#sorry not sorry this is another cyberpunk piece :) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

captainderyn · 2 months

Note

For the 'hit 'em where it hurts' starters: 'I hate the way that I don’t hate you.'

Oooh thank you for sending this in! This is begging for me to write Judy/V in endgame/right after the final mission.

*Usual disclaimer that I don't really know what my ending is going to be for V yet, so this is just stuffing all the bits and pieces together that I like into one ending. No Phantom Liberty spoilers because I haven't played it yet, but spoilers for the final mission of the main game :)

V/Judy: "I hate the way I don't hate you."

Judy was drowning beneath the neon lights of Night City.

Once upon a time she'd worn the suffocating anonymity of the city like a cloak, sank into the comfort of not being known, and thrown herself into the violent game the city played with its residents.

Now those same skyscrapers that had once promised opportunity were a neon gilded cage and the faceless anonymity she'd graved threatened to suffocate her.

But more than ever V gobbled up the lights and commotion up like a fire inhaled oxygen.

Raging, gulping every morsel of fuel into an inferno. Something that would burn bright for only a short time. Her fuse was lit and she was burning, burning, burning.

Something had happened that day that V called Judy from the rooftop of Vik's clinic. That call haunted Judy, snuck into her dreams and rang in her ears. She'd been distracted, searching for something around her apartment, and it hadn't been until the ragged edge to V's voice fully sank in that she'd tuned in.

So yeah, maybe she'd told V to be careful, maybe she'd told V that she'd be home waiting. But what if she'd said something different? Something that would've kept V from doing whatever it was she was planning, something that would've kept V from coming back a shell of who she'd used to be.

There was an emptiness in V’s eyes now. No matter how often she smiled at Judy, it never lit up the rest of her face. Her laughter was hollow, when it came at all.

She was just going through the motions. Raging through the city wearing the only persona she knew: merc.

With Johnny being gone, Judy would have thought that V would have lit up again. That without the engram eating away at her, she'd come back into the voraciously lively woman that Judy had met before the heist.

But the Johnny Problem hadn't seemed to be a problem at all. V mourned Johnny like she lost her closest friend, like she'd lost part of herself.

It came to a head in V's apartment, the one she'd unceremoniously moved all her stuff into after coming back from Arasaka Tower. V sat in a plush chair in the corner of the room, lacing up her boots. Or had been, but now they lay half laced, as she said the same words over and over again that drove Judy insane:

"I can't leave Night City, Judy, this city is part of who I am."

She hated that phrase, the excuse that V always fell back on. This city had eaten her up and spat her out so many times. There was nothing good in this city left to stay for but V just wouldn't get it.

"I hate this." Judy finally snapped, "I hate that I can't bring myself to hate you when you do this every single time." Judy ducked her head, the chromatic curtain of her hair sweeping over her eyes. She hoped it would mask the way her lips twisted, the way her eyes burned white-hot with tears.

She whistled out a hissing breath from behind her teeth, trying to pour concrete into her words to bolster them, "I want to hate you so much. You are a goddamn ticking time bomb and you made me love you. I could be halfway across the country by now, living outside of this stupid fucking city, but you've tethered me here and I'm going to be here until all that's left of you is an alcove and I'm going to have to pick up the pieces."

The words rushed out, so many armed with a viscous stinger. A deep part of her wanted the words to hurt, wanted them to land like glass shards in V's heart the way that the thought of losing her wedged its way into Judy.

V sank into the chair, eyes wide. Her jaw set. "I never asked you to love me. I've never asked you to stay."

"We talked about leaving!" Judy gestured out towards the skyline before locking her arms around herself, hugging herself in a vice of her own making, "After all this was over, we talked about leaving and yet we're still here."

It wasn't fair, not really, to pull this from the water beneath the bridge. Out of nowhere. But she'd woken up to V in the bathroom again this morning, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth with a towel, looking like hell and with it brought the ticking clock crashing back down onto her.

V stared at her in silence, eyes darting across her face.

Judy sucked in a shuddering breath.

"I think I made a mistake."

If V wouldn't pull the ripcord, then she'd do it herself. Pull her walls back up inch by agonizing inch.

"Jude, what do you mean? Where is this coming from?"

V tilted her head, the rust-worn dog tags around her neck clinking together. Judy stared at those, used those as a bolster as she grit her teeth and pushed forward. Each word fell measured, like stepping on ice lightly to make sure it wouldn't break before putting your full weight on it.

"I'm just...I'm starting to realize that I've never felt right here."

The silence V held for Judy to speak, the quiet patience that Judy had once adored when she was rocked to the core from Evelyn's death and just needed to let words lose grated on her. She'd flung daggers at V with her words, why wouldn't she fling them back? Why wouldn't she make this easier?

"I thought I liked being one among the many. Anonymous. It felt safe for me. But none of that was real. But now I look at this city and I feel..." She rung her hands together, running her thumbs along the ink wrapping across her skin, "It doesn't feel safe anymore, V, I feel alone."

V pushed herself more upright, as if to get up, to come over to Judy. Judy turned half a step away, staring hard out the window and watching V's reflection as she sank back down into the chair.

Leaning her elbows on her knees, V reached out a hand to Judy, "You have me."

And there it was, the crack in V's voice that Judy had been fighting to get. The first chip that would make the rest of this so much easier. She ignored V's outstretched hand, crossing her arms over her chest instead.

"Yeah, I guess. For a little while longer." Her stomach flipped as she spoke into existence the inevitability. The day when she'd wake up and V wouldn't. When she'd have to put her name on a cold concrete niche.

She'd always kept time for herself in phases. Each one ending when she pulled the plug, meeting every disappointment and home-that-wasn't-really-a-home by pulling away from it before it could leave her. This phase ending waking up next to a cold body...

"Listen, V," She spoke the woman she'd loved, no, had loved, if she had any control of her emotions, the only way she knew she'd understand: like a business woman. Maybe if she could pull the long-dormant corpo out of V then she could ignore the wet glisten in V's eyes. "You pulled me back into this city far longer than I should've stayed. I need to find something better, something more...stable."

She didn't pull the corpo out of V. She pulled tears, running thick and hot down V's cheeks in silent streams. It should have twisted a knife in Judy, she should have begged to take the words back. All it did was wash cold relief through her. The more irreparable she left these pieces the less it would hut when she inevitably stopped hearing from V, or worse, received the call that she was too scared to hear.

"I don't want you to disappear, Jude, not now. I need you, I love you. Please." V sucked in a ragged breath, choking down what sounded painfully like a sob. "I've lost everyone else, please don't make me lose you too."

But there was no reconsideration, no miracle 'I'll come with you. Let's get out of this city'. Judy didn't even know if she'd have wanted it even if V had offered. In fact, some coiled part of her eased at the thought of leaving it all behind.

Leaving the brilliantly vibrant women in front of her behind and getting out of the radius before she went nuclear, just like every other good thing in Night City did.

"You have your place in this city, let me find mine outside of it." Judy looked to the ground so she didn't have to look at V's face as she delivered what she hoped would be the fatal blow, "It's been a nice phase, V, you've meant so much to me. But it's just a phase that's destined to end, just like everything else."

V muffled a sob in her hand, drawing her knees to her chest and folding in on herself. She kept her fist there, pressed against the lips that Judy used to kiss with such giddy reverence, and stared hard out the window until her tears were silent tracks down her cheeks.

"Okay." V finally said in the soft rustling of Judy grabbing her things, tossing them haphazardly in a bag, "I...I'm sorry, Jude."

Judy didn't know what to do with that, didn't know where that fit in with the broken pieces of their relationship she'd just strewn across the floor. So she slung her back over her shoulder and let the door hiss behind her in a quiet click of finality.

#captainderyn writes #prompt fill #hit em where it hurts prompts #cyberpunk 2077 #cyberpunk 2077 fanfic #judy alvarez #judy/v #female V #cyberpunk v #cp2077 #oc: V #otp: Borrowed Time Beneath City Lights #I think that's my final choice for their ship name lol #look at me giving myself feels over them ahaha this hurt to write #sorry not sorry this is another cyberpunk piece :)

12 notes · View notes

bonny-kookoo · 7 months

Text

Jungkook

𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 | Crossed Lines

Some things are better left unsaid.

Tags/Warnings: Alien!Jungkook, Human!Reader, dystopian AU, space/Sci-fi/cyberpunk-esque, Enemies to lovers, Angst, Violence, Drama, romance, adult, angst, potentially triggering content, mentions of prostitution, fluff??, injury, I'm sorry for this one don't hate me

Length: 3k words

There is no taglist for this fic.

-> Masterlist

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──👽── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

You never really thought of Jungkook as the jealous type- and maybe you're interpreting his foul mood entirely wrong too.

But you've got a feeling that his clear displeasure is mostly due to the very tall and very charismatic Alien who's been all over you ever since you woke up.

"I'm pretty sure she doesn't need help eating her food, Jin." Jungkook growls, eyes a vibrant green with a little red swirling around sometimes, as he watches you on the lap of the tall Alien currently feeding you. Jungkook's arms are crossed and he honestly looks ready to tear someone's throat out- and while you're still learning what the colors of his eyes might mean, you're starting to somewhat connect certain colors with certain feelings.

"Pah, just let me enjoy this before you take her away again!" The man named Seokjin whines, pulling you a little closer. "I can't believe you found such a sweet thing.. you don't even want her, just leave her here with me!" He complains, and Jungkook's eyes turn a little hotter in color, orange burning bright as his anger seems to rise. Why that might be you're not sure- you don't understand why he's not letting you stay here either. Seokjin seems like a nice person, and Yoongi, a cat-like Alien who'd taken care of you while you were resting, told you that the three of them are all very good friends. So why did Jungkook suddenly change his mind?

