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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 2 months

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

July 23, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUL 24, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris continues her momentum toward the 2024 presidential election since President Joe Biden’s surprise announcement on Sunday that he would not accept the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination.

Today more than 350 national security leaders endorsed Harris for president, noting that if elected president, “she would enter that office with more significant national security experience than the four Presidents prior to President Biden.” As vice president, she “has met with more than 150 world leaders and traveled to 21 countries,” the authors wrote, and they called out her work across the globe from her work strengthening partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region to her historic trip to Africa and her efforts to expand U.S. relationships with nations in the Caribbean and North Central America. In contrast to Harris, the letter said, “Trump is a threat to America’s national security.”

Those signing the letter included former Central Intelligence Agency director Michael Hayden, former director of national intelligence James Clapper, national security advisors Susan Rice and Thomas Donilon, former secretaries of defense Chuck Hagel and Leon Panetta, and former secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.

In a New York Times op-ed today, former secretary of state Clinton praised Biden for his “decision to end his campaign,” which she called “as pure an act of patriotism as I have seen in my lifetime.” She went on to say that Vice President Harris “represents a fresh start for American politics,” offering a vision of an America with its best days ahead of it and, rather than “old grievances,” “new solutions.”

Clinton noted that her own political campaigns had seen her burned in effigy, but said, “It is a trap to believe that progress is impossible” and that Americans cannot overcome sexism and racism. After all, she pointed out, voters elected Black American Barack Obama in 2008, and she herself won the popular vote in 2016. “[A]bortion bans and attacks on democracy are galvanizing women voters like never before,” Clinton wrote, and “[w]ith Ms. Harris at the top of the ticket leading the way, this movement may become an unstoppable wave.”

Today, Harris held her first campaign rally, speaking to supporters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the Republicans held their national convention just last week. The energy from the 3000 people packed into the gym where she walked out to Beyoncé’s song “Freedom” was palpable.

She began by thanking Biden and touting his record, then turned to noting that in her past as a prosecutor, California attorney general, U.S. senator from California, and vice president, she “took on perpetrators of all kinds—predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So,” she said, “hear me when I say: I know Donald Trump’s type.” She went on to remind the audience that Trump ran a for-profit college that scammed students, was found liable for committing sexual abuse, and “was just found guilty of fraud on 34 counts.”

While Trump is relying on “billionaires and big corporations,” she said, “we are running a people-powered campaign” and “will be a people-first presidency.” The Democrats, she said, “believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead; a future where no child has to grow up in poverty; where every worker has the freedom to join a union; where every person has affordable health care, affordable childcare, and paid family leave. We believe in a future where every senior can retire with dignity.”

“[A]ll of this is to say,” she continued, “Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency. Because…when our middle class is strong, America is strong.”

In contrast, she said, Trump wants to take the country backward. She warned that he and his Project 2025 will “weaken the middle class,” cutting Social Security and Medicare and giving “tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations,” while “working families foot the bill.” “They intend to end the Affordable Care Act,” she said, “and take us back…to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with preexisting conditions…. Remember what that was like? Children with asthma, women who survived breast cancer, grandparents with diabetes. America has tried these failed economic policies before, but we are not going back. We’re not going back.”

“[O]urs is a fight for the future,” she said “And it is a fight for freedom…. Generations of Americans before us led the fight for freedom. And now…the baton is in our hands.”

Meanwhile, MAGA Republicans are still scrambling for a plan of attack against Harris. One of their first angles has been the sexism and racism Clinton predicted, calling her “a DEI hire.” House Republican leaders have told fellow lawmakers to dial back the sexist and racist attacks.

MAGA Republican representative Andy Ogles (R-TN) has taken a different angle: he introduced an impeachment resolution against Harris, while others are demanding that the House should investigate Harris and demand the Cabinet remove President Biden under the 25th Amendment. The Republican National Committee has decided to make fun of Harris’s laugh.

But concern in the Trump camp showed today when Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio shared with reporters a “confidential memorandum” trying to get ahead of polls he says will show Harris leading Trump. He said he expects to see a “Harris Honeymoon” that will end quickly.

Trump has continued to post angrily on his social media feed but is otherwise sticking close to home. His lack of visibility highlights that the Republicans are now on the receiving end of the same age and coherence concerns they had used against Biden, and there might be more attention paid to Trump’s lapses now that Biden has stepped aside. CNN’s Kate Sullivan noted today, for example, that “Trump said he’d consider Jamie Dimon for Treasury secretary, but now says he doesn’t know who said that.”

As Tim Alberta noted Sunday in The Atlantic, the Trump campaign tapped J.D. Vance in an attempt to harden the Republican base, only to find now that he cannot bring to the ticket any of the new supporters they suddenly need.

According to Harry Enten of CNN, Vance is the first vice presidential pick since 1980 who has entered the race with a negative favorability rating: in his case, –6 points. Since 2000, the usual average is +19 points. Vance won his Senate seat in 2022 by +6 points in an election Republican governor Mike DeWine won by +25 points. Vance “was the worst performing Republican candidate in 2022 up and down the ballot in the state of Ohio,” Enten said. “The J.D. Vance pick makes no sense from a statistical polling perspective.”

Sarah Longwell of The Bulwark, who specializes in focus groups, noted that swing voters groups “simply do not like” Vance. “Both his flip flopping on Trump and his extreme abortion position are what breaks through,” she wrote.

The 2024 election is not consuming all of the political oxygen, even in this astonishing week. Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that eight large companies must turn over information about the data they collect about consumers, product sales, and how the surveillance the companies used affected consumer prices.

“Firms that harvest Americans’ personal data can put people’s privacy at risk. Now firms could be exploiting this vast trove of personal information to charge people higher prices,” FTC chair Lina M. Khan said. “Americans deserve to know whether businesses are using detailed consumer data to deploy surveillance pricing, and the FTC’s inquiry will shed light on this shadowy ecosystem of pricing middlemen.”

The eight companies are: Mastercard, Revionics, Bloomreach, JPMorgan Chase, Task Software, PROS, Accenture, and McKinsey & Co.

In the House, Republicans have been unable to pass the appropriations bills necessary to fund the 2025 U.S. budget, laced as they are with culture-wars poison pills the extremists demand. Today House members debated the appropriations bill for the Interior Department and the Environment which, among other things, bans the use of funds “to promote or advance critical race theory” or to require Covid-19 masks or vaccine mandates.

According to the European climate service Copernicus, last Sunday was the hottest day in recorded history. The MAGA Republicans’ appropriations bill for Interior and the Environment calls for more oil drilling, fewer regulations on pollutants, no new regulations on vehicles, rejecting Biden’s climate change executive orders, and reducing the funding for the Environmental Protection Agency by 20%.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Letters from An American #Heather Cox Richardson #kamala harris #election 2024 #surveillance pricing #the FTC #House GOP in disarray

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jo-harrington · 2 months

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Corroded Coffin Fest - Day 24 - Behind the Scenes

Summary: A decade into their careers, Corroded Coffin answers the ever-present question: what makes good music?

Word Count: 983

Rating: T

Warnings/Themes: Older!Corroded Coffin, Set sometime in the 2000s, 1st Person POV, News Article, Reference to Day 23 Up and Coming, friendship

Note: Thank you to the wonderful @br0ck-eddie for the beta read

Check Out the Main Post for @corrodedcoffinfest here! Even if you didn’t start on Day 1, you can still join!

Tagging: @the-unforgivenn at her request.

You can find my masterlist here.

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Enjoy!

Cracking Open the Lid - Behind the Scenes with Corroded Coffin By Alex McCall

What makes great music?

I'm talking really great music.

The kind that inspires sold out shows and screaming audiences and a chart-topping album that's gonna win an award sooner rather than later.

Is it good lyrics? Something you can dance to? Die-hard fans? Maybe it's a little bit of everything, especially after a decade of slogging through bars and opening acts for bands that aren't as good and day jobs because gigs don't pay enough for the gas to get you to the next show?

Well, that's what Indiana-native Corroded Coffin attributes to their success.

"We got lucky," guitarist Eddie Munson insists as I join them backstage before their sold out Chicago show. "A thousand bands work hard and deserve to be here, work just as hard as we did but it truly is luck."

"We rolled a Nat 20," drummer Gareth Emerson adds, earning a laugh from the whole band. An inside joke for sure, but their history with Dungeons and Dragons isn't much of a secret if you've listened to their music at all in the past.

It's not every day that you get to cover a story about a band you "discovered" a decade ago, but here I am nonetheless. I passed countless fans lined up outside of the arena and chatted with a few of them. Stories range from hearing them open for Metallica a few years ago to someone who'd never heard of the band until they won tickets at work and became fast fans.

One of them asks when I first heard of Corroded Coffin, and I tell them, almost a little smugly, that I saw them playing live on St. Patty's Day at Cork and Kerry back in '90.

I tell the boys about it too--I'm allowed to call them the boys now--and they immediately dive into reminiscing.

"Was that the time," frontman Jeff Franklin can't stop laughing, "that Davey drank so much green beer he projectile vomited over the crowd at the end?"

"No!" Bassist Dave Nelson protects his honor. "That was the time someone threw a bra at you and you decided to wear it as a hat."

It was neither of those times.

No, this was the time Eddie decided to try crowdsurfing and landed flat on his face.

"Seriously you were there for that and you decided to come see us play again?" Eddie goans.

But it was that gumption that put them on my radar and made me want to see what a bunch of idiot kids from Indiana--kids like me, a transplant from Fort Wayne--had to bring to the table.

And it's been a rollercoaster ever since.

Since my first article about these guys, they've been everywhere man. Literally. Across the US, on tour after tour after tour. They recorded an original song for a major motion picture. They had their shot acting as extras in a movie too.

"That, uh," Dave shakes his head vigorously, "we don't talk about that, actually."

"First and last acting credit," Gareth agrees.

"Didn't you play Romeo back in high school though?" Jeff teases him.

It's this camaraderie that punctuates my time with them. I'm immediately laughing at all of their jokes, I'm folded into the intimacy of their group. And it isn't exclusive to my interview; this is the energy that they bring to the stage every night. It's what they've always done, ever since that first performance I witnessed and, I'm sure, every performance since.

And yeah I could talk about how they give me a tour of the green room and all of their snacks and the required video game console because Gare is almost done beating Legend of Zelda 2. Or their tour bus and Eddie's stuffed animal collection.

