#hephtemi cyberpunk au

[thelittlestancient]

Hephaistos/Themis Cyberpunk AU, 1/?

Releasing this one in very short snippets as I write, as a little brain break from the Big Project. It'll go on AO3 once I have a title and more writing done.

Rating: Explicit Overall Content Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence. References to past non-consensual sex and pregnancy. Dehumanization of an autonomous, sentient bot character, and ongoing discussion of whether he's sentient enough to be human. Content Warnings for this chapter: Dehumanization of an autonomous, sentient bot character: referred to as 'it' while deactivated. References to offscreen violence and sex. Summary: Disgraced scientist turned bounty salvager Hephaistos finds an expensive, deactivated sexbot in a junkyard, setting off a search for answers about the bot's past that will lead him deeper into the mysteries surrounding his own fall from grace.

Hephaistos doesn't bother knocking--he rarely does, when he comes here, nor does he need to. The sheer size of the taur body forces him to enter through the garage, and the clattering of metal claws on sealed concrete announces his presence long before he can get a word out.

"What have you got for me today?" the chopper asks, peeking out from the front office where he sees most of his various 'clients.'

"Bot," Hephaistos says, laying the twisted and broken bundle down on the worktable. "Expensive one, by the looks of it. Can you fix it?"

Stroking his goatee with one hand, the chopper pokes at the bot with the other. "Limp--rotors are burnt out and will need replacing, it'd be stiff otherwise. Skin--significant damage, but…" He slices off a small square with a knife. "This is a biologic. I can grow more from a small sample in a vat with the right agents. Hmm. Memory chip completely missing. In a bot this complex, sourcing that will be the most difficult part."

"You have one?"

The choppper snorts. "No, which means you have two options. One, I install a simple memory chip and downgrade his processors, and I sell off what he's got now which settles your account. Or else you go find me the parts I need to repair him, I do the work, and your debt remains."

"Him?" Hephaistos asks, curiosity piqued.

"Oh yes, I recognize this model--the base one, at least, though this one's had a number of modifications. Top of the line, virtually indistinguishable from a human. Far more than just a warm bedmate at night. In another life, I'd've paid a small fortune for the privilege of working on one of these."

Hephaistos reaches out, running a finger over one of the bot's delicate, limp hands. "And you can fix him?"

The chopper fixes golden eyes on him. "I'll not tell you lies: he's been hard-used, and he wasn't designed to take that. I make no promises of what state he'll be in, if you choose to reactivate him. But the physical repairs, the mechanicals and the electronics? Oh yes, that I can do."

"…what do you need? Clearly I've more scavenging to do."

#hephaistos x themis #hephtemi cyberpunk au #concept library: fic

[thelittlestancient]

Angels Astray: Hephtemi Cyberpunk AU, 2/?

Part 0 (Worldbuilding) Part 1

Content Warnings for this section: Brief description of injuries to a bot.

"Hmm, well." Bright yellow-gold eyes pin Hephaistos where he stands. "You're prepared for a dangerous run?"

Hephaistos gestures down at the taur body, metal form acid-etched with the trophy-marks of his most treacherous runs. "That's what I built this for, not fencing gears to clockmakers."

"With my tools, no less. Very well. He's of fine enough manufacture that I don't want to put salvaged joints in him, so I'll need the raw materials from which to cut new parts. Gold, to repair the damaged circuitry. You probably know more about the biologics side than I do, though I've plenty of the mesh to grow new skin on. The memory chip will be the hard part--your best bet would be to raid a dead Walker platform."

Hephaistos laughs. "Good luck on that. I hear the one that went down near Chicago last month didn't last an hour before everything of value was picked over. Would an arco's chip work?"

The chopper's pale eyebrows nearly find his hairline. "You must have powerful friends, if you think you can get your hands on one of those. But yes, it certainly would work. Bring me that chip along with the rest, and I'll do the work. A deal's a deal." He offers out his hand. "And I will be asking questions, if you pull off what you intend. I must sate my curiosity somehow."

Hephaistos shakes his hand. "A deal's a deal," he says, sealing the matter. "If I'm not back in two weeks, bot's yours, as is everything else I've got. If nothing else, he'll make a good assistant for you. You know where it all is." His gaze lingers a last, long moment over the form laying on the table: nearly hairless, skin hanging from the frame in jagged strips, vacant gaze lightless.

Lifeless.

Pulling himself away, he offers a wave as he steps out from the garage into the street, the sun's light rendered anemic by its long journey down through the metal-and-concrete canyons formed by the massive buildings. A few hours' sleep wouldn't be uncalled for, he thinks, and the cover of darkness will make the border crossing--the first of several on the journey ahead--far easier.

#hephaistos x themis #hephaistos #themis #final fantasy xiv #cyberpunk #the genre not the game #hephtemi cyberpunk au

[thelittlestancient]

Cyberpunk Hephaistos/Themis AU, 0/? | Worldbuilding Intro

'Angels,' the folk of the upper world: the wealthy, the 'inventors' (thieves) who supply society with necessities out of 'benevolence' aka a love of profit. But also the horror and the omniscience of angelic power.

The world beneath, the Devil's Stomping Ground, where those who eke out a living out of angelic sight band together, embracing crude technology that no angel would ever think on, forbidden augmentations, and genetic engineering just to survive in the conditions at street level.

(There's a middle ground, of course: if you are willing to bow and scrape and perform at the angels' command, they might grant you a servant position amongst them, a decent flat in the middle levels where most of the utilities usually work and your fellow-men might regard you with something akin to grudging respect.

But you'll never be an angel, no matter how hard you work.)

This fic also now has a title, Angels Astray.

#hephaistos x themis #hephaistos #themis #hephtemi cyberpunk au #cyberpunk #the genre not the game