#80s cyberpunk?? sign me up

[palilious]

You're out of touch, I'm out of time

[charlesandmiranda]

Arrival!

Writing to you this morning from our hotel breakfast! Just wanted to fill in everyone about the rest of our trip before we start our first full day. I doubt we'll be able to post EVERY SINGLE DAY WE'RE HERE but we're definitely gonna try and keep it frequent enough to be interesting!

From our last post, we were heading from Baltimore to Toronto, which was a very quick hour and a half-ish flight. From Toronto, we headed straight to our gate to which started boarding shortly thereafter, so it was a pretty quick turn around. It was almost kind of a shame because airport was actually kinda pretty, and I wouldn't have hated a few extra minutes to look around at all the really lavishly decorated restaurants and stuff.

Then came the 14 hour flight. It IS a very long time, don't get me wrong, and by the end my back was VERY achy and my legs definitely craved stretching but also they keep the windows closed and the lights low for most of the trip so you honestly kind of lose track of how long you've been on there.

Charles and I both watched some movies on the flight; we started the first two episodes of Severance (which was also provided on the flight and I've been curious about for a while anyway -- anyone else here seen it?) and played games on our Switches. I also read a lot; I loaded my e-reader up before we left. In a weird way it was kind of nice to have such a long, uninterrupted time where there was nothing to do but leisure activities even if you're doing them in a mostly uncomfortable way --I think Charles and I (Charles especially) struggle with justifying how we spend our free time, always feeling like there has to be something else we can be working on or doing, but it's kind of a bad habit and terrible mental state to always be in, so we're working on it. Unfortunately, neither of us managed to get much sleep on the flight despite our best efforts, I think I managed maybe 20 minutes total?? So it wasn't super restful for sure.

Thankfully, our flight was kinda ahead of schedule, and we ended up landing around 5:00 PM / 17:00 which is like....3:00 AM for those of you in the Eastern US timezone! We're 12 hours ahead of y'all, so when I'm writing this, I'm writing to you from the future!!!

After getting through customs and immigration, baggage, etc. we were stopped by a news crew from a show called Why Did You Come To Japan? They seem to stop tourists at the airport pretty regularly, and we ended up talking to them for a while. Charles said that as someone who used to be a camera guy himself, he always tries to stop for folks filming stuff like that, because he knows how hard it can be to get people to talk to you and work with you. They were very interested in the fact it was our honeymoon, and that we got engaged here, and even more interested that we were really into Oishinbo, which is a food manga from the 80s/90s. It's not super popular in the US although personally I love & recommend it, and I kinda get the impression from the crew we spoke to that it's a classic but kinda old fashioned here. They said in all their years of doing these interviews, it was their first time having a foreigner mention it. They gave us a card and a slip of paper and asked us to contact them again, because they may be interested in meeting up with us again later in our trip to film more for the show (!?) so we'll see how that pans out I guess!

Speaking of, after we finally left the airport, we took the Skyliner train to Nippori, and then transferred to a JR Line train to get us to Shinjuku station. We've stayed in Shinjuku for at least part or all of our trips in the past, and it kind of feels like a home base for us now. We usually stay in or around the Kabukicho area, which is known as an entertainment district with lots of nightlife. If you want brilliantly lit signs and that crowded cyberpunk-y look, Kabukicho is a great place to be!

NOT THAT IT SUPER MATTERS, BUT the card in the photo, with Hello kitty and other Sanrio characters on it, is a Pasmo card, we each got one. Basically it's a little card that you can add money to, and you can use it to pay fare on most trains and buses, as well as lots of vending machines and stuff like that. You can top it off as you go as well.

We checked in to our hotel, the Shinjuku Gracery, and IMMEDIATELY needed to stretch out on the bed and shower the sweaty airport off of us, haha. The Gracery is built on top of a Toho Cinema movie theater, and the whole hotel has a very classy Godzilla theme to it. There's a to-scale Godzilla head built on top of part of the building, looking like he's about to demolish it, and he roars and blows steam out of his mouth, haha. To be honest, a night in the Gracery is one of our "we're on our honeymoon, we deserve this!" splurges -- it's one of the more expensive parts of our trip, given the rest of the time we'll be staying in smaller hotels and airbnbs and the like. We dished out a little extra cash to stay in what they call a Godzilla view room, where you can see the head of Godzilla that is mounted to the roof of the hotel from your room! Totally cool. I had to include specifically a picture of the shower, because I loooove these big hotel showers!

(sadly the filter for this exhibit not only doesn't fit my phone screen but also insanely reduced the image quality LOL)

We took a rest, then headed out to get a bite to eat. We hit up a ramen shop we'd been to in the past, and spent a while walking around the Kabukicho area, including the micro-bar district, Golden Gai. It was interesting to see what's changed and what hasn't since we were here last; for example, they were in the process of demolishing a VR arcade when we were last here, and now there's an ENORMOUS, lux-looking hotel in its place!

We ended up in the unfortunate position of feeling physically very tired but mentally pretty awake, and even though we spent time in our hotel room soaking in the bath, it was probably 1 AM our time before we actually fell asleep, meaning we were up for like....32 hours straight, I think?

Today, our plan is to check out a few shops in the area around Kabukicho, and a little later we'll be checking out and moving on to Akihabara, where our next hotel is. It's well known for being crammed with electronics and used and new like....nerd stuff, and is pretty close to a district jam packed with guitar shops, so we'll have a pretty full day! Stay tuned I suppose!!

Til next time!

[itcamefromthetoybox]

The Twitter Truck

Somewhere out there is a person who has no idea who Elon Musk is. There are no words for how much I envy that person. I, meanwhile, do know who he is. I know he’s an idiot with too much money and that his midlife crisis is causing issues around the world. So when I saw the subject of today’s review, I just had to chuckle and grab it. And that is why today, we’re looking at the “Hot Wheels Tesla Cybertruck.”

Odds are very, very good you know what Hot Wheels are. If not, then you’ve been cryogenically frozen since before 1968, in which case, WELCOME! TO THE WORLD OF TOMORROW! Hot Wheels are one of the two most well-known brands of toy cars in existence, the other being Matchbox (from the same company). The brand is known for making both realistic cars and all sorts of cartoonish fantasy cars, some of which wouldn’t be out of place in a video game. It’s also beloved for its really over the top tracks and fun race courses. Odds are pretty good that you have a few laying around your house.

Now, other than my love of Hot Wheels, I am not a car guy. I know very little about cars and will not pretend otherwise, so I am probably the worst person to give specific information on the Cybertruck itself. So let’s just skip that part and get right to the review.

The Cybertruck is fairly big for a Hot Wheel, though, since it’s supposed to look like a futuristic truck, that’s not a surprise. The body’s die-cast with a plastic base, and the wheels are design for all terrains. Its body is almost completely silver, except for some black on the roof, which the black, tinted windows really blend into. There’s not really much else to say about the Cybertruck’s look, because there’s not much else to say anything about.

As seen in the most generic futuristic video game 1997 had to offer.

The Cybertruck looks like the vehicles bad guys would drive in an old PlayStation 1 game. It’s boxy, angular while trying to look rounded, and has a complete lack of detail. The most eye-catching thing about it is how it looks like something you’d see the villain in an 80’s movie drive. Honestly, it just looks so “I am the villain of this cyberpunk story written pre-internet” that it hurts.

Toy car or electric razor? You decide!

The Cybertruck does roll well, and its shape means it can pick up speed pretty quickly. This is due to the shape and just how light it is. I looked at it on the store peg and thought it was going to be heavier than it actually is, and was honestly surprised by how lightweight it is.

Just in case you thought it looked any better from the side. It doesn’t.

The “Hot Wheels Tesla Cybertruck” goes for about $1.25 and can be found at most major retailers. Would I recommend it? Honestly, no. I own a lot of Hot Wheels, and I do mean A LOT, and this is honestly one of the least interesting-looking ones. While I do like the futuristic design, the utter lack of detailing or paint apps on it make it just really not interesting to look at, and almost everything positive about it that I could say, there’s other cars out that do it better. Grab it if you’re a collector or want a “bad guy” car, but otherwise, save your money. Now I gotta figure out how to tag this review in a way that doesn’t get me attacked by an army of Musk fanboys. This is JS signing off and wishing you Happy Toy Hunting!

[metamorphobic]

My Spotify Playlists

Metal inspired by different cultures

The Lost Boys

Sleepless Nights

Songs for when you're gay and love men

Joan of Arc

I am dirty, infinitely dirty, this is why I scream so much about purity

Late Nights, Long Drives

My Love letter to Nobody

Lady Lucifer / Femme Fatal

I beg you, eat me up. Want me down to the marrow. I urge you, bite me. Sign my death with your teeth.

Night Crawling / My Personal cyberpunk soundtrack

Wait and Bleed

Girls on Film / 80s summer

Girl Rot Summer

Bück Dich

Goth music from Mexico

Cunty Pop

Astarion

Karlach

Shadowheart

Jesse Faden

Alan Wake

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

BTVS Spike

[velizardis]

My dream of electric hares

February 01

It’s so “nowadayish” to do a self-therapy. But I guess it might be what I need now.

First, English is not my native language, so please don’t judge me for misspelling or using phrases way too out of meaning. But still today it’s the most common language, and considering that I’m writing about cyberpunk- a multicultural kind of thing- I guess it is right to use it.

So let’s get to the point. I’m feeling lost as we all are from time to time. Hope that this work will help me to collect broken pieces of my mind into something.

I’m standing on the balcony of my small apartment in Gungoren- a living district of Istanbul. It’s 5 a.m. The cigarette in my hand sends low sparks to the blowing-off wind. I stare into the flat blank asphalt of the street down below. Into the rough tiles of the roofs. Into the nothingness of the empty sky. 

I do that every night. It’s like a hobby to me: someone likes to play golf or do jogging or play D&D. Well, I guess sports aren’t exactly my thing and I don’t have enough offline friends to set a game. So smoking and staring into space it is.

Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to discuss. From the name, it must be clear that this work has something to do with cyberpunk. You see cyberpunk was created a long time ago somewhere in the 80s. People then had their own clear image of what the future could look like. And today that old-school genre is so popular because we’ve done a bad job of setting our future. In fact, it's so bad that even not-so-sunny cyberpunk looks better than what we have now.

Where are the almighty corporations setting their plans to harvest humanity’s desires? Where is the sky-high tech everyone dreamed about? Where are the fearless punks ready to burn down the city of wealth and taste?

For the last couple of years, there is a popular slogan that reappears in pop culture again and again: “Do better”. It kinda pisses me off but that’s not the point. For most people, this slogan means that we failed them: failed to appreciate them for who they are, failed to listen to them when we had to, failed to do a shit to save the world. But that mostly is concerned to be connected to stuff like BLM, LGBTQ+, cancel-culture, and other up-to-date trends in western culture.

But when you think about it’s more than that. “Do better” just means that all of our hopes, all of our dreams about a better brighter future, all our expectations of greater tomorrow- all of it turned out to be just another crap that we used to make ourselves feel better. It means regret that all of us feel every day living in this world. What’s more to say if cyberpunk- a depressing and dark genre- feels more interesting and alluring than real life?

Nothing is here. But there is something else.

Istanbul- a vast and overpopulated city home to over 20 million people of hundreds of nations, cultures, and religions. The loudest religion here is Islam- all those mosques screaming and singing every day. The loudest sounds here are the sounds of dozens of construction sites and passing garbage trucks saving the city from the fate of cesspools. 

But with all of its religious dogmas and signs of a new life, the only light that I see right now when all 20 million voices are silent comes not from mosques or tower cranes. It’s the light of an old neon sign of the Ramada Hotel across the district.

That’s our cyberpunk. The old-new world of hopelessly outdated neon signs that mark samely outdated god-knows-how survived thru all these years businesses. 

There’s nothing that will harvest our desires ‘cause there’s nothing to harvest- all our ambitions and hopes were left in the past where we tried to “do better”. And we failed. 

There’s no such high-tech that could make all our troubles disappear ‘cause we are so limited by the world’s walls with old graffiti and neon signs. (Said he desperately trying to let his thoughts go away by putting them on the World Wide Web by his own laptop)

There are no fearless punks that are ready to start the fire ‘cause they are all out of gasoline. (Have you seen the price for that shit?)

Welcome to your old-new dream, my electric hares. Hope you’ll stay.

[baekhvuns]

OP from that horrible fan call literally bragged about it too? Chan was cute and flustered?! Mf he was probably confused and regretting all his life choices which led to that day... and the fact apparently the followers gave them the idea? And not O N C E did they think it would be shitty af. Stans should stop with the dumb "pick up" lines, maybe it's a sign 🔫🔫🔫🔫

I can be the water hater alright, no problem 🚰🚫 sometimes I look at my cats and I'm so jealous of them, they lead their furry lives in peace. But also have you seen how much actual furry costumes cost?! Those people must be loaded 😭

SM events are really strip clubs, like what are the Neo men up to 😭 and remember this *chuckles* *dies*

Really EXO cb/tour? Better not be a clown moment, fingers crossed for you, btw when are they releasing Mr Byun from the captivity? Cannot believe we have to wait so much more for Taemin, he's been away for 80 years :(. Changmin DILFed, Minho must be devastated, he really tried to shoot his shot so hard during their golfing programme jdhsosusmshshsjsh

Not the JK x Diana conspiracy again I'm-

I saw that insane Army tweet and the amount of likes? Like I get it, government bad and they're obviously using BTS, but 😬 Korea when BTS isn't in the military: good vs Korea when BTS is in the military: bad. Saw someone saying "Don't get hospitalized for mental health in the next months cause it'll be all BTS stans in there" I shouldn't be laughing, but the way some of them are reacting is NOT normal behaviour

Btw vampires

Looks like the JP cb will be darker(?) also blonde Hwa in the MV AAAAAAAAAAA. Some people say it might be Cyberpunk, I mean if that gives us a music video and a live performance then fine, though I would rather hear a new song tbh. But Cyberpunk might actually sound really good in Japanese

Ddeonghwa...