"Shut up." Jungkook barks under his breath, turning his face away. "…she can stay if she wants to. Who cares." He mumbles more or less, and at that, your heart skips a little uncomfortably. In a way, you knew he wanted to get rid of you sooner or later- but to hear it too, makes it all the more real. Maybe deep down, that small hidden innocence in you had thought he was warming up to you- but maybe that was just your imagination after all.

So you shrug, and look down at your plate of food, shaking your head when Jin offers you another piece to eat.

"I can't believe that you're worse than me, Jeon." Yoongi says, shaking his head in disappointment. "That was mean, even for my standards." He mentions from his spot near the only window in the small metal shed Jin lives in, his tail swaying a little. "Humans are sensitive. You can't just say things like that." He says, before he adjusts his position, crossing his legs.

Jungkook however just scoffs, and refuses to look at you.

You truly want to say something, but your voice just comes out horribly strained, making you cough- so you just leave it, trying to clear your throat, as Seokjin holds the inhaler you got from Yoongi to your lips.

Only that the hand is.. tattooed?

One look upwards and yes, there he is- it's actually Jungkook who acted so fast, eyes a slightly stressed pale blue, as he carefully helps you use the plastic container with the medicine inside, face a mix of worry and annoyance. You just let him, for now- and decide that maybe, this is his actual issue. You're now sick, you're gonna use up a lot more resources, let alone the cost of your medicine and everything. You're no use for him, only baggage.

Jungkook sighs, sits back down before he puts the inhaler away into his canvas bag. "If she wants to stay, she can, I guess.." He says, crossing his arms again. "If she wants to come with me, she can. It's whatever." He huffs, and Yoongi sighs to himself, while Seokjin chuckles.

"Well, I guess that's as much of an invitation as you'll get, little thing." He shrugs, looking down at you.

And this time, you don't feel like running after Jungkook like a lost dog.

So you just quietly shrug, and eat the rest of your meal.

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──👽── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

You're still hiding in Seokjin's bedroom, upset and saddened by the fact that Jungkook is truly preparing to leave you behind, when you hear someone walk through the pearl curtain that disconnects the bedroom from the main living area of the little house. "Here." He mumbles, throwing something on the bed- a plastic box, a rubber band around it to keep it shut, you guess.

You don't react, but you hear him sigh, as he sits down on the mattress, bed dipping down a little under his weight. "At least look at it, so I know I didn't buy the wrong shit." He huffs, and you roll your eyes, before taking the scratched up box, pulling the rubber band from it. And inside-

-are two, different colored knitting needles, a small pair of scissors, and two balls of grey, thick yarn.

"So?" He urges, and you can hear him play with the keychain in his hand a little. Is he nervous? Or just impatient?

What is he really thinking about you?

Why did he buy this, if he didn't at least mildly care about you?

You turn around towards him, and tap his shoulder to gain his attention- which you get, as he turns a little towards you- clearly caught off guard when you hug him. You want to see something- you need to check if your instincts are correct with this.

And when his arm- admittedly rather awkwardly- wraps around you and pats your back, you get your answer.

So you get up, put your clothes and the plastic box into a bag given to you by Jin, and stand by the pearl curtain quietly, nodding outside.

"Are you sure?" He asks, not getting up yet. "Jin's a good guy. Yoongi visits regularly, and he's got a human partner. Knows all about human health." He explains. "I mean, the planet's climate sucks, but it's at least somewhat peaceful." He says, and you just roll your eyes, and cross your arms. "..guess that's a no." He sighs to himself, though you don't miss the warmth in his eyes as he gets up, and takes your bag from you, walking out to say goodbye to Yoongi and Jin- well, mostly Jin. Yoongi just.. quietly bumps his head against yours and Jungkook's, before he simply leaves.

But Seokjin? He goes in for the hug, and it's honestly a little funny how annoyed Jungkook seems at that.

"You'll have to stay in contact!" Seokjin whines. "I need to know she's okay, and that she eats well, and that she's not getting lonely, or sad, or-" He rants, and Jungkook groans, clumsily taking your hand in his to pull you closer.

"Yeah yeah whatever, I'll look after her just fine." He argues, before he turns with you to walk off- letting you wave to Seokjin for a bit, before he tugs on your hand. "Look ahead. You'll trip otherwise." He scolds, though he keeps holding your hand-

The moment you're both back on the ship, he immediately runs an entire scan of the system and Ship's interior- telling you that he doesn't trust the mechanics on this planet too much, and that he wants to make sure they didn't leave anything here that doesn't belong. What exactly he means by that you're not sure- but after noticing how he even physically searches your room for anything off, especially the camera up in the corner, you're starting to have an idea of what he meant by that.

and it feels oddly kind, the way he keeps you both connected with a surprising tender amount of strength.

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──👽── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

"Do you want to stay here or come with me?" He asks, and you shrug, taking a blanket from the bed with you to instead walk closer to him. "…I really made you clingy now, didn't I?" He sighs to himself, looking at you a bit annoyed- though the faint pink-ish hue of his eyes gives you hope that he's just trying to act tough, and not genuinely upset over the fact that you'd like to keep him company from now on.

If Yoongi was correct, Jungkook simply has trouble attaching himself to others- the cat alien had told you that he didn't have the greatest upbringing, and that it left him with permanent scars.

Scars that one might not be able to see, but they're still there.

"Alright, let's see.." Jungkook mumbles to himself, as he logs into his system's autopilot, taking over the controls as he reads through all the info flying past on the screen. It's impressive to you how quickly he can seem to soak up any information practically flying past him, and it shows you just how long he's probably been doing this.

Yet, now that you think of it, you're not actually sure what exactly Jungkook does for a living, besides selling cargo here and there. But then again, should you really question it? He's putting food on the table, and gives you a safe place to stay. Better not ask too many questions, you tell yourself.

So you instead sit down somewhere near the windows, studying the pictures of the faded paper instruction manual that came in the plastic box of knitting stuff- the language foreign to you, though some words seem to click in your mind. It doesn't seem too hard to do, and considering that you've tried it in the past, it's not that difficult to pick back up where you left off years prior.

And the entire time, you don't even notice Jungkook occasionally watching you, the sight of you happily occupied with your new present doing something special to him. After all, usually, to his kind-

gifting things is considered something only mates do for one another.

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──👽── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

"Hey- come here for a second." Jungkook says one morning, urging you a bit closer as you enter the command center where he already sits in his usual seat, though he doesn't seem as relaxed as he's been these past few days.

Your throat has been healing well, and the entire ship by now is filling with your little animal shaped knitting work- one better than the last, after Jungkook had picked up some other colors of yarn for you at one re-fuel stop. It's been a good handful of days now- and you feel like you're actually getting comfortable with the Alien. "I'll be turning course today. I'm.. gonna leave you with Jin for a while." He says, and you instantly furrow your brows in confusion, unsure what's wrong.

"Why?" You ask, voice still a bit raspy, but it at least doesn't hurt as much to talk anymore.

Jungkook just sighs, looking away. "It's not for long, just a few weeks. I'll pick you up before the seasons change-" He explains, but you won't have it.

"That doesn't answer my question." You say, clearing your throat after somewhat getting that small sentence out. He runs his hands over his face.

"It's.. urgh, fuck!" He groans out agitated, and it's honestly both funny and a little unnerving to see Jungkook so.. embarrassed.

"I'm-… It's mating season for my kind." He huffs out defeated, arms crossed. "And since you're a female, it's kind of.. distracting." He explains, and you take that info in for a second.

And Bolku people are a proud but reserved kind, only really staying in pairs, never in groups. But Jungkook doesn't quite fit the visual characteristics, apart from his eyes- so maybe he's a hybrid too?

"Oh." You simply answer, unsure what else to say. Well, you didn't really think about that- but yeah, you remember reading something about Bolku people's.. well, mating traditions, so to speak. Not really because you ever thought anything of it- it was just interesting to find anything to read back on earth, and when you stumbled upon a common book about foreign galactic humanoid variants, you read through it.

It's how you know that Seokjin must've been some sort of human-Shairo hybrid; with his tall body and caring nature, but otherwise rather human appearance. The short, thick and scaled tail gave him away, mostly, and you read in your book back on earth how his kind has a problem with gender in their kind. They're mostly male- females are incredibly rare to be born for some unknown reason.

What's interesting now however, is how the past few days and Jungkook's actions during them, change in nature to you. The gift of the knitting stuff. The blankets he kept bringing to your room. The way he'd cuddle you throughout the journey through Cryon- all of it suddenly feels odd to you now that you know he's near his kind's mating season.

Does that mean that those weren't acts of kindness? That you weren't making any progress at all? That he was just..

..acting on instincts?

"I can just stay in my room again for the time being." You shrug, and he notices the way your posture and tone change. He's become quite good at reading your body language and subtle hints here and there- be it the tone of your voice, or the way you avoid eye contact, or how you'd change topic if he was to talk about something that made you uncomfortable. And right now, it seems as if he said something that made you almost.. defensive. And he's not sure what.

"No, I don't want to.. lock you in there again." He shakes his head. "You're not a prisoner anymore. Or anything similar." He denies.

"Then what am I?" You ask, looking at him- and he can't help but feel a little called out by you.

"That doesn't matter." He responds, but that's not enough for you anymore. You've become bold- mostly because you're not scared of him any longer, and because he's slowly, unknowingly, nurtured your will to survive back to life.

"It does to me." You croak out, coughing right after, making him cringe as his eyes turn a concerned blue hue. But he knows not to try and do anything right now- you're on edge, and he feels as if he's arguing with a cornered animal right now, any wrong move or word enough to set you off.

"Then what do you want to be?" He asks instead, making you look at him with a gaze that just screams uncertainty.

You don't know what you want to be. Especially not what you want to be to him.

