Pepe: Everything chill, hermana?
V: Some bastard tried to mug me. I handled it.
Pepe: Who? Local guy?
V: You really think some local'd try to mug me, Pepe?
After I took a break in February and played Horizon Zero Dawn, I felt the need to start Cyberpunk 2077 up once more with my disaster bisexual streetkid. I wanted to play through the story fully, and not get distracted by photomode like I have all the other playthrus I started since I first bootcamped my MBP.
To that end, I am only playing with clothing replacers, which is highly ironic given the recent wealth of ArchiveXL mods. But creativity within restraint is something I always enjoy, and dressing Val this playthru has indeed been fun. It's made me go out of my way to shop for clothing, and check back with vendors whenever I'm nearby because I might finally stumble upon Mel's green plunge dress.
Also I have been thinking about Val in context of this AU (versus what I consider her canon, the Into My Arms series) and how she will call Rogue from the rooftop instead of Panam, and then contrasting that with Corpo Val and how she goes it alone with Johnny, and it gave me some good insight into their respective personalities.
To some extent Streetkid Val is used to relying on others—her cousin Mark, then Emma and her gang, then 6th Street and Atlanta and Jackie, of course—while Corpo Val grew up in the cold, distrusting corpo world. She had a few real friends but they were scarce so she learned to rely on herself most of all.
I uninstalled bg3 in prep for the launch, and my brain immediately went "hey, you should go play." 🫠 Also, yes, I gave him the light armor feat so he isn't so squishy. Front-line battle mages unite