But it's their friendship that is the shining beacon of the band.

Always has been.

I ask if they fight much.

"Always" they say in tandem.

"Bickering like an old married couple," Eddie elaborates. "But I guess we are sort of married to one another. Lifelong commitments and all that."

I try to ask if any of them are married, but the band is notoriously private. (They told me, because I'm one of the guys now, I'm just not allowed to write about it.)

But private lives aside does that mean the band breaking up is completely off the table?

"I'm sure we'll retire at some point," Jeff offers. "Ed's knees are giving out."

"He's the old man of the group," Gareth snickers.

Something is thrown across the greenroom and hits the drummer in the head. A pillow. It starts some kind of pillow fight slash food fight between them all, and I even get in on some of the action with a well-aimed barrage of M&Ms of my own.

In hindsight I feel bad for the people who have to clean that up. I would offer some sort of compensation but the band famously pays their venue teams very well.

Someone calls a truce and we wrap up the interview.

I get to have my fanatical moment, showing off some of the articles and ticket stubs I've brought along with, as well as an old autographed polaroid that I've had at my desk for years.

I'm only a few years older than they are, and the way I've followed their career has been more like an older cousin hoping they make it big than anything. I've listened to their good songs and their bad, but I've never given up on them. None of their fans really have.

"We appreciate it man," Jeff nods and all of the guys have tears in their eyes as they agree. "It's all for you guys. And for each other. But for the fans? Always."

So what makes great music? I ask them.

And once again in tandem, I get my answer. But I guess I didn't need to ask them to know.

"Friendship."

#corrodedcoffinfest #eddie munson #corroded coffin #jeff stranger things #gareth stranger things #stranger things fic #eddie munson fic

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tarmac-rat · 2 years

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Slowly quietly thinking about how water-- the classical element of change, movement, emotion, and community-- is a subtle symbol of every Cyberpunk 2077's love interest's quest once it reaches it's completion

Judy Alvarez wants to enact change. She is, at her core, an idealist, and wants to confront the injustices of the world she lives in even if she doesn't exactly know where to start. Judy sees the way the world chews up the working classes of Night City and spits them out with no remorse and is one of the only people who says "no, this shouldn't stand, we have to do something". Even though her plan to seize of Clouds is ultimately unsuccessful, she walks away having gained at least one thing: her freedom. She's tied to Night City, in many ways always will be, but she realizes her worth extends beyond the place that's done absolutely nothing for her in return, so she chooses to leave it behind. Judy's storyline ends with her sitting on the dock overlooking the reservoir of Laguna Bend.

River Ward doesn't know how to change. Blue-blooded through and through, an NCPD detective whose traumatic experiences with crime has shaped who he is. River's morality drives his work, but it also pushes those closest to him-- his sister, his niece and nephews-- away from him. As a result, we see him as the thing society shaped him to be: a no-nonsense, by-the-book cop who genuinely believes in the morality of those he works with until he's forced to look it's corruption dead in the eyes. And the second he realizes how unjust the law he fought so hard to uphold really is, he severs his ties with it and returns to the people who care for him the most. River's storyline ends with him sitting on top of a water tower.

Kerry Eurodyne is resistant to change. Why wouldn't he be? Kerry Eurodyne is the last of the old guard, a rockerboy still living 60 years in the past who's in a mansion he hates and in a corporate deal he can't break out of. So what happens when change comes along in the form of a J-Pop band that's covering his songs without his permission? He confronts them, old-school style, because that's what rockerboys like him've always done. But Kerry soon realizes that the world moving on isn't a bad thing-- what is bad is him digging in his heels and not moving along with it. The new ways can be hard to accept, but Kerry's done with spending the rest of his life grappling with a past he refuses to reconcile with, so he ushers in a new era of his life the only way he knows how to: with songs and flames. Kerry's storyline ends with him lying on the shoreline of Del Cornado Bay

Panam Palmer is desperate for her people to change. Stubborn, hardheaded Panam saw the writing on the wall and broke out for a fresh start the moment she realized Saul's 'promised land' was nothing but dust, Raffen, and dealings with Biotechnica. She struck out as a merc in Night City, running drugs and working with the local gangs. But Panam's loyality is as much a blessing as it is a curse. She comes back when her family needs her, but she is done sitting on the sidelines and watching the Aldecaldos fall further under a corporate's thumb. So she does the only thing she feels she can do: steals a panzer and shows her leaders that their clan can still be something great. She's rewarded for her actions, and the Aldecaldos retain their independence for good. Panam's storyline ends with her driving the Basilisk over a lake in the Badlands.

#Cyberpunk 2077 #CP2077 #Judy Alvarez #River Ward #Kerry Eurodyne #Panam Palmer #Yeah yeah smth smth 'Water is the element of change we have a sense of community and love that holds us together through anything'#Also bonus fun fact that Johnny is very often paralleled with fire and Fire and Water are direct inverses of each other lolololol #This has been your once-every-two-months Cyberpunk meta analysis with Seta thank you for coming and please tip your waiters #Aldi speaks

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wifipunx92 · 9 days

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CyberPunk: Made in Night City #4

Daggerz:"Guess whos decided to rear their pretty little face back into my life?" *Johnny looks over at V with a smug look Johnny: "Lemme guess, has Judy finally forgiven you and come back into your life?"

Daggerz: "No you gonk! We both know that bridge has been burned. Shes not coming back... But that red head bitch Rachel for some reason messaged me with a acting gig. Pretty sure she also wants to fuck me, fucking fine ass corpo bitch. We'll see how that goes."

Johnny: "Oh? You in front of the lens? What are the odds. Y'dont seem like the acting type. *chuckles* What's the gig consist of?"

Daggerz: "Didnt get much into detail. Just said they wanted to film a modern take on the Akira incident from 2019. Said i'd be perfect as one of the leading roles. Most likely Kaneda." (*Gender roles dont exist in this universe.*)

Johnny: "Shotaro Kaneda. Son of a bitch that kid was. Got into it once with him and his crew when Samurai did a far east tour way back when. Kid was a punk with balls of chrome. Sad what happened to him and his choombas. Such a fucked up way to go out. Governments been tryna cover that shit up for the past 7 decades."

*V pulls out her pack of smokes. A Synnabis spliff seemed perfect for this moment. She put the spliff to her lips and sparked it up taking a big drag on the first inhale.

Daggerz: "Why am I not surprised that you had a run in with Kaneda. Is there more to this "Tall tale" or was it a brief encounter."

*She says as she passes Johnny the spliffy. He puts the butt of the filter to his lips and takes a quick drag, inhaling and holding in the smoke for a few seconds before exhaling.

Johnny: "Kid was a piece of shit gonk. Him and all his chooms. But like i said, they had balls. We were playing this local dive bar in shibuya. We were 5 songs into our set when this group of gangoons walked into the bar starting shit. Yelling, throwing shit at the stage, being obnoxious just like kids do. Got to a point where one of them chucked something at the stage hitting Kerry in the forehead almost knocking him out cold and of course Kerry being the hot head he is jumped up, walked over to them and decked the kid who threw the shit at him. Me, Kerry, Nance, Denny and Henry ended up squaring off with these dickwads which of course led to the promoter cancelling the rest of our set, kicking everyone out and closing up shop for the day. Kid disappeared after pulling a dagger out on me and i aint heard of him since. Not until the Akira incident." *He takes another drag before passing the spliff back to V.

Daggerz: "Fuck, thats some heavy shit Johnny. I know youre prone to trouble but damn. Getting into it with one of the kids from the Akira incident? Mind officially blown. Where were you when Akira struck again?" Johnny: "Cant really say or remember. That whole thing was a blur. Didnt hear about the incident until days later. Maybe i was spiraling out inna drunken rocker state. Who knows. But ill tell ya one thing, something about it bothered me. As if... I lost someone close to me or whatever. Strange cause that night was the only time i ever met that kid. Guess its just weird meeting a person who you think is insignificant in the world then all of a sudden theyre a big deal, front page news type shit know what i mean?" *V passes the spliff back to Johnny.

Daggerz: "Maybe you knew one another in a past life? Ooooor...maybe in a parallel universe you two are close chooms?

*Looking into the distance Johnny takes a long drag of the spliff and passes it back to V.

Johnny: "Maybe V. World works in weird mysterious ways. Who knows. All I know is the gonk went out trying to save his friend and that in my book deserves the upmost respect."

*V looks at Johnny and gives him a little smile

Daggerz: "Stop the press! Is Johnny Silverhand actually showing emotion and compassion for another human?!? Holy hell!😱"

Johnny: "Hey fuck you! I can be sentimental when needed. Not always a cold hearted shit. I can show emotion when needed." *He said laughing.

Daggerz: "Riiight, right. Okay Mr. Sentimental lets go. I gotta go down to Fourth Wall to meet up with this woman so she can tell me more about this shit. Maybe even get laid in the process."

Johnny: "Heh, we shall see. Probably gonna take an army to hold that bitch back from jumping on your meat stick."

*V shakes her head and laughs softly. Daggerz: "Alright shit for brains lets go."

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timaeusterrored · 11 months

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(The Pool Boy)

((Remember that one post I made waaaaay back in the early days when everything was cool? Yeah well I’m finally writing it))

Kerry Eurodyne remembers a time when he would have been embarrassed by Ariel seeing the state of the villa after a long night. But now he couldn’t find it in himself to care. Both were used too it, just as much as Kerry was used to being shaken to make sure he was still alive and Ariel starting conversations way too early.

“Kerry! Up! Breakfast!” Ariel was two seconds from pouring water over the rocker if he wasn’t up in the next five seconds. Kerry knew the annoyance in his voice, this song and dance happened every morning.

The rocker followed the smell of food and winced at the bright lights, attempting to dim them but immediately got scolded by his cook. Claiming he ‘needed them.’ Kerry just figured he was in a bitchy mood today. Or maybe he himself was in the bitchy mood.

Ariel was talking a mile a minute while Kerry stared at his back and tried so hard to focus on what he was saying, but failed miserably. What on earth was this man on today?

“Kerry!”

The older man winced, putting his hands over his ears for a moment. Was Ariel’s voice always so loud? Or was Kerry just extremely hungover? When was the last time he was this hungover?

