back down to continue what he was doing. He’s leaning down so his face is buried into the crook of your neck, enduring the sweet scent of you. You could feel him placing smug kisses on your neck before his pace quickened.  “Those three words.” 

His comment sent a chill down your spine as you could feel yourself pulse around his cock. Kogami didn’t stop now that your walls clenched around him beautifully, but it didn’t take him long before he’s coming down from his own high of being inside you. 

Your naked bodies were connected with each other like a puzzle that was finally completed. Your head was laying on his chest tracing random shapes on his toned abdomen. You realized that drowsiness have finally swept upon your body when you let out a yawn, but you couldn’t forget to repeat those three words back at Kogami. 

“I love you.” was the last thing you told Kogami before your eyes fluttered closed. 

The following morning, you could feel the sun kiss your bare skin. Your limbs ached with love bites and marks while your eyes slowly fluttered open. Your head reached next to you, expecting to be met with Kogami-toned body parts, but you could only feel emptiness and your sheets. You finally sat up covering your naked body with the thin sheets on your body. The scent of Kogami imprinted on your skin and you felt lightheaded remembering what happened last night. 

He was gone. 

Nonetheless, his actions last night were a perfect goodbye for you—it would have been nice for him to kiss you one last time. As you were about to climb out of bed to start your Saturday, you noticed something on your nightstand. Your arm reached to grab the small toy capsule and you couldn’t help but chuckle to yourself. You brought it up to your ear to shake it, whatever that was inside bounced off the insides of the capsules. You opened it out of curiosity to see the toy ring. It was made out of plastic and couldn’t even fit on your finger, but you couldn’t help but smile at it. 

Finally, you realized that this was the toy he spent years using his coins trying to get. You let your body collapse back into the fluffiness of your mattress as you held the small toy ring up in the air with a smile on your face.

That was Kogami Shinya for you. 

TAGS — @princessatoru @blueparadis @kulemiwrites @zcmbi @nalyana @thefairywalker @tojissword @itsjustmikii @ceeriusly-dumb @syomi @spliffymae @samonaham @hyuene @sexlapis

[vintagerpg]

From 1979 to 1980, Brian Daley wrote the three Han Solo Adventures novels — Han Solo at Star’s End, Han Solo’s Revenge and Han Solo and the Lost Legacy. I could never get through them, but they, along with the Marvel comic and the non-canon Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, form up the foundation of the expanded universe.

Han Solo and the Corporate Sector (1993) is a sourcebook for the first two novels (the last is set in the Tion Hegemony). The titular Corporate Sector is run by the the tyrannical Corporate Sector Authority, a stand-in for the Empire that sets the stage for exploring Solo’s history as an outlaw and smuggler. Despite having no real opinion on the source material, this is one of my favorite sourcebooks for WEGSW.

The intention is to inject a bit of the Western into Star Wars. There is a gunslinger (Galanadro, who is a pretty cool character, honestly), a jail break, swoop racing, frontier life. It also, inadvertently, introduces a whiff of cyberpunk into the sci fi of star wars, with immoral monolithic corporations and heists and lowlifes. Most of all, it is refreshing because the Corporate Sector Authority (I would abbreviate it, but I can’t help but read CSA as "community-supported agriculture”) is not the Empire and Star Wars definitely benefits from more villains that aren’t the Empire and a new superweapon. Variety is the spice of life!

Nice art by Tim Eldred, Alan Nunis and Mike Vilardi throughout. The only real crime here is that the Lando Calrissian trilogy of novels didn’t get a similar sourcebook treatment.

[roguescarlett]

pairing: Renata Glasc x deaf female oc x Sevika.

setting AU: Arcane/Cyberpunk AU.

Rewritten oneshot for OC version only.

A/N: wlwlw polyamory aka poly triad relationship, estalished relationship, purely self indulgent thing, hearing impaired OC with hearing aids, magicborn OC, suggestive theme + implied smut hints at the end, MDNI.

Amelia wasn’t sure how she ended up here or begin to fathom how this all started when Renata Glasc and her partner Sevika came along into her life.

One moment she was a pole dancer at the strip club within the heart of the city, trying to make a living to pay off rent and its bills. Keyword: emphasised on “tried” while saving money aside to pay the essential needs resolving around her hearing aids. She had choice on either get the hearing aids fix or replace them, which cost her savings... only that it varies how badly damaged they were.

And the next thing? She somehow captured the attention of not one but two well-renowned and powerful women of Zaun who were a force to be reckoned with. The power and influence they held resembled her of the Noxian leaders and warlords struck fear into others, she nearly made it out of Noxus alive and far away from her former slave owner--barely just surviving on her own within Zaun.

Amelia doesn’t have an exact answer on what cause her to be quite captivating within Sevika’s and Renata’s eyes. Though, they did made her life a little easier and safer--marking their presence onto her. She met Sevika at the strip club at first then introduced to Renata a couple of weeks later--she had grown aware of their relationship and history. Amelia expressed her concern over jeopardising the ongoing things between them, but the two of them admitted their mutual attraction towards her as the reassurance had surprised her.

At this point, the mage was more open to the possibility on entering a polyamorous relationship with Sevika and Renata--the more she started to hang out and dating them, the more she started to trust and respect them. They weren’t anything like they were portrayed to be--when they are alone altogether, they let their guards down and showed the tame and romantic side. The two of them understood Amelia’s hearing loss struggles, making sure to speak slowly for her to lipread and going out of their way to make her feel comfortably included.