Did you see Hwa talking about Seoul from Piwon teaching him how to use kaomojis I'm devastated. The boomer energy, he's so precious <333

OMFG THAT HAIR TWEET SO TRUE GOD EVERY MAN NEEDS TO SEE IT, ESPECIALLY MEN CALLED PARK SEONGHWA AND CHOI SAN. Actually Seonghwa admitted to liking long hair, San on the other hand...

Ah Lisa and Soohyuk, honestly when will Ateez get invited to fashion shows. Seonghwa pls...

Women in suits >>>> men in suits, I said what I said. I like wearing suits too. But if a man wears a suit that is a bit sparkly, maybe slutty, maybe velvet, perhaps red or pink... that's it for me

Lawyer Hwa will be like this except instead of husband bentos it'll be "a week of my client who ended up in prison bentos"

Thought you might be a Hwanose enthusiast 🤪 damn that escalated

My friend who got into kpop through BTS, then BP pulled her in again got to see them both last week. She doesn't even ult them anymore, but it was an experience nevertheless 💖

Read my mind, the predebut Hwa video I was ready to send it with "omfg the screams, same"

Shsuashahaha the KCON emoji quest when he did 😊 and jazz hands, he looked so cute, the swag pose made me wanna fight him ngl, the 💋 I'm unwell

The dragon AU: Imagine you got a big egg and some time later a fucking dragon comes out, but it's not just a dragon it's a sexy ass man

I've missed Bodyguard's 3 months anniversary 😭 should celebrate by re-reading it perhaps. Can't believe you posted it in July?!?! - DV 💖

hi hello!!!

OP from that horrible fan call literally bragged about it too? Chan was cute and flustered?! Mf he was probably confused and regretting all his life choices which led to that day... and the fact apparently the followers gave them the idea? And not O N C E did they think it would be shitty af. Stans should stop with the dumb "pick up" lines, maybe it's a sign 🔫🔫🔫🔫

no bc where WHERE WAS THEIR MIND WHEN THEY THOUGHT OF THAT DID THEIR MIND NOT GO TO HISTORY??? 😭😭 how does one even think of that yoooo 😭😭😭???? their mind absolutely boggles me bc wtf

I can be the water hater alright, no problem 🚰🚫 sometimes I look at my cats and I'm so jealous of them, they lead their furry lives in peace. But also have you seen how much actual furry costumes cost?! Those people must be loaded 😭

FBMWBDKW I AM TOO THEYRE JUST SLEEPING IN THE WEIRDEST COMFIEST POSITIONS GETTING ALL THE HEAD PATS AND PURRING 😭😭😭 NO BC WHY ARE THEY LIKE 1000$+ ????? ABOUT TO GO STEAL AND SELL

AND THEY LOOK LIKE THIS??? ME WHEN

SM events are really strip clubs, like what are the Neo men up to 😭 and remember this *chuckles* *dies*

no fr there’s nO IN BETWEEN AND FBWNDJWK PLS NCT CONCERTS HAD ME HOLLERING ???? TAEIL???? MOON TAEIL SHOWING US ALL THE MOONS 😮‍💨😮‍💨

Really EXO cb/tour? Better not be a clown moment, fingers crossed for you, btw when are they releasing Mr Byun from the captivity? Cannot believe we have to wait so much more for Taemin, he's been away for 80 years :(. Changmin DILFed, Minho must be devastated, he really tried to shoot his shot so hard during their golfing programme jdhsosusmshshsjsh

bestie i won’t believe it until im standing at the concert and their vcr plays atp 😭😭😭FBQKJDKW MR BYUN OUT OF CAPTIVITY LMFAOOOO FBDBDH I THINK HES COMING BEGINNING OF FEBRUARY! 😭😭🤚🏼 iSNT TAEMIN COMING BACK NEXT MONTH??? LMFAOOOO MINHO WHEN ARE U GETTING HITCHED PLS

Not the JK x Diana conspiracy again I'm-

I saw that insane Army tweet and the amount of likes? Like I get it, government bad and they're obviously using BTS, but 😬 Korea when BTS isn't in the military: good vs Korea when BTS is in the military: bad. Saw someone saying "Don't get hospitalized for mental health in the next months cause it'll be all BTS stans in there" I shouldn't be laughing, but the way some of them are reacting is NOT normal behaviour

PLS ITS SO FUNNY DBSJDHJSH BUT IM SO INTO IT,,, no bc how u gonna boycott the country your faves are from?? no ur so right,, like it’s good they are going! im sure (or form at least what ive heard) they grow up learning about the military bc their family members have gone and it’s a sense of pride almost,, so in that sense it should be a proud moment! tHE POST MILITARY GLOW UP IS SO DIFFERENT 🤌🏼🤌🏼

LMFAOOOO PLSREJDHEKDJKW THATS SO FUNNY 😭😭😭😭 NO LITERALLY THE WORLD ISNT ENDING JUST 2.5 YEARS! THERES SOLO WORKS OF THEM COMING OUT TOO!

Btw vampires

Looks like the JP cb will be darker(?) also blonde Hwa in the MV AAAAAAAAAAA. Some people say it might be Cyberpunk, I mean if that gives us a music video and a live performance then fine, though I would rather hear a new song tbh. But Cyberpunk might actually sound really good in Japanese

BESTIE THEY JUST DROPPED IT FBDJDH AND THE SUIT GAME??? 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨 i think it might be a new song,,, but either way cyberpunk hwa in blond 😩🤲🏼🤲🏼

Ddeonghwa...

ANON 😭😭😭🤚🏼

Did you see Hwa talking about Seoul from Piwon teaching him how to use kaomojis I'm devastated. The boomer energy, he's so precious <333

PLS I DIDNFBENDHKW HES SO CUTE WITH SENDING THOSE EMOJIS 😭😭😭 GOD BLESS SOUL FOR IT FBDNFHK

OMFG THAT HAIR TWEET SO TRUE GOD EVERY MAN NEEDS TO SEE IT, ESPECIALLY MEN CALLED PARK SEONGHWA AND CHOI SAN. Actually Seonghwa admitted to liking long hair, San on the other hand...

EXACTLY !!!! EXACTLY !!!! EXACTLY !!!!! CHOI SAN WONDERLAND HAIR NEEDS TO COME BACK BC WHAT A MAN I DONT EVEN WANNA TALK ABOUT S*ONGHWA WHY CUT WHEN U LIKED IT 🔫🔫🔫🔫🔫

Ah Lisa and Soohyuk, honestly when will Ateez get invited to fashion shows. Seonghwa pls...

begging, begging for dior to get hwa so we can get a photoshoot 😭😭 ateez have only a few shoots and wE NEED TO MORE 😭

Women in suits >>>> men in suits, I said what I said. I like wearing suits too. But if a man wears a suit that is a bit sparkly, maybe slutty, maybe velvet, perhaps red or pink... that's it for me

ur so right ur so right,, snsd with mr mr really made me go women >>>> BDWNDJJW A LITTLE SLUTTY DBEJDJ THE LIVE EXAMPLE OF THIS IS KAIS RED SUIT THAT MAN WAS SO CUNTY

Lawyer Hwa will be like this except instead of husband bentos it'll be "a week of my client who ended up in prison bentos" /// Thought you might be a Hwanose enthusiast 🤪 damn that escalated

OH MY GOD THAT CHANNEL IS MY KATE NIGHT GUILTY PLEASURE 😭😭😭 my toxic trait is thinking i can recreate them 🤚🏼 NO BESTIE FHKEFJKEDJKW THE NOSE ALWAYS GETS ME ATP ANY PHOTO I SEE OF HIM THATS WHERE MY EYES GO

My friend who got into kpop through BTS, then BP pulled her in again got to see them both last week. She doesn't even ult them anymore, but it was an experience nevertheless 💖 // Read my mind, the predebut Hwa video I was ready to send it with "omfg the screams, same"

omg wHAT A LUCK SHE HAS WHEN IS IT MY TURN DBDBDBDBDB 😭😭😭 seonghwa’s song choices are so iconic, whoever chose that wedding dress song >>>>> but bestie did u see this

Shsuashahaha the KCON emoji quest when he did 😊 and jazz hands, he looked so cute, the swag pose made me wanna fight him ngl, the 💋 I'm unwell

I AM UNWELL

HE IS SICK SICK

🧍🏻‍♀️🧍🏻‍♀️🧍🏻‍♀️

OH AND

The dragon AU: Imagine you got a big egg and some time later a fucking dragon comes out, but it's not just a dragon it's a sexy ass man

LMFAOOOO U GOT AN EGG FROM A VINTAGE SHOP AND IT TURNS OUT TO BE A DRAGON 😭😭😭😭 sexy ass man but only as hwa >>>

I've missed Bodyguard's 3 months anniversary 😭 should celebrate by re-reading it perhaps. Can't believe you posted it in July?!?! - DV 💖

PLS ITS BEEN THAT LONG??? FUCK F E ER ELDJDK I NEED TO BUST MY ASS WRITING THIS FIC I DID MY MIDTERM TODAY AND IM WRITING THIS ITS @ 20K AND BARELY STARTED 😭😭😭😭

the vampire strikes again

a quiz!

but mingi are u sure u don’t want him as the second lead in the hwa series?

[wanderingaldecaldo]

Hi to everyone who followed me because of Izzy Hands. I'm sorry to say, but you signed up for 80% Cyberpunk 2077, 10% fic writing, 3% shitpost reblogs, 3% personal/political stuff, 2% Bioware, 1% Rhea Ripley, and 1% OFMD/Izzy.

I won't be offended if you unfollow me now. 😂

[crankybeetle]

SO this was supposed to go up on izuku’s birthday but tumblr hates me so you get it now. A variation of each izu from almost every au I have. These all have a complete plot and details, so ask me about any of them and I’ll probably have an answer. Disclaimer nothing is WRITTEN written but I’m working on timelines right now! I’m just a very slow writer. Synopsis of each one under the cut!

Youkai:

Midoriya meets Iida in his second year of college and rooms with him up to his master's degree, where he learns that iida is a war god hiding as a human to stay alive, and that midoriya has been a prison for a dangerous ghost for his entire college career. He falls for iida anyway.

Cyberpunk:

Endeavor Labs is using midoriya as both a scientist and an experiment, his notebooks hold the key to a new kind of cybernetic enhancement that will change the world. Instead of quirks, only cyborgs have superpowers. Midoriya must escape the labs and evade bakugou who has been sent to capture him.

Quirkless vigilante:

In a pro quirk society, it's hard for someone without a quirk to get by. Midoriya is street smart, tough, and fights for the little guy. When his life is saved by Iida, a man on the run with very little left to lose, he takes it upon himself to help iida find uraraka and bring justice to the people that hurt her.

Dadmight:

Because of a pandemic, school is closed and Toshinori's weird film major roommate Sasaki (night eye) needs a place to crash. He moves in with Toshi, his girlfriend Inko, and her son Izuku, a bright boy with an affinity for learning and an admiration for Toshinori's football career. It scares Toshi just how much he knows about frogs and the economy.

Squad C:

Squads A, B, and C are responsible for the safety of Japan. Little do the government officials know how these weaponized kids are trained. Think weapon X. Overpowered and confused, squad C gets scapegoated. Midoriya, iida, uraraka, todoroki, and bakugou can't get along but have to stick together in order to survive brutal missions and dangerous training conditions.

Alien:

The son of the emperor (all might) midoriya grows up on Earth disguised as a human. He needs to practice for The Exam in order to become a full fledged warrior. But at 16, he would rather work on homework and hang out with friends than fight for his homeworld.

Pro hero:

What does life after UA look like for Deku? Very subtle all might costume homages and difficulty remembering to cut his hair and keep in contact with his friends between work as the number 3 hero with Bakugou hot on his heels for 1st.

Villain:

Midoriya has been hurt by society, "saved" by All for One, and confused beyond belief. He's bitter, angry, and feels like he owes a debt to AFO, tho he isn't sure why. (This one isn't super thought out I just want to draw big buff villain deku)

Xavier's:

My hero academia, X-Men style! It's a world where quirks are only 20% of the population instead of 80% like in canon. People fear quirks and Toshinori's is the only safe space where kids can learn to use their quirks. After an accident that levels 2 buildings and puts him in a coma for a month, Midoriya is required to go to UA in order gain control to become a "safer member of society," according to the Office of Quirks and Human Resources. He meets a ragtag group of kids with different levels of power and control (there's only like 6 kids at a time, plus all might and aizawa) and different stories and pasts.

Timeskip Xavier's is after UA and midoriya has to deal with QHR as an intern, trying to fix the system. Iida and Todo move in with him and uraraka, Baku causes trouble, and they all have to save the world from a terrible fate.

This au needs its own separate post I love it too much

Prof/Signing:

Midoriya is a young genetics professor. He uses his spare time to learn sign language in order talk to his childhood friend Baku and his current roommate Iida, get to know his boyfriend of three months Shouto, and solve the story of a mysterious vigilante and a secret quirk fighting ring.

This one sounds convoluted but it's very domestic and makes me learn sign language.

[heartofsnark]

Can You Feel The Sun? (Chapter Five): Just To Want It All

Notes: As stated in last chapter notes, i have a decent chunk of chapters done so these are coming out pretty rapid fire. Otherwise, I don’t have much to say other than massive thanks to my friend who reads these over for me and has been cool with me dropping 80+ pages of fic on them in a week. because yeah...I finished another chapter of this. 

Word Count:  7885

Chapter Warnings: mentions of alcohol and cursing, if that counts as a warning in cyberpunk 2077.  

If you haven’t yet, you can read the previous chapter here!~

Lizzie’s Bar stands out brilliantly in the city; out of all the gangs, she thinks she likes The Moxes aesthetic the best. Vivid pink and bright teal. Their colors splashed across the overpass, along with a neon pink skull sign with hair and a bow. At the side of the building is a towering neon skull girl sign, full bodied with an animated kicking leg and axe held above her head, the same hot pink color.