“Did you hear anything I just said?” If anyone saw them right now, Ariel could have been confused for a disgruntled lover not getting paid attention too.

“No, I didn’t. What the fuck did you say?” God he sounded awful. Ariel just rolled his eyes and put on a pot of tea.

“I said that we have a new guy coming in. He’s on the younger side so be nice. He’s gonna be helping Miguel out, with the pool or something. I dunno.”

“I’m always nice-“

“Remember that time I came in and you launched a bottle at my head at full force.”

“Hey now, that was only because you came in at fuckin five am while I was in the zone, that was your fault.”

Ariel flipped him off then placed a heavenly plate of food in front of him. Kerry ate slowly, trying to keep himself from throwing up, and any mention of the pool boy gone from his mind- Ker don’t call him a pool boy this is not a porno.

The thought made him laugh and Ariel looked up from his own food in confusion. Kerry stated once that Ariel could eat whatever he wanted, he cooked the food he should be allowed to enjoy it! And if he came in early enough, Miguel was welcome to join them too… Kerry needed to stop hiring only men. He wasn’t even attracted to either of them, it just happened.

Ariel forced Kerry to drink the tea and honey he had made him, stating with as renowned as Kerry was for his voice, he took absolutely awful care of it. If Ariel knew Kerry when he was in his early years, he’d know Kerry was a princess about his voice. Now his chrome did most of the work and Kerry stopped caring as much. At this rate, Kerry was going to sing himself into the grave.

After breakfast was said and done and Kerry decided to be somewhat human today and take a shower, he wondered about the new hire. Honestly he wondered if he had been told at all, or had just not been listening when it came up. Either way, he trusted his gardener to not hire some complete clown.

What he wasn’t expecting was a complete piece of Night City beauty standing by his pool, talking to Miguel. He was tall, built like a fucking merc, and had gorgeous red hair Kerry wanted to grab. Oh and he also didn’t look a day past at least 26. And Kerry wasn’t sure if he had reached that level of his celebrity meltdown yet of dating a guy that young.

“Absolutely not, Kerry Eurodyne.” The voice behind him made him jump out of his skin. He needed a fucking bell on Ariel at this point, who was packed and ready to go to the store to restock Kerry’s fridge. “That kid is like 28 and way not prepared to deal with you.”

“Deal with me?” Kerry asked, offended now.

“You know exactly what I mean, Ker. Don’t fuck your pool boy, that’s just pathetic.” Ariel wasn’t wrong… but fuck.

Over the next few weeks, Kerry had for the most part, stayed out of the kid’s way. He learned his name was V, when Kerry asked Miguel if that was it, he was told that’s all the pool boy told anyone. He was from Heywood, his dad was apparently a ripperdoc in the city, and he liked boxing. Pretty basic if you asked Kerry.

But the weird part was that no one had seen him actually get into the pool. He somehow managed to avoid doing it every single time he was there, doing his work from the sidelines. He did a damn good job of it too, they were just impressed he could do it.

He was normally in and out, doing his job quickly and quietly to a point that Kerry honestly kinda forgot about him… until one morning.

Kerry had been on another work binge, up all night writing and composing, when he just happened to still be up when V’s car rolled up. It was a hunk of junk and Kerry noted he needed to look at his pay. Pretty boy like that deserved better than a junk car.

It was way too early for any normal human being to be up and at em, but Kerry supposed he was awake too. Maybe it was high time for and introduction. Kerry forgot he actually had to introduce himself to people.

He walked out of the villa once he had put some more presentable clothes on, a cup of coffee warming his hands as the door slid shut behind him. The pool boy was hard at work, doing… whatever it was he did with the pool. Kerry actually had never taken care of this thing on his own… had his fame really made him this lazy.

“Bit early for a swim, ain’t it?” That was his opener? Dear god he was rusty. Alright, Ker, put on the charm.

The man turned his head over his shoulder in confusion, then his eyes widened. Kerry heard him swear before he stood up, drying his hands on a pair of cargo pants. Seriously what was this dude’s deal? How do you work on a pool and not get in?

“Shit I’m sorry, hope I didn’t wake you up- uh, Mr. Eurodyne?” He said it like a question, like he was testing what Kerry preferred to be called.

“Kerrys fine, kid. And I wasn’t sleeping, so you’re fine on that front… never answered my question though. The hell are you doing here at 5:30 in the morning?”

Fuck what was this dude’s name? Z? Van? V! That was it. V looked perplexed, hands in his pockets as he examined Kerry for a moment.

“I’m always here early. I don’t wanna be in anyone’s way so I come and get my job done and then leave.”

It was kinda impossible to bother anyone with a face like that but okay. And also normally Kerry for the most part alone, unless Ariel was worried about him or Miguel needed extra hours, in which he just sat down with Ker and Ariel and had lunch or something. But this kid? Bothering them? Unlikely.

“And do what the rest of the day?”

V shrugged. “Help my mom out at her bar, or my dad in his clinic. Or Y’know, hide bodies.” Oh he thought he was funny did he?

“Oh are you good at that? I actually have some in the bathroom I needed help moving.” Kerry shot back, earning a small laugh from the pool boy.

“I Uh… I should probably get out of your hair soon, don’t wanna-“

“You want a cup of coffee?” Kerry cut him off. Clearly this kid had some deep rooted issues and Kerry was too tired to ask why he felt like he was bothering him. So here they were.

“Uh… sure.” V’s voice was quiet, but Kerry didn’t miss his small smile as he was lead inside. He wouldn’t fuck his pool boy…

Not yet.

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vince-linder · 2 months

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[Broken] City of Dreams

And "little" writing to the piece under the cut

Half a year ago Johnny left Nightcity after all that happened in Mikoshi, with his new body, he headed down to Texas in the hope of forgetting all that happened and starting over.

But he was back in Nightcity, back in this shithole that only could take lifes and friends away from you. He took a long walk through the busy streets, the guitar strapped to his back, before he walked up a bunch of stairs just to reach the top of the megabuilding 10, sitting down on the edge there and looking over the city, just as he and V did in the last moment before attacking Arasaka Tower. One of the last heartfelt talks they had. Johnny pulled the guitar into his lap and played a few chords, just to feel less surrounded by silence.

"Hey V. God, this is so pathetic. I know you are not there anymore, but I still have my hopes high that you may nonetheless be listening, somehow. I mean what do I know bout that whole netrunner shit."

He took a deep long breath, staring down at the neon lit city, taking a look at billboards and anything close, deep down hoping for a sign that V was indeed with him, listening to him. But as so very often, radio silence. By now V probably was just another AI ghost trapped behind the blackwall. Johnny looked down at his guitar and started to play the song he worked on lately. Just some sappy shit to get through all that happened since he woke up in Vs head. After a moment of trying to strum the chords he paused again, feeling like his thoughts were extra unfocused today.

Maybe it was just one of those days.

"It's been half a year since we, I, left Mikoshi and I still cannot grasp it all. Your last words still ringing in my ears and I feel like I hitted the repeat button one too many times. Still wearing your stupid face, only changed to a more me fitting clothing style. But deep down it still didnt feel like it all belongs to me. This is still your body, not mine. Tho I think, maybe one day, I get used to it.

Oh fuck V. I thought, leaving this shithole of a city behind for a bit, would help me find my peace, once and for all. But Just sitting in the countryside of nowhere in Texas made me only feel more restless, and the silence there is so fucking deafening."

Johnny closed his eyes, overwhelmed by the inner turmoil but not ready yet to just give in and sit here like a kid and cry. In the end he was still Johnny fucking Silverhand and not some pussy. He tried to listen to the sounds of the city to focus his mind again. Gunshots, shouting, loud honking, an AV just flew over his head. In the distance he could hear some song, too silent to clearly understand the lyrics, but with a soothing melody. Almost sounded like it could be some of the new songs from Kerry.

"And back here, I talked a bit to Rogue and Ker, but they both dont fully understand my struggle, they never did. Not in 2020, and not now.

It just feels like back than and it takes my all to not just fall back into all my old, bad habits again. So far I didnt smoked nor drank once in your body, but it gets harder every day, the urges are still there. I really dont know what I should do with the second chance you gave me, V. May it would have been better if you kept the body and tried to cure the shit just. But so? We both know I just gonna waste it in the end."

Johnny flinched, the old phantom pain of his cybernetic arm was racing through his shoulder and spine, despite not being there. He stared at his, at Vs old, left arm, all skin and good. Well, synthskin since Johnny fully got the Blades in it removed. But still, it looked natural, and he knew that V never once had this weird phantom pain he knew so far too well. Johnny rubbed a few times over his lower arm, trying to sooth the not even aching muscles, but hoping that the phantom pain would vanish if he tried enough. It was always like this, in situations where he would be stressed, the arm would start hurting, or worse, start talking to him. Gladly, that part didn't start over again since he got Vs body. Somehow they both never had any problems with cyberpsychosis, despite V being chromed out like hell. A small sigh left Johnny as the pain slowly got better.

"Oh V, why did you think that would be the right idea, hu? You make me think twice with your decision of giving your life for my stupid one. Doing anything dangerous, or well, like I did in my old life, feels like I would throw away this fucking big present you made. Why did you think my life was worth more than yours, V. I dont get it. People here are missing you, and I can never take your place fully."

The guitar long forgotten on his lap, now fell down on the concrete beside Johnny, as he pulled his knees up to place his head on top. He really felt overwhelmed and his oh so strong and stoic masquerade was about to break. Johnny just wasn't used to just feel his emotions, instead of drowning them in drugs.

#cyberpunk 2077 #johnny silverhand #male v #cyberpunk2077 #afterstory moments #when after temperance ending Johnny just cannot grasp everything that just happened #and really cannot deal with the thought of being alone in the head again #quendoesvp #quen can also write sometimes #random creative spark

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aggravateddurian · 11 months

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WIP Whenever

I was tagged by @medtech-mara for the weekly WIP report. Here's the latest stories.

Cyberpunk RED: How to Save a Life

"My name's Avery, I'm a netrunner."

Cyberpunk RED-era Data Entry, using default Photo Mode frames and backgrounds.

Yesterday I revealed Avery Greer, an FIA netrunner. She's cynical, possibly clinically depressed (my notes say that she's pathologically unable to smile) and desires change in her life. She has already decided that her future does not involve the NUSA or the FIA. She may already have plans in motion to engineer her escape.