Even so, Rentata had grown comfortable in removing her mask off. She was more reserved--not allowing anyone, but Amelia and Sevika, to see her face.

The romantic gestures, speaking on her behalf and the undivided focus on Amelia had made her heart fluttered and butterflies setting off within her stomach in an endearing way, she started to fall in love with her lovers without admitting it--she doesn’t want to tarnish the relationship they had going. Nobody would dare to lay a hand onto her now that her connection to the two were known across Zaun.

One night, Renata and Sevika had suggested a talk with Amelia about taking the relationship further--wanting to make her first time more special to her on a date night. Amelia agreed, taking an opportunity to go window shopping for an outfit to impress them.

Standing within the dimly lit penthouse overlooking the city, she gave them a show and stripped down--the dress pooled around her feet--giving them the view of her wearing a purple lingerie set with a garter belt, faintly hearing Sevika’s hitched breath followed by an appreciative hum from Renata within the quiet lounge room.

Amelia felt their eyes onto her--she tried her best not to look away from their gaze shyly. This felt different than working as a pole dancer at the strip club she no longer worked at. She took a moment to remain still and allowed her lovers to observe the view of her body.

Renata patted her thigh and gestured for Amelia to come sit on her lap, “Come here, darling.” she said in a commanding tone.

Sevika’s eyes were trained on her attentively and took a whiff of her smoke. Amelia turned to glance at the maskless woman before she approached to straddle her lap, she didn’t flinch to the gloved hands resting on her hips to hold her balance. Renata’s hands began to roam upwards at her side, stopping to grope Amelia’s breasts--chuckling at the anticipated shiver from her touch alone.

“I see you spent your money well on these.” Renata expressed her approval, tracing her fingers to feel up the bra lace fabric, “But it’ll be a shame once we’ll remove them off you in a moment.”

Amelia blushed, “Well, I did wanted to make an impression for both of you.”

Renata hummed, moving her hand up to idly run her finger along Amelia’s jawline, “You need not to do that, my pet. You’re more than enough for us.”

Amelia watched as Renata’s pink eyes looked over her shoulder for a moment--the corner of her lip curled into a smirk. Amelia tried to follow her gaze until she felt the older woman’s bare chest pressed against her back making her let out a soft gasp, calloused hand and metal claws rested lightly onto her hips.

Her hearing aids barely picked up any sound of shuffling or movement behind her.

“If I were you, my pet, I’d make sure these doesn’t get shredded.” Renata advised, her right hand started to stroke Amelia’s cheek, “It’ll be a waste of money.”

Sevika snorted, “You’re lucky I have more restraint tonight, Doll. But the next time? I won’t hold back.”

Before Amelia could speak but was cut off when Sevika moved in to kiss her shoulder as her lips worked their way up to nip and suckle on her skin hard, leaving a mark and two on her. Amelia found out that Sevika had liked to leave lovebites on her body--reminding those who she belongs to.

A moan escaped her lips, timid hands scrambling to grip her hold onto Renata’s blouse, fingers fumbling in an attempt to undo the white tie and unbuttoning the blouse to pull it open. The scent of cigar smoke and chemtech perfume were intoxiciating and thus making head swimming, Amelia stared at the older woman’s cleavage and toned stomach, biting the bottom of her lip admiring the view and lingered her fingertips along the abs, revelling to the sounds of Renata’s pleased sigh.

Renata had to admit--she quite liked the view of Amelia straddled on her lap half-naked with Sevika leaving her mark from behind, it was arousing to watch and builds up antipication of what to come next, it’s all going according to how she planned this evening out for the three of them.

The older woman reached around to unclasp the lace bra and pulled them off, tossed them aside to the floor, hushing Amelia’s whimpers while stroking her thighs. Sevika moved her hands from Amelia’s hips to knead her breasts fondly while she continued to relentlessly assault her neck, drawing another moan out of her.

“Good girl.” Sevika whispered with a smirk.

Followed by Renata leaned in to kiss Amelia for a brief second before she ran her wet tongue over the bottom of her lip, raking a prothestic hand through the mage’s black hair. Amelia parted her lips to grant her lover the access to slip her tongue in as the two of them deepened the kiss passionately. she secretly enjoying the attention she’s receiving from her lovers and craved more of their touch.

It didn’t take long for Renata to break the kiss to allow the mage to catch her breath. Sevika ceased her ravaged assault on Amelia’s neck and pulled away to exchange a knowing glance at Renata.

“Up.” Renata commanded as she patted Amelia’s thighs lightly. Once Amelia climbed off her lap as she was told, she stood up to her feet glancing directly at Sevika, “Bring her to the bedroom while I’ll gather some... essential needs.”

Amelia tilted her head and grew curious to what the two had in store for her.

Sevika smirked at this, “Yes, ma’am.”

“Do make her comfortable, will you? I would like for our Princess to feel at home.” Renata advised, heels clicking against the polished floors heading for the bathroom.

Amelia’s eyes wavered over Renata’s figure watching the way her hips sway while she walked, the faint whistle alerted her attention and she turned to face the taller woman. Her focus were distracted by the sight of Sevika completely shirtless, eyes wandered to inspect the visibly scars on her upper torso and left side of her shoulder blade.

“Still wanna do this with us, Doll?” Sevika asked, wanting to double check incase the mage isn’t ready or changed her mind.

“I do.” Amelia replied with a smile, knowing fully well that she’s in for a long night.

Sevika beckoned her with an index finger, “C’mere...”