She parks and gets out of her car, doing a quick scan of the area, searching for more Militech drones. None that she sees, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. The credchip burns in her pocket, remembering some of the stuff T-Bug has taught her. How to crack an encrypted shard and see what’s on it, how to transfer its contents. V rifles through her bag, remembering she had a blank credchip somewhere. If Militech did anything dirty, V should be able to transfer the eddies onto a clean chip.

V makes a beeline to the front door, cement blockers and walls covered in graffiti.  More neon signs, the bars name over the door in glowing turquoise letters. Lizzie Jizzie scrawled across an outside wall; two screens on each side of the double stores, all covered in Nicola ads requesting V ‘taste the love’.  Groups of people loiter in the open outside the bar. V’s eyes are drawn to the two bouncers outside the doors.

Two women, one leans against the outside wall as she puff away on a cigarette. Short slicked back hair that starts blue and then fades to green, eyes hidden behind sunglasses and a gold septum piercing in her nose. The other one stands in front of the doors, a yellow spiked bat held over her shoulders. Long hair pulled up into space buns, purple roots and pink ends. Both of her arms are metal; black with pink and teal accents as well as spikes along the forearms.  Both women are skimpily dressed, no shame in that. The one wielding the bat has a white top with cleavage going beyond her breasts,  showing her almost plastic looking skin and the Moxes tattoo across her chest. The other shorter haired bouncer is wearing neon pink pasties beneath a teal bomber jacket.  V’s been here before, has maybe seen them in passing, both really attractive. She’s not sure there’s a Mox member who isn’t.

“Hey there, dollface!~” The bat wielder greets her with a grin, as if she could actually see V’s face.

“Interest you in a preem BD?” The smoker offers.

“What you got?” V asks to be polite, she doesn’t honestly even like brain dances. But the girls are cute, so… no harm in a little small talk.

“What don't we got? Women and men of your dreams, synaptic acting A-listers. No washed-up virtuporn boytoys or blow-up dolls here.”

“Auteur stuff - It'll grip your heart and blow your nerves right outta your body. Pure bit-based ecstasy - that’s why people come here.”

“Sure know how to sell it, don’t you?” V signs, trying not to laugh as the bouncers give her the spiel.

“Not a sales pitch, it's a warning. I'll give you one word - bespoke. Not for everyone's synapses.”

“Think you can handle it?”

“Think I can manage it,” she tells them, knowing damn well she has no intent to get any sort of virtus.

“Mmhm. Couple of things you need to know first,” she affectionately rubs her bat, “Ahem. Severe penalties for any unauthorized recording… “

“No drugs, no groping. Someone catch your eye, you do not grab 'em. You find 'em in the catalog, ask for a BD and get yourself a box.”

“No worries, not even my first time here.”

“Door's open. Have fun, Doll.”

“Welcome to Lizzie’s.”

The double doors open and V walks through a blue beaded curtain. There’s a front room, a stand where a woman with a bright pink mohawk is selling clothes, under another Nicola ad and neon letters saying ‘Fuck To Death’ behind her.

“My what a sweet face you have,” she says, her tone honeyed but its clear she hasn’t looked up from the counter, not even noticing as the masked merc walks past through another beaded curtain and double doors to the main club.

“Here in Night City~”

Music thrums as she steps in; the room is lit with strobing pink and teal lights. Couches with neon glowing lights on the underneath, some people with BD wreaths and others playing on their phones. People dancing  to the club music and  bar tucked away in the corner.  She doubts the client will be right at the start of opening, so V finds an empty stretch of couch, sitting down on black leather with a pink neon light at her feet.  V slides the Militech cred chip into her mask, it takes a moment, but she manages to crack it and get a look at the inside.

Ten thousand eddies and malware; it was meant to send all of Maelstrom’s data to another server and then fry the systems. Meaning, if V handed it over Maelstrom would get their systems fried, with her and Jackie dealing with the aftermath. V slides the blank cred chip into another slot in her mask’s edge, transfering the clean money over to it. Fucking around with tech and daemons isn’t her strong suit, but if she recalls Bug telling her that fairly simple malware like this could be reworked pretty easily. She works through the coding with her thoughts, the data and interface all on her mask. If she can get the coding right, she might be able to have it send something other than data back to the Militech servers…  Shifting and twisting what she thinks will work… if she’s done it right, instead of sending data back to Militech’s server, it should inject the same malware back into their system. If used, it would spike both Maelstrom and Militech.

She’ll call up T-Bug before they hit Maelstrom, double check she did the steps right. If Maelstrom play nice, they can pay and be done, if not...she can fuck over the gangoons, Militech, and walk away with an extra ten thousand in her pocket.  She puts the credchips in her pockets, spiked one in her left and clean one in the right.

Time to have a look around for the client. V making a beeline for the bar, bartenders always have all the info. Lizzie’s Bar in neon over the drink station, a brightly blue lit corner where a man works at making drinks, shelves of booze behind him.  She climbs onto a blue vinyl bar stool, feet no longer on the ground and unable to resist swinging them a bit. The bartender comes to her; a man with slicked back dark hair,  glowing white cybernetic eyes, and silver embellishments run across his cheeks and jaw. His shirt bright blue with a tropical design and if not for a single button above his pants, it’d be completely open. Beaded necklaces bringing even more attention to his exposed chest and stomach.

“Get you something?”

“Looking for Evelyn Parker,” she speaks the woman’s name, not wanting to waste time fingerspelling it even if the sound feels tight in her throat.

“And you are?”

“V, me and her were supposed to meet here.”

“Well, V,  it’s a pleasure. I’m Mateo.”

“Nice to meet you… any idea where she’s hanging around?”

“Club's big. Gonna have to look around. Can't do it for you-”

“It's all right, Mateo,” a feminine voice calls out and V’s eyes are drawn to a woman at the bar, “I was waiting for this one.”

There’s something about her, distinctly Mox and also not. Her hair is a short vivid blue bob with bangs cut straight across her forehead. Heavy makeup, a tight silver sequin dress with a dipping neckline, red thigh high vinyl boots, a black trench coat that pools around her knees with a pink and white feathered collar.  She holds two fingers up to the bartender and moves to the bar stool closer. There’s a clang and tink of glass; Mateo getting out a bottle of tequila and two shot glasses.  

“That won’t be necessary,” V signs before he can fill the second glass, “I don’t drink on the job.”

“Aww, what a good girl,” Evelyn coos, a smile pulling at her painted lips, “Evelyn Parker. I knew it was you as soon as you walked in.”

“And you decided to let me wander around instead of introducing yourself?”

“I wanted to get a good look at you first.”

“And?” V watches as Evelyn takes a swig of her tequila.

“Rest assured, if I didn’t like what I see, you’d know,” she takes another drink, “C'mon. Know a place we can talk where ears won't prick up to listen. We'll be in the lounge, Mateo. Anyone asks we're not here.”

Evelyn takes her black clutch purse and leaves the bar, V puts some money down for Mateo; if nothing else to compensate for his time. V hops down from the stool and follows after Evelyn, through a pair of double doors that goes into a hallway tinted red and pink, booth doors lining the way. The blue haired woman opens up a door, standing to the side as V walks in.

The booth is small, circular with a red vinyl couch around it’s curve, a table in the middle projects a hologram of a stripper who twists and dances. V sinks into the cushions, watching Evelyn stride in and light a cigarette as the door closes behind her. Everyone in the city a smoker it seems.  As Evelyn puffs on a cigarette, V is somehow just noticing the gold nail like finger caps she wears.

“Dex had a load to say about you. Called you professional, effective. And trustworthy. I hope he wasn't overselling…“

“You don’t give a shit what he says,” V retorts, not missing the tinge of disdain Evelyn’s voice. V doesn’t need anyone to blow wind up her ass.

“You have trouble accepting compliments?”

“Flattery’s beneath you.”

“Maybe Dex is beneath you,” Evelyn moves around the table, grabbing an ashtray from the table, then sitting down next to V, crossing her legs, “Have you known each other long?”

“First time working with him.”

“Hmmm, I've heard there are two kinds of fixers. Those with stable crews on long contracts and short leashes. Loyalty and predictability they value above all else. Then there's the other kind- Dex's kind.”

“Meaning?”

“Headhunters. They lay their trust elsewhere, not in people but in a thing- their intuition. They bet on potential. And if they lose that bet…It's the last mistake they ever make. I’m hoping Dex’s intuition served him well in this case.”

“Let's get to the point, why am I here, what’s this about?”

“Your target - I trust you know what it is.”

“Arasaka biochip.”

“Mmmhmm, their Relic, secure your soul technology. Arasaka's poured billions into personality transfer technology. But me - I just want the data on this one. The chip is tucked away inside Konpeki Plaza, the hotel. You ever been?”

“Fancy corp hotels? Yeah, no, way out of my price range.”

“The decor's to die for. As you'll see for yourself.’

So, V and Jackie have to bust into some fancy hotel to get the chip people are arguing about on tv. Understood, so far. But, theres a lot of risks involved in a heist of this scale. Its one thing to rip off a dropped piece of cargo or a convoy from a corp; but this kind of top notch tech?

“You know where the chip is, exactly?”

“In a suite on the top floor. The room's occupied by Yorinobu Arasaka.”

V swallows the lump in her throat, the son of Saburo Arasaka, heir to the entire fucking corp. She’s once again finding herself wondering why Dex thinks her and Jackie can handle a job of this caliber, the Arasaka’s seem downright un-fucking-touchable to a merc like her.

“He’s in NC?”

“Don't you read the screamsheets?”

“Not particularly, no.”

“Well, the media couldn't get enough of Yori coming to Night City, it was all over the headlines. He's heir apparent to the Arasaka empire - Saburo Arasaka's only surviving son.”

“So, he trying to take over while he’s in town?” V asks, trying to understand what exactly is going on.

“Only a handful of people in Night City know what the Arasakas' real plans are.”

“And you included in that?”

A smirk stretches across her face, green eyes devious; “Yorinobu is a puppet. He lost all his cards years ago when he failed to do daddy's bidding. Saburo's had Yori's balls in a vise for years. He might just turn the screw and crush them outright if he learns his son's up to no good again.”

“Someone like him is bound to have an army surrounding him, that hotel is probably a fortress by now.”

“Yorinobu keeps exactly no muscle around. Not one guard. Got rid of them a long time ago.”

“Why?”

“Surely you know what they say about Arasaka intel? Sneeze in Night City and a blossom drops from a cherry tree in Tokyo. Yorinobu was convinced his Arasaka security detail reported directly to his father.”

“If you got a spare ache up your sleeve, I’d love to see it.”

“ Now, this should make your tits perk up,” she says, putting the ashtray aside and leans forward.

“My tits are quite comfortable where they are, I assure you.”

“Cute, but more importantly, Yorinobu recently swiped the chip from an Arasaka laboratory. He's made a deal with NetWatch, aims to sell it to them. Have you spotted my ace yet or do I need to spell things out?”

“Okay, no muscle because he has daddy issues and no security on the device because he stole it from said daddy. Any idea where he’s hiding the thing?”

“Likely in a specialized container, one that mimics an organic neural environment. On the outside, it looks like an ordinary briefcase.”

“Which would be where?”

“You'll see for yourself soon enough,” she stamps out her cigarette and stands up, walking to the door, “Provided we're done gossiping about the Arasakas.”

“You know anything else about him?” V asks, wanting to see if she can mine any more useful information about the heir that could help.

“Quite a bit, actually. He studied finance and biotech in Tokyo. Hm, probably didn't have a choice in the matter, come to think of it. Saburo was grooming him to be his successor. But then Yorinobu vanished to chase his own dreams, cut himself off from the corp for years. Long story short, though the black sheep returned, the bitter taste remained. But that's only one side of him. There's another - an intelligent man who has always walked his own path and so has his own designs on the corp.”

There’s no doubt in V’s mind now that Evelyn knows Yorinobu personally, the way she talks and speaks is clearly colored by experience. Some prodigal son who ran away from his father and then came back with his tail between his legs when he couldn’t cut it alone. An odd lump in V’s throat at the thought; running away from shitty dads, being a black sheep…

“Sounds like any other corpo dick to me,” V signs, not liking the parallels her brain is starting to draw.

“Hm. Ever tried to imagine what life might be like for an emperor's son? You have everything, yet you are no one, nothing. At least as long as you remain in Saburo Arasaka's shadow. I…” she scratches almost sheepishly at her neck, her wannabe femme fatale attitude slipping for just a moment, “...sympathize. It's a vulnerability I understand well.”

V is still finding herself finding uncomfortable similarities between herself and fucking Yorinobu Arasaka. Its stupid, she doesn’t know the man and he has the wealth to destroy her for pretending she does. But, a power hungry leader for a father, leaving home, terrified of being under his thumb. Only difference, well many, but most pressing is she’s managed to make it on her own...so far… at least. Not that she hasn’t had her doubts or worries.

“So, what’s next?” V asks, practically shaking her head to dispel the weirdness swimming in her brain. Black sheep or not; Yorinobu Arasaka has a silver spoon in his mouth. She’s a nomad turned Night City edgerunner; their lives couldn’t be more far removed.

“Now comes the best part,” Evelyn opens the door and turns to leave, “Follow me. Got somethin' for you. Should help you plan. Braindance from Konpeki Plaza.”

V follows Evelyn out into the hallway, “ how’s a braindance going to help?”

“Think BDs are only good for fondling virtual tits, jackin' off to in those boxes?”

“Thought that was the main selling point, yeah,” V teases back as they turn a corner in the hallway, headed towards a door.

“No. They can be a very useful tool. Good for analyzing details human perception, even boosted, doesn't grasp. Exactly what you need,” Evelyn teases as they enters a dressing room, a few Mox at the tables painting their faces with makeup and styling their hair.

“What's on the tape?” Through another door and neon lights fade to harsher, darker lighting.

“Yorinobu's suite. The glorious interior,” the walk down a short metal flight of stairs, “You'll need to locate the Relic yourself. Hope I grabbed enough detail to make that possible.”

The stop at the end of the steps, Evelyn turning to look at V with a hand on her hips. Not that V really had any more doubt about it, but she’s been given more evidence that Evelyn and Yorinobu know each other.