When you came onto his ship, you didn't care what happened to you. You'd given up, you were ready to take whatever was thrown at you- but now you actually want to live. You want to be alive, and most importantly, you want to stay with him, and stay on this ship, and stay in this little space where everything seems okay. The amount of safety you feel here has spoiled you at this point, causing you to feel protective over it.

You don't want to stay with Seokjin, no matter how sweet and kind he is. He isn't Jungkook, and he isn't this ship.

"I don't care!" You huff out at him, moving to sit in the middle of the control center, grabbing your blanket before you throw it over your head, and hiding underneath it as you sit down facing the large window, face barely exposed. "I'm staying." You growl to yourself, and Jungkook can't help the slight amusement tickling in his chest at the fact that you're starting to pick up on some of his own behaviors.

Though your growl is anything but intimidating. It's cute, but nothing dangerous at all.

"It's just for two weeks. Three at max." Jungkook sighs, turning on the autopilot before he walks closer, tip of his boot gently tapping your back. "Hey." He calls out, but you don't answer. "I'm talking to you."

"And I'm not." You respond, pulling the blanket close so he can't see you as he crouches down next to you to catch a glimpse. "You'll leave me there."

"I thought you wanted me to leave you?" He wonders in an oddly soft tone, but you can't help but feel as if this too is just his instincts, and not actually him.

"Shut up." You respond, and he laughs.

"You kind of sound like me." He tells you, sitting down in front of you with his legs crossed. "Doesn't fit you- so stop it." He argues, pulling on the blanket- but you got a steel hold of it. "Come on, stop being a brat-"

"No!" You bark out, scooting away from him a good bit.

"I'll pick you up again." He sighs. "Promise."

"Your promise is empty." You mumble, finally giving in as he manages to pull the edge of the blanket enough with his fingers to expose your face.

"How so?" He wonders, face clearly confused, and somewhat upset.

"Cause you said it!" You argue. "I'm distracting you because you're like- horny or whatever. That's not you. And when your.. mating season is over, you'll just.. leave me with Jin." You say, looking at the ground.

"How come you humans always get so horribly attached to things so easily?" He mumbles, as if he's mostly talking to himself- eyes distant as he looks at you, hands in his lap. "Attach yourself to Jin. Not me."

"Why?" You ask timidly, unsure what he's getting at. You're not even sure yourself what you're thinking of him. You don't know why you're so attached to him.

"Because he's.. a better fit." He shrugs. "He's nice. Knows human social norms, since he's partially human as well-"

"So are you though?" You ask, testing the waters, and the way he tenses up, eyes flashing a pale, unreadable color, gives you the answer you were looking for.

So he is a hybrid too.

Suddenly, his face seems angry, jaw clenched and tongue pressed against the inside of his cheek as he looks to the side, eyes a blazing red as he gets up and walks away. "I changed my mind." He says, tapping away on his control panel. "Go stay in your room or whatever. I don't give a shit." He growls, and for some reason, you suddenly feel guilty.

So you quietly leave, door hissing shut behind you-

before it clicks, small display near it offering only a single, pulsating message.

[Locked by Administrator]

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──👽── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

#bts imagine #bts fanfic #bts fic #jungkook imagine #jeon jungkook x reader #jeon jungkook imagine #bts jungkook imagine #alien jungkook #alien!jungkook

440 notes · View notes

babygirlgarrus7 · 11 months

Text

Dust and Echos

(not my gif, belongs to @north2445 )

A/N: I watched the trailer and WOW i can NOT believe our husband is back! So I am excited to write this fic!

Ikora has asked you to come and meet her and another to discuss the next mission. Little did you know it would be an echo from the past.

Warnings: angst (TONS of it), fluff, and swearing

Masterlist

Destiny List

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You were called to go to meet her to brief you on your next mission. Your Ghost kept going on and on about how the readings of this planet was off, which you took note of also. It was way too odd to not notice the wavelengths.

However, it isn’t the most odd. You have battled many different enemies and how the Light is becoming more and more difficult, powerful, confusing. When fighting the Witch Queen, it wavered you a bit, having to fight the enemies that you never thought of them being able to do the things you could. Even blacking the light for dark uses. You couldn’t say anything sense you can wield it yourself.

Then almost having the second collapse happen to some lunatic that the witch warned you about. The return of the Witness, which led you to a planet called Neomuna a cyberpunk feel of the city, working along with others that called themselves the Cloud Striders. It almost succeeded by one of the pyramids that come about, which wasn’t the first time that you have seen these pyramids.

You have seen it all so it didn’t surprise you about the odd readings. When arriving the planet it was sunny, green, mountains. It was beautiful, until you saw in the distance a purple pyramid shape floating in the air. You bit your lip. “That isn’t good.” Your ghost commented looking over at you.

“Yeah.” You muttered nodding your head, steering your ship to the location.

When approaching you saw Ikora standing in a mouth of a cave, you pulled up having your ghost transport yourself out, landing on the ground. She smiled before showing some nervousness. “Hello Guardian,” She said walking towards the edge. “Glad you can make it.”

“Of course.” You said standing next to you.

“We don’t know what this is,” She said facing the purple mist. “I want you to figure out what it is, you will be having some help of course.” That’s when you heard footsteps. Before you turned to face the footsteps Ikora turned to you. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. It was sudden. I was surprised as well.”

You were confused until you turned around. Your heart stopped, you wanted to throw up, you wanted to cry, yell. Cayde. Your ghost looked over at you then Cayde, he wasn’t different looking besides the light blue glow around his eyes and mouth.

“Oh no. There’s nothing I can…I’m sorry.”

His chest had a hole in it. He looked like shit, usually you would give him shit. Tell him that he would need to get some make up to slap on. This time you couldn’t muster a noise, words, nothing. Panic. Pure panic.

“Listen y/n…this ain’t on you.”

You were there when Cayde blamed himself about Andal, you watched him become bitter for a bit. He was also not happy about the fact that he made a bet to be on the Vanguard if Andal died. However, it was because he went and fought Taniks without him. Now this is you, you were going to be like him. Bitter. You can’t loose him.

“We can fix this, we just have to get Sundance pieces. Just please please stay with me.”

You remembered when you saw him after the Tower was taken over on Nessus, you ran to him and hugged him tight. Him chuckling and calling you his dove, due to you being beautiful and at the time innocent. Inside joke. Him tell you to stay with him, up until he knew that we had to meet Zavala and Ikora to fight.

“We will take the Reef by storm.”

Both you and Cayde laughed lowly when dancing on top of the tower, you both heard the towns below play some melodies, after bringing back the Traveller from the Red War. That’s when Cayde told you he loved you. Actually loved you.

“I refuse to bury any more friends.”

You carried him, he should have been heavy but it wasn’t. Your emotions were off, you couldn’t think. Just fuzz. When returning, the cries, gasps it was too much to place him on the bed, covering him with the satin cloth that had the Vanguard symbol.

“Uldren Sov is mine.”

And he was, died from your own hands, with his gun. Ironic. You held the gun looking at Uldren before pulling the trigger. After you did, you stood there for a while, watching the smoke slowly leaving the barrel. Thinking how the smoke was suppose to be your anger and guilt leaving it. But it wasn’t. He wasn’t here.

He is here. You tried to think of you were stuck in the pyramids. One of them. Maybe this is a nightmare, the Queen is torturing, she had to. It’s a spell. A lie. He is dead. He stopped inches away from you. Inches. You could reach out and touch him.

“I will leave you two at it.” Ikora spoke softly before walking up on the ridge.

Cayde carefully looked over you, barely remembering who you are. He knew the feeling when looking at you, knowing you are a Guardian that was under his command. However you were the one he loves. Loves. He didn’t know what to say, didn’t know how to explain.

“You’re dead.” You whispered your helmet barely making the words out.

Cayde chuckled. “I’m kind of hard to kill, you should know that y/n.”

Your ghost floated to him. “Is it really you?” You knew your ghost was making a quick scan before looking shocked. “It’s him.”

Cayde moved around to come to you, you tensed up as he came into your space. He grabbed your chin with his index and thumb. Having you look up at him. “I have been begging the Traveler to come see you again. Pretty sure I annoyed the hell out of it,” You felt the tears prick your eyes. You could feel him. Actually feel him. You focused on how his hand went to your hip and the other cup the side of your cheek. You didn’t even realize how long he was standing there waiting for you to answer. “It’s my hair isn’t it?”

You chuckled and looked down grabbing his hand from your cheek. “I missed you so much.” You voice cracked as you looked back up at him. “You died and I…” You couldn’t finish as memories came back and forth between his death and now.

“I know. I’m so sorry. I wish I could have been here. To be with you. To get out of the damn tower.” Cayde chuckled placing his head on your forehead. “I don’t know how I am here but I am now. We can do this together dove.”

You smiled holding him closer.

#destiny 2 cayde 6 #cayde-6 #cayde #cayde 6 x reader #destiny the game #cayde 6

144 notes · View notes

8um8le · 1 year

Note

I absolutely adore your cyberpunk au! The designs are so lovely and cool and your backgrounds are just absolutely gorgeous! I just fell in love with it and love everything about it, including the world!

I was curious about some things though and hope it's alright asking a couple of questions!

1. All relating to their job here, but: Have the boys ever taken on a job that they regretted in the end? Have they ever accidentally hurt a child during their job? Have they ever been backstabbed/set-up?

2. I'm not sure if you answered this or mentioned it before but, what are the boys to each other? Friends, brothers, etc.?

3. Okay, another one sort of relating to their jobs again: Have the boys ever had their night job cross over to their day job? Like, has someone sought revenge by threatening the daycare or something along those lines? Maybe just an incident where they've dealt with some not so great adults that wandered in?

4. Okay, another job related question: Have either of the boys gotten seriously hurt on their night job before? How do they go about fixing each other up? How protective/worried are they for each other?