Amelia stepped a little closer and shuddered from the cool sensation of her claw finger underneath her chin, gazing up to stare into Sevika’s grey eyes before their lips met for an indulging kiss. Then, strong arms wrapped around the back of the thighs, Amelia let out a small squeak as her feet were lifted from the floor, her hands grasped onto the broad shoulders to hold onto with her legs were secured around Sevika’s waist.

“Best get a move on--”Sevika mused while carrying the mage to the shared bed--”Otherwise, Ren will have my arse if I don’t escort you to the bedroom in time.”

Amelia giggled at the mental image, “I would love to see that.”

“Don’t push your luck.” Sevika grunted.

She dropped Amelia onto the soft mattress and set to work on removing her belt and trousers then pulled them off. Renata returned to join the two--stripped from her suit down to her black satin undergarments--carrying a bottle of lube and a strapon and set them aside onto the bed. Sevika felt the prothestic hand gripped her chin and turned her head to face Renata next to her.

“Let’s give our Princess something to watch first...” Renata suggested in a sultry tone, in which Sevika responded with a grin.

Renata tightened her grip and pulled Sevika down to her level, taking control of the atmosphere, their lips met and Renata wasted no time to sip her tongue in estalishing her dominant side. Sevika groaned into the kiss, her hands roamed upon Renata’s body to feel her up while Amelia watched, rather excitedly aroused, at the two middle-aged women engaged in a steamy makeout.

Yep, she’s definitely in for a long night.

[dailykoreanpop]

Ateez review – hard not to be wowed by this 22-song K-pop endurance test

O2 Arena, London Even if you’re not a young ‘Atiny’, the hard graft of the eight band members, the seamless mix of EDM, 80s ballads and emo and the lead’s powerful voice all impress

It’s 7.30, long before the headline act usually takes the stage – and the devotees of the latest Korean pop sensations are out in force. Ateez’s fans call themselves Atinys – pronounced “a-teenies” – and are younger and dress more gothic than those recently drawn to the O2 by fellow K-pop sensations Blackpink: Ateez’s own look leans towards black clothes, eyeshadow and lipstick, which leaves the eight members looking both androgynous and strikingly pretty. But they’re just as susceptible to the lure of the merch stand. The hot ticket item is the Ateez lightstick, which illuminates in different colours in time to the band’s performance, like the wristbands at a Coldplay gig, and sells for – get this – £63, plus £3 for batteries.

Still, no one could complain they’re not getting their money’s worth when it comes to the show itself. It starts at 7.30 because it goes on for two-and-a-half hours. Some of that is taken up with interstitial videos, including one that features the members of Ateez spray-painting anarchy symbols on walls, devotees of Bakunin and Discharge to a man. And more of it still is taken up with between-song chat. Because there are eight of them, and they all get to have their say, the banter takes forever, a sensation heightened by the fact that the screaming that occurs every time one of Ateez puts a microphone near their mouth renders most of it incomprehensible.

But even with breaks, its sheer length – 22 songs, none of them compressed into medleys – makes it an extraordinary show purely in terms of the band’s physical endurance. The choreography is so precisely done that the big screens can repeatedly fast-cut from showing them onstage to showing them doing the same routine on video, in different costumes, completely seamlessly, a neat trick that underlines how well-staged the show is: the opening sequence, which features the band members illuminated by neon tube lights held up by the dancers, is a really simple but incredibly striking idea. The ballads are rooted in the 80s – synthy soft rock on Dazzling Light, R&B slow jam on Mist – but Ateez’s speciality is in sounding epic.

Their signature sound borrows EDM’s vast, fizzing synthesisers and its penchant for dramatic dynamics – immense builds and drops - while the drums boom even when they’re replicating the cantering rhythm of an old Stock, Aitken and Waterman single on Cyberpunk. During Wonderland, they shift unexpectedly into sea-shanty-ish 6/8 time, the better to bellow along to. More unexpected still, Guerilla’s climax comes overlaid with raw-throated vocals derived from emo. It’s not the only time Ateez recall the harder end of rock. Chief vocalist Choi Jong-ho has a remarkably powerful voice, but it’s a remarkably powerful voice that you could easily imagine soaring over heavy guitars: unbelievable as this sounds, something about his strident vibrato faintly recalls Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson.

On and on it goes. There are more songs and more costume changes (at one juncture into something approximating PVC fetishwear), more interstitial videos, and there’s more between-song chat. The aforementioned lightsticks are shilled, the audience is teased with the suggestion that it’s the last song when it clearly isn’t.

If you’re not a paid-up Atiny, it’s the dictionary definition of too much of a good thing, but on another level, it’s hard not to be impressed. So much pop music aimed at tweens and young teens is tainted with the dismissive whiff of short-changing and will-this-do?, particularly in its live incarnation. You could never accuse Ateez of that: thought has gone into giving their music a USP and they’re working incredibly hard up there. They seem to believe that you get out what you put in, which is both laudable and a strategy that’s paying off handsomely.

Credit: The Guardian 

[tafferling]

ohh I'll take a casual affection prompt for Varrett: #10 - placing their chin on the other’s shoulder

:3 Thank you?! Thank you! This is nowhere near as casual as I intended it to be. Also, I think this is Cyberpunk 2077 AU Varrett. No zombies!

It’s night. Neon light is smeared against a rain-whipped window and the pitter patter of fat drops knocking on the glass is ever present. There's not much to see inside the apartment behind that window. It's small and modest, but lived in. A low bed is tucked under an alcove, with shelves ringing it. Clamped to one of those shelves is a small, lonely reading lamp, its long neck pointed downwards.