She works under a senior FIA agent named Hunter 'Bishop' Wilkes. Bishop is ride-or-die for the NUSA and has already been betrayed by a netrunner before (their AV was hacked by a netrunner who made a covert deal with an African militia to hand over FIA secrets in exchange for safe passage to Nairobi, and from Nairobi to Luna). He already suspects that her change in behaviour could be a prelude to betrayal, and already has her under close watch.

You're gonna see more of her.

Bakeneko: Select images from their latest show

A teaser for a photo story coming next week!

Vega Hawse sings Bakeneko's first original song Wolverines!, written by Dorian 'Durian' Bautista (image credit: NCT News)

Another day, another pic in the screamsheets of So Mi living her best life in NC with Vega (this displeases Myers).

In 2078, Dorian Bautista (y'know, Dorian, the former corpo, turned fixer, then rockerboy) founded a band named Bakeneko ("Changed Cat"). They originally were a Samurai cover band, but something was off about their sound.

Then V came back... well, kinda. Vega's technically genetically 33% Johnny Silverhand and is a hybrid consciousness, but one with all of Johnny's memories and skills, as well as perfect knowledge of every SAMURAI song. Dorian reached out, and after some slightly mocking encouragement from Johnny, Vega joined Bakeneko and became the band's frontwoman.

In mid-2079, Bakeneko signed on with Silverhand Studios. While they still do SAMURAI covers, Vega (and by proxy, Johnny) and Dorian are working on an original EP, due to come out in 2080. Rumours that Kerry Eurodyne will appear in one of the songs are currently unconfirmed by N54 News.

MR BLUE EYES INTERROGATES AN FIA ASSASSIN

Warning: the following story references torture

The agent sat in the darkened room, his face and chest bloody. Electrodes were still attached to the more sensitive parts of his chest and torso. A black-uniformed soldier with blue glowing techgogs threw a bucket of icy water over the agent. He yelped as the ice pelted his bruised and bloodied skin, "Wake the fuck up, fedscum!"

"What the fuck do you want!?" screamed the agent, "just tell me what you want! I'll tell you anything! Just make it stop!"

A man stepped into the room, temporarily blinding the agent as the light of the hallway blasted into the room. He turned to the soldier, his blue eyes glowing in the darkness, "That'll be all."

"Sir."

Mr Blue Eyes circled the FIA agent, "Who was your target?"

"It was a traitor."

Mr Blue Eyes produced a stun baton, and without a second thought, drove the baton into the man's ribs. He cried in pain as electricity coursed through his vulnerable flank, "Specifics, please, Mr Jordan."

"It... her name is Song So Mi. She attempted to kill President Myers. There's a one million eddie bounty on her head."

He nodded, putting the baton back on the tool bench, "See, you can be cooperative... I'm going to let you go, Mr Jordan. In a few hours, you'll be back in Langley, no doubt being treated by the FIA's best medtechs."

"W-what?"

"But not without conditions," Mr Blue Eyes told him, kneeling and grabbing the man by the jaw so his eyes met the agent's, "You'll be sending Ms. Myers a message. Night City is off limits to the NUSA, and by extension, so are Song So Mi and Vega Hawse. If me, or my associates, find your agency operating in our city again, and especially if we find you harassing them, there will be consequences."

"A-are you nuts? Myers will never listen to that!"

Mr B shrugged, "You can take a horse to water, but you can't make it drink, Mr Jordan. All you need to do is deliver the message to the FIA, and you'll be home free. Do we have an accord?"

Jordan bowed his head, "Fine."

Mr B turned to the soldier, "Find this man some clothes and bring him to NCX. He has a flight to catch back to Washington."

"Yes, sir."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's about it for this week. Normally these come around Wednesday, but today's the day I guess.

People have probably already been tagged for this, but I'm gonna tag: @genocidalfetus @byberbunk2069 @theviridianbunny. Absolutely no pressure involved, only if you want to :)

#wip #wip whenever #cyberpunk red #cyberpunk red campaign #cyberpunk red: how to save a life #oc: avery greer #cyberpunk 2077 #cp2077 au: chorus #oc: vega 'v' hawse #oc: dorian bautista #songbird #mr blue eyes

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elvenbeard · 5 months

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Shivers

Cyberpunk 2077 Fanfic

Summary: Kerry is stalked by all kinds of shadows while having to work on finalizing a new song. Some recent developments may be a literal ticket to kickstarting a final attempt of finding a cure for V. (Post-Sun-Ending, mostly canon-compliant, Chapter 14/?, 7061 words, Kerry Eurodyne/V - notes at the end) >> Previous Chapter >> Read from the Beginning

The black asphalt ahead flickered in the heat as Kerry sped along the ever-winding road south of Rancho. In the distance shimmered the old dam’s concrete walls, the faded “Petrochem” lettering gleaming in the sun. That’s where he was headed to, or rather, the viewpoint at the very top. V’s voice had been urgent on the phone, and so Kerry had dropped everything he’d been doing and jumped into his car. V often came here when he needed some distance to the city without truly leaving – or so he’d said when Kerry asked him about the place’s significance one time. Every time they came here to talk it was serious.

The tires of his Aerondight came to a screeching halt on the side of the road and Kerry jumped out of the car looking for V. He was hard to miss thankfully, the only person out here besides himself. V’s back was turned towards Kerry, one foot up on the low concrete barrier separating him from a deep fall down a coarse red cliff. He had his hands in his pockets and gazed across Night City, like a king watching his realm. The midday sun blinded Kerry at first, but it also made V seem even more majestic, even if somewhat unreal.

“Hey, I got here as fast as I could,” Kerry called over, began hurrying towards him, but there was no reaction at first.

“V?” he repeated out of breath.

Kerry was merely an arm’s length away from him, only just raised his hand to reach out, when an all too familiar scent crawled into his nose. He froze on the spot. It was as if time stood still, even the wind stopped and the city itself held its breath. Then V turned around, agonizingly slowly, sole scraping along the concrete as he pushed away from the low wall. He wore a pair of old red aviators and had a cigarette between his lips, Johnny’s favorite brand…

“Bit too late,” he drawled, his voice definitely V’s… but different, rougher, meaner. He threw the cigarette to the ground and drew his boot across it, leaving a black streak of ashes in the desert dust.

“V’s not here anymore.”

Kerry gasped and startled awake, stomach nearly turning. His skin was covered in cold, sticky sweat, his heart fluttered in his chest like a panicked, trapped bird. His chest… he realized an arm was loosely wrapped around him, a scratchy plastic cast with cold fingers poking out against his sternum. V was breathing against his back, deep and evenly. The horror of the nightmare finally began to clear up. The TV was still on, they’d fallen asleep halfway through a Bushido movie (one of the old classics). V was squished between Kerry and the backrest of the sofa, their legs entangled and V loosely holding on to him. Kerry was surprised he hadn’t woken him up as well, but he remembered now. Right before settling down here, V had taken another dose of Vik’s emergency meds – proactively, just to not have another attack throughout the night. He was pretty much medically knocked out cold. Regardless, only slowly and carefully, Kerry moved to turn around. He didn’t want to wake V after all by shifting too much, but he also needed to see him, see his face… actually, he wanted to hear his voice, too, have him reassure him once more, or a thousand times more, that it would all be okay in the end. But he refrained from trying to wake him up.

He lied back down, V’s left arm still draped across him limply, but now they were face to face. V’s expression was relaxed, he was deep asleep. Kerry reached up, lightly ran his fingers along the tattoo decorating V’s cheekbone and jaw, then gently brushed through his hair. V sighed in his sleep, and Kerry’s hand flinched back. But V didn’t stir, instead he just shuffled slighting, inching closer towards him in his sleep. This little instinctive movement tied Kerry’s throat shut real good. He lowered his hand to put his arm around V to hold him close, took in his scent and warmth. Focused on V’s breathing he closed his eyes again and tried to catch at least a few more hours of sleep as well. The sun would rise again soon enough.

The impressions from his nightmare accompanied him all morning. As they got ready together, during breakfast when V looked at his phone suspiciously often, during the tense car-ride to the hospital, all the way into the recording booth.

“Very good, Kerry!” Vicky praised him. With her, Kerry was sometimes not sure if she truly meant what she said or only said what he needed to hear to not throw the towel.

“You’ve really on fire today, I love to see it,” she added while pushing some buttons on her control panel, not looking at him, “Let’s do one final take, starting at ‘you like to remember’, alright?”

“Sure, yeah,” Kerry shrugged, the microphone in front of his face mocking him, “All the way through the chorus?”

Vicky gave him a thumbs up from the other side of the window separating them.

“Give it your all, one more time,” she encouraged him and smiled, white teeth stark in contrast to her deep red lipstick.

The metronome ticked in the first few beats, then the backing track started up again. Kerry found his way into the rhythm naturally, listened to his own guitar play, in his mind he could almost feel the strings vibrate under his fingertips as he played the chords, strummed the melody.

“Three, two, one…” Vicky gave him the cue over the audio track.

“You like to remember,” Kerry sang, giving it his all as instructed, and it was all he had left at this point. They’d been here since 10.30, recording almost non-stop, the same lines over and over again, until every note was perfect. Kerry didn’t even need or want perfect all that much. In the end the recording was mostly for the label, the medias. Later, live on stage this song would sound different every time. Each performance had its own distinct sound and soul, created anew by him and the crowd present that night, none would be like the other. It was one of a handful of aspects of making music that actually still hadn’t lost their magic over the decades.

But of course, it wasn’t that Kerry didn’t care for how he sounded on the record. Otherwise, he would’ve long called it a day, or probably recorded the full album already. Naturally he wanted to be proud of the final version, the one that would be played on the radio, the feeds, some kid’s old record player. Maybe this would be the first of his songs someone ever listened to. It had to leave an impact, carry a message. He had to put all his heart and soul into this final take for now.

“When every word poisoned your blood!” he continued with fervor.

The accompanying guitar track was heavy with melancholy and heartache, his own suffering of too many years gone by without a perspective poured into the chords. Kerry closed his eyes, focused on the rhythm of the bass that he’d wanted to be reminiscent of a heartbeat here. The producers hadn’t been sure about whether or not it would work in the end with the overall pacing, but it did, better than Kerry himself could have imagined. The steady “du-du-dum, du-du-dum” carried him through the next line of lyrics.