5. Which of the boys is more affectionate? How would they react to a surprise hug? (I figured a silly, simple question was due after all the previous serious ones XD).

Sorry for the long list of oddly specific questions, I'm just really curious, happen to be up at 1 am with questions circling in my brain, and adore this au to pieces! I hope you have a lovely day/night, and thank you for taking the time to answer this ask! Sorry again for how long it is!

Heheh like these questions, long post under the cut <33

Before the two became hit-men under a contract, they had to build their way up to that position, in their previous two forms they were backstabbed multiple times. An example would be how sometimes they would be assigned one task within an organized group, and after they did their deed, their “team mates” would try to take them out and take credit for their work.

As for accidentally hurting a child in their day job, one of the kids cut their hand from getting too close to Sun’s rays. The parents really didn’t mind, but ever since, Sun has been very careful with the kids and his rays. (Funny how the rays that were meant to defend him, backfired in a way)

2. The boys have this found-family type of situation, they were born with nothing, thrown away left to rot, without knowing why they were even made. They’re all that they have when it comes to family, they see each other as brothers. Though I must say Sun is most definitely the responsible older brother who stresses over everything, and Moon is the chaotic little brother who needs to be put on a backpack leash.

3. When it comes to the day and night job crossing, it never happened yet, since their night job is top secret. Also since they are ranked pretty high as hitmen at this point, they have protection when it comes to identity.

Also the jobs they take are never personal, they’re just sent by someone, so it wouldn’t really make too much sense for someone related to their deceased targets to go after em.

4. Every gig they take in their night job is a life or death situation, so they are in constant danger, they have been badly damaged during their night jobs. Mostly moon because of his careless behaviour.

They try their best to not get damaged though, their contract does comes with their own robot doctor, that will patch them up, it will just cost them money, taken straight out of their paycheque. When it comes to weapon damage or replacement, they don’t have to pay nearly as much though.

Although they complain about the stupidest shit with each other, they really do care for one another, they never verbally say it upfront to one another, but their actions and constantly making sure one another is okay goes to show their affection. Also Moon’s chill nature can be very helpful when it comes to calming Sun’s panic attacks.

5. I think the more affectionate one would be Sun, he understands human emotions a bit more than Moon does. He’s very caring, sometimes too caring which leads him to a spiral of overthinking. Moon on the other hand is just naturally loveable, he doesn’t need to try when it comes to charming others.

Funny little thing I’d like to add is their skill at each job, and who does what better, since there is a bit of irony there. Sun is excellent when it comes to his night job, he’s calm, calculated, and swift, perfect for clean and quick executions. Though at his day job, he finds that he can unintentionally scare the kids with him being jittery and over-enthusiastic.

Moon on the other hand, He’s very smart when it comes to countering attacks and could take mechs twice his size, but he does poorly at stealth, and lacks patience. In his day job, the kids love him, since he is super easy going and nonchalant.

Sorry for the grammar mistakes im sleepy~

Ty for the cool questions!!

#cyberpunk au

154 notes · View notes

nanaminsonyfans · 4 months

Text

╚»★«╝ Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire ╚»★«╝

a/n; the lack of cyberpunk x reader fics is appalling. anyways gay kerry eurodyne for christmas ur welcome. also this is post after giving up johnny specifically the sun ending. sorry of its shitty, i rarely write as a male reader and i hope i did okay! requests are open!!!

pairing: male!reader x kerry eurodyne (cyberpunk)

warnings; anal, male oral receiving, slight exhibition?, cursing, spoilers for end of cyberpunk.

—

The Kerry Eurodyne was making a Christmas album with US Cracks, him being main vocals and the girls being background vocals. You were there as Kerry's loving boyfriend and supporter but also because you had nothing else to do. Being the famous V merc has run its course and after everything with Johnny and Arasaka....you just wanted to be you, Y/n L/n. Of course you still talked to some old friends, Claire being one of them. Truth be told....You missed Johnny. A piece of you was gone.

"Y/n? Babe? You there?" Kerry's voice brought you back. The girls were gone leaving the two of you there. "You having one of those episodes again?" He asks softly, obviously worried. "Oh, no i'm fine. Was just thinking is all. The music was pretty soothing." You joke and stood up. "Was it? Didn't want to put you to sleep." "You didn't. Just started to remind me of stuff." Kerry nods and cupped your cheek. "This past year has been hard for you. I understand." You nod and leaned against his touch. His hands were always so warm.

"I gotta finish some vocals. Go get a drink." He hums softly. You nod, leaving and came back. Kerry was singing, however his vocals sounded almost angelic as he sang The Christmas Song. "Jack nipping at your nose~" He looked at you. He looked at you with those fucking icy blue eyes that just sucked you in every single time. You know what he wants. How'd he get so horny so easily? Sentimental one second...

You stared at him, watching his movement. He swayed his hips as he practically made out with the mic. You felt your jeans tightened as you wanted him until you couldnt take anymore and went in. "You're such a little shit sometimes...." You growl slightly in his ear, griping his hips as you pulled him against your growing bulge. "Yeah...?" Kerry hums, adding more pressure against you. You let out a guttural moan in his ear as he started to grind against you.

"You keep doing that and im going to cum in these fuckin' pants." "We can't have that." He hums and gets down on his knees. "Not when i have a perfectly good face." "Oh youre fucking bad Ker..." You groan as he undid your pants, your cock springing free seconds before he wrapped his mouth around you. His tongue was so soft and warm...and fuck the way he sucked you off was like his life depended in it. He was so eager to please and it was working.

Kerry's eyes were half lidded and staring up at you as if he was trying to be innocent. His hand took over whatever he couldn't reach. Drool slipped down his chin as he continued to suck. "Oh fuck ker...." You thrusted slightly in his mouth causing him to gag but he didnt want you to stop. You continued to face fuck him until you felt yourself getting close.

"Fuck..Fuck ker-" You pulled out and came on his face exactly as he wanted. "Mm...amazing as usual." He smirks and licked the cum up and cleaned himself up. "Now bend over." "Really? Here?" "Yes here its your fault." You tell him annoyed and Kerry did so, happily stripping down to give you a show. "Oh you fucking slut." You slapped his ass as he bent over on the couch in the studio.

You didnt even bother prepping and just thrusted in which earned a high pitched mewl from him. "Oh fuck- dont stop please." He begs and pushed his hips back to match the rhythm of your thrusts. His moans were so whiny it was pitiful, the sadistic side wanted to taunt him about it but another side of you loved his noises. Only you could bring these noises out if him, only you, only your cock.

You let out a few grunts as his ass milked you, and suddenly he let out a loud moan arching his back as you hit his prostate. He loved how the head of cock hit it just right. "Fill me up y/n please, please!" Kerry begs and he started to fist himself. "No one can say no to you." You smirk and started to rail him a few more times before you came together. "Fuuuck!" You groaned as you filled his ass making him whine at the feeling as he made a mess on the couch.

"You made a mess." You tease and kissed him which he happily returned. Out of the corner of you eye you noticed a blinking red light. "Did...did it record all of that?" You ask him and kerry took notice as well. "Yeah...maybe i should put it on the bonus track."

#cyberpunk #cyberpunk 2077 #Samurai #Johnny Sliverhand #V #cyberpunk x reader #cyberpunk 2077 x reader #kerry eurodyne #kerry eurodyne x reader #cyberpunk kerry #cyberpunk kerry x reader #cyberpunk smut #cyberpunk x reader smut #kerry x reader #kerry eurodyne x reader smut

45 notes · View notes

starlitmark · 2 months

Note

Ooo being Ateez 1 out of the attic please!

OOOOOOO BOY HERE WE GO!!! ANOTHER KILLER tbh I might still go back and finish this when I have more time

Pairing: Jongho x fem!reader Genre: fan-idol relationship, established relationship, smut Rating: 18+ Summary: Jongho was intentionally doing things to get a rise out of you throughout the concert. How could he not expect you to act a fool? Warnings: language Prospective Warnings: unprotected sex, lots of kissing, Word Count at abandonment: 232 Note: Sorry @pyeonghongrie and @kpop-stories-21 this was one of the ones I had a note to tag you two and it got abandoned 😭

other attic items

You returned to the hotel as soon as the concert was done. You could’ve stayed until the crew cleaned to go backstage with your boyfriend and his members. In reality, though, you knew the traffic on the drive back to the hotel would’ve been nightmarish either way. So here you are, laying on the bed you and Jongho have been sharing the past few nights, waiting for him to return from the venue. Honestly, you weren’t even close to being tired. Jongho has recently been far too flirty and confident on stage for your weak heart to handle. You were just about ready to jump him when he walked in the door.

You hear the door unlock as if on cue, and Jongho’s steps enter the room. You don’t even think twice before bouncing off the bed and nearly tackling your boyfriend. Your lips immediately find his jawline and kiss all along it. He chuckles lowly and wraps his arms around your waist lightly.

“What’s got you so riled up?” he teases.

“You’re really going to stand here and pretend you don’t know what you’re doing? Fiddling with your mic just the right way, winking directly at the camera and motioning for someone to come closer, the fucking manspreading in the Cyberpunk choreography. Choi Jongho, you have been an absolute menace recently.” you ramble, fingers playing with the fabric of his hoodie.

#jasper's attic ꗃ

10 notes · View notes

cybersteal · 1 month

Text

𝕎.𝕀.ℙ 𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣

tagged by @koda-shoulda-woulda-but-didnt @ouroboros-hideout & @katsigian

Thanks for the tags, chooms! Sorry it's taken me so long to get to it but uhm, I didn't have anything to share until now, so...

Yeahhh 😅

First thing's first!