It’s the only light alive in the quiet apartment and it is currently staring down at an open book and its attentive reader. She— the reader, her name is Sophya —sits hunched on the bed, surrounded by pillows and then some more pillows and another pillow for good measure.

She doesn’t look up when she hears bare feet pad across the carpeted apartment floor. Or when the mattress bounces as Varrett flops lengthwise down on it. She’s still not looking when the otherwise cool air around her begins to heat up as he presumedly scoots himself close to her. Presumedly, because she’s focused on the book.

He brings with him a whiff of barely tamed peat and I-just-showered-with-the-peachiest-peach-soap-I-could-find. It’s a wee distracting.

Though not as distracting as his arm sliding around her as he manoeuvres himself flush against her back. He props himself up with the other arm and lands his chin on her shoulder.

His hair is wet. She notices that first, what with how it gets a lot of that wet on her. And he failed to shave. She notices that second, because his scruffy chin does all sorts of tickling and scratching as he finds himself a comfortable position. Mostly though she noticed how everything gets really warm all of a sudden.

“Whatchu reading?” Varrett asks. The way his voice rumbles from his chest and drums against her back is making the words on the page feel unimportant for a moment.

She flips the book closed, baring the title. Then she opens it back up and resumes her reading. Tries to, at any rate.

“The Ship Who Sang, huh?”

She nods. It gives his stubble a chance to tickle her some more.

“You gonna share?” That is when he decides it’s a good a time as any to tilt his head and have a nibble at her neck. The touch of his lips catch her off-guard and light her up with a warm, electric jolt.

She almost smacks him with the book.

Almost.

Varrett stops nibbling and gets comfortable exactly where he is: halfway draped over her, his chin on her shoulder, and an arm looped around her. And that is how he stays and that is how he listens.

And listens.

And listens.

All the way until his breathing gets real steady and his weight gets heavier and heavier, pulling them both down into the pillows under the lonely light of that small, long necked reading lamp that's been witness to the same display more times now than it can count.

If small, long necked reading lamps could count, that is.

[loahnuh]

It’s less I’m sick of streaming services and more sick of supporting the exploitative, unethical, and outright evil business practices that the companies running them come up with.

Amazon supported white supremacist and neo-nazi militias through their charitable program and empowers them to publish their hate screeds through their store front with no attempt at moderation, undermines local economies with their fulfillment centers, not to mention all the blood, piss, and shit of their underpaid and overworked employees on their hands as they spend millions on anti-union activities.

Warner-Discovery eats directly from Joanne Rowling’s asshole ensuring she has money to actively campaign for trans-genocide, and they wrote off thousands of hours worth of creative works as a loss of profits, consigning whole television series’ and movies to the aether of IP purgatory never to be seen again, just to save a couple billion dollars.

Netflix published a short film produced in part with AI generated backgrounds, backgrounds cleaned up by a real ass person who wasn’t even credited by name for their work in addition to their axing of several LGBTQIA+ series at the first whiff of declining growth and that little loophole in their contracts that leads to cutting off series after the second season to dodge paying royalties.

Disney: a long history of homophobia, racism, abuse of workers, anti-union activity, running actual company towns, and the complete perversion of the concept of copyright to protect their profits. They are the closest thing we have to the villainous corporations from Cyberpunk.

So fuck them don’t pay for their services if you want to watch something explore alternative methods of viewing, there is no action you can take that is as immoral as supporting a corporations day to day operations.

[louadorable126]

Demons(you).me Chapter 5 - Burgers and Meetings

>>Click here to read over on Ao3!<<

Art by Aya/ITOUYAS! <3

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Summary:

In a city controlled by the generally altered race of Demons, Lady's life as a mercenary on the lower floor was never easy. Especially when she ran into Dante. A demon on the hunt for his missing brother.

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Important information!

Fandom: Devil May Cry

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Realtionships: Dante x Lady, Vergil x Lady

Characters: Lady (Devil May Cry), Dante (Devil May Cry), Vergil (Devil May Cry) Morrison (Devil May Cry), Nell Goldstien (Devil May Cry) Eva (Devil May Cry), Sprada (He’s mentioned bless him), Mundus (Also Mentioned)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Genetic Engineering, Sci-fi Fantasy, Strip Clubs and Strippers, Dystopia, Seizures, Flirting, Eva and Sprada are alive! :D, Human Experimentation, Cults.

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Chapter 5

When Vergil said he wanted to take a break, Lady certainly hadn’t expected…this.

After walking a few blocks away from the cult’s abandoned lab, the group had stumbled across a fast food truck cosily tucked away beneath a monorail bridge; the occasional train passing overhead and zooming passed in a matter of seconds. Needless to say, Dante had been quick to drag them over to such a ramshackle establishment, the moment his nose caught whiff the sizzling of meat on its grill.

Before Lady knew it, she found herself left on her own in the middle of the road. Vergil had isolated himself away from his twin’s embarrassing display, as he mindlessly drooling over the truck's menu while resting his chin against the van’s rusted counter, by going over to one of the supporting pillars of the bridge and leaning back against it. Of course, he didn’t exactly look like he was in the mood for company; looking lost in thought as he gazed up at the towering layers cascading up to the metal sky above him. Vergil always seemed to have a way to project an aura of intense disinterest when he didn’t want to be spoken too. So not really knowing what to do with herself, Lady walked over to the fast food truck.

“Hey kid, you gonna get anything or not?” The gruff, bearded, chef behind the counter asked in a polite tone. Wiping down his newly washed, worn tongs with a cloth.

“Uhhh give me a moment. It's hard to decide-“

“Not for me! Can I please have a hot dog?” Lady chimed in, as she approached. Standing beside the red demon.

Startled, Dante quickly pushed himself away from the counter and looked over at her in surprise.

“What? Thought you were the only one that was hungry?” Lady taunted with a sly smirk.

“No! I- uh…” The demon frantically stumbled for his words, caught completely off guard by her bluntness. All of a sudden, he turned in the direction of the chef and threw up two fingers. “I’ll have two of the Mega burgers please!”

“Sure. That’ll be 7.50.” The older man informed them. Swapping his hand so a holographic payment screen appeared in front of the pair.

Lady swiftly pulled her phone out of her skirt pocket and tapped it against the screen. A moment later a bright green “Payment Received” sign appeared and the hologram vanished into thin air. With a pleased nod, the chef quickly got to work putting two meat patties onto his grill, followed by frying the spongy, inner section of the buns.

“Two burgers, huh?” Lady asked curiously. Raising a playful eyebrow, as she crossed her arms.

“Well, one’s for Verge.” Dante explained, taking a glance over his shoulder at his stoic twin. Resting the back of his head against the supporting pillar with his eyes shut, seemingly in some sort of ‘meditation’. “The guy will never admit he’s hungry. But Eva would totally kill me if she thought he hadn’t been fed!"

“Are you sure he’s going to like it?” Lady questioned in an unsure tone. Leaning in closer to Dante, and keeping her voice low, and away from the prying ears of the nearby chef. “Your brother doesn’t seem like a guy whose taste palate would fit...this kind of place.”

“Nah! I’m sure he’ll be fine with it!” Dante reassured, waving his hand dismissively at the idea.

Lady still didn’t 100% agree with Dante’s assumption; her gut instinct screaming at her that this was a terrible idea. But who was she to argue when she’d only known his brother for around a day or so? Dante had known him his whole life. “If you say so then."

The two quickly fell into silence after that. The space left empty by their words was quickly filled by the satisfying sound of sizzling and spitting from the grill, and the low tunes of a rock song escaping out of the nearby radio. Their meals were coming close to being done, as the chef applied two slices of cheese over the meat and went to go and stuff the hot dog into a bun.

“Hey Lady…” Dante suddenly started to ask. His voice uncharacteristically soft in tone. Something that didn’t slip Lady’s notice, as she looked up at the boyish face hidden beneath that crimson hood of his. “What do you plan to do after me and Vergil leave?”

Well that certainly caught her off guard! At first, it seemed like such a strange thing for him to be asking. Part of her thought that they’d be together for a longer time yet. That even bringing up the idea that they would disband their small party seemed out of place at this moment. But, the more she thought about it, she started to realise where Dante was going with this.

Dante had found his brother, and by all means had completed the original mission he had set out for himself down here. It was only through Vergil’s intervention and insistence that they protect the true nature of their heritage that the boys were still here with her. Nothing more nothing less. And…well they were coming close to making that a reality.

Granted, they had about as much a clue as her when it came to predicting where or whether the next ‘leak’ would appear. It could just be that they would have to deal with this cultist and then everything would be fine. No more work would have to be done and the brother’s could return to their newly discovered mother for a heart to heart. That they would leave her, and she’d return to a mundane life without the thrill or adventure she had experienced over the last few days.

And if Lady had to be honest…she didn’t really want to go back to that.

A swell of anxiety started to curl in her stomach. She opened her mouth to speak, her breath heavy with conflicted emotion.

“Well…I’d probably just go back to working as a mercenary under Morrison. Don’t think much else would change really.” She answered honestly, with a small shrug.

Yet, a part of her couldn’t just leave it at that. A nagging sensation reminded her that things would change once he and his brother finally left. Maybe it was because of an overwhelming sense of sentimentality she’d grown to feel towards the demon. But Lady didn’t want him to think she wouldn’t care for his departure when it finally came. That she wasn’t thankful for what he’d done for her.

She leaned back against the trucks metal counter, letting out a small sigh, as she looked out into the distinct wistfully “But, you know....I think I’d miss your dumb ass. Things will be much less fun around here without you!”

“Who are you calling a dumb ass?” Dante whined in a jovial voice. He obviously wasn’t particularly offended by her slight jab, if that sly smile playing on his lips anything to go by. Lightheartedly poking her shoulder.

Lady couldn’t help but smile too, as she raised her hands in defence. “What? I’m just speaking the truth-“

“Alright you lovebirds! Meal's ready!” A deep voice from behind interrupted. At the sound, the pair quickly turned around. Finding the bearded chef standing directly behind them with a brown paper bag seeped with grease in one hand, and a cardboard container with a hotdog sticking out of it in the other.

Oh god! Not this again! Lady cursed in the back of her mind. Unable to save herself from the rush of heat flooding her cheeks with red, as she gingerly took the items off the man and quickly handed the paper bag over to Dante by shoving it at his chest. Head tilted down shamefully throughout. I’m never going to hear the end of this! Why does everything think just because we’re around the same age he’s my boyfriend! It's so infuriating-

“Thank you” She mumbled in a small voice to the chef. Cutting off her inner turmoil before it could rise to the surface. Keeping her cool as she ever so calmly grabbed Dante’s wrist and forcefully dragging him away from as fast as she could physically move. Which wasn’t that fast given that Dante was already briskly walking ahead of her, when they reached Vergil. Earning her a curious look from the blue demon, as he watched his twin seemingly lead her along. Dammit! She could only imagine what he was thinking! Stupid demons and their speed!