“You recorded it?”

“Mhm. BD rec implant. Why, you object?”

“Not particularly, who you know and what you do with them is none of my business, lets see the braindance.”

“Judy'll help. She's a Mox, too,” down another short flight of stairs, deeper into the basement, “Besides, we go back… years.”

Evelyn stops them again outside a pair of double doors, Lizzie’s is starting to feel like a little maze at this point. But more importantly, Evelyn’s paused again, stumbled over her words and showed something under her facade. V felt something was off, a Mox but somehow not, and she’s starting to think Evelyn is purposely trying to put up a front. That she’s trying, a little too hard, to come across like femme fatale or corpo. Evelyn clears her throat.

“V, this is important. Judy's always been there for me. Always helped out. I trust her. But she's a Mox, not the latest member of your crew. Try not to forget. So you'll be a good girl, tread lightly and keep that tongue on a leash.

“Oh, but it's not my tongue you need to worry about.”

“Hmm, can feel you smirking under that mask, keep it up and I’ll tie those hands down, too,” Evelyn says with a wink as they pass through the double doors into another hallway, then through one more door.

Evelyn leads her through the basement doors, a dark little room with servers, netrunning chairs and screens. In an office chair slouching with one leg on a desk is a woman; late twenties or so with olive skin. One side of her hair is shaved, the other shaggy and down to nearly her shoulder, a deep green color with bright pink ends. The woman is heavily tattooed, bright red roses nestled above her collar bones, a spider web on her right shoulder, a cartoon ghost sitting in a shell, and a large number 13 on her bicep are among the standouts. But V could spend hours describing each artwork.

“Ahem.”

“Hey, there you are…” Judy greets Evelyn, a playful almost flirty tone to her voice.

“This is V. She's here for that BD roll. And V, this is Judy - best braindance editor I know.”

“Enough already, gonna make me barf.” There’s a slight accent to Judy’s voice, not unlike Jackie’s.

“Impressive set up,” V signs, at least, she assumes it’s impressive. Tech is already a bit of a blind spot for her, especially when it comes to brain dances.

“Mhm, Analyzers, sensory sig amps, acoustic and emotive wave monitors, facial expression translators.”

“Ahem, Judy,” Evelyn stops the inked editor before she can tell V more.

“All right, all right… Compiled your BD, Ev.”

“What do you think? Will it do?”

“Still pretty raw… but yeah, oughta do.”

“Mhm. V needs to get deep inside, that's most important.”

“So, let's calibrate, tune it to her,” Judy stands up from the table and moves to the desk closer to the door, sitting down below a neon pink light, “Believe me, I've dealt with worse. Should see the dig-Jig Street porn we gotta contend with sometimes.”

Evelyn has followed behind Judy, standing behind the editor’s chair, “So we drop V inside? Let her look, let her rummage around, right?”

“How 'bout it, V? Raw braindance - ever taken a dip before?” Judy leans forward on the desk, looking at V.

“No, not at all, but I’m a quick learner,” that feels like a lie as soon as she says it, “ and need to know what I’m dealing with. So.”

“Siddown, settle in, and we'll get you goin'.”

V turns around to the chairs, either netrunning or ripperdoc chairs, she’s not sure. But, she climbs into one, settling down into it as Judy comes back out around the desk. Judy is nearby, fiddling with a brain dance wreath.

“Be easier to fit without the mask.”

“Mask has optic tech, linked to my neuroport and biomon, should work just like it does with any set of cybereyes.”

“‘Fraid of ruining the mystery?” Evelyn asks, teasing again.

“Mask is for business, lot harder to track a merc if you got no clue what they look like. You that curious, feel free to try and track me down during my off time.”

“Fine, fine,”  Judy affixes the BD wreath around V’s head, lining it up properly on the merc before walking back to the desk,  “Gotta create your sensory profile first.”

“Go for it.”

“Now, sit still, look at me. Gonna run the analysis soft should feel a slight tingling…”

V’s breath catches as it prickles across her skin, a crackling and warm sensation crawling across every nerve. From the base of her skull, down her spine, across her arms to her fingers, running down her legs to her toes. A vague pulse, a current of something.

“OK now let's set the optics and other sensory sigs. Look smack into these two screens, pretend it's an eye exam.”

The two wreath panels flash and strobe white light, building in urgency and frequency.

“Gimme two more minutes. One more sec, need to get the pain receptor limiters in… OK. All set. Need to test your profile first. Tossing in a sam-”

“We can just use my recording, there’s no point in wasting time,” Evelyn interrupts Judy.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“I’m fine with just jumping to her BD,” V interjects her opinion, “better to get right to it.”

Judy sighs and rolls her eyes; “Fine, fine, what do I know.”

“Great, I’ll just need to patch Bug in.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Who?” Judy jumps up from her desk, crossing her arms and looks at V like she just asked to summon Satan.

“Runner from my crew, security specialist. She'll tell me what to look for while we analyze. No problem, I assume?”

“Actually, it is a problem! You’re already asking me to cut fucking corners and now you want to bring someone else in?! Not what we agreed, Ev!”

“It’s not a big deal,” V signs, not sure what Judy’s sudden problem is.

“No big deal! You don't quite grasp the risks I took by lettin' you in here! What I'm risking pokin' around with this stuff!”

Judy continues to yell and V rolls her eyes, she’s a BD editor, not part of the actual crew, the client, or the fixer. If Arasaka goes after anyone it sure as shit won’t be Judy, so why is she throwing a fit.

“And you don’t seem to grasp the risk I’d be taking if me and my partner went stumbling into that hotel with no fucking clue as to what we or our runner are up against. I miss one hidden turret and I get pumped full of lead, either my runner links in or I’m gone.”

V makes a point to twist her head and look at Evelyn at the last part; Bug is the most highly trained member of their crew and Dex’s go to runner. Without her involvement and eyes on it, the job won’t be going anywhere.

“Bye then!” Judy yells out, “good riddance and don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”

“Judy, please…”

“Ev, she wants to bring a 'runner in. What part of that don't you understand?! How do I know she'll only perch in this footage, observe, not fuck with anything?!”

“Because Bug is literally involved with the heist, has a dog in this fight, and wants it to go well too,” V signs, hoping the AI voice is getting her annoyance across, Judy does level a glare at her over Evelyn’s shoulder.

“Me,” Evelyn steals Judy’s attention, “I'm your guarantee.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Help me, this one last time. I promise everything'll work out,  just like we planned.”

And it hits V, between the flirting and the soft drop in Evelyn’s voice here. The reason Judy is so worked up about this; her and Evelyn have something. Friends teetering the line into something else, girlfriends already, or maybe even more than that. V’s not sure. But there’s something distinctly not platonic to the way they interact. Maybe that’s the play on Evelyn’s. Scam Yorinobu Arasaka then run away with her porn editor girlfriend.

“Fine,” Judy shakes her head and sits back down, the anger gone, “call Bug and we’ll dive in.”

That issue taken care of V rings up T-Bug, the netrunner answering after a ring or two.

“What’s up, V?”

“Bug, listen. I got some useful footage from Konpeki Plaza. It's a braindance.”

“Konpeki? Ohhh, thought as much…” Judy looks up at Evelyn.

“Someone there with you?”

“Client and her...friend...is what I’ll settle on; that’s not what matters right now, its going to give us a layout of the room, a chance to find where the chip is, and some idea of security.”

“All right, see if I can walk you through it. Jackin’ into your tech now,” notifications alert across her mask’s interface, “Mh, you've gotta give me access. Opening port 1779… Secure protocol? Good, I'm goin' in. Should be getting my request… …now.”

“Got it. You ready?”

“Millisec. OK, connection confirmed, now some quick temp ICE and… we're clear. Ready to dance.”

“Let’s do this.”

And with that the wreath panels begin to flash and strobe in front of V’s eyes, quicker and quicker until the world goes out in white. And in the next snap of a moment, one reality becomes another. Her body is no longer her own, she’s placed in Evelyn’s mind standing outside an elevator. What feels like her body, moves to adjust a purse strap, gold capped nails.

“All right, V - eyes open. Gotta find out where Yorinobu is keepin’ the Relic. Everything is controlled by thought and intention; you can step into editor mode, access everything her cyberware picked up a signal of, can scan, rewind, fast forward. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

The doors open, exposing the hotel room, and a horror show of a man walking towards her. V can feel the spike in fear, whether from Evelyn in the moment or V’s own instinctual reaction; she isn’t sure. He’s around eight feet tall, complete metal and cyberware from his feet to his upper lip; more machine than human. Wire, hydraulics, steel; all branded with Arasaka. The flesh section of his head is sickly ashen protrusive veins, glowing red where eyes should be. As he draws closer there’s a whirr of machinery, hydraulics pistoning to give him movement. How is he alive? How is he functional?

“You look like a cut of fuckable meat. Are you?” He asks as he walks past, voice edged with something inhuman.

Evelyn reigns her fear back in, the past version of her walking deeper into the room, where a dark haired man sits at a table in front of a large screen where another blonde haired man speaks back to him.

“I said no,” the dark haired man speaks out, his voice colored by a Japanese accent and V knows it’s Yorinobu. Evelyn continues to walk closer, her heels clicking against the floor.

“They'll have my head for this…”

“Then you shall perish for a good cause.”

“But I-”

“Make yourself comfortable. I need a minute to finish,” Yorinobu tells Evelyn, sparing just a glance over his shoulder.

“Listen in on that conversation, V! Could be something important.”

She wants to watch through first, do an initial watch to look for things and then go more in depth. Two watches at least should mean she’s covered everything. Yorinobu switches the conversation to his holophone, pacing around the room. Evelyn meanwhile puts her purse down on the chair, then walks behind him, trying to keep him in range

“My father is a tired, visionless old greybeard who thinks nothing will change and he'll live forever in his tiny, frozen bubble! You will listen to this - Saburo is an addled despot utterly removed from reality, stuck in some fossilized vision of a world that no longer exists! Of a world that may never have existed! We have not seen eye to eye for the last twenty years. I am quite sure we won't now.”

Yorinobu continues to talk as Evelyn pours herself a glass full of champagne and takes a drink, the tech allowing V to taste the sweet bubbles as if they were on her own tongue. Glass in hand she takes a slow look around the room and walks back to the center of it, sitting at the table, the plush of the cushion letting her sink into it.

“Noted,” Yorinobu says into the phone as he starts to walk back to Evelyn, there’s something in his eyes, “enough.”

He hands up, putting the phone down on the table. Evelyn looks up at him and V through her eyes gets her first good look at the Arasaka heir. Dark hair with the sides shaved down close to the scalp, glasses perched on his nose. His cyberware is surprisingly minimal for a man of his wealth, two streaks of silver going up his neck to his jawline.

“Sorry, to make you wait,” he touches Evelyn’s shoulder and the woman rises, “business can be stupid.”

They’re close and V can feel his hands on her, Evelyn’s, hips. Evelyn’s hand on his shoulder.

“Mmh, it wasn't long,” Evelyn hums and it feels wholy unnatural to feel like she’s speaking with someone else's voice, “Not even long enough for me to grow bored.”

His hands start to creep and Evelyn goes to pull away, movements playful, when Yorinobu pulls her back in. Then he starts to dip his mouth.

“Fuck no!” V yells out as she pushes the thought to enter editor mode, separating her senses from Evelyn’s before she has to feel Yorinobu’s lips on Evelyn’s neck. She looks down and sees herself, though slightly digital, her bright blue nail polish and not gold jewelry. The scene around her has paused and a digital filter over them.

“Something wrong?” T-Bug asks with a slight laugh.

“Nearly had corpo droolon me,” V signs, happy to find the tech allows her translator to work in editor mode, “was going do a watch through, then a second go in editor mode, figured two look throughs would be best...then”

“Then you nearly had to lock lips with Yorinobu Arasaka.”

“Gag, rewinding back to scan the call fully.” With a thought she watches as Evelyn and Yorinobu move in reverse, getting back to win the heir was starting the call. Once she gets where she needs to be she scans his phone and restarts it from editor mode, thankful for the sensory disconnect. She hears the man on the other end of Yorinobu’s call speak.

“Please speak with your father. He's taken a particular interest in this project, he can certainly explain the risks invol--”

“My father is a tired, visionless old greybeard who thinks nothing will change and he'll live forever in his tiny, frozen bubble!”

“I should not even be listening to such things.”

“You will listen to this - Saburo is an addled despot utterly removed from reality, stuck in some fossilized vision of a world that no longer exists! Of a world that may never have existed! We have not seen eye to eye for the last twenty years. I am quite sure we won't now.”

“Read the documentation carefully. The Relic requires specific storage conditions. You MUST provide them.”

“Noted,” Yorinobu hangs up again and V pauses the BD.

“Heard that? Relic docs gotta be around here somewhere. Look for them,” Bug confirms.

“Once we find where the chip is stored we’ll do a clean sweep of the security, okay Bug.”

“Smart thinking.”

V watches half-heartedly as Yorinobu and Evelyn interact; her range of vision and senses limited to Evelyn. She fast forwards through the two canoodling, only mildly catching Evelyn mentioning something about ‘candy’ though V assumes it’s of the nose variety. Evelyn separates away from Yorinobu for a moment and walks to a control panel, offering to lend music to the scene.

But V’s interest is piqued when she catches Evelyn rifling through Yorinobu’s messages, a few spam and scam emails. Then she pulls up an email from Clouds, a dollhouse in the city. Evelyn deletes it, V rewinds back and pauses. The email thanks Yorinobu for his patronage; hmm, heir has a taste for doll prostitutes. Something, Evelyn doesn’t want that email to be there… Its all beginning to make more sense and V’s not sure she likes it.

The merc fast forwards further through the BD, moving through to Evelyn playing awful music and going to meet Yorinobu in his bed. Where he sits with a tablet, the second the screen is clear. She pauses and scans it, bingo.

“Manual details a special temp controlled container. Relic needs to be kept real cool,” T-Bug explains through the technobabble.

“Chip’s got to be in a freezer.”