I've had this idea for a while, as a good way to learn and maybe level up my skills, but haven't had the patience to dress a damn set for it, but I decided to give it a try. Kinda fucked it up the first time around - egregious clipping where I didn't notice it initially, not enough props, etc - so this is my second attempt at this finnicky fucking series. I like it so far, and I have to take some indulgent screenshots as a reward when I'm done that really make me wonder if I want to be Vice, or fuck him, because why the hell not? Who's gonna stop me?

Here's a few that I think are acceptable to share, though not all of them are guaranteed to be posted anywhere when I'm done lmao

And secondly!

Writing

I've ended up diving back into writing some decently chunky pieces of narrative revolving around Vice and the canon I'm still making for him. I finished a small, cutesy 1600-word thing where Vice and Johnny ride the fixed roller-coaster in Pacifica, and that opened the floodgates to my writer brain. Unfortunately I just don't have the stamina or energy to bang out 8k+ works in a few days like I used to, even for something I love writing about, but I managed that, and a question asked over on the Cyberpunk discord server I'm part of really hooked me. I've only gotten about 2k words out for it at the moment, but I'm chipping at it steadily.

I also won't be sharing it in this post, just because I don't like to share my unfinished writing, sorry sorry, it's not you it's me, I promise lmao

Taglist ahoy!

I’ve already lost track of people who’ve done one of these recently so if you posted a WIP post, just ignore this, or save it for another time when you have smth you wanna share! whatever you like 🤗❤️

@lokiina @totentnz @netripper @pacificaisstillpacifica @nightcxty @nightcityace @wraithsoutlaws @cyberholic77

#you talk too much choom #thanks again for tagging me! maybe one day i'll share my writing here too but we'll see rofl #i used to write every day but i've lapsed due to fatigue and other shit so i feel like i've devolved a bit in my skill level #cyberpunk is a fairly new hyperfixation too so i'm not as comfortable in the setting yet #bah w/e have some screenshots instead XD

9 notes · View notes

pinkyjulien · 4 months

Note

Hi, i really hope im not bothering you by sending a modding question... i am absolutely brand new to even thinking about modding, and i know theres a big discord out there, but ive mostly heard horror stories coming out of the community so im honestly terrified to even check it out... im just wondering if you have any idea if its feasible to make a mod of Padre's shirt for V? (The one w the sweater over a collared shirt, i feel like ive seen it on other random npcs as well) not asking you to do it or anything, but its one ive never seen in mods so idk if its already been tried by modders and everyone decided "nah this wont work". Again, so sorry if you dont want to be bugged with questions like this, you honestly just feel like one of the most approachable people ive seen in this fandom so far and trying to make any cp77 friends has proven extremely intimidating.

Heya!! It's always ok to ask modding questions, you don't bother at all 🤲

I can't blame you for not wanting to get your feet into big servers, it can get quite overwhelming and frustrating when nobody seems to notice you. Tho I recommend using them as modding-wiki extension! It can be useful to search for solution, plugins and softwares, discord exclusive tutorials, or catch someone's getting help for a similar problem for example. There is no need to be active :3 but no pressure ofc, just know that it's totally ok to join these servers to just lurk

Now for Padre's shirt! I won't be able to do it (not right now at least) so I'll throw infos and direction if anyone else wanna give it a try 🤏

Here's the path to Padre's mesh -

base\characters\garment\gang_valentino\torso\t1_078_shirt__sweater\t1_078_ma_shirt__sweater_old.mesh

Tho we can see its all wonky compared to a regular MA mesh, and that's because this one is specifically fitted for old' Padre (it's even in the mesh file name, _old)

To make a version useable for masc V, we'll need to combine a few meshes available in the same folder!

The main piece: t1_078_ma_shirt__sweater.mesh

The bottom part: t1_078_ma_shirt__sweater_shirt.mesh

The cuffs: t1_078_ma_shirt__sweater_cuffs.mesh

And one of the two available collar: t1_078_ma_shirt__sweater_collar_01.mesh or _collar_02.mesh

All of these should already fit into one another, but if not a lil refit in blender should do the trick!

Then I can only point out to the Modding Wiki and its numerous tutorials for the AXL part (making a standalone clothing mod)

I also recently added my own AXL Workflow in my Tutorial Drive; I'm planning on writing a proper one, for now it's only screenshots from an old private tutorial I made for a friend, some infomartion are outdated (I've learned a lot since then as well) but it can still be useful, hopefully!

Thank you for the ask and for your kind words 🧡 I'm sorry to hear the community hasn't been too welcoming, but there are a lot of good souls willing to help and guide if needed!

A big server that I often recommend is The Cyberpunks; it's a fandom focused server, really chill and friendly, not based entierly on modding but its modding channels are pretty active! I lurk in there, you can catch me in the modding and screenshots area :>

If big servers are out of the picture, I totally recommend trying to get into a smaller server; small bubbles can be more comfortable when the members are well spirited and positive :3

I hope you'll find your place and people you vibe with 🧡 and hope the few info on Padre's shirt can be useful, to you or anyone out there seeing this that might want to give it a try! With a few recolors I'm sure it can be a cute, cozy corpo-ish attire ✨👌

#cyberpunk 2077 #ask #anxious--ace #modding shenanigans

10 notes · View notes

elvenbeard · 11 months

Text

Lucky

Cyberpunk 2077 Fanfic Summary: V is lucky to be alive still after a heist gone right but many other things gone wrong lately. Maybe it's not too late yet to pick up the pieces, but even with fewer and fewer options to go forward, his path seems unclear. (Post-Sun-Ending, Chapter 3/?, 4477 words, Kerry Eurodyne/V, no warnings except for angst and a hospital setting >.>)

>> Previous Chapter >> First Chapter

The next thing V remembered was his biomonitor going off, beeping on high alert, the emergency protocol reciting its little speech.

“Vincent, it appears you have been in a car accident,” it said, “Remain calm, Trauma Team are on their way. Estimated arrival time: 90 seconds. Try not to move.”

He could barely breathe, let alone move. In his initial shock he didn’t even feel the pain as much, but he was squeezed in between his seat and steering wheel. The windshield was cracked, casting a kaleidoscope of red and blue and golden light across his face, blurry shapes running around outside. People were screaming and there was one hell of a commotion, more gunshots fired, police barking orders, but long before he could fully grasp what was happening, V’s consciousness faded again.

“Vincent?” a gentle voice brought him back from the darkness – how much time had passed?

“Stay calm, we’re getting you out of here.”

The man wore full Trauma Team combat gear. Before V had even come to his senses, they’d already forced the warped door open, put a neck brace on him, and maneuvered him out of the car. He didn’t remember how exactly, only that one moment he was still trapped in there, the next he lay on a stretcher, surrounded by medics, Megabuidling H10 towering above them. Police sirens were blaring, and the deep droning of the Trauma Team AV not far left of him made his head hurt even more.

“Client is conscious but disoriented,” one of the medics said, another listed V’s vitals and the drugs she was about to administer. At least four people were all over him cutting open his clothes, poking him with needles, shining lights into his eyes, and strapping him to the stretcher in preparation for transport.

“Vincent, do you know what year it is?”

“It’s just V,” he barely managed to croak, his throat dry and tight.

“Sorry?”

“Just call me V,” he repeated, “And it’s 2077. The fourth of September.”

“Very good,” the medic said, “Do you remember what happened? Where were you going?”

“Was on my way home,” he said as a strangely warm, numbing sensation washed over him, the painkillers probably, “Tygers crashed into me… right in front of my front door…”

The stretcher was lifted from the ground as soon as they’d fixed him to it. Due to the brace, he couldn’t really look around, but quickly the view of his old apartment complex was replaced by the interior of the Trauma Team AV. He’d wondered if he’d ever see the inside of one again, and he was actually very thankful now that Kerry had coerced him into purchasing a membership not that long ago.

“Kerry…” V murmured, but he barely recognized his own voice. Whatever they’d given him, it was the good stuff.

“Is he your emergency contact?” was the last thing V remembered one of the medics asking before he drifted off to sleep.

He wasn’t sure if what followed was a dream or not, flashing images of people he didn’t know talking to him, bright lights, strange noises, a sense of urgency and worry and confusion. Then just soothing darkness for a long, long time. There were worse ways to die than just fading out like this… he knew from firsthand experience. There was no fear in just falling asleep and never waking up again, no pain, no hatred and betrayal, no sorrow and regrets. There was no glory either… but by the time it came to it, V realized, that wouldn’t be his concern anymore anyway.

A familiar but unexpected noise slowly pulled V out of his deep, almost dreamless sleep. For a moment he wondered if any of this had even happened – from meeting Mr. B to infiltrating the Crystal Palace, to ending up in front of a red stoplight with the worst possible timing. But when he opened his eyes to bleak white hospital walls, reality hit him even harder. He was still here, still breathing, his heart still beating. He could still barely move his head either, but even without doing so, the warm calming presence squeezed onto the left half of the bed beside him was undeniable. He realized it was Kerry’s gentle snoring that had woken him up, that usually helped him fall asleep.

One of the perks of them both being kind of short and slim, they comfortably fit into a bed made for one person only. As far as he could see, Kerry still wore his dark grey jeans and V’s old smiley-face t-shirt – he usually did when V was gone for a couple of days at a time. His leatherjacket was draped over an armchair nearby and guessing by the soft warm light falling in through half-closed blinds, it probably was the morning after. At least V hoped so, and he hadn’t lost more than half a day unconscious in a hospital bed.

Wanting nothing more than to run his fingers through Kerry’s tousled hair, pull him closer, just hold him, in disbelief still that he was really here and not a drug-induced figment of his imagination, V tried to lift his left arm. But he couldn’t. Despite the painkillers, every little movement hurt, his limbs felt like they were made from concrete. Weakly he laughed to himself when the ironic thought “feel like I was run over by a car” crossed his mind.