Without a second's hesitation, she quickly let go of Dante’s wrist. Letting Dante’s arm drop down limply, as she threw her hand up to her face and rubbed it tiredly. Trying to compose herself before all logical thought left her and she did something she’d regret. Well, if she hadn’t already. All Lady wanted to do was pray the ground would open up and swallow her whole right now!

Dante however, was completely obvious to this. Freed from her grasp, he swiftly wandered over to his nearby twin and pulled out a neatly wrapped burger, in a cream coloured napkin, out of the paper bag and presenting it to him proudly. "Bon Appetit, bro!”

Vergil looked down at the item in bemusement. As though he had not been expecting his brother to present him such a ‘gift’. Hesitantly, he reached out and gently took it from his brother’s hands. “You didn’t need to get me this, Dante. I’m not particularly famished right now.”

“Yeah yeah! Keep saying that to yourself!” Dante said disbelievingly, waving his brother off.

He pulled his burger out of the paper bag and quickly scrunched it up into a tight ball. Looking around for a bin, the red demon was lucky enough to spot one only a couple of meters away from the group. Never being one to pass up a challenge, Dante attempted to throw the scrunched up paper bag into bin’s open mouth at a startling speed. Sending it hurtling through the air and almost barely missing its target by a small margin, if not for the light breeze that had swept in to save the day. At the sound of the small metallic clank, made by the ball as it hit the inside of the steel container, Dante fist pumped in victory as he spun back around to face Vergil. Who was shaking his head in disapproval of his little brother’s antics.

“Come on! You can’t say that wasn’t cool!” Dante exclaimed passionately. Pointing at his grumpy brother’s person with a burger in hand.

“I see nothing ‘cool’ about littering, little brother.” Vergil said coldly. Not taking his eyes off his brother, as he unwrapped his meal with one hand. “If you had missed that shot, you would have to be the one to clear it up. Not me."

“But I didn’t miss, did I?” Dante pointed out, smugly. Vergil didn’t react to his retort however. His face remained cold and impassive, barely showing a hint of emotion as he glared at his twin. An invisible tension began to mount between the two of them. Rising up until it reached its breaking point, when Dante admitted defeat with a roll of his eyes. “Alright fine! By the way, Lady's the one who bought this meal for us. So might wanna thank her a little!”

“Wha-“ Lady blurted out at the mention of her name. Not expecting to be brought back into the conversation so abruptly. Dropping her hand and letting her vision focus, when she came to her senses, she found Vergil staring at her with an awkward smile. One that looked rather forced, uncomfortable, and….ok somewhat terrifying if she had to be honest!

“Thank you…..for this.” He said in a stilted voice. Seemingly trying his best to remain polite while obviously not caring much for what he was thanking her for, like a child who got a knock off toy for Christmas.

“Oh! Uh…no worries!” Lady said awkwardly. Trying her best not to wither under that unsettling smile of his. She glanced down at the hotdog in her hand and quickly took a small bite out of it. Gosh, it had been ages since she had one! She’d almost forgotten how good they were!

Wiping away a few small crumbs from her mouth with the back of her hand, she looked back up at the two dumbfounded brother’s awkwardly staring at her while she ate. “You guys going to start eating or not? This stuff’s going to get cold soon!” She exclaimed in a muffled voice, mouth filled with food.

Without another word, Dante quickly tore open the napkin covering his burger and began to dig into it. He let out a moan of pleasure as he ate, seemingly enjoying every bite with that blissful expression on his face. It always fascinated Lady how Dante could be so pleased by anything he ate. She honestly wouldn’t have taken him as a foodie to be honest. Expecting him to be a rebellious picky eater who could only enjoy fast food and would sustain himself on nothing else.

Ironically enough, however, that title seemingly went to his brother. Vergil had yet to touch his burger in the slightest. Instead, he had pulled back the burger's wrapping and bun ever so slightly, and awkwardly poked its inner contents with his finger and gave it a rigorous examination before it went anywhere near his mouth. It was obviously not a pleasant conclusion however, as a growing look of vile disgust formed on his fair features. His face twisting and distorting as though he was on the verge of throwing up, as he quickly pulled back his finger and hastily whipped it down with his napkin.

“Is this thing made out of rodent?” Vergil commented maybe a bit too loudly. Causing the food trucks chef peaked his head up in interest a few meters away.

“Uhhh...might wanna keep it down a little, Vergil!” Lady said in a hushed voice, chewing on her food. Catching sight of the man’s movements out of the corner of her eye. Worrying that the chef might kick them out of the area, the mercenary quickly spun back around to check on the older man. Thankfully, Lady was relieved to find, however, that the bearded chef sat back down in his truck, and was nodding his head to the beat of the radio.

“I’m not eating this.” The blue demon asserted coldly. He took a step forward. Moving to walk past his brother, as he headed towards the bin.

All of a sudden, he was stopped by a strong arm appearing in front of him and reaching out across his chest, blocking his way.

“Hold it right there, princess!” Dante said in a muffled voice. Stopping for a moment taking a bite out of his own burger. “Look, it's not that bad! In fact I think these burgers are pretty tasty! So I’m not sure what you're being a crybaby about bro! But, I’m not gonna let your waste a perfectly good meal-“  Dante reached out to his brother with open hand. “Hand it over if you don’t want it.”