“Yep. Could damage it otherwise. OK, switch on thermal layer detection in the editor. Should be easier to spot where Yorinobu's keeping the chip.”

V switches with a thought, the world turning into temperature signatures as she searches for unnatural cold places and spots. An air conditioner pumps out cold air, but that would be a stupid place to put billion dollar tech. One malfunction and you lost it all.  She rewinds back to get more of a view, a ice bucket for champagne, a fridge?

“That’s just a regular fancy fridge, not cold enough,” Bug tells her when she spends t0o long contemplating it.

V rewinds further and an amass of blue ice cold air from behind a pillar catches her eye, It seems to come up through the floor, unlike the AC, ice bucket, or fridge she has no clear idea where this one is coming from. A secret container in the floor? Seems like a much craftier place to hide expensive stolen tech, V scans it.

“Right, grabbed the heat sig. Matches the spec in the docs,” T-Bug tells her.

“Chip has to be here, we got it.”

“Mmhmm, time to scan security.”

V switches back to the regular mode, looking for what she needs to scan. The camera system first.

“Shit, cameras packed with newtech motion sensors, heat sig activators. IFF.”

“Can you kill it?”

“With access to their subnet, but we need the Flathead bot for that.”

They continue on, with Bug commenting on each security measure they scan. Alarm with fresh firmware, Automated turrets connected to the hotels server. Yorinobu’s pistol, loaded with the safety on. V rewinds and fast forward, searching anything else that might be an issue but comes up empty handed.

“Seems like we got everything. Looks like all their security systems are linked to the hotel subnet. We need the Flathead. No other way to shut down these systems,” T-Bug sumises.

“No way around it ourselves?”

“Nope. Least I'm fresh out of ideas. Think we got everything we need.”

“Okay, but hang on the line with me after we get out of the BD, need you to look over something for me, if you don’t mind.”

“No problem.”

V exists out of the brain dance, a flash of white and the world returns. Judy and Evelyn looking at her from across a desk, T-Bug still in the call panel of her mask. Her eyes hurt, her throat feels dry, and she can feel a migraine pushing at her temples. She fucking hates brain dances.

“Get everything you need?” Judy asks, a dark raised eyebrow.

“From the BD, yeah, got to clear something with Bug while I got her on the horn,” V gets the chip she fucked with out of her pocket and slides it into the proxy reader of her mask, “got a chip I fucked around with; decrypted and tried to rewrite the virus on it, so it will spike the people who gave it to me. But I want to make sure, I didn’t fuck up.”

“Need me to grade your work, V?”

“Kind of…”

“Oh, shit, V. You fucking over Militech?” T-Bug exclaims, a little pride in her voice as she reads over the code, thankfully her voice is only audible to V through her hearing aids.

“Mmhmm.”

“And you don’t want to sign and have your translator read it, because you don’t want to risk the client knowing you’re fucking over Militech while prepping to fuck over Arasaka.”

“Mmhmm, will it work?”

“It will fry the servers of any tech it’s plugged in proper and fry the servers it’s linked to, a Militech van from the looks of it. Won’t be a dent in their bottom line, but will surely piss off some reps. That what you meant for it to do?”

“That was the plan.”

“Preem work then, but I do want to make some...edits,” T-Bug edits the chips code in front of V’s eyes, “there we go.”

“Something wrong with it?” Nerves creep up V’s throat, if she fucked up, she’d rather learn her lesson now.

“Nah, I added a bit of a personal touch for you, nothing wrong with a little style added to your hacking.”

“Appreciate the help.”

“You know I won’t always be here to check your work.”

“I know, I know, but it doesn't mean I won’t take advantage while I can. Thanks again, talk soon.”

“Later, V.” With that V hangs up the call and slots the spiked credchip back into its respective pocket. Judgement, suspicion, and resentment are radiating off of Judy.

“I'll wipe the cache and your data. You were never here.”

Judy stands up from the desk and V tries to decipher a few of the tattoos she sees, noticing more sea themed ones, like a dolphin and sharks. V flinches behind her mask as Judy removes the BD wreath, glad to be free of the contraption, but she could have taken it off herself.

“Thanks…” V signs, despite this, just trying to be polite despite their spat.

“Keep it,” Judy hands her the wreath, V getting a good look at the octopus tattooed on the woman’s hand,  “I'll put it on Ev's tab. Portable device for handling BDs. I already uploaded your calibration settings. Not as sophisticated as what we got here, but should do the trick.”

“And it keeps you outta harm's way. Clever.”

“Speaking of harms way, know what I see looking at you,” Judy pins her hands to her hips and gives V that look again, “walking, talking corpses.”

“We needed this recording, just… relax, will you?”

“Relax! If Arasaka finds out you have it, you're dead. I'm dead! If you fuck this up and Arasaka comes knocking on my door!”

“Judy, relax, that’s… not gonna happen,” Evelyn is the one trying to soothe the editors temper again.

“Evelyn, please… no shortcuts. You go that route, city'll always win. So be careful.”

“'Course I will be. Besides, we'll talk in a bit,” Evelyn looks to V,  “lets walk.”

V stashes the new BD wreath into her bag and climbs from the chair, following Evelyn out of Judy’s basement space. It’s not like V is heartless or doesn’t know anxiety; but of everyone involved, Judy has the least skin in the game. V can’t spend her time coddling someone who doesn’t have a whole hell of a lot to worry about compared to her, Jackie, or Bug.

“Well? What do you think?” Evelyn asks and V can see that hint of nerves coming back.

“You’re not worried about this coming back on you, if they start looking through everyone he’s been dealing with?”

“They'll have a long list, then. Packed full of big names. Much bigger than mine. You tell me who they check first. Corpo hotshots and cutthroats? Or a little bedroom plaything like me?”

“Well, then... “ V tries to find her words, this all seems, too good, “intel on the heir, on the place, know roughly where the chip is, and how we should get to it… Seems like a perfect plan and job.”

“Mm. Thanks. Now the punch line, please.”

“Seems too good to be true, there’s got to be a catch…”

“Cold feet? Are you looking to get out of it?”

“I want to know you’re in control here; that there’s no secrets, no catches, no surprises that turns this heist from a cakewalk into a bloodbath.”

“V. I have zero reasons to haze you. We’re in this together. Really. Trust me that I got this.”

“Okay, if you say so, what next?”

“V….” there’s nothing good in the way Evelyn pauses, words stuck to her tongue for a moment, “Do this job for me. I mean me alone. No splitting the payout with anyone else. No middlemen. No Dex.”

Of course, of fucking course, there had to be something. Evelyn’s trying to play cutthroat corpo, fucking over a fixer because she has dollar signs in her eyes. But, she’s too damn naïve to the game to know that no merc with the lead in their gun would pull that shit. Greedy mercs who screw over their fixers end up broke on the street at best and swimming  with cement shoes at worst. And a high profile one like Dex has the means to destroy her.

“Fucking knew there was a catch, you want to fuck over our fixer.”

“Dex is a middleman. And a useless one at this point.”

“You don't fuck with fixers. That's the one rule every merc in this city knows - and actually follows!”

“But if we're smart…”

“There is no smart to this, a mistake like that will cost me my reputation and without that, a merc is fucking nothing in this city. Are you serious about this?”

“Better ask yourself that question. Do you want to spend the rest of your days blasting scavs? Or become a legend overnight? Your choice.”

“He would put me in the ground, if I pulled some gonk shit like that.”

“I could give you fifty percent, V, . Eddies enough to do whatever the hell you like, without needing Dex for anything. With cred like that, you wouldn’t want for anything, you could retire.”

“It’s not about the money.”

“I thought you were a merc. I thought it was always about the money.”

“No, its not actually. He trusts me, he’s taking a leap with me. And even if he weren’t, I’m not the only person I got to worry about. Bug vouched for me too and Jackie is my partner. I fuck over my fixer, it hurts them too. I’m not going to send them down the river for a bigger cut of the pie.”

“Fine. I never asked. But V?”

“Yeah.”

“I just hope you're as good as you are naive.”

“Pff, you think I’m the naive one, here. Cute.

“If you need me, call. I'll send you my number. Now go. I need a few words with Judy.”

“Later, then.”

And with that V heads back up the stairs, tension draws tight across her shoulders. This whole damn thing with Evelyn throwing her off. The BD and everything seems clear cut, if they get the Flathead, the job might even be easy. But, wanting to fuck over their fixer. Evelyn is not the corpo or femme fatale or whatever she seems to think she is. A doll, V’s sure of that.  Evelyn must have deleted the email from Clouds because its’s connected to her and the Mox offer protection to sex workers; must be where she and Yorinobu met. Clouds even has connections to Arasaka through the Tyger Claws. And she managed to become a powerful rich man’s plaything, so now she thinks she’s smart enough to fuck over not only him but Dex too.

She’s a messy client with good intel. V doesn’t want Evelyn to get hurt. The older woman is in over her head and doesn’t know how the merc world works. She doesn’t deserve to get hurt for that, the last thing V wants is for Dex to lose his cool and hurt the woman. But, V also owes it to him to let him know Evelyn put that deal on the table. If she doesn’t, what’s to say Evelyn won’t pull this on another fixer? Or Dex gets another job aligned with her and the next merc she offers this to isn’t so loyal? She has to tell him.

V fumbles with her holo as she walks back through the club, doing some quick research on Konpeki Plaza. Finding their policy on guns. Given the stealth nature of this mission, she can assume the only way they’re getting in is to find a way to get in like regular patrons. Which means they’d be scanned for guns as soon as they get through the door. If something goes south, she doesn’t want her and Jackie left unarmed with a hoard of Arasaka soldiers on their ass.

But they can’t confiscate cyberware.

Might be time to cash in her savings for something. Her holo buzzes in her hand as Dex calls; her stomach drops. Unsure for a moment what to say to him, if she should go ahead and tell him what Evelyn tried to pull. Would he lose his temper? Drop the entire damn heist? Would he hurt her for it? It weighs on her shoulders as she pushes through a blue beaded curtain, considering her options with a finger hovering over the phone.

[mercysought]

@prvtocol​​ .  ❝ What is perfect requires no change. ❞ (for V!) . cyberpunk 2077 . accepting

She’d been looking at this piece, of what she could only imagine was priceless pottery, for a solid fifteen minutes. They had been discussing something else, but Viv had checked out after seeing it. It was plain, or (forgive me) modern. Like the stark corpo look that was just in about every high-end place she walked into as if it was a badge of honour. She was sure that if they could put up neon signs of arasaka in most of those places as decoration without being hit with their ire that some NC peasants would think of usin’ their brand, they would. For Brianne, it would make sense, after all she did work for them and it was a known thing that if you joined a large corpo it was basically like a cult. 

Before meeting Brianne (and maybe Takemura) she liked to imagine them similar to any of the other gangs except with far slicker clothes. She wasn’t fully off; except that Viv knew none of the gangs had this level of fuckery happening within. They wouldn’t be able to survive if they just kept backstabin’ each other to rise to the top. She guessed that was the good thing about Arasaka bein’ an over-bloated mess. There was always plenty of cogs and nails laying around and willing to be chewed up.

In any case, Viv was sure she wasn’t talkin’ about the pottery piece. The merc was fairly certain that she could find something similar to it in Japantown. Like at least a good 80% certain. It wasn’t that it was ugly, if it was ugly she could at least feel something about it. No, its biggest sin, much like many of the corpo things, was that it was tear-inducing borin’.

   “Yeah?” Viv glances up her shoulder to her friend. Her lips half hidden by her dark hair and her shoulder but it was visible in her eyes: the mischievous grin “Ever heard about kintsugi, Bri?”

[grimoire-of-geekery]

Detect Magic: the Sixth World Tarot by Echo Chernik

(pictured here- the deluxe edition [left] and the Arcanist edition of the Sixth World Tarot by Echo Chernik)

Y'know, it's been a long time since I did one of these, but here goes. It's time for another Detect Magic review. I haven't put the Dork Magician hat on for a while, so let's give this a whirl!

Today we're taking a look at the Sixth World Tarot, by Echo and Lazarus Chernik. She has this available on her website (click the above link), which come signed by the artist and the author. I'm a bit bummed, I bought a copy of this deck juuuuust before she started signing them. Not her fault, but still. XD

For those of you unfamiliar with Shadowrun, it's a cyberpunk dystopian magic-and-mech RPG setting and fantasy novel universe which originated in the late 80's. The premise is that magic is growing stronger, the world experienced a big Awakening in the early 2000's, right around the same time that corporations managed to gain extraterritoriality. So, you have dragons running huge megacorps, which basically enslave people to be lifelong wageslaves from birth (or as soon as they can get their hands on a desired talent), immersive VR Matrix hackers, cyberware enhanced fighters and magic practitioners acting as "deniable assets" to said corps for all sorts of shady business.

Hence the name "Shadowrun."

This setting, one of my absolute favorite settings out there, has had the misfortune of developing a sort of eerie prophetic element akin to the Simpsons and its bizarre track record of prediction of ludicrous world events. Shadowrun was intended to be a cautionary tale, not an oracular one. That being said, that does make a tarot based on Shadowrun more than a little on-the-nose for predictive purposes. After all, they're telling the future without even trying. Wait until they actually put some effort into it...

All right, time to Detect Magic!

Accessory- Crit (4 out of 4) Stunning artwork, evocative imagery... this deck is gorgeous. It's so beautiful, and so intricate and well made, that people who don't even read tarot (or even particularly like tarot) buy several copies for their geeky collections, and even people who don't particularly care about Shadowrun have dropped their jaw when I showed the deck to them.

A bit busier than I'm used to working with (not the art, but the extras which I'll explain later), I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved the cards when I first got them. The box for both editions I own are a nice durable gloss with a magnetic foldover closure, there's a ribbon inside each to help pull the cards and book out of the box, and the decorative artwork is gorgeous and fitting with the setting. Definitely aesthetically pleasing enough to take places, and durable enough to resist scuffing or tearing for on-the-go divination and gaming use.

Tome- Crit (4 out of 4) So, the Tome section of this review is supposed to be about how well the cards help one in the pursuit of learning magic and practicing geekomancy. And... really, I don't think I've found a deck (or any artifact of fandom) quite as good as this.