Kerry’s eyes fluttered open at V’s croaky laughter breaking the relative silence of the room. The quiet whirring of the medical monitors and machines was barely louder than white noise. He shuffled and looked up at V with great worry at first, but it slowly turned into a relieved smile.

“Hey,” he said, voice still heavy with sleep, scooching even closer so that they were more at eye level. He reached up to gently caress V’s face with the back of his hand, shaking his head just slightly.

“Almost gave me at least three heart attacks yesterday,” he said quietly, his expression growing more somber again.

“Didn’t mean to,” V apologized, his own voice still sounding strange and distant to him. But he truly meant what he said. He hated to see Kerry worry about him, especially over something so stupid.

“I know,” Kerry said, resting his head into the crook of V’s neck, his arm across V’s chest now, holding him close but making sure to not press onto his hurting ribs too forceful, “Fuck… I’m just so glad I didn’t lose you. Dunno know what I’d’ve done.”

V shivered. Clenching his jaw and biting back the pain he reached up to put his right hand on Kerry’s arm draped across his chest, fingers gently massaging and trailing along his tattoo. It had always reminded V of armor in a way, protecting him against a world that had been anything but kind to him for so long. The last thing V wanted was to also make the list of people Kerry had been hurt by.

“I don’t really know anymore what’s going on with me lately,” V blurted out, but that was all he really managed before his throat closed up again, the words he’d seen so clearly in his mind slipping and fading away. Kerry didn’t move away one bit, and V couldn’t see his face, but there was audible concern in his voice.

“You’ve been… weird, yeah,” he said after a couple of seconds, “Preoccupied. Thought it was the stress of… y’know, everything. The bad news from the docs, that big gig, managing the Afterlife, all that?”

“I mean, yeah…” V shrugged. It was true, all that had been stressing him out, on top of it the secrecy, working for Mr. B of all people… But he’d done worse things for Arasaka, been under similar stress then and afterwards, and he’d never felt so out of it at any point in time before.

“But… it’s more than that,” he said slowly, “On some days it’s like I barely recognize myself in the mirror anymore.”

A long pause, just filled with the quiet buzz of the machines, distant voices on the hallway, and the faint roar of an AV’s engine flying by outside.

“Think this is… like, the aftermath of the Relic? Gettin’ worse?” Kerry asked, and it hurt V how frail his voice sounded.

“I mean, could be,” V said, and the thought had certainly crossed his mind, “Like… It was like this before, worse even. A few times I actually saw Johnny in the mirror for a second, not myself. And it was still bad for a few weeks after Mikoshi. But I actually thought it was getting better… For a while at least, Vik doing what he could.”

“Seemed like you were more at ease with it all, yeah,” Kerry mused quietly.

V didn’t even want to think it but… maybe Alt was really right this time. Maybe there was no way out of this. He’d been living on borrowed time ever since he woke up in that landfill. Any semblance of things improving could have been just wishful thinking, all the brain experts poking and prodding him with great interest and enthusiasm creating a false sense of hope that he clung to like a drowning person to a lifebelt.

But Viktor had been underestimating how much time he’d have left, and Alt had been wrong with her first assessment of the situation, too. Even the great fucking Hellmann was surprised at V being the living proof of something he’d deemed impossible. So many smart people, time and time again wrong with their assumptions and estimations as soon as the Relic was on the table. V just didn’t want to believe there was no way out. He wanted to live. Being held close by Kerry like this now more than anything reassured him in this wish. They deserved more time than what had been offered…

But maybe a “happily ever after” just wasn’t written in the stars for V. Hell, did happy endings even exist? V’s last hope was whatever Mr. B and his associates were up to, the people even Johnny Silverhand had warned him to not fuck with. V had seen them literally delete and overwrite other people’s memories, whole personalities, to achieve… what exactly? Turn them into puppets for their own goals, whatever they were? Or just as an experiment to see how far they could take it? Would he end up being something like that for them, too, or would they actually be able and willing to help? Even if he was only a good investment to them, to V it could make a huge difference… Or should he test his luck one more time and not put his fate and trust in their hands, and just… hope for the best and that all of this would somehow resolve itself on his own?

None of his options were appealing, and none seemed any more promising than the other…

“You said you needed to tell me somethin’,” Kerry said after a while, and V was thankful for being pulled out of his dark thoughts, “On voicemail, yesterday. ‘Not over-the-holo stuff’?”

He sighed. All roads seemed to lead to Mr. B, somehow. But before he could say anything, there was a brief knock on the door and a young medtech walked in.

“Ah, you’re up. That’s good!” she said with a bright smile, pressing a few buttons on the control panel by the doorway, and the blinds in front of the large windows slowly opened fully. Kerry reluctantly sat up, stretching briefly and ran his hand through his hair in an attempt to somewhat get it back into its usual shape.

“It would have been no issue to get a guest bed in here, Mr. Eurodyne,” the medtech smiled.

“Nah, all good,” he shook his head and waved his left hand, with his right briefly squeezing V’s arm before getting up and making room for the tech to do her thing. V had never liked doctors much, neither hospitals, or anything that fit that overall category.

“Don’t worry, I’m just going to have a quick look at your biomon readings and superficial injuries, then I’m outta your face again,” the tech said, “I’m not sure if you remember by the way… We spoke briefly yesterday, but you were a little out of it.”

“Um, no, I don’t, actually,” V confirmed.

“No problem! I’m Jayda,” she said, “Dr. Fuentes is your attending physician, she’ll come in shortly with a few more questions.”

“She’s alright, talked to her yesterday,” Kerry chimed in as he put on his shoes over by the armchair.

“Okay,” V just nodded as Jayda tapped around on her datapad.

“Your cyberdeck and a few of your neural implants got a little bit shaken up from the accident yesterday. Your personal link broke, too, but nothing our techies couldn’t fix. I’m just checking if everything’s in order. Got any visual glitches, something feeling off? How bad is your pain on a scale of zero to ten, and where is it worst?”

She continued with her questions. V answered everything to his best ability but was relieved when she finally left the room again with the promise of breakfast being brought in soon. Kerry had meanwhile settled down on the armchair, leaning forward with his elbows propped up on this thighs and hands loosely folded. His right leg was bouncing slightly, and he looked at V with a light frown.

“So, I guess if the doctor gives her okay you can take me home with ya today,” V said, trying to smile.

“Hm-hm,” Kerry hummed, “And ya better believe I’m gonna make sure you finally rest your ass a bit.”

V chuckled, but instantly regretted it when the pain in his ribs reminded him just how right Kerry was about his demand.

“I actually told Rogue already I’d economize a bit. Not come in for a week or so,” he remembered, “Couldn’t have planned it better, I guess...”

Kerry’s face lit up.

“So… I’ll have you all to myself, until you’re better?”

“Until I’m better,” V said, “And beyond, I hope. What’s the point of workin’ my ass off trying to save my life and then not living it with the people that matter.”

Kerry smiled, but then hesitated, tilting his head.

“Wait so… your super-secret gig… It was actually, literally…”

His expression and voice were a mix of all sorts of emotions, confusion, curiosity, concern… but also a sliver of hope. V almost regretted having said what he did now because he didn’t want to raise any hope where there might be none.

“I… don’t know for sure yet. It’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” he explained, and Kerry slightly slumped back after perking up in careful excitement first.

“But not here,” V decided, half expecting a nurse to come in any moment, “As soon as we’re home.”

“Alright,” Kerry nodded, a little more soberly, but still smiling at him.

Hospital breakfast was, well, hospital breakfast. Not the worst, but also not particularly good.

“With how much you fork out for that Platinum policy you’d expect them to serve ya a full 5-star menu here,” Kerry muttered before he took a sip of V’s coffee, then made a face and put the cup back down, “I’m gonna go for a smoke, and maybe grab some proper coffee from around the corner. Want me to bring you anything? I’ll be quick.”

“I don’t think I have any clothes actually…” V noted as he looked around, and he was dressed in only a hospital shirt. His right hand shot up to his chest, his neck, searching for his necklace, but it wasn’t where it was supposed to be. His pulse sped up, but thankfully, Kerry didn’t seem to notice.

“I’ll take ya home naked, too,” he teased instead and kissed V on the cheek as he got up from his chair, “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

V chuckled, and ran his fingers through Kerry’s beard, tracing his jawline, trailing down his neck, along his cyberware to his collarbone… he really had to get his act together before he’d pull Kerry down into bed with him again.

“I’ll hurry,” Kerry said quietly, and V couldn’t help but notice the desire in his voice, reflected in reluctant movements, not quite willing to pull away and actually leave him now... So much so, that by the time he’d finally made it to the door, he almost collided with Dr. Fuentes coming in.

“Oh, apologies,” she smiled and stepped to the side to let Kerry pass.

“I’ll be right back!” he called over his shoulder before heading out. The doctor then walked over to V’s bed, and his uneasiness rose again.

“I’m Dr. Fuentes,” she introduced herself, “Very glad to see you up and well, all things considered.”

She held a datapad and linked it up to the monitors beside V’s bed, quickly checking the readings the same way Jayda had done earlier. V couldn’t really guess her age, she looked quite young for a doctor, but the way she moved and spoke made him guess that she was much older than she appeared. Maybe not quite Kerry’s age but seasoned for sure. There was no hint of grey in her dark curls tied back into a ponytail, and she studied the monitors with keen eyes. In the strangest way she reminded him of Takemura, but he wasn’t even sure why that was his first connotation. There was little they had in common, appearance-wise. It was more the energy she gave off, calm and professional outwardly, but something else slumbering beneath the surface.

Dr. Fuentes looked up from her datapad, smiled at V, and then she pulled up a chair and sat down to be more at eye level with him.