“I know you don’t wanna suffer,” he half-screamed, at his younger self, at his current self as well, really, “But this is something so much deeper!”

The guitar faded away for a few moments, and only the bass remained, steadily pulsating on. Kerry’s throat hurt, not from strain, but from emotion, threatening to silence him when right this moment his voice would matter the most. The volume rose in an epic crescendo, the beat took up speed and energy, like a wave steadily growing right before it would crash against the coast, paying no mind to who or what may be in its way. This tension of seeing the wave roll towards him, but at the same time being frozen in shock and awe at its enormous dimensions... He would seize Vicky’s suggestion and pour all his anxieties, fears, all his anger at the world into this fucking chorus.

“They’re shivers!” he belted out, surprised sometimes by what his voice was capable of, “They’re shivers, they’re shivers!”

He took a deep breath.

“My caresses are an act of violence!”

He pictured his fingers trailing along V’s sides. How he pulled him to his feet from the kitchen floor last night, then a flash… How he pinned him against the shower wall, or when he’d gently helped him into the passenger seat of his car outside of Arasaka Tower that night not even four months ago… A million little moments flashed before his eyes.

“Everything to you that’s holy – “he saw V’s smile, his eyes glowing golden in the morning sun, heard his laughter, saw him scrunch his nose and shake his head. He loved when V, otherwise so composed and stoic, made silly faces at Kerry’s jokes and teasing, or how his face lit up when they finally saw each other at the end of a long day… All the little mannerisms about him that made Kerry’s heart skip a beat usually – “gives you shivers, shivers, shivers!”

He drew out and held the last note for as long as he had air in his lungs, refused his voice to give in like it did during an earlier take. He poured his essence into this song so that part of him would always live on even when he was long dead and gone. The people should feel what he felt right now when they listened to this album, feel his love for V. Without him, he wouldn’t be standing here singing anymore.

As the music of the chorus slowly transitioned to the next verse, Kerry let his voice fade out along with it, only then he opened his eyes again. Vicky paused the backing track, slid her fingers across the control panel, then she looked up at him, bright green eyes gleaming with excitement.

“That was the one! Amazing work!” she praised, and Kerry shrugged and hinted a bow, playing it cool as if his chest wasn’t hurting, as if “Shivers” hadn’t just sent actual shivers down his spine. He’d had his struggles with this song, but it seemed like today he finally rediscovered his connection to it, found a reason as to why he had written it in the first place.

“We’re quickly gonna go through everything again and piece a demo together for you to have a listen,” Vicky said, “But damn, look at the time. Ya deserve a break!”

“Alright, preem,” Kerry said nonchalantly and exited the recording booth, “Imma go for a smoke, be back soon.”

“Sure, no rush!”

He grabbed his jacket from the sofa as Vicky and her team of sound engineers huddled together in front of her screen, then he left the room and turned right straight away. He was headed for the stairs to the roof. As always, there had been little to no reception in the booth, and he was immediately swamped by at least a dozen missed text messages and emails. He swiped all the ones that weren’t important away, as only one really mattered. Before entering the stairwell, he selected V's name and read through the two messages he’d sent him – not that long ago, thankfully.

11.27 a.m.

Appointment was interesting, to say the least. More only in person. She wants to do some preliminary tests today, more later this week. Gotta do some waiting atm. I’ll tell you everything once I’m out. Love you :*

2.06 p.m.

Finally outta here. You didn’t read my prev message yet, so you’re probably still in the booth, dw! I’ll call Del and be at the studio soon. See you on the roof. <3

It was just past 2.30 now, so unless the traffic was batshit, V was most likely already there. That certainly was the motivator Kerry needed to climb the narrow metal stairs of doom where MSM surely could’ve long invested in an elevator. There was one leading to the roof from the entrance lobby, just not from the booths for some reason – the reason being probably that guests deserved more luxury and comfort than the label’s talent and employees.

Kerry was greeted by a warm breeze as he opened the door to the rooftop lounge, and he didn’t need to look around for long to spot V. He’d once again pulled one of the unused lounge chairs from the bar-area to the railing and was looking across Charter Hill. For a split second the situation brought Kerry back to last night’s nightmare again, him out of breath, late for their meeting, and V gazing across their beloved city from far above. But other than in his dream V was facing him, and when he saw him walk out the stairwell, a little smile flashed across his face.

“Hey,” Kerry just said, and V slowly got up from his chair to pull Kerry into a quick hug as soon as he was in reach.

“Hey back at ya,” he said hoarsely, and Kerry chuckled. He pulled away only far enough to give V a quick kiss, brushing his thumbs across his cheeks. As usual lately V looked awfully tired and exhausted, and on top of it he didn’t quite seem to be able to hold Kerry’s gaze. That was never a good sign. Kerry’s chest grew tight once more, as if the wave had finally collapsed on top of him, had crushed his ribs and began to pull him into the open ocean along with the debris of his life.

“Bad news?” Kerry asked carefully, still out of breath, and V briefly looked at him. He put his hands on Kerry’s, as best as he could.

“Mixed news, rather,” he said, “It’s… a fuckin’ lot.”

V slowly pulled away and sank back into his seat. Kerry dragged another chair closer, right across from V, and also sat down.

“What did she say?” he asked, although he realized how vague of a question that was.

V crossed his legs and rested his head in his right hand, elbow propped up on the armrest. His eyes wandered to the ground, then were drawn back over to the city to his left.

“She seems quite confident that she can help me,” he explained, “Or well at least… she has a plan. Before making any promises, she needs to run more tests though. Got more appointments lined up the next few days…”

Kerry leaned forward, rested his elbows on his thighs, trying to catch V’s gaze from below now.

“What did she do today? Anything on the pills? Your… episodes?” he asked.

V didn’t reply immediately, picked every word carefully.

“Nothing concrete on the pills, yet. She’s gonna look at them later today or tomorrow. Promised an update as soon as she has one.”

He paused, and Kerry almost slipped off the edge of his seat from tension.

“About the attacks she said, after reading out my system, biomonitor, and so on, comparing Vik’s scans with hers… she can’t determine a definitive organic or technological source.”

Kerry continued to stare at V, who continued to not look at him, instead gazed into the distance, leaned back in his chair as if this wasn’t a major revelation. Although one Kerry wasn’t sure what to make of just yet, he just knew it was concrete and concerning alike.

“You… gotta explain that a bit more,” he then said, “Not sure I get it.”

“I’m not even sure I get it,” V shrugged and slowly turned his head back to finally face him again.

“She said, usually attacks like I had them have definitive organic causes, say… a tumor. Something that would show up on a scan one way or another, be it heightened brain activity in one area, or none at all, bleeding, you name it. But all okay in that regard, all things considered. Alternatively, the attacks could be caused by incompatible or otherwise faulty cyberware, but that’s not the case either. She said yes, my brain and nervous system are quite done for, thanks to the Relic and Dexter’s bullet. Brain’s also not being stimulated enough, because my engram is incompatible with it, so it’s kinda just… deteriorating more and more. Like a muscle you don’t use. That’s not exactly news, just confirming the situation is still bad.”

Kerry swallowed, and V took a deep breath.

“But my cyberware is working as normal, even the Relic is not acting up particularly. The brain damage alone, according to her, doesn’t explain these sudden and violent attacks.”

“’s it ‘cause the pills have been suppressing them, or…”

V shook his head, and Kerry frowned.

“She said, the degeneration that’s going on is actually not nearly as severe as it should be at this stage, ironically,” V said, “Fuentes said, if Alt told the truth in Mikoshi, and with how bad a state I was in back in June, I’d be a babbling mess already, or dead. She thinks the pills must’ve helped stabilize me in some way, slowed down the deterioration.”

“Okay…” Kerry nodded, still struggling to grasp this all at once. Even though it was a warm and sunny day he shivered. V was fumbling with his cast, in exchange for fumbling with his personal link port, what he usually did when he was nervous or otherwise intensely thinking about something.

“She confirmed what Vik said: there’s new connections where there were none a couple of months ago, which does not align with what a dying brain is capable of necessarily,” V continued, and again he turned away, “The severity and frequency of my attacks… She said something like that would happen at the earliest weeks after not taking any meds, and it would be a slow buildup, even in my state. Not this frequent and severe, after forgetting to take them once or twice.”

Kerry struggled to follow V’s explanations, couldn’t put together his calm matter-of-factness with the severity of the situation, the weight of the meaning behind his words.

“The… pills cause these attacks, even if you’re not takin’ them?” he concluded after a few moments of silence.

“Not the pills as such, I don’t think,” V shook his head, “Maybe the nanobots I still have in my body, or maybe my own, rewired nervous system, or a combo of both. Fuentes says it’s likely my own body is creating these as some kind of artificial, very intense withdrawal symptom. Like...”

V vaguely gestured into the air, towards the city, looking for words.

“Just how it’s natural to my body that I breathe without thinking, something was done to me that it’s now natural for me to almost die every time I forget to take my spiked pills. So, I continue to swallow them, so these nanobots can continue to… I don’t even wanna know.”

Kerry let himself fall back in his chair and looked up into the hazy blue sky. He was so out of it, so taken aback, he didn’t even want to light up a cigarette. He rubbed his face with both hands briefly, as if it would help rearrange the swirl of thoughts rushing through his head.

“Lemme just… process this for a second,” he said, “The pills helped you, but at the same time, the moment you stop taking them, actively kill you?”

“Again, not the pills as such. But I think the nanobots that were hidden in them may have rewired my brain to do that, yeah,” V said, tone still annoyingly calm. Meanwhile Kerry’s pulse had reached a new top speed. He sat up straight again and stared right at V, who was still leaned back, head in his hand, and watched the city traffic like this was a chill Sunday morning brunch.

“How can you be so… calm about this?” it finally burst out of Kerry, upset but at the same time also not wanting to be. He wasn’t even sure why he was so mad, he just hoped V would show a little more concern, more of a reaction about all of this. Instead, he just shrugged.

“I’ve been thinking…” he then slowly started, “Dunno. What if you’d just take me to the Philippines?”

Kerry’s heart physically skipped a beat, he sensed it, his Biomonitor even beeped a tiny alert again.