Let me explain.

Tarot, in the sorcery practice I teach, are already basically a pictorial grimoire, describing life in a way that allows us to learn the hidden movements, mysteries, and forces at play in our world. Art is good for things like that in general. It helps you see the world through a special lens, one which allows you to see things you might have missed.

The thing is, the lens of this deck is the Shadowrun continuity, which as I said earlier, has proven to be more than a little prophetic, and alarmingly so.

The magic system of Shadowrun is pretty adjacent to our own. Life force lines, spiritual power sites, astral projection and spirits and magical "energy" forms, initiatory mysteries... it's all pretty much the same as our own reality, just juiced up a bit, with some extra game elements added (don't even ask me about insect spirits).

This makes the deck particularly helpful if one wishes to learn magic in any of the myriad ways described in Shadowrun (and they're particularly respectful and diverse and true-to-life in their tradition descriptions).

BUT, it also has an entire lore-book called the Book of the Lost associated with it, which explains all these little secret sigils and images and easter eggs stored throughout the deck, which can be used for gamebuilding and storytelling, but are designed to be arcane indicators and omens, among other things. And the kinds of symbols they use range from sentences or mottos in dead languages, all the way to waveform patterns and dot-matrix maps. I swear, if you're one of those people who like puzzles and cryptography, this deck is even more fun than the Hermetic Tarot.

In summary, while you'll have to get some Shadowrun sourcebooks to really get deep into the canon lore, there's so much of it that the cards really show you on their own that I don't consider this a setback at all. Feel free to deep-dive with this deck, you'll learn a TON about magic if you let it guide you.

Relic- Success (3 out of 4) If you read the Book of the Lost, or Unearthed Arcana, or any of the 5th edition Shadowrun magic sourcebooks, you'll see that "tarot magic" is an up and coming thing in their canon. Each text helps you see how practitioners use the cards in-game for spellcasting, ritual magic, initiation practices and spirit summoning. The Tarot are already really valuable as central objects of importance to certain kinds of magical practice. This particular deck is designed to be so handy a central object that there's an entire book dedicated to it.

Weapon- Success (3 out of 4) The only reason I'm rating this a success instead of a crit is because they don't provide enough spreads in the various associated books for one to immediately begin casting spells with them, which means you'll have to do some designing. They do have a couple solid unique spreads for basic divination though.

The deck's canon in-game suggests ritual practices like gathering and doing a ritual with sets of related cards, and one such ritual was easily adapted in my own practice, into the Lucky Kimono spread I designed (which people can read about on my Patreon at the higher tiers). So, even without outright including spell-spreads, they sort of gave us clues anyway.

Again, you're going to need the sourcebooks, but it's only a few of them, and they're well worth a read even if you're not planning on playing the game (and I don't play in the actual Shadowrun mechanical system, though I do like the sourcebooks for campaign setting ideas).

Overall Rating: Critical Success (14 out of 16)

Achievement Unlocked: Novahot Echo's artwork is already legendary in the dork realms of geekomancy. She's done work for Dungeons and Dragons, Mage: the Ascension, House of Night... she's even working on a Fate: the Winx Saga playing card deck right now. Her art-nouveau delicacy combined with the powerful non-pandering way she draws women means that her paintings pack a punch!

That being said, it's rare that we see professional artists create a tarot deck of this magnitude as a gaming accessory. Most tarot decks of this caliber are found in professional occult catalogues or as independent projects by artists just wanting to flex their skills for their own reasons. To have a deck like this, clearly a labor of love by all involved, as a major element of gameplay within a franchise is really very special. And something this diverse, deep, and absolutely saturated with layers of ciphers and riddles... it's a geekomancer's dream come true.

Level Up: 2 Levels I think the only way anyone's going to be able to top this deck is if they manage to design a tarot deck that's also a fully immersive VR video game AND an AR game and divination tool useable with one's iPhone or Android. Legit, Echo and Lazarus left everyone in the dust. I haven't been this excited about Shadowrun since Shadowrun Returns first came out, and I got a set of dogtags that had a USB drive with the game on it.

It's just... crazy cool.

Full disclosure, I've had the deluxe edition of these cards for a while now, so I've basically been low-key squeeing about this deck since I first heard about it in 2018, even before I got it. I've been utterly astonished that people weren't more excited about them, and I wasn't hearing about them everywhere.

Before this, I created my own Shadowrun tarot method using the Universal Transparent Tarot (cuz, y'know, plastic and see-through and weird little mosaic readings all in one place, seemed fitting to me), and when I got the Sixth World Tarot? I don't think I've opened the UTT since!

Anyway, this is my review of this deck! Go follow the link up at the top of this post, and buy yourself one! And hey, let me know if you figure out the cool little map trick. My jaw literally dropped when I was shown that!

[pixelgrotto]

Night City, I barely remember ya

I beat Cyberpunk 2077 last month, and honestly, I haven’t thought about Cyberpunk 2077 that much since.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. CD Projekt Red’s follow-up to The Witcher 3 was meant to be the sort of game that would stick in your mind after completion. It was promoted over eight years of hype stemming from its initial 2013 reveal as a example of CD Projekt’s infamous “vodka and Slavic magic” - a behemoth destined to change open world RPGs forever. But in the roughly 12 weeks since its release, the stuff that’s happened to Cyberpunk 2077, including its delisting from the Playstation store for being chock full of bugs and the theft of its source code by hackers, has been more cyberpunk than the actual game.

I was one of those people super hyped for this game when it was first announced. I mean, the Witcher franchise left an indelible impression on me; how could I not be psyched to see its devs tackle one of my favorite sci-fi genres? But my hype deflated over the years, largely due to tales of terrible crunch emerging from CD Projekt’s studios and social media marketing that was ill-advised at best and transphobic at worst. Everything seemed to slowly hint that the game’s vision of “cyberpunk” - a genre that can tell incredible futuristic tales of social upheaval and marginalized peoples - would be mostly style with not so much substance.

Despite me keeping my fingers crossed, the end product is pretty much what I feared - and I guess I should’ve known, since the official sourcebook for Cyberpunk 2020, the tabletop RPG that CD Projekt Red used as inspiration, actually lists “style over substance” as one of its rules.

Cyberpunk 2077’s main story revolves around a merc who dreams of big time heists in Night City named V. After a heist goes south, V ends up absorbing a biochip made by big bad corporation Arasaka that features the captured personality of rockstar-turned-terrorist Johnny Silverhand, played by Keanu Reeves - who, to be fair, does a good job with the material he’s given. Cue a bunch of quests that revolve around V and Johnny coming to terms with each other, taking down Arasaka and figuring out how to separate the chip from V’s brain.

In theory, this sounds like a cool way to explore the very cyberpunk themes of identity and what it means to have a corrupt company preserve a human soul beyond its organic shell. In reality, though, the story’s a surface level examination of these concepts, and Johnny Silverhand remains a massive dick throughout most of the game, only becoming relatable if players give him the benefit of the doubt - which they’re expected to do because he’s played by Keanu Reeves.

Johnny’s animosity towards Arasaka is also never completely outlined. He - and most other characters in Night City - keep telling V that corporations are awful because they disregard human rights and destroy the environment, but we never get many chances to see for ourselves how Arasaka and similar companies, like Militech or Kang Tao, actually do this. Arasaka does kidnap Johnny’s ex-girlfriend and is behind the tech that transfers his soul to a biochip, yes, but Johnny also threatens to destroy them at all of his shows and eventually sets off a bomb in their headquarters. Not that I’m siding with the corporation, but for much of the game we’re expected to treat them as the number one enemy simply because other characters say so, which is very much a “show, don’t tell” missed opportunity. If anything, Arasaka’s portrayal feels more like a vestige of the cyberpunk genre’s unfortunate maturation during the 1980s, where the fear of Japanese conglomerates taking over the world was common and a future where Asian companies were all-powerful instead of Western ones seemed like a dystopia.

Cyberpunk 2077 is very much caught in that yesteryear mold, featuring elements that might have been progressive in the 1980s but seem passé now. For a game that relied on questionable representation of trans people in its marketing, there were no notable trans NPCs that I came across, and even though there’s a robust character creation system where you actually can make a trans person, the game makes the troubling decision to only offer binary pronouns tied to V’s voice. Despite the fact that many of the best modern cyperbunk works deal with body augmentation and the line between man and machine, most of the physical modifications you can pay for at Night City’s “ripperdoc” facilities are niche features that only offer minimal stat boosts, with only two major ones that I know of - the mantis blades and gorilla arms - actually causing extensive changes to V’s looks. And finally, while there are tons of characters of color in the game, ranging from the Haitian Voodoo Boys gang to V’s “friendly ethnic friend™” Jackie Welles, most of them are varying degrees of stereotypical. For instance, Goro Takemura, an ex-Arasaka employee, sends you text messages reminiscent of haiku at one point because he’s Japanese and has to talk like a formal, honorable samurai or something.

If you’re able to look past these issues - along with the myriad of bugs that Cyberpunk 2077 shipped with - there’s still the niggling feeling that this game could have been so much more. The signs of a troubled development process are numerous, and there are Reddit threads packed with still-visible remnants - like useless combat skill perks and an entire metro system - that were part of gameplay elements gutted at some point in order for those overworked CD Projekt Red programmers to make a long-delayed release date. Even mainstay stuff in the open world genre - like the police chases common in the Grand Theft Autos - are absent, and Cyberpunk 2077’s 2018 demo, chock full of promised features that never made it into the final product, has to be one of the most notorious bits of smoke ‘n mirrors “gameplay” in recent memory.

Perhaps most bothersome is the feeling that a lot of your choices don’t seem to matter all that much in Cyberpunk 2077, which once touted itself as “a full-fledged RPG, not a shooter with RPG elements,” but ends up feeling more like the latter than the former. The game’s three different lifepaths - nomad, streetkid and corpo - only amount to about thirty minutes of unique playtime at the start and a few different dialogue options. The vehicle combat sequences that punctuate key missions are largely scripted, looking cool but offering little consequences depending on what V aims at. The side quests I encountered had minimal branching paths, and the only time the main story opened up to offer some real choice was in the game’s final chapter. Considering that CD Projekt once developed The Witcher 2 - a 2011 game that branches dramatically at its halfway mark to the point where a lot of folks insist that you need to play it twice in order to feel satisfied - Cyberpunk 2077 feels like a step back.

And yet, despite all of these criticisms, I still put nearly 80 hours into the game over the course of December, January and February. You don’t do that for something that’s patently unfun, so let me be clear - there is an entertaining experience buried beneath an avalanche of unfulfilled potential here. Driving on my Akira-esque bike through Night City’s slums as the game’s best song bumped on the radio, taking out legions of baddies with my mantis blades and relishing in the game’s extensive photo mode (as you can probably tell by my screenshots above) was a good time. In spite of his assholery, I did feel something akin to attachment for that bastard Johnny Silverhand by the finale, and there were a few key moments - like when I was scuba diving in the ocean with my girlfriend Judy, looking at the remains of a town destroyed by the land seizing machinations of corporations - that felt like this game had something to say beyond “bang bang gunplay and neon aesthetic.”

But at the end of the day, while I do feel moderately interested in someday checking out Cyberpunk Red (the newest iteration of this franchise’s tabletop RPG), CD Projekt’s seven-year-hyped-up behemoth has largely faded from my brain one month after beating it. On Twitter, I’ve seen Cyberpunk 2077 described as something akin to a flashy Netflix series with lots of fanfare and flair but not much else - and I can’t really argue with that statement.

Night City was supposed to be the stuff of a long-term relationship. Instead, it feels more like a fling.

[dice-of-rolling]

30 Questions Tag Game

Rules: Answer 30 questions and tag 20  blogs you are contractually obligated to know better.  

I got tagged by @casifer-fan - Thanks mon ami!!

Tagging: @male-v @altcvnningham @visceralcoma @cyberfool2077 @tieflingwizard @scrumptioussynths 

1. Name/Nickname: Ghostie, or Ghost. (I also go by Z if you want something that’s a little more connected to my real name lol)

2. Gender: Female but like who knows lmao

3. Star sign: Libra

4. Height: 5′7″

5. Time: 8:16 Pm

6. Birthday: October 6th

7. Favorite Bands: My Chemical Romance, Mother Mother, Run the Jewels, $uicide boy$(pls dont,,,,i know) The Refused(I’m including Samurai but i was a fan before not to be a hipster lol) The White Stripes.

8. Favorite Solo artists: Elton John!! Grimes, Hobo Johnson, Orville Peck, Post Malone some more I cant think off lol

9. Song stuck in my head: Never Wanted to Dance by Mindless Self Indulgence

10, Last movie: Emma (2020)

11. Last Show: Gentleman Jack

12. When did I create this blog: I created it like a year and a half ago but abandoned it and rejoined this hellsite like 2 months ago after getting fed up by Reddit’s Cyberpunk community

13. Other blogs: They’re all long dead, I’ve been on this site since 2012 lol

14. What do I post: rn mainly Cyberpunk 2077, TTRPG things, Critical Role, Star Wars, Good Omens sometimes. 

15. Last thing googled: Drinking games for 2 lol (for a fic, i dont have FRIENDS lmao)

16. Do I get asks: I’ve gotten a few but I wish i got more

17. Why I chose my url: I have an addiction to dice. 

18. Following: ~~Like 150

19. Followers: 80-ish I haven’t checked in a while. 

20. Average hours of sleep: I sleep in smaller naps usually but it’s around 6 hours.

21. Lucky number: 6

22. Instruments: Bass, vocals if you get me drunk enough. 

23. What am I wearing: a grey cropped hoodie, mario jammie pants and the blood of my enemies. 

24. Dream job: Game writer, preferably for an RPG. 

25. Dream trip: Scottish highlands where I can visit castles and old bookstores, living out all my dark academia fantasies. 

26. Favorite food: Sushiiiii

27. Nationality: American, unfortunately 

28. Favorite song: Don’t have one  :)))))    (its Your Song by Elton John bc I’m secretly a wine mom but keep it on the DL)

29. Last book read: The Secret History for literally the 4th time since quarantine started. Did someone say comfort media??? 

30. Top three fictional universes I’d like to live in: Lord of the Rings, STAR WARS PLSSSSSSS, Dungeons and Dragons bc I want to be a badass healer bard like i play in every D&D game lmao. 

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis New Year’s Special: Roy Batty

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

There are villains, and there are anti-villains, villains who do evil but who evoke sympathy because while their actions are heinous, their motivations are sympathetic and understandable. And there are few villains in all of cinema and even fewer anti-villains who evoke quite as much sympathy as Roy Batty.

Roy Batty is a Replicant, designed for combat and made to basically be a slave as all Replicants are. And despite all this, Batty merely wants to be free and live his life, and in fact prolong his life as he does not have a lot of time left – Replicants like him only get a few years at most. And so he murders and tortures his way through people who might have the answers he seeks, and yet, despite all this Roy Batty never once stops being sympathetic, he never stops being someone the audience can somewhat empathize with. We condemn his actions, sure, but he always remains a tragic figure.

Despite being ostensibly the villain of the film, Batty manages to have a defined arc that gets just as much attention as Deckard, fully fleshing him out and making him something of a villain protagonist from a certain point of view. In fact, Batty is not just a great villain and a great protagonist – he’s probably one of the greatest characters in all of cinema.

Actor: Phillip K. Dick, author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the book Blade Runner is based on, is quoted as saying Rutger Hauer was "the perfect Batty — cold, Aryan, flawless." Batty was designed to be the perfect being, a flawless specimen of man, strong, smart, and driven, and if any man in the 80s exemplified that, it was Hauer. In a career of great performances, this was Hauer’s finest, and most of that comes from him inspiring so much of what we love about eh character, doing little things that wre thrown in because he felt it made Batty more interesting. Of course, the most important thing Hauer did was change Batty’s scripted dying words into something far more poignant and beautiful, but we’ll get to that shortly. If it isn’t clear, this is an absolutely perfect performance.

Motivation/Goals: Batty has a simple goal, but a goal that drives him to desperation: he wants to live. And he wants to live because he can’t bear all of his memories being forgotten, washed away by time and forgotten. He wants to be remembered if nothing else, but he goes to murderous lengths to achieve his goal… though frankly it’s seriously hard not to sympathize with him considering that he’s an escaped slave desperate to leave some mark on the world and live free going up against a cop who is legally allowed to hunt him down and terminate him. I suppose it is part of the point that we should sympathize with him; he’s more human than human, after all.

Personality: It’s actually interesting to note that Batty is well-read, intelligent, charming, and philosophical… which is the opposite of our tough, gritty noir detective protagonist Deckard. Much has been made of Harrison Ford’s, let’s say, “understated” performance in Blade Runner, but frankly I find it to be a deliberate choice to contrast against Batty: we have a machine that is all too human going up against a human who is bland and robotic. It ties in very well thematically with the film.

Final Fate: After spending the climax beating up Deckard and basically going bonkers after the deaths of his lover and friends, Batty regains his composure, saves Deckard’s life, and, well...

Best Scene: ...he dies. But not before he laments on how all the amazing experiences he has had in his short, tragic existence will die with him and end up forgotten. This is one of the most beautiful soliloquies ever put to film, and while I’m not the biggest fan of the film as a whole, I am an enormous fan of Batty and this scene in particular. I tear up every single time I watch this; Hauer’s performance here is so powerful.

Best Quote: As if it could be anything else aside from the “Tears in the Rain” soliloquy: “I've...seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those... moments... will be lost in time, like tears... in... rain. Time... to die...” This quote becomes all the more tragic and poignant as Hauer passed away in 2019, a few months before the month his character died in the 2019 this movie envisioned. It’s a sad, eerie coincidence that only serves to empower these lines even more.

Final Thoughts & Score: Roy Batty is one of the most beautiful and poignant characters in all of cinema. Everything about him is just so appealing on a character level, and it amazes me because he’s really the only part of the movie I love. The rest of it has just never vibed with me even a little bit – but Roy Batty? His struggles are always relatable.

While obviously it’s not likely you’ll know what it’s like to be a slave, it’s pretty common to have that sort of existential dread that Batty has. I know I’ve always feared dying alone and unremembered, all of what I am being forgotten as I fade away. Maybe that’s why Batty resonated with me more than the rest of the film and certainly more than Deckard: you can give me all the gritty cyberpunk noir with Harrison Ford you’d like, but it won’t mean anything if you’re giving me a deeply existential and philosophical cyborg superman desperate to either extend his life which is rapidly burning out or at least somehow preserve his memory so that his existence is not utterly forgotten (this last bit actually makes his casting as the replacement for Master Xehanort all the better; The Nobodies had similar themes, what with their Proof of Existence graveyard and desire to have their hearts returned).

Adding into what makes him so engaging to me is the religious symbolism, something I’m a sucker for. Batty ends up as a strange and complex fusion of both Lucifer and Jesus, descending from the sky to free his people in spite of the wishes of his god-like father. He does resemble many stereotypical depictions of Lucifer, as well. But then we get to the more Jesus-y bits, such as his affinity for doves and the fact he dies with nails through his palms and a dove in his hands. He’s such an interesting Messianic archetype.

Batty is clearly a 10/10. That 10 is pretty much solely for the soliloquy too; if only I had more of an excuse to give him an 11, but sadly Batty hasn’t had the massive impact on popular culture that he deserves, which is a shame. Batty is still a perfect villain regardless, and a perfect character to boot, no bones about it. In the end, while he never succeeded to extend his life, he did end up getting what he wanted on a meta level: Roy Batty, to all who have seen the film, is eternally remembered. His memories are not lost to time like tears in the rain; those memories live on in us. If Batty were real, I hope he would be satisfied that his short life was not in vain. 

I think it says a lot that he doesn’t appear in Blade Runner 2049, and yet... as the film ends and K lies dying, Vangelis’ “Tears in the Rain” plays over him, drawing a direct connection between the dignified, tragic end of Roy Batty and the heroic sacrifice K made to save Deckard and ensure he could finally meet his daughter. Roy doesn’t need to appear at all; just invoking him in spirit is enough to make a scene all the more beautiful and poignant. If that is not the sign of a great character, I’m not exactly sure what is.

[jeanstoppable]

20th & 21st OF OCTOBER

~change the channel~ (substitute)

~island in the sun~

(A/N: I cannot, for the life of me, make these prompts shorter. But anyways, here’s some more of my Cyberpunk oc and a bit of world building)

WARNING: Mentions of Drug Use/Dark themes

The door shut with a soft click, the metal barrier cancelling out the harsh and turbulent noise of the downpour outside, as a clear ping pierced the silence of the room, signalling the automatic lock being completed.

I tossed the drenched sling bag somewhere on the floor, hearing it land but not bothering to check where, and started peeling the equally wet jacket off my torso, leaving me in a sleeveless black top.

I should take a shower first. I thought. But my legs didn’t move towards the bathroom to my far right, instead my eyes were fixated on the desk beside my bed, and then gradually brought them up on the old painting displayed right above it.

Later. This can’t wait. Heart and mind decided, I shuffled over to the desk in a sense of urgency, grabbed the painting by its sides and then plucked it from the hook. Flipping the frame around, a black plate covered the back of the canvas. With familiar ease, I slid my fingers across the upper corner edges and found the latch, successfully unfastening the plate to unveil a couple of worn-out journals hidden inside. Untouched.

A breath of relief escaped me, my fear of the notebooks being discovered momentarily disappearing.

I picked out the one I’ve been using as of late—the tenth one if I recall correctly, since I’ve already used up every bit of space from the others—and opened the journal where it had a bookmark.

The yellowed blank pages were a frequent sight as I ran a hand across the smooth surface while my other hand pulled a pen from a cup that was also holding a heap of markers and then started writing my thoughts—

It was a common enough phrase.

“CHANGE THE CHANNEL”

It doesn’t pique interest, at least to...someone like me, so it shouldn’t raise any suspicions, right?

I hovered the nib of the pen slightly above the paper, thinking if I should continue to write about the news we’ve received today. It was shocking enough that I even had to pinch myself a couple of times to see if I was dreaming or not because the news wasn’t just good nor great---it was the best fucking thing I’ve heard in years and it also just happens to be the one we’ve all been waiting for.

Setting down the pen, I reached for the hidden compartment again, took the very first journal I owned and then absently flipped through the filled pages, the crisp, crinkling sounds tenderly jogging my memory.

I stopped at the beginning of the notebook, a reminiscing smile graced my lips as I traced the old ink with the tip of a finger.

Don’t let anyone steal this.

I snorted, of course, this was written on the day I got my ass beat and left without so much of a coin in my pocket—thus, I was forced to resort to stealing. Strangely enough, this journal was the first thing I stole and to this day, I can’t seem to remember the reason why but I do remember how awful the act made me feel, the feeling lasted for days.

Nonetheless, those feelings subsided after getting accustomed to this lifestyle. Crime practically lived and breathed under my skin, these hands and feet of mine becoming my very own accomplices.

I closed my eyes as the usual barrage of emotions washed over me: disappointment, disgust, anger, hate—so much hate and all of it was directed at the only person I can blame at the moment.

Well to be fair, not once did I deny the indisputable fact that I hated how my life turned out, how everything turned out considering that there’s no one even left to impress, no one to see me pretend as if I wasn’t so horribly broken-down on the inside.

I hated how I was still here, anchored by some self-righteous bullshit I’d placed like a burden on my shoulders that one miserable night, a burden that still stubbornly carries the promise of changing the lives of so many other people.

My gaze landed on the scribbled date at the top of the page.

It’s been 6 years since the incident.

I breathed out my nose unevenly and closed the book with a snap, pushing it aside as I returned to the previous journal and picked up the pen to finish today’s log.

It’s happening.. It’s finally happening.

Today marks the fucking day of something revolutionary as we received reports, genuine physical reports, of a planned coup in all of five districts. And I know there had been a lot of them in the past and those who participated lost their lives after being executed on the spot… However, this time around, my gut tells me otherwise.

I think I mentioned this in my previous logs; it’s about the power balance shifting. It began to tip since last year and it hasn’t stopped till now. I fiercely believe that the power will eventually find its way back to us, as it rightfully should.

This was a long time coming after all. Years and years of effort had been put in just to dethrone those who forcefully robbed us of our lives and not just that---Our identities.. Our Family and friends. The voice itself of the public.

Letting out a tortured laugh, I wrote the end of the log:

CHANGE THE CHANNEL

Simple, dismissive and yet it holds the power of treason. It speaks the word of rebellion. I’m not afraid anymore because this phrase will take us one step closer to freedom.

. . .

“...Are you sure this is the right place?”

“Positive.”

I cast my partner a skeptical glance.

“...I’m 80% sure.” He nervously admitted, purposely avoiding my prodding eyes.

A huff of disbelief slipped past my lips as I demanded from him, “What did the message say anyway?”

“It was a recorded message programmed inside a toy, it only said the time and the address before self-destructing. But like I said, I don’t think I got any of the information wrong.”

“Maybe you misheard or missed something because this—”

I swallowed the sentence and did another scan of the building in front of us, our position from an empty terrace across the street granting us to overlook the supposed meeting place, the rendezvous as it turns out was a grand and luxurious night club.

It seemed that access was only given to those in the upper class but since it was fairly new and as far as rumors go, I heard it has an eccentricity to it, so the club wasn’t bustling like the other similar establishments scattered in the district. Still, entry to the venue remains as a privilege only to those who can afford to waste money, in this economy.

I eyed the flashy neon sign just above the main doors with slight distaste and a growing curiosity.

Island in the Sun

The name certainly snatches attention.

After seeing a bunch of people dressed in stylish clothes walk out, I run a hand through my hair, suddenly feeling a tiny bit insecure about what I’m wearing.

Hell, nothing about my attire was fancy by any means so I shot my partner another worried glance, “Do we really have no further means of communication with them? Do we really have to enter through the front? Can’t we just, you know, sneak inside a window? I mean, we don’t—we’re not—”

I gestured to his clothes and then mine, “We’ll stick out like sore fucking thumbs.”

“You do make a sound point.” He murmured and then lowered his goggles to finally address me, his grey orbs illuminated by the numerous bright neon signs, “I never expected our sponsor to be this...shameless? They’re practically waving their wealth in our faces, makes me wanna take a swipe at them.”

“Arman,” I quietly sighed, “What are we getting ourselves into?”

Is this what having cold feet feels like?

My partner surveyed me for a instant before having the nerve to roll his eyes, “Just treat this as one of our regular heists, Sonya. Aren’t you the least excited to experience what it’s like partying with the upper class?”

I stayed silent, not bothering to tell him that I did have prior experience, and just rubbed my temples, a headache forming at the prospect of how tonight will go.

“Time for a channel change.” My partner winked, his wise words partnered with the small gesture cracked my lips into a smile.

He then put a hand under his chin, thinking carefully as he relayed more of his thoughts, “And maybe get laid by the end of the night.” This time, I was the one to roll my eyes and got a glower from him in exchange.

“You could use it as well… When’s the last time you—”

“Shut the fuck up, Arman.” I tried snapping back but it turned into a laugh instead.

He only grinned toothily, looking guilty but proud, “Less nervous?”

“Let’s just get this over with.”

“Wait.” He said all of a sudden.

I raised a brow in question, my hands already gripping onto the rails, poised to scale down at any moment.

“Clothes.” Arman waved a hand and I grimaced.

“Ah yeah, right.”

A terse silence passed before we both launched smirks at each other, the same heinous idea forming in our minds as he pointed towards a closed clothing shop a few blocks away.

“What say you for one more heist this evening? It won’t be as grandiose as the previous ones, I’m afraid.”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

. . .

Your ass looks nice in that.

Yeah? I’m taking this one then.

...Well?

Your ass always looks great, Arman.

So you’re saying mine looks better? Thanks.

Wear a skirt and then we’ll talk.

Oh, Sonya, just watch and learn.

. . .

I leaned against a street light, scrutinising our target club while waiting for my partner to finish finding the ‘perfect outfit’ as he called it, his words not mine. In the end, I settled for a wine coloured fitted dress with a criss-cross pattern exposing my back, a black corset on top, a semi transparent blazer for my shoulders, and then I picked out simple knee length combat boots—in case the deal goes awry and we had to flee.

Hearing footsteps behind me, I peeked over and my jaw dropped as soon as I laid eyes on Arman.

He was wearing a skin tight turtleneck black dress, showing off his lean but toned figure, a beautiful velvet burgundy blazer that looked amazing on his broad shoulders and then his shoes were thick polished combat boots, almost same as mine, the only difference was his heels were an inch higher, making him look taller than he normally is.

I whistled in pure awe, “Damn, Island in the Sun is about to get a whole lot hotter.”

A smug expression graced his handsome features when he walked past me, swaying his ass deliberately, “Told you so,”

I huffed at his haughty but rightfully placed attitude and caught up to him, looping an arm around his, “Well, won’t you tell me—am I your designated arm candy or are you mine?”

“Why can’t we just be both?”

We toned down the volume of our conversation when we neared the establishment, Arman breaking off as he walked up to the main entrance. It was as we expected, one of the large bouncers blocked him immediately and then pointed to the side towards the long line of people waiting for their own turn.

Arman straightened his shoulders and crossed his arms, “We have an appointment with your employer.”

The bouncer examined my partner from head to toe, not looking the least convinced although the second after, he pressed a button on his collar, “Can you direct me to the boss’ line?”

“Hey!” A voice shouted off to the side where the line was, “Wait in line like the rest of—”

I whirled on whoever was speaking and gave them my most vicious glare, that person stopped in the middle of their sentence and then promptly averted their eyes. I scoffed at them.

“Boss, there’s two individuals here that say they have an appointment with you.” The bouncer said, nodding while listening to his receiver and then finally turned back to Arman, “I apologise but the boss doesn’t have any more appointments for tonight.”

Arman took this information calmly and then leaned in, a hand covering his lips as he whispered something to the bouncer, keeping his voice as quiet as possible.

The bouncer’s eyes widened, stared at Arnan and me before ultimately stepping aside, handing us two glowing yellow bracelets, “I’m sorry for the delay, the boss is expecting you.”

My partner brightened and accepted the bracelets, holding me by my wrist as he ushered us past the main entrance. Still confused about the whole ordeal, I reluctantly put on the accessory without saying a word, the bracelet giving a weird sting when it made contact with my skin, and then followed Arman inside.

“What was that?” I asked the moment we’re left alone.

“Did you forget why we’re here?” He quipped back cheerfully and the realisation struck me later than I would have liked.

“...What do you think this is for?” I changed the subject to both our glowing bracelets, raising mine to my eye level just to get a good look at it.

“I don’t know. Gimmicks?” Arman absently rubbed his, faintly knotting his eyebrows and then started inspecting the empty hallway we were walking through, “For a club named Island in the Sun, it doesn’t seem very hot.”

We reached the end of the hallway and the doors opened upon sensing us, revealing another set of corridors, three to be exact that split into different directions: There was muffled music coming from our right, while there’s really faint sounds of people chattering to the left, and then nothing from the one ahead of us.

I took a step towards the middle corridor, figuring it was where we needed to go but Arman blocked an arm in my way, “Don’t you want to check out the other rooms? We might as well explore before we get kicked out after our appointment.”

My expression definitely disapproved of the idea and he could see that, although I think I might’ve surprised him when I agreed to his request, “No more than five minutes.”

His grey orbs gleamed with excitement, “I’ll go this way,” he pointed to the right, “Take the left.” With that said, Arman pivoted and headed for the direction with the music, and I walked towards the left corridor.

The doors were glass so I’d seen what was inside while waiting for them to open.

I scrunched my brows in bewilderment at what awaited me. The room was massive so to say and furthermore, it has a second floor filled with—What were those? There were these weird opaque bubbles that had a hatch on the front with a keypad beside it and almost all of them were lit, vague silhouettes of people moving to and fro inside but nothing more than that.

My eyes landed on the pit with a glass dome in the centre, a couple of people were lounging on long circular couches whilst socialising with each other. I was so focused on the bizarre scene that I didn’t notice the doors sliding open and the cyborg standing off to the side, making me almost jump when it had announced itself.

WELCOME. WOULD YOU LIKE TO PROCURE AN ISLAND?

“I---uh, what...does that mean exactly?” I awkwardly rubbed my nape, feeling the need to occupy my shaking hands as I peered up at the cyborg.

WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO DEMONSTRATE HOW OUR ISLANDS WORK?

I simply nodded and the cyborg’s eyes immediately flashed bright, projecting a hologram into the empty space between us, leaving me to watch in wonder as a 3D model of one of the bubbles appeared.

ESSENTIALLY, OUR SPHERICAL ISLANDS ARE DESIGNED TO SERVE AS ADVANCED PRIVATE SUITS FOR SPECIAL CUSTOMERS. ITS CURVED WALLS ARE BUILT-IN WITH HIGH POWERED LED SCREENS THAT LETS YOU PROJECT ANY KIND OF SCENERY YOU’D PREFER AND IT’S ALSO COMPLETE WITH FURNITURE THAT CAN SATISFY TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOUR NEEDS.

The holograms changed and now it showed one of those glowing bracelets.

WHILE YOU’RE INSIDE THE CLUB, WE WILL ALSO EXCLUSIVELY PROVIDE YOU WITH OUR CLUB’S HOTTEST PRODUCT TO MAKE YOUR NIGHT BETTER AND MORE ENJOYABLE.

I frowned, asking warily, “Product?”

I’M PROHIBITED TO EXPLAIN ANY FURTHER DETAILS OF THE PRODUCT. HOWEVER, YOU CAN FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF THROUGH ONE OF OUR ISLANDS, THE PIT, OR IN THE PARTY ROOM.

Something cold settled in my stomach, “The party room...it’s the room opposite this one , right?”

CORRECT. NOW, THAT YOU ARE AWARE OF OUR CLUB’S COMMODITIES, WOULD YOU LIKE TO PROCURE AN ISLAND?

I shook my head, about to refuse the offer when a question crossed my mind, “...How much is one island?”

The cyborg turned off the projection and turned its gaze downwards, scanning my bracelet through its lens.

NO PAYMENT NEEDED FOR VIP CUSTOMERS.

“VIP...?” My throat dried up as I covered the bracelet on my wrist with a hand, “I...won’t be taking an island, thank you.” The cyborg merely bowed and then went back to its corner, waiting for someone new to serve.

“Shit, I have a bad feeling about this.” I said to myself, returning to the intersection from before and making my way towards the party room.

The moment the doors slid open, the music hit me and my eardrums in full blast. I winced at the intensity of it and more so at the large crowd dancing and grooving to the loud beat. It was difficult to even hear my own voice. I internally groaned, how am I supposed to find him at this rate?

Keeping my eyes sharp despite it being extremely dark and the occasional blinding strobe lights, I moved through the mob of people pressed against one another, awkwardly bumping into some people dancing and then sometimes getting pushed back. I bit my lip, refraining from picking a fight as I held on to my rapidly waning patience.

All of a sudden, someone slapped a hand to my ass and the leash briefly snapped—I quickly rounded on that person, a fist almost flying out when I saw that the hand belonged to a man a couple of inches shorter than me with a greasy sneer on his face.

“Do that again...” I fisted his shirt and followed with a violent promise, “And you’ll go home left-handed.” I threatened, my voice brimming with spite.

Once I saw the frightened understanding in his eyes, I released him and turned away. “Arman, you better show yourself right now.” I growled.

Finally, I spotted a familiar burgundy jacket behind a pillar and I set my sights on it, carelessly pushing my way through, ignoring the curses and rude remarks of the people I shoved because I have had enough of this.

I shouldn’t have to search for him.

As I got closer to the pillar, I only noticed then that he was making out with someone. Oh you’re dead. My fingers shot out to grab the shoulder of the man I’ve been searching for, ready to cuss at him till his ears fall off.

“Oi! What the fuck happened to five minutes?!”

I halted as I met face to face with a stranger, and not at all my partner, “A-ah, I’m sorry I thought you were—“ My eyes flicked towards the person standing beside them.

“Arman!” I shouted, obviously relieved to see him alright but then remembered I was still pissed off, “What the hell? I was looking all over for you!”

His eyebrows creased for a moment before a loopy smile graced his lips, “Sonya! I’m sorry, I got a bit distracted…” Arman’s gaze trailed off to the side but at the same time, he gripped the waist of the man he kissed earlier closer to his body.

I gawked at him. Honestly speechless. But then I lashed out a hand to circle around his wrist, the one with that damned bracelet, and discovered that the yellow glow was at half now.

This was their exclusive product.

I fumed as I took out a spare light from the pocket of my blazer and yanked his head down to my level, “Let me see your fucking eyes.”

I shined the light on them and noticed how bloodshot they were, his pupils were unusually blown wide. I cursed again, letting out my frustrations, “Arman, you’re blazed!”

“What?! No, no, no. I-I haven’t taken any.” He stumbled over his words, making me doubt him even more.

“Excuse me.” A new voice piped in.

I flipped my attention to Arman’s...date? Lover? Who the hell cares, I completely forgot he was even there, “Aren’t you being a bit rude? Who are you anyways?” The man asked snobbishly while squinting at me.

I glared back, a dangerous smile framing my painted lips, “I’m his girlfriend. Who are you?”

“Sonya!” Arman yelled in disbelief.

The man mouth hung open and then tried explaining himself, “I-I’m—“

I held up a finger, “You know what, I don’t give a rat’s ass.” Locking an arm around Arman’s, I pulled him away from the man and roughly dragged him across the dance floor and towards the exit.

Once we got back to the main hallway, I let him go and stared him down with my arms placed on my hips, “What was that, Arman?” I gritted out, trying to be as calm as I can without blowing a fuse.

“Give me a minute.” He panted, “It’s so damn hot, ugh.”

“What are you saying, you’ve only been in there for less than twenty minutes.” I looked at him confused but then clearly saw the heavy perspiration forming on his skin, “Hey...you’re sweating really bad.”

“I’m sorry, Sonya.” He apologised, breathing large gulps of air while leaning on the wall, “I’m sorry you had to cover for me back there.”

My gaze softened as I stood beside him, “It’s nothing…”

“I know I really screwed up for not being careful, but I swear—Sonya, I swear I didn’t take any drugs.” Arman gripped my arms, looking me wildly in the eyes.

“Don’t worry..I believe you.” I assured him, wiping the sweat off his forehead, “It might’ve been that stuck-up date of yours, did you notice him touch your bracelet while you were together?”

He opened his mouth and then clamped it shut, a deeply disturbed expression slowly contorted his features, “Yeah...Yeah, he did.”

I let out a rough exhale, controlling the rage that sweeped me off, now twice as strong, “If I ever see that fucker—“

A hand on my shoulder pulled my attention back as I faced Arman, letting him see the murderous expression on my features.

“The appointment.” He reminded me softly.

“...Right…right. Are you sure you’re okay now?”

He pushed off the wall and gave me a tiny smile that broke my heart.

“...You know, you’re giving Tilly a run for her money—I mean, showing up to a sponsor’s meeting high? Not even she has the balls to do that.”

Arman chuckled, a dark look passing his expression as he bitterly said, “I bet that they’re expecting us to attend already intoxicated.”

I hummed in agreement, “So, our first sponsor’s a drug enthusiast, huh?”

“Ready?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

TBC

(A/N: I WAS SUPPOSED TO INCLUDE MEETING THE BOSS BUT ITS TOO LONG wowowow, these prompts are now integrated into my story, I swear I didn’t mean for it to turn out like this—but ANYWAYS. I’m kinda living for this unhinged oc of mine, and this duo?? I had so much fun writing about theit dynamic. However sad to say, this will be the last of them for now... as it goes, i must move on to other ignored ocs PEACEEE)

[crxclodeth]

Tagged by @resistancesquadronblackleader tysm for the tag this was fun!! :DD

1. Name: Madison!

2. Nickname: I prefer clodeth/clev/mj :)

3. Zodiac sign: Libra baby!

4. Height: a solid 5"2 gamers

5. Languages: English. I've been learning Spanish for 3 years now though!

6. Nationality: Hispanic/Spanish/German

7. Favorite season: late fall

8. Favorite flower: rooster comb!

9. Favorite scent: vanilla/citrus/lavendar

10. Favorite color: mustard yellow and pink!

11. Favorite animal: okapis! I love dogs/snakes as a pet tho

12. Favortie fictional character: oh lord, y'all get ready.

Characters from games: toy chica and springtrap from FNaF. Connor and Chloe from D:BH. Sal Fisher from SF. Alice angel/evil Alice from BaTIM.

Characters from anything cinematic: Spinel, amethyst, and peridot from SU. Alara from the Orville. Mandalorian, Rey, and ahsoka from The SW universe. And SO many marvel characters.

13. Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?: Coffee baby! When I'm not exaused, hot chocolate is lovely

14. Average sleep?: I get 3-6 but hey, what can you do

15. Dog or cat person?: Dog person, although I don't mind cats at all!

16. Number of blankets?: Darlin I got a weighted blanket so just one

17. Dream trip?: Europe! Specifically UK and the Norwegian countries :)

18. Blog established: I joined Tumblr with this blog in 2018. Although despite this, I grew up on the Tumblr side of Pinterest sense 2012 so I've b e e n here yall

19. Followers: 56! This is my reblogging multifandom so I don't have a lot of followers but I still love them?

20. Random fact: I live by my sci-fi obsession! Books? Movies? Shows? Games? Science fiction! My favorite music genre is electropop, and my favorite aesthetic is 80s/cyberpunk lmaooo.

Thanks again for tagging me! I loved answering these 20 questions :))

Tags @tenya-hanlon @jschlitt @eggy-b-official @cherry-noodle @carcinokiiare @cryonicgandalf and any of my other followers that want to join! :DD