“Everything’s looking good, we got your toxicology report as well now, and there is nothing out of the ordinary either,” she said, “Although your liver values aren’t as good as they should be for someone your age. Do you drink regularly?”

“No, I don’t drink. Don’t react well to alcohol,” he said truthfully.

“Hm. Any drugs, strong medications? Some painkillers have a harsh impact on the liver.”

V hesitated, and Dr. Fuentes continued to gently smile, but it somehow made him even more suspicious of her.

“I’m not asking to condemn, just to make sure I have all the information I need to be able to help you,” she said calmly.

V almost wanted to say “I sincerely doubt you’ll be able to help me” but he bit his tongue.

“Can you tell me a little bit more about your condition?” she then asked, catching V off guard, “We did a brain scan yesterday, but what we found did not align with what we expected.”

She turned around her datapad, showing him the results. V looked at the familiar images intensely, trying to make out any differences to the last one that Dr. Williams had done, the head of that team of specialists Kerry had assembled. He didn’t notice any glaring differences, but overall, it still didn’t look good. He didn’t know where he’d even start explaining, or if he even wanted her to know anything about this. All it would lead to was a mountain of uncomfortable questions.

“Mr. Eurodyne said you have consulted with specialists about this already,” Fuentes said, “Neurology is my area of expertise as well. We obviously only have this snapshot of something that seems to have been going on for a while, but to me, it looks like a degenerative disorder of some sort? Resulting from an old injury, Mr. Eurodyne said?”

“That’s partially correct,” V said quietly, “It’s a long, complicated story, and I don’t want to go into details, frankly. Brings up a lot of bad memories.”

He had hoped that that would discourage her enough to let it go.

“I see,” Fuentes said, taking the datapad back, “Do you have any older scans, from when the injury was still fresh, or the time in-between then and now? We don’t have to discuss details or specifics, but if I could get an idea of how this started and progressed, maybe…”

“Let me stop you right here,” V said, much harsher than he’d planned to, but he couldn’t take it back now, “I… appreciate the concern. And what you’ve done for me already. But I’d like to leave it at that and just go home.”

Fuentes looked at him intensely, and yes, this was exactly what reminded him of Takemura about her. There was a fire in her intelligent, foxlike eyes, a sliver of obsession, and determination.

“If that is what you wish I won’t be standing in your way,” she said calmly, but he noted a certain almost challenging undertone, “I’ll prescribe you more painkillers, but everything else should resolve itself on its own. We can remove the cast on your wrist in a week, and at the very least until then, given your condition, I urge you to take it slow and rest.”

She slowly got up from the chair, tapping around on her datapad. It seemed like she was about to turn to leave, but then she hesitated and turned around once more. She wouldn’t just let it go, V hadn’t expected otherwise.

“Promise me to give it another thought,” Fuentes said, “I have been working with patients suffering from MS for years now, and we are working on treatments that are, admittedly, aggressive, but also showing extremely promising results.”

V hummed.

“You’re not by any chance affiliated with BioDyne?” he asked, “I’ve seen their ads. The 700,000-eddies-a-month therapy.”

Fuentes dropped her professional façade for just a second, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment if V had ever seen one. Then she smiled again, regaining her composure.

“I don’t work for BioDyne, no,” she said, “Only for my patients.”

“Either way though,” V said, “I don’t have MS. Actually, I’m pretty damn sure that I’m the only person on the fucking planet who has exactly what I have.”

“Even if that’s the case,” Fuentes said, “The same treatments can sometimes help ease different conditions. Or be repurposed with some adjustments.”

She looked him over intensely once more, then her eyes lit up pale blue as she sent him her contact info, the sight giving V goosebumps for a moment.

“Give it another thought,” she said, “You’re still so young, have your whole life ahead of you. And you seem to have at least one person at your side that cares a lot for your wellbeing. Talk it over with him, and give me a call when you’re ready. Jayda will be back shortly with your discharge papers and personal belongings.”

With that she turned around and left the room. V sighed and slumped back against his pillow, coffee and breakfast leftovers on his tray long cold by now. He was tired of thinking about the rest of his life, being told that he had “so much to live for”. Not that the people saying that were wrong. He had Kerry, Nibbles, a job he was really fucking good at, that allowed him freedoms and possibilities he wouldn’t have dared to dream of ten years ago. He had made a lot of good friends over the course of the last months, since all of this had started. Real friends that actually cared about him, that didn’t just see him as a pawn in their games. Up until then it had only been Jackie who liked him genuinely as a person, not just as an asset, and after he’d lost him, V had been more than ready to just die. At that time everything he’d still cared about had died with Jackie.

But he was no longer ready to die. Regardless, being told over and over again how much he had to lose made the stress to find a way to survive almost unbearable. As if he didn’t know he was too young to die, too genuinely happy for the first time in his life to let it all fade away together with his mind and body. To have Kerry take care of him as soon as he couldn’t do it himself anymore, to watch part of him die along with himself as things proceeded to get worse.

V closed his eyes and started counting the seconds until he’d finally get out of this hospital, breathe some real air again, and clear his head.

Kerry came back before Jayda did, with some clothes for V, “real” coffee, and donuts. Then Jayda appeared with the discharge documents on her datapad that V signed promptly, as well as a plastic bag with his cut-up clothes and other belongings. She unhooked him from all the machines, and as soon as she was out the door he opened the bag, almost frantically looking through it for his bullet amulet. He found it wrapped up in the remains of his shirt, took it out with a sigh of relief and put it back on.

“I think I’d gone nuts if I’d lost that somewhere,” he said shaking his head, still holding the cold metal pendant in his right hand, the bullet that took his old and in in a way gave him his new life sharp and rough against his palm.

“I almost hoped they’d lost it, 'cause you'd never leave the house without your lucky charm,” Kerry teased, sitting at the edge of his bed again. He was still in his same clothes, hair still unkempt. He must’ve really just breezed home and past the nearest Caliente’s to be back as quickly as he was. V gently kicked Kerry’s ass, but he probably hurt himself more with his abrupt movement than the other way around.

“Serves ya right,” Kerry laughed as V groaned in pain and got up, “Need some help gettin’ dressed?”

“If you’re as good as dressing me as you’re with undressing me, I won’t say no,” V joked, flinching and hissing as he tried to get out of bed, body sore all over. Before his feet even touched the ground Kerry was at his side, holding his hand and helping him up. He smiled at V still, but like so often lately, his smile only covered up his pain and sadness about everything, wasn’t as genuine as it used to be. He knew there was no point in dwelling in the past, but in moments like this he wished he could turn back time. He’d lost count of how often he’d wondered if things were different now – and in how far – if he'd given in and taken Hanako’s offer instead of bringing the fight to Arasaka. He hoped that, at the latest three months from now, he wouldn’t wonder the same thing about Dr. Fuentes’ offer eventually.

>> Next Chapter

44 notes · View notes

starrcrossrose · 6 months

Note

How long do you typically spend on a drawing? Of the ones you've posted, which took the longest? Which was the quickest?

Hi! Sorry I've been meaning to answer this for ages and then I kept forgetting (and overthinking my answer lakdjflakjf)

Of the ones I've posted, I think the one that took the longest was my DTIYS Cyberpunk AU Piece! This took me about... I think 8 hours with linework and rendering, but figuring out the sketch and poses took probably another hour or two before I was satisfied.

As for the quickest, that's harder because I'm fastest at sketches in general (usually). Depending on the sketch, and if it's a filled page or just a singular sketch, they can take anywhere from two minutes to an hour or two. The one below was done in like a minute or two for a laugh, lol.

I don't do fully rendered stuff lately because of my arm/hand issues, but when my health is in a better place, I do love doing things like flats and lighting! (Line art is a love/hate relationship lol)

Thank you for the ask! Each piece is different depending on time available, motivation, and how clearly an idea pops into my head

#ask #answer #starr speaks #art

7 notes · View notes

keiagosden · 2 years

Text

Another from @fox-guardian palette. I promise I won’t tag you in every image, but I do wanna make sure credit is given and ya page is easily accessible.

I love Oliver. I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t. Becoming an avatar because you were sleepy and sank a ship? Relatable content right there. Chronic pain has forced me to the heavy duty painkillers today though so that may impact my opinion slightly. Still, we’ve all been sleepy enough to steal someone’s identity and doom a ship of people just trying to do their job.

Sorry my posts don’t have id’s I don’t know how one would go about writing it. If someone wants to ID it or maybe tell me how one would do that I’ll make sure it’s a thing I include.

I also used this line art as a base to create a character for a cyberpunk tabletop a friend of mine is running. What was going to be a two minute tweak to outfit etc and colour turned into many hours just for the token for the game. Maybe I’ll post what started as my lazy man shortcut and turned into an entirely new piece bar the pose. And hair. Loved the hair.

Here’s the link to the palette - I’m enjoying it a lot

https://fox-guardian.tumblr.com/post/654994176911523840/id-a-set-of-fifteen-color-palettes-of-five

#tma fanart #tma #my art #oliver banks #the end #terminus #the magnus archive fanart #the magnus archives

68 notes · View notes

twistedoverbloat · 2 years

Note

Ruggie: Why Didn't you tell me!?! Why!?!

Cyberpunk: * flinch but not looking away * I was going to... Till S.T.Y.X. incedent happened and it was chaos on its own Ruggie

Ruggie: * looked around, still have alot but he knows she is telling the truth to him as they both been dating for a full year.... He just hugs her and cries *

Cyberpunk: * hugs back and only let her tears fall on its own * I'm so sorry Ruggie, I truly am

Ruggie: * sniff and just hold them tightly * I still love you, and I won't leave you

Cyberpunk: I love you too, you wouldn't imagine how much you make me change for the better * rubs her face on his neck *

They both just spent the whole week of this talking, and what the plan is once they graduate, one of Cyberpunk dream before coming to twisted wonderland and her time as a gladiator is to have a stable living and to be a mother

( man we are in the angst train today! )

A lot of tears were shed that day. Ruggie said fuck it and Leona bought the ring for him. The wedding was at Afterglow Savanah and Leona held it in the royal garden and no one stopped them since Leona never asks for anything. Ruggies family was there and Idia and Ortho walked Cyberpunk down the isle.