“The fuck do you mean?” he asked, again more harshly than intended, but V had knocked all air from his lungs with that question. V slowly turned to look at him again, and now Kerry saw that his eyes were teary, that that was the reason he had avoided to look at him. All of Kerry’s anger was gone in an instant.

“Vince,” he said, grabbed his chair and scooched closer, close enough so their knees touched now. He reached over to take V’s injured hand gently, held it between his palms. V looked away again.

“Talk to me,” he said, “What else did she say? What happened?”

V took a deep, shaky breath.

“I gotta do her a favor,” he said, “Well… it’s more or less a necessity, otherwise she probably can’t help me.”

“A favor?”

That could mean many things, but given V’s line of work, Kerry had an idea.

“She wants to see a man dead,” V confirmed it, “And he’s got some blueprints for a tech that might be able to save me. Might, maybe. If I even manage to get to him which is…”

He just stopped and shook his head, shifted in his seat, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Is it ‘cause normally you don’t take hit-jobs?” Kerry wondered out loud and V laughed weakly.

“Y’know, in this case, I might’ve considered it. Even if my life didn’t depend on it, I mean,” he said and lowered his right hand, placing it on Kerry’s’ in his lap.

“Guy’s a corpo shitbag – and not the kind I might’ve been able to relate to at some point. The type that stabs friends in their back for personal gain,” he said, “Problem is… he fucked out of Night City, off all of planet Earth four months ago.”

“He wha- …” Kerry started, but V’s sad, exhausted eyes answered his question before he’d fully asked it, “Not the fucking Crystal Palace?”

V shrugged… then he nodded.

“You’re jokin’…”

“When Fuentes told me his name, I thought I’d heard it somewhere before, and she said, no, can’t be,” V said, “But yes, I had… I’d read it on the list of people’s data I was supposed to steal for Blue-Eyes. He’s got a luxury apartment up there.”

“What the fuck…”

Kerry had no other words to describe what he was feeling.

“It’s like all paths always circle back to Blue-Eyes,” V said, looking across the city again, “He poisons me with his tech, sends me on a suicide mission to space to steal data about his own business partners, holding the key to some fucked up new way of eternal life most likely…”

“Wait, what was that about business partners?” Kerry interjected.

“Ah yeah, right,” V laughed wearily, “Missed that part… Fuentes showed me a vid of that guy she wants dead, meeting up with Blue-Eyes. She thinks he sold him some top-notch secret tech – the same tech I’m supposed to kill him for in his space-mansion.”

So, this was what it felt like to drown in a flood of information.

“Fuckin’ hell, V, I…” he mumbled, “Dunno what to say.”

“’s okay,” V said quietly, thumb circling Kerry’s knuckles, “I dunno what to say to this mess anymore either.”

He let his head fall back against the headrest of the chair, still looking across the city. Finally, Kerry followed his gaze. The sleek, clean apartment-blocks with dainty rooftop gardens of Charter Hill next to Japantown’s bustling high-tech, neon-clad skyscrapers. The city center with the towers at Corpo Plaza looming in the distance, stark in contrast against the pale sky, dozens of little AVs zooming between them all like flies around a rotting corpse.

“Either,” V said eventually, “I find a way into space, again, and this time with the added difficulty of Mr. B not noticing anything about it – good luck, with his ties to Orbital Air… I somehow manage to get a hold of the corpo guy, klep his data, make it back here in one piece… And hope that Fuentes is able to do anything with it at all...”

“Or you omit all of that and go back to Blue-Eyes right away…” Kerry guessed what V was about to say next. V didn’t look at him, just nodded.

“I’m surprised he didn’t call yet, to pester me about coming back, reconsider his generous offer,” he spat out. Then he looked back at Kerry, eyes glittering in the sunlight.

“Which is why I think…” he said, hoarsely, “Is it even gonna be worth it?”

“Vince…”

“No, really, if we’re both completely honest to ourselves… Is it really worth it?” V said, and Kerry reached up to cradle his face, scooched closer first, then finally just got up to sit down on the same chair as V, at his side properly, putting his arms around him to hold him, trying to soothe him somehow as he started shaking.

“I could just stock up on all the meds Vik can get his hands on,” he continued quietly against Kerry’s shoulder, “And you take me to the Philippines, and I’ll see how long I’ll last. No Blue-Eyes, no more games, no more tech or chips or whatnot trying to kill me faster than my own body is.”

Kerry held him even closer.

“It’s just gonna be us, and I’ll just slowly fade away, on my own terms,” V shuddered, as did Kerry.

“’s that what you want?” Kerry almost didn’t dare to ask, choking up. At the same time V’s voice, his pain was so raw, so visceral in this moment, it was impossible to come up with a counterargument. There was nothing Kerry could say against wanting to die on your own terms when all the terms attached to living were incompatible with who you were as a person.

The wind took up speed, stirred up some dust, howled around them for a moment, as if to sympathize with a situation that was truly only to scream about. Then V leaned into Kerry’s embrace finally.

“No,” he said quietly, “I wanna live. I wanna grow old with you but… All paths there seem impossible to survive.”

Kerry moved away just far enough to see V’s face again, and it always broke his heart to see him crying, as he didn’t often, especially not in public. Just tears quietly streaming down his face, no sniffling, or shudders – even now he so desperately tried to keep himself under control.

Kerry was surprised he wasn’t crying yet, even though he sure as hell felt like it. Maybe he was still too spent from the night before. He wished for nothing more right now than a peaceful future where neither of them had to cry and suffer anymore. On the other hand, though, seeing V emotional like this, was confirmation enough for him that he was still so full of life, not consumed by the apathy with no dreams or wishes or perspective for a future.

He reached up to gently brush away V’s tears, then he kissed his forehead. Hand still on his cheek he looked him in the eyes.

“I want that more than anything,” he said, “And hell, we’ll make it possible somehow.”

V closed his eyes and leaned forward, resting his head against Kerry’s chest. Kerry folded his arms around V’s shoulders and held him like this, his chin on his head, looking into the distance and trying to come up with a solution to a seemingly impossible problem.

For a couple of minutes, they just sat like this, squeezed onto the chair like they’d been squeezed onto the sofa the night before, holding each other close. Kerry let his thoughts wander as he watched the ever-changing slideshow of huge ads displayed across the skyscrapers ahead. A lot of them near the studio were obviously MSM-themed, new album releases, teasers for tour dates, collabs… he was there too, along with the UsCracks girls. “Off the Leash” was still at the top of the charts, four months in a row soon. Kerry’s career really had lifted off out of nowhere again, all thanks to V… and suddenly he realized he might be able to return the favor.

“I mean…” he slowly started, “Lee’s been dying to get me a gig at the Crystal Palace. And he still owes us both big-time for the shit with the pills.”

V said nothing at first, then he moved to see Kerry’s face, squinting and nose scrunched up as if he was trying to determine if he was joking or not.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Kerry said, “I mean it.”

“You mean, I’m s’pposed to just… tag along with you to your gig and while you’re on stage go off to murder that guy? And no one’s gonna bat an eye?”

“No,” Kerry said, “You’re gonna do it before my show. Don’t want you to miss the opportunity to see me live.”

Kerry was aiming to bring V’s smile back with a little teasing, but it sadly didn’t work.

“Kerry, this is serious,” he said with the deepest frown, “I can’t just… the security up there is insane. What am I gonna do, hide in your luggage and you smuggle me in?”

“No, you gonk,” Kerry said and poked V’s chest, “You’re gonna come officially. As my partner, as ya fuckin’ should be allowed to. Hell, if you’re so keen on keeping a low profile, come as part of my security team and personal bodyguard. But I’d much rather finally tell the medias the truth before they pull even more stupid lies and rumors outta their asses.”

V wasn’t convinced.

“If something goes wrong,” he said, eyes dark and serious, “How’s that gonna look like to the medias? ‘Kerry Eurodyne secretly involved in international murder plot’. Your career’s gonna be over.”

“Ah, wouldn’t bet on it,” Kerry shrugged it off, although obviously, the thought had crossed his mind. He just didn’t want to give into V’s worries, convinced that, with all they knew, they might as well be rooted in Blue-Eyes messing with his brain. He’d said himself that he didn’t feel like himself anymore sometimes, that whenever Mr. B called, his sense of self-preservation was switched off. He’d launched himself into space for that fucker, gone on a suicide-mission, V’s own words just minutes ago. But now, when this gig was something clearly going against what the blue-eyed bastard would want, V suddenly had never-ending doubts and hesitated, feared for consequences that previously hadn’t crossed his mind.

“Sometimes a tragic scandal can really spur on a career even more.”

“Kerry, this isn’t funny,” V said, growing annoyed, and Kerry gently stroked his cheek.

“Sorry,” he said, “Yeah, it’s not. None of this is.”

He took a moment to choose his next words carefully.

“No pressure, okay? Just sayin’… there’s always a way. And I’ll gladly be your vehicle to that damned space station, however you want it to go down in the end. If it means one less hurdle on the way to a cure. On the way to get the chance to grow old together.”

Finally, V’s expression softened a bit again.

“You think I should go for it?” he asked.

“You don’t need my permission, Vince,” Kerry chuckled softly, thumb against V’s chin, tracing the fine black tattoo reminiscent of wings decorating it, “I just know, if someone could pull it off, it’s you. Never met anyone as strong-willed, not even fucking Johnny Silverhand. So, no… Not gonna take you to the Philippines… unless it’s to celebrate the end of my successful world tour and you being free of any pain and other symptoms for at least a year.”

V sighed but smiled.

“Honestly, just tempted to say yes because I wanna see you try and convince Lee of this being a good plan.”

“Ha!” Kerry laughed, “Way ahead of ya. Gonna beat the fucker in his own game by making him believe he gets everything he wants when in fact he’s just a means to an end.”

V raised his eyebrows.

“Wow, look at you scheming like a professional… I’m impressed.”

“Learned from one of the best,” Kerry said with a wink, and now V finally smiled and let himself be guided into a brief kiss, both of them still side-by-side on the lounge chair on the top of the MSM studio roof. Kerry had almost forgotten that he was here to work, actually.

“Fuck… how long we been here now? Don’t wanna go back down,” he sighed, now the one to cling to V the same way he had clung to him this morning. V held him, caressed his head, hand coming to a halt at Kerry’s shoulders to massage him gently.

“Didn’t go well today?” he asked.

“No, it did, actually,” he admitted, “But still.”

“Want me to come down with ya?”

Kerry laughed quietly.

“Almost thought you’d say, ‘want me to go down on ya’, and I wouldn’t say no to that either.”

V snorted and pushed him back playfully.

“You’re so stupid,” he snickered.

“Hm-mh. But I’m your stupid.”

V shook his head and smiled, gave Kerry another quick kiss, then slowly detangled himself from their embrace.

“C’mon,” he said holding out his hand, and together they went back down to the recording booth.

V kept his promise of being all Kerry’s for the remainder of the day. Even though, obviously, while Kerry was in the booth again for final revisions, V was on his phone a lot, planning the upcoming days for sure. When they left the studio together much later, the sun beginning to set, one big looming goal was finally crossed off Kerry’s personal to do list though: Shivers was finished.

“So proud of you,” V whispered as he kissed Kerry in the elevator taking them down to the parking garage. Kerry grabbed on to his waist and held him close. He half hoped for an encore of their latest elevator and parking garage escapades, but V withdrew again when the doors opened with a soft “ding” at the very bottom. V seemed to have the same thought though.

“Not yet,” he just whispered against Kerry’s neck, riling him up even more. Kerry grumbled but then put his arm around V and walked him to his car.

“How are you feeling now that it’s finished?” V asked as they were already on the road back to Watson, “And what’s gonna come next? Never been through the whole album release pipeline before.”

Kerry honestly wasn’t quite sure how he felt. Even though he would’ve preferred to finalize another song first over Shivers, he’d had been working on this forever, the first notes and lyrics coming to him at one of his lowest points the previous year. Long before he even knew V existed. And yet, their so far brief but even more so intense time together had tremendously shaped this final version of the song. Kerry tapped the steering wheel a couple of times, the bass line still on his mind, as he joined the evening rush hour traffic against his better judgement.

“Pumped, for sure. Relieved a bit, maybe…” he said, and threw a quick glance over at V, and their eyes met. V nodded and smiled gently. He got it, he got him. Without having to explain it any further, not asking any questions that only would’ve planted further doubts into his mind. Kerry’s heart made a little leap.

“The studio bosses usually throw a big party or somethin’ for this occasion?” V then asked and Kerry chuckled.

“Can bet your ass on that,” he said, “To stroke their own dicks in front of everyone, mostly. Prolly on Friday or Saturday, if nothing else is up already. And next week, well, the usual interviews and stuff… And there’s already plans for a music video!”

He bit his lip and looked at V briefly.

“If I get a say, it’s gonna be a bit different, too.”

“Oh, in how far?” V seemed genuinely intrigued.

“I’m picturing something simple, black and white,” Kerry explained his vision, “You know, raw, bare to the bone. Some sick closeups, playin’ with light and darkness. Lifting the fog and shadow of what was and revealing the new me. An opener for the whole album in multiple ways.”

V listened attentively.

“Sounds damn preem,” he then said, his injured hand coming down on Kerry’s thigh a little awkwardly, “Rootin’ for ya that you’ll get to do all that you wanna do with it. Also damn, always here for sick closeups.”

Kerry reached down to hold V’s hand as best as he managed.

“Even though you get sick closeups of me all day, whenever you want?”

“Can never get enough of you. And I love seein’ you on the big screens in the city, knowing that even though you’re everywhere out there, for the whole world to see, you’re also only mine. And I’m one of the few people that get to see the real you every day.”

Kerry tried to squeeze V’s hand, but the cast stopped him once more.

“Fuck… can’t wait for that thing to come off, finally,” he muttered, and V chuckled.

“Appointment’s all set for that, this Friday.”

“Thank fuck…”

V laughed, but then his tone grew more serious again.

“On that matter… we might not see much of each other this week.”

Kerry’s heart, after being so light and at ease, sank like a rock now. The cityscape raced past them, a rainbow of bright neon lights all around as the sun began to set in the west behind them.

“Got pretty much all tests and stuff scheduled now, I’ll probably spend more time at the Med Center than at home this week. Not looking forward to it.”

“Fuck…”

“Mh-hm. And… I’ll look into that Crystal Palace guy, too. Rogue knows, Nix’ is onto his ass already, a few of the others, too.”

Their conversation earlier about the gig had trailed off, they hadn’t quite reached a conclusion yet.

“Good… we’re going through with it then?” Kerry asked, trying to downplay his tension as best as he could. He was sure they could make it work, somehow, but of course he also worried about the undoubtedly high stakes. But Blue-Eyes was off the table, and dying on the Philippines, too. Time was running out.

“We’ll have to be so fucking careful. Plan this thoroughly from start to finish,” V said sternly, then turned back to Kerry, “And I can’t do this without you. Not just the getting to and back from the Crystal Palace. We need to have a solid plan of action for while we’re there, too. So, if you got any doubts...”

“No doubts,” Kerry said before he even had the chance to second-guess himself, “I gotcha. Whatever you need me to do, I’ll do it.”

V took a deep breath, nodded, closed his eyes.

“Alright. Okay, good,” he said, “I’ll ask in some favors here and there. And I’ll gladly help you with Lee, if he’s being difficult about this in some way.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle that fucker alright,” Kerry promised, his anger about his manager still far from subsided, “But also… how do you wanna go about it now?”

“What exactly?”

Kerry’s heart began to race again.

“Like… you wanna come as my bodyguard or… a little more officially?”

Dreaded silence, my old friend.

Kerry gripped the steering wheel tightly as they took the exit to Watson, neon lights fading behind them now. How officially known they wanted their relationship to be, had always been one of, if not the touchiest subject between them. Whether or not they made it public now or not didn’t really matter all that much, in the grand scheme of things. But Kerry realized that it mattered a lot to him right now. V’s decision wouldn’t impact their relationship in any way, Kerry would continue to love him regardless. But he’d be lying if he didn’t have a clear preference that so far had been clearly different from V’s. Additionally, V being so closed off the last few weeks didn’t help keeping the nagging voice in the back of Kerry’s mind as quiet as he would prefer it to be.

“I think…” V said slowly, “We’ve been over this too often already. So, not gonna repeat my points.”

Kerry swallowed, his shoulders tensing up again.

“Alright,” he pressed through gritted teeth, trying his best to keep his tone neutral, not have his disappointment show.

“But…” V added after a short pause, “You also made good points…”

Kerry looked over at him quickly. V stared off into the distance, but quite deliberately was Kerry’s impression. His hand was still resting on his leg, he hadn’t withdrawn, as he so often did when it came to this topic. Kerry didn’t want to turn away again, but he had to keep his eyes on the road. One car accident per month was enough.

“Ah, I dunno,” V said quietly then, “Do it however you wanna. Whatever you think works best.”

Kerry needed a moment to let his words sink in.

“You’re leaving it up to me?” he made sure.

“Yeah,” V nodded and turned back to look at him. Not far ahead their building came into sight.

“I trust you. I love you. I’m scared, but also… sometimes you gotta risk something to win something, right?”

“Damn right,” Kerry nodded, smiled and took V’s hand again, “Thanks, V.”

V chuckled.

“What for?”

“Everythin’. Trustin’ me. Believin’ me. And in me. Love ya.”

“Love ya, too.”

*****************

>> Next Chapter

*****************

Notes:

Oouuuhhhh this one has also been in the works for a while and man, that opening scene with Kerry's nightmare has been on my "wanna write" list forever, so happy I can finally share it!!

Also yes, some of you guessed it already, we're gonna go to the Crystal Palace soon - again xD If CDPR don't release a Crystal Palace DLC in the style of Mass Effect's Citadel DLC I gotta write it myself smh, sorry, can't help it! XD

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If you’d also like to get tagged when I post a new chapter for this fic, leave a reply on [this post] or send me a DM!

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iamafanofcartoons · 1 year

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Rabbit Debunks Hbomberguy’s “RWBY is Disappointing Video” and explains why the Critics are wrong about RWBY. Part 1 of 2

Making a thread reacting to the hbomberguy RWBY is Disappointing video.

Mostly as a refresher and also because there’s been a lot of dissension regarding it so why not.

Intro Calls it R (Rue) By lmaoo.

You’re not supposed to pronounce the W So the gist of it, is that he feels like it has great concept that could be interesting, but fails to execute it in any meaningful way???

Like overall it’s bad but there’s few good glimpses-

Of what could be a great show.

I guess for now I guess I can give it the benefit of the doubt and assume good intentions so far.

No words on the History of Monty Oum and RT history.

I mean it pretty much all checks out

Though immediately admitting your bias against the show takes the validity of some of your criticisms away ngl.

So he loves the Red Trailer but brings up the views it gained and then brings up the views of the episodes (Vol 1 ep 1 and 2) as a sort of gotcha like “oh see the trailer is more popular than the episode like look at the 15M to (episode 2) 6.8M ratio!!!”

Like those are two- Wildly different things my guy

But what’s up with that “Red Like Roses Part 1 is the best composed music Jess has ever done” take?????

That’s wild asF fr.

Like no way you listened to the soundtracks of V1-3 and still have that opinion.

Like it’s amazing but????

“Does she get the scar from the fight or from something else, oooo mysterious”.

Is this a bit????

She so obviously gets the scar from the fight so I hope it’s just a bit lmao.

Also the complaint about Adam is so weird?

“He’s so obviously a bad guy that it doesn’t make sense”

“Since there’s already wolves set up as the baddies in the series”

Like, it’s not word for word what he said but that’s the gist of it?

It’s a bad and very nitpicky complaint since there are many series with more than 1 antagonist and antagonistic force.

I don’t know.

Saying “it’s coming from a well meaning place” but then saying it’s extremely bad, followed up by an intro song saying that RWBY is lame and it sucks all while dedicating it to Monty is…. So disgusting??? And very disingenuous???

Using the ending of Vol 2 as a point in your “they don’t know their story” when Ruby is laying down all the things that they have yet to solve (leading into the new volume and this laying down the groundwork for it)

It’s obviously in your face my dude.

Ah damn, a little out of order, but is there instances where Miles or Kerry acknowledges good faith criticism? Panels? Deleted tweets? Anything?

Mainly just curious if it’s true that they haven’t and he just didn’t do the research by saying he “has a hard time finding any”

Another thing. Forgot to mention.

Really wish he prefaced his complaints about the voice acting and writing that he understood that the studio itself was amateurish and small with not a lot of budget to work with. (Unless that’s true) not that there isn’t criticism but that- There are TANGIBLE reasons why it’s the way that it is.

Where Do We Even Start?

Uhhh they never dropped the Dust Theft plot line????

Volume 2 was literally the culmination of the dust theft and the reason is because of Cinder’s plans.

Another thing that’s in your face but just, weirdly you gloss over???

“The intro doesn’t set up the story properly… leaves out the fragile peace between the nations…. Leaves out faunus… leaves out semblances…”

Quite literally, the intro talks about things that weren’t even revealed until Vol 4 to 9. The intro is good and sets up what it NEEDS-

Like sure you can say “oh but it’s only added till later when they got the story that they wanted to tell straight”

Mate, a pro tip for a lot of writers renowned/acclaimed have admitted that some of their works or some of their best writing decisions were made by the seat- Of their pants.

You think Naruto, one of the most iconic and popular anime of all time would have spun into how it is just off the intro of the first episode?

What about Bleach?

ATLA?

One Piece???

There are so many instances where the intro just isn’t all encompassing bc- That just isn’t how story writing goes.

You can have the best most rigid outline in the whole world, but at times you’re gonna go off script because there’s something you want to expand upon more or explore.

Ends off this segment by saying that RWBY’s story is interesting and it has neat ideas (backahandedly by adding “to write a wiki about”) but the storytelling only gets worse.

Which, I sort of disagree with???

It’s not stellar by any means, but I chalk that up with them- Not having the sort of resources available.

However from what they managed TO put together it was coherent enough to convey what they were meaning to portray.

Though I do have my gripes with certain aspects of the first two volumes.

But from V3 on? It’s only gotten- Stronger.

Yes I harp on V5 a LOT and it’s still one of the weaker volumes, but the conversations and character dynamics where stronger than they’ve been.

It was mainly the animation in the last few episodes of the giant fight that I just, wasn’t vibing with at all.

Worldbuilding and Conveyance

So next he talks about how aura was explained.

Bringing up both Harry Potter and ATLA and how they tell it as an example.

Following it up by making a rwby edit to make it seem as if it was mundane and boring.

Which isnt the case at all.

If you- Actually take the time to watch the scene.

It's about 1:20 long and while the explanation of what Aura does is being told to the viewer, it shows Ren taking down the King Taijitu with his aura.

It's another valid form of story telling because it's not just two characters talking on screen.

it's also giving us an insight of how it would be put into action.

"No one just happens to have full on speeches prepared in case anyone is to ask"

Uhhh, have you met Weiss?

Even the examples you gave literally is Hermione and Katara.

"Why does Jaune not know about this?

When he came from a long line of hero's and monster Hunters."

Idk, how does Naruto not know about Chakra despite 8 years as a academy student.

He probably just skipped out on it or didn't take it seriously enough.

He never went to- A prep school like Signal either.

His transcripts were faked, so you could easily say he went to Beacon with nothing more than a Dime, A old Rickety sword and a dream lol.

Also Pyrrha is super smart and also a really great battle tactician.

Of course she would be able to- recite what Aura does word for word.

It's not mischaracterization.

You just want to twist that narrative against her.

And not just that, I feel a strong mischaracterization of Jaune.

If Jaune is played off as an idiot for jokes, that's cool. But if he's shown to just not- Understand or doesn't know about the world at large, then that could hint at the fact that Jaune is more than just an idiot.

He's probably born in the sticks/boonies.

A country bumpkin if you will where Hunters aren't all that well known nor pop culture.

It doesn't dumb down the other characters.

Because Weiss is frustrated herself that someone so famous isn't recognizable by anyone and everyone in the world.

Same thing with her and the SDC

For Christ sakes, he only knew Pyrrha from a cereal box be fr

Well he brings up the Jaundice thing and yeah that's fair, a lot of people have gripes with that (i'm not one of them) and brings up how Pyrrha is only really a character for Jaune's development as a fighter and romance option but not much else on her own.

Which... Yeah I kinda- get that too.

Like, I liked Pyrrha too, but I do wish she had more to do in V1 and 2.

But in V3 is where she shines.

Hell there were so many people who did cry and got shocked by the end of Vol 3 even with the amount of screentime she gets.

"Praise RWBY for being feminist and progessive cause most of the mcs are women... But Jaune has 4 episodes dedicated to him, and has the coolest girl in school flirting and helping him become a stronger warrior."

Jaune isn't the main character.

How I've always viewed RWBY and JNPR has always been: RWBY as the protagonist and JNPR as the deuteragonist.

They hold about the same amount of importance because of how close their teams are.

So of course you're going to want to give the deuteragonist development and screentime to.

And yes Jaune had Jaundice.

RWBY still has an ABSURD amount of episodes dedicated to them as well so the balance/ration will always be in RWBY's favor regardless of how you feel about Jaune as a character and Jaune's importance to the story.

Same goes for the rest of NPR

"The writer's dont know what Yang's semblance is.

It goes from her being angry, to it being her taking hits and she transfers that energy back to them by hitting them again, and then temper tantrums, and then re-xeplain it as a redirection of energy stored from hits."-

Uhh, no.

Her semblance has always been about redirection of stored energy from attacks and aiming them back at the opponent.

Every single time we see her use it, it's always after she's taken several hits.

It's probably still possible to use it without taking hits, but its more than- likely less powerful.

He goes on to talk about how semblances are abstract and only gets mentioned 14 episodes later.

Which sure ok, but the gist of them and how they work are still easily within the story.

Could they have expanded upon it more earlier on? Yeah they could.

But to sit there and say, "When Pyrrha used her abilities and Ruby and Weiss look at her like she was weird and surprised and confused she has powers too"

no no no no no, that is grossly misreading the scene.

Pyrrha has kept her semblance a secret from anyone and everyone.

No one knows what it is or if she even had one.

They were just confused by what she did, why her hand glowed black, and why her hand was out.

It had nothing to do with them being confused about why someone else had a semblance, but more so they never knew what Pyrrha's was.

and also, the reading of Semblance = magic is both meh and eh.

Like if you looked at any and every single semblance that exists in RWBY, every single one of them have to do with concepts that has nothing to do with earth, wind, fire, and water.

Whereas Magic in the series- has Maidens throwing storms, lightning bolts, fire, ice, etc. at any enemy they choose.

That's the major difference between magic and semblance.

Magic is divine, naturalistic. Semblances are more man made if that makes sense.

Man he really does not like how semblances are portrayed/exposited.

Like it's been just as long as he harped on for Pyrrha expositing the aura scene.

like the exaggeration that he's going to, to explain this is kinda crazy

It's not a semi complicated concept at all, like he said it was.

It's very easy to follow and very easy to understand. he brings up Emerald and Cinder knowing about it, but doesn't bring up the fact that Pyrrha had to have put it in her application for Beacon or her personal- record that only Beacon has track of.

A record that they broke into with the helps of Watts, but not just that.

But Mercury also figured it out because he's an intelligent fighter just like Pyrrha is.

You can just say that Pyrrha's opponents were all just dumb for not figuring it out.

But no, it's just bad writing I guess.

Brings up WoR as an example of not being able to tell the story completely and labels it as homework.

It's not necessarily out of the norm though.

There are lots of character guides, extra material that expands on characters, worlds-

nd ideas that you can't really put the time in the show to do.

Like let's look at the first 3 volumes and how most episodes where 12-15 minutes long.

And even then they were still trying to get the hang of writing for something so massive as RWBY.

Having extra material so readers can get a better understanding of the world around them isn't bad. because even then, most everyone knows who Faunus are.

How Aura works, what a semblance is. all of these on a surface level.

If you want to dig deep, thats what WoR is for.

Unless you just wanna insult the show and embrace ignorance?

Some Positive Examples

Such a nothing complaint really.

Just Miles and Kerry's writing vs Monty's character acting (in terms of how he conveys the four in a team fight (example being Team RWBY vs Mecha Roman)).

I mean, I dont know what to really say here.

"The writers are so busy writing drama and wacky skits to explain why they're friends while Monty is putting in the REAL work with the fight scenes and showing how close they are and how far ruby has come at becoming a leader."

Yeah... Cause that's what writers and animators do

Briefly touches on Ships and how Monty, Kerry, and Miles referenced them in the fight. (also decided to call it creepy since Ruby is 15 and the other girls are 17...

Which isn't that bad??

Like Sophomore and Senior in High School really).

Wasn't Ichigo Kurosaki 15 and Naruto not even 13?

Also says they didn't make a name- for Ruby and Yang because of the certain fans that ship those two together so they avoided that one altogether

.... Which yeah??? Did you want them too lol??

I can't seem to see his point of bringing this up because on one hand it feels like he's admonishing them for it, but on the other hand he seems... like he's a little upset that they dont have a team attack name?

Maybe just at the inconsistency of it. Which i can understand.

I would have maybe came up with one that isn't fandom made so they can have a cool SISTERS team attack, like Rose Dragon!

Ends off this segment talking about more Miles and Kerry vs Monty (with Shawn being added in).

Another example of writing vs character expositing through animation by using the Pyrrha vs Mercury fight as well as the exposition between Emerald, Cinder, and Mercury.

Lots of talk about animation being weird and how he's seen worse animation but the stories were good enough to overlook it.

I'd be a broken record by stating this again and again.

But just look at what they had to work with. Look at how divided the writing and the animation- really were with Monty coming up with new characters that the team had to shove in last minute.

Look at Poser even and how the engine was something really only Monty and Shane (oops I made a mistake in that other post) could work to the level that they did.

Look at RT and even CRWBY at the time.

And now look where they are now.

You can't tell me that they've gone downhill when most of your gripes that you've complained about are/have been fixed in the later seasons.

Gonna end it here and make it a 2 parter. This thread is-

Long enough and I'm tired extremely lol.

I'll do a QRT tomorrow and start it back up.

If anyone has more to add or correct me on, feel free to QRT anything you feel i didnt do a good job of explaining or just missed in general.

Any help is appreciated.

https://twitter.com/PhonyMangaka/status/1653898140678856704

#rwby #rwby analysis #rwby is enjoyable #rwby is a good show #rwby is good #just give rwby a chance #all we're saying is give rwby a chance #give rwby a chance #phonymangaka

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