Vergil slapped away his brother’s hand with a growl. “I’m not a crybaby, Dante! I just have standards for what I put into my body!” He paused for a moment, taking a deep, shaky breath. Looking down at the burger in his hand with a hard, determined glare, as though he was facing down a fearsome foe in combat. "This meal is mine, and mine alone. Not yours, little brother! If you wish for me to prove to you that I can eat it. Then I will! "

Finishing his dramatic monologue, and without a second's hesitation, Vergil bought the burger up to his mouth and slammed his teeth into it in one mighty, powerful bite. Sending a spray of sickly-sweet, bright red ketchup sauce flying out of the other end of the burger and into Dante’s face. Covering him with sauce like a tasty face paint.

“Pffffffff!” Lady burst out into roaring laughter at the comical sight. To which she was soon joined by Dante, seemingly completely uncaring for the ketchup splattered across his face as he chuckled. Ironic, as Vergil's regal face quickly turned the same bright red shade as his tomato covered brother’s, at their mocking. Deathly embarrassed, Vergil quickly turned away from the pair of them and stormed over to the nearby bin and slammed his burger inside.

As he walked back from the bin, Lady couldn’t help but feel bad for the blue demon. He was obviously trying to play off that he didn’t care about what had just transpired. His face marred with his usual stoic frigidity, icy eyes hard and lips pressed together in a firm line, actively schooling his features so that he looked emotionless. Yet, as the bright red blush slowly left his cheeks, he couldn’t hide the light, pink dusting covering his sharp cheekbones. It was both hilarious and endearing to see. Hell, Lady might even have gone as far as to say it was….cute.

Vergil walked back over to the pillar and picked his sword up off the ground, right next to the black laptop haphazardly leaning against the concrete structure. Held it close to his chest protectively, in his crossed arms, as he stubbornly gazed up at a futuristic, bullet-like train rumbling past overhead. Although, not loud enough to cover up the sound of a stomach growling in annoyance. Given that she and Dante had certainly eaten their fair share, by process of elimination it seemed Vergil was hungrier than he let on.

Taking pity on the young man, Lady awkwardly split off the untouched end of her hotdog, and strolled over to him. She coughed lightly to gain his attention, and when his fearsome gaze fell on her, she swiftly presented her peace offering with a soft smile. “Here, take half of mine.”

Vergil raised a curious, pale eyebrow at her offer from beneath his hood. Still looking uncomfortable at the idea of eating anything from the food truck. The brunette suspected that it was going to take a bit more convincing to get him to concede to her demands.

“I-uh...saw a jar of branded hotdog sausages in the van. So there shouldn’t be anything weird in it if you're worrying about that.“ She was reassured. Rubbing the back of her slim neck with her free hand.

At the news of the hotdog's authenticity, Vergil hesitantly took the uneaten half from Lady’s hand. A small smirk creeping onto his pinkish lips as he gazed down at the meal in his grasp. “Thank you, Lady.” He said in a soft voice. There was a hint of…something behind that tone, however. Something indecipherable to the mercenary.

She didn’t have time to question it too much though, as Dante walked over to the pair of them rubbing down his boyish face with the torn remains of his napkin. It seemed he’d done a successful job of clearing away much of the ketchup covering his face, however the odd spots still remained around his jawline and chin. Apparently only the top half of his face really counted when it came to cleaning himself.

“Hey, you doing alright bro?” Dante asked in a concerned voice, as he casually leaned back against the concrete pillar beside the blue demon. “Don’t worry too much about what happened. There’s a reason I wear red!”

“I thought it was because Eva got annoyed every time you came back from a mission covered in drenched in blood, dirt and god knows what else attaches itself to you.” Vergil pointed out, without missing a beat. Looking over at his twin with a fond, yet taunting gaze. Knocking Dante off guard for a brief second, before he quickly recovered.

“Heh…well I suppose that’s true! But this just proves it has other uses!” Dante lightly pat his twin on the shoulder affectionately. “Anyway, enjoy your meal bro! Let’s hope no special sauce leaks out of the other end this time!”

Dante winked at his brother with a cheeky grin as he finished talking. At first Vergil ignored him, moving to bite into his hotdog regardless. It was only after a second of processing what his twin had said, the cogs in his brain clicking into motion, that the young man realised what he was implying. His pale face quickly flushing with bright red once again. His sharp teeth just stopped shy from the hotdog's delicate bun, before slamming his mouth shut. Gritting his teeth together so tightly that his jaw began to shake.

The mercenary started to step backwards, already anticipating the ticking time bomb about to go off before her, as Vergil moved to click open Yamato’s blade with his free hand. A murderous glint in his blue eyes as he slowly tilted his head up and glared at his unassuming twin - still resting his hand on the blue demon’s shoulder. Toothy grin still etched into his features like he had been turned to stone.

I should probably get myself a soda! Lady thought to herself wisely. Breaking off in a sprint towards the food truck, the moment a flash of bright blue light sparked off behind her, out of the corner of her eye.

“DANTEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!”

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Click here to read more over on Ao3! :3

[smokeybrandreviews]

Suicide Pact

I kind of really, really, want a Mass Effect trilogy remake on the next gen systems. After seeing the Lumen in the world of Nanites tech demo, my brain was a-tizzy with possibilities. We know that the next Sony Spider-Man game is going to run on the PS5. We know there is going to a next gen version of Cyberpunk and Ragnarok Creed. The power of these consoles is stupid and you  can do so much with them going forward. Why not remake Mass Effect with the current tech? It’s been 13 years since the franchise was first released. Two console generations have passed since it’s start. Plus, a remake on this new hardware could rinse out the bad taste Andromeda left in people’s mouths.

It’d be dope to revisit a retooled Mass Effect. I have all the games and they’re some of my all-time favorites, but that first one was sh*t in the mechanics departed. I owned a PS3, which meant i didn’t get that game until after i beat the second and third, so imagine my f*cking surprise when the damn thing didn’t play at all like it’s sequels. That sh*t was infuriating. But, as i understand, the actual game mechanics took a backseat to the “revolutionary” dialogue tree, even though Jade Empire, Dragon age, and KOTOR, had already done something similar years before ME was even a thing. Still, the seeds were planted and an entire world was born. The narrative, world building, and character development, were definitely the strengths of that first game. I approach it like an errant pilot that’s not as good as the production show but dope enough to sell the franchise.

Mass Effect 2 is a goddamn masterpiece and legitimately one of the greatest games ever created. This sh*t saw Bioware in their final form, hitting that stride into legendary status. I loved everything about this game and that’s saying so much because i f*cking hate shooters. I bought ME2 on a whim and it sat in my pile of games for a long ass time. It wasn’t until ME3 was announced that i decided to actual play through it and, holy sh*t, my world was blown wide the f*ck open. The combat was completely different than the first, a fact i would find out much later, but the story gripped me almost immediately. That opening sequence? Yeah, i felt that and i had no knowledge of the characters outside of that little intro comic. All i knew beforehand about Shepard was through cultural osmosis and sh*t. ME2 was my first foray into that world and i was immediately impressed. I found the story, itself, to be an incredibly interesting narrative, but it was the characters that made this game. They make the franchise. I immediately fell in love with Tali the second she spoke for the first time. I wanted to wrestle Jack all over the Normandy just to see her laugh a few times as she thoroughly wiped the floor with my ass. I found endless joy watching Miranda grow from icy b*tch into a stunning, espionage, queen, who may or may not be a little morally dubious. I can sit here and gush all day about my adoration for Mass Effect 2. This sh*t is a classic and absolutely deserves a next gen upgrade.

Mass Effect 3 is an interesting case. I enjoyed the game for what it was but there’s a lot to be desired toward the end. It has some of the best storytelling and fan service in the entire franchise but, f*ck, did they whiff that landing. Look, i love ME3, don’t get me wrong. Tali is still best girl but i absolutely adored revisiting my other relationships to see how they matured over time. Just a note, Liara’s romance in 3 is f*cking dope. Tali all day but f*ck if Liara didn’t worm her way into my heart just a bit. The problem with ME3 is that it’s the first game to really get the EA sabotage. If you’re a gamer, you know what i mean. EA bought Bioware just as Mass Effect 2 was getting underway. They’re the reason the entire franchise was soft rebooted during the second game. For the most part, EA left ME2 alone but these motherf*ckers dug in immediately when the third title began production. The story didn’t suffer but a really, really, unnecessary multiplayer component was shoehorned in. They tried to tie it into overall narrative progress but that only lasted for a few months. An update which “fixed” the ending,  (that EA mandated so you can thank them for the RED/Ble/Green Catastrophe), made the multiplayer mute. Hell, if you play like i do, you didn’t even need the f*cking thing to get the best ending, anyway. Rise and grind, man. Years of JRPGs forged me in that tedious fire, bro.

And then there was Andromeda. F*ck, dude. Look, i like Andromeda. I like Andromeda in principal. There are a lot of great ideas here. I was interested in the new galaxy and where the narrative was going. That said, literally everything about Mass Effect: Andromeda is less than the original trilogy. Sh*t’s not even bad, it’s just less. Sure, there were bugs all over the place and the facial animations were outright bunk, but all of these issues can be traced back to EA and their meddling. See, unlike ME2 and ME3, EA was straight f*cking over Bioware from before the start of production on Andromeda. They moved all of the A-team over to work on the absolute bust, Anthem, instead of making the best ME game they could. That left the B-team, the motherf*ckers who made the absolutely lackluster ME3 multiplayer add-on, to make an entire Mass Effect game. Big Yikes. Okay, benefit of the doubt. Bioware Montreal is still Bioware. Okay. This thing was in production for five years. EA forced an engine on them that wasn’t optimized for the type of game Mass Effect is so, literally, Bioware spent the bulk of that production time tweaking the engine just to get the motherf*cker to work. The game, itself, was rushed to completion in just two years. That is NOT enough time to create a proper Bioware game, let alone a Mass Effect entry. EA literally crippled a mainline Mass Effect title before it even had a chance, which sucks ass because i was mildly infatuated with Cora.

The next gen allots Bioware the opportunity to give the original trilogy, the FFVIIR or REmake2 treatment. I’m not saying remake the titles exactly as they were, i’m saying make the game you wanted to make back in ‘07. Build the worlds you wanted. Make them as dynamic as you pitched all those years ago. Create a uniform gameplay style through the entire franchise. Incorporate what you learned from Andromeda while tossing out the more problematic additions. The Unreal Engine 5 is more than powerful enough to render the world that was originally envisioned and the systems, themselves, can definitely power through the content like champs. Hell, revisit the narrative and give us that Dark Matter plot whichgot shelved in favor of that weirdly unattached Reaper climax from ME3. The world has caught on to EA’s bullsh*t. The combination of Battlefront 2′s complete, worldwide, loot box, throttling, and the rampant success of the micro-transaction deficient, single player, story driven, Jedi: Fallen Order, has shown that the market for dope, narrative focused, games is thriving. Sony has known for years as that’s their bread-and-butter, but this turn in culture has positioned Bioware to recapture the glory they once had, by revisiting the franchise which really gave them their shine. And, oh, how shiny a next gen ME trilogy remake could be.