A wedding for the forbidden lovers.

Idia looked at Cyber in her dress. It was a floor length one that was a piece inspired by Persephone's dress. Ortho helped her with her hair, Idia gave her the something new "This is a broach that Vil helped me make. The design is the Shrouds crest." Ortho walked back with a bouquet with a single blue flower "Something blue! The flower symbolizes hope and the beauty of things." Cyber smiled as she hugged her brothers. Ruggie's grandmother then stood up, "For your something old I have my earrings that were passed down to mother in law to daughter or daughter in law for generations." She clipped them on. She touched up on her make up and Ruggie's grandmother smiled "Your ready dear.

As Ruggie stand at the alter he tapped his foot worried that Yuu might be late. Leona smacked his head "Calm down she loves you like how Simba loved Nala." The Hyena smiled at the lazy Lion, he was always there to smack some sense into him. Then the music began, he whipped his head back and saw his soon to be wife in a beautiful white dress, a bouquet with a single blue rose, with his grandmother's heirloom earrings.

He begin to cry seeing the women he loves more then dounuts. Yuu smiled at him as Ortho was on her left and Idia on her right. When they reached him Ortho hugged her hip and left to sit down. Idia looked at Ruggie as he clutched Yuu tighter, he didn't want to give up his only sister. Yuu turned to him and nodded 'You need to let me go.' Idia let a tear fall and nodded gently giving her to Ruggie and with a firm stare of 'I'm watching you.' He then sat next to Ortho.

Ruggie and Yuu looked at each other not listening to Felena blessed the wedding. After the vows Ruggie and Yuu both said yes, Yuu grabbed him, dipped the Hyena beastman with a deep kiss. The crowed cheered seeing two lovers finally tie the knot. The newly weds walked to the ballroom as everyone partied.

During the dance they spoke to each other with so much love in their eyes. Ruggie laughed his shishishi "Til death do us part my dear." Yuu smiled "Til death do us part my love." As they danced in circles as everyone watched them become more inchoate with one another.

#cyber punk yuu #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland yuu #twisted wonderland x reader #angst with a hopeful ending #twst angst

83 notes · View notes

innocentanimegirl · 1 year

Text

Dragon ball + z

Naruto

Bleach

One piece

Mob psycho 100

One punch man

Hunter x hunter

Fate

Spyxfamily

Beelzebub

Mha

Black clover

Silent voics

Your name

Spirited away

A whisker away

Bubbles

Blue lock

Your lie in april

The promised Neverland

Given

Yuri on ice

Dororo

My neighbor tororo

Death note

Tokyo ghoul

Kagegurui

Fruits basket

Kamisama kiss

Hyoka

Blue period

Charlotte

Demon slayer

Haikyuu

Barakamon

Saiki k

Komi can't communicate

To your eternity

Reincarnated as a slime

Rising of the shield hero

Tiang guang shi fu/heaven's official blessing

Redo of healer (sorry)

Black butler

Madoka magic

Yona of the dawn

Kakuriyo bread and breakfast

Maid sama

Orange

Anohana

Wolf girl and the black prince

Wonder egg priority

Weathering with you

Maqia when the promised flower blooms

Achi kocchi

Beyond the boundary

Gintama

Dr. Stone

Jujutsu kaisen

Chainsaw man

The world's finest assasin

Another

Seven deadly sins

Fairy tail

Noragami

Snow White with the red hair

Food wars

Asobi asobase

A silent voice

Tamako love story

Link click

Brother's conflict

Josee, the tiger and fish

Gakuen babysitters

The demonic king chases his wife

The yakusa's guide to babysitting

The misfit of demon king academy

Bofuri

Welcome to demon school iruma kun

The god of high school

Ascendance of a bookworm

If It's for My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat a Demon Lord

Kono subarashi sekaii ni shufuku

Horimiya

Nisekoi

Kuroko no basket

Assassination classroom

Danganropa

Toilet bound hanako kun

Bonguo steay dogs

Millionaire detective(bank unlimited)

Tokyo revengers

Tokyo ravens

High rise invasion

Parasite

Full metal alchemist

Sword art online

Ouran high school host club

Little witch academia

Free!

Cyberpunk edge runners

From me to you/kimi ni todoke

Kaguya Sama love is war

Votakoi

Himouto! Umaru chan

Tonari no sekki kun

Haven't you heard? I'm sakamoto!

Aono exorcist

Ao haru ride

Jojo's bizzare adventure

Tomodachi game

Magatsu no wahreit

86 eighty six

Shikimori San is not just a cutie

Death parade

Violet evergarden

Code geass

Diabolik lovers

Blue Exorcist

Ousamu ranking

Seraph of the end

Moriorty the patriot

Phsyco pass

Death parade

Mieruko-chan

Sk8 infinity

Cowboy bebop

GTO

Black lagoon

Yarichin bitch club

Cells at work

Durara

Dororo

Lookism

Skum's wish

Fire force

The way of the house husband

Monster

Romantic killer

I'm a villainous daughter so I'll tame the final boss

So im a spider, so what

God troubles me

Sasaki and miyano

The children of the whales

Buddy daddies

Hellsing

Record of ragnarok

Vinland saga

The witcher

7 seeds

The great pretend

B the beginning

By the grace of the gods

Oshi no ko

Hell's paradise

Kabaneri the iron fortress

Great pretender

Campfire cooking in another world with my abnormal ability

Musuko tenshou

Mo dao zu shi

Mashle

Magi

My anime list so far lol

19 notes · View notes

localhornist · 2 years

Text

Alrighty! First time doin this, here's my first piece for the first day of @rosebird-week 's Rosebird Week, Sci-Fi/Cyberpunk! Somewhat based off of a game I hold dear to my heart, Rimworld. Enjoy!

(Also can read here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41810973)

Cheap fluorescent lights fizzed and flickered, snapping Raven out of her brooding as she momentarily looked up, watching the flies buzzing around the long, pale strips of light. Finding them as dull as expected, she returned to people watching from her spot at the end of a table in a dingy corner, a metal finger tapping against the equally metal table top. The few people there were only marginally better than whatever drawl was projecting on the screen above the bar, talking about whatever mediocre things were going on in their lives. Though not much news came out of this Urbworld, so it was hardly a surprise. Her red eyes took another peak at the clock.

21:37

Her contact should've been here at eight.

Sighing, Raven stood up, running her fingers through the thick, pitch-black mane she called hair. It’d taken ages for her to find this hole-in-the-wall pub her client had wanted to meet at, and now they weren’t gonna show up? Oh well. There's be more business else-

Crash.

Metal hand quickly found sword-hilt as Raven readied herself, bionic eyes scanning the room. Whatever had just caused a ruckus would show itself soon, and then she’d-

…

A woman. About the same age as Raven, though she appeared much timider, currently in the midst of flustered apologising to the bartender, who had also come into view, lips curled into a smile under his grey goatee as he reassured her it was okay, and the glasses hadn't been that expensive anyway. Raven regarded her with confusion. Nothing was out of the ordinary, save for her very unusual sincerity, it seemed.

But. There was always a but with the people Raven dealt with. And this one was no exception. At first, the telltale signs her eyes picked up from cybernetics - different temperatures, weight, electric signals - just didn’t come up. She seemed all-natural. But then Raven realised, it wasn’t because there was nothing different.

EVERYTHING was. Every detail her eyes picked up was ever so slightly off. But enough for it not to be a coincidence. Raven grasped her sword tighter as the woman turned, spotting her and… smiling? She rushed over with a cheerful “Hello!”, grasping Raven’s other hand before she could even react and shaking it furiously, leaving her baffled. “Um… hello?” was all she could muster.

“I’m so sorry for being late!” The woman apologised when she eventually let go of Raven’s hand, frowning slightly. “My keys ended up misplaced, then traffic was bad, then I ended up in the Trevas sector instead of here and-”

Raven just stared, mystified, at the woman in front of her who, unabated, kept talking. Somehow managing to collect her thoughts, she cleared her throat, cutting the woman off. “So… you’re my client.”

“Yes, I am!” She replied cheerfully, once again extending her hand. “Summer Rose, in the flesh!”

“Right…” Great. A rookie. Raven took his hand, and was shaken even more furiously than before, feeling as if her brain was going to fall out of her head. “You know we tend not to use names in this kinda business, right?”

“Well,” Summer replied with a smirk, finally stopping shaking Raven, who breathed a sigh of relief, “this probably isn’t your regular kinda business.”

Raven was now ever so slightly intrigued (even if she’d never admit it) as Summer walked past, sitting down in the spot next to where Raven had been, and patting down next to her. Already finding her eyes trolling at the woman’s antics, she acquiesced, sitting down as Summer pulled out a small mobile device, setting it on the table. After pressing a few buttons, a small image was brought up on the screen, what looked to be some sort of map. “Recognise this?” Summer asked. Raven shook her head silently, studying the map intently. “Good, you shouldn’t.”

“It’s been dubbed digsite pallium. Official records of the company there state its purpose before they abandoned it was just for more natural resources. However, it was much more than that.” Tapping a few more buttons, a new image came up, similar to the one before, except with readings that made Raven’s eyes widen. “What in the….”

Summer chuckled warmly. “Yep, that’s about how I first reacted. All of this indicates something big and nearly alive underneath. An AI of some sort. Something like-”

“An arcotech.”

“Precisely. Given the company were able to even land on it, it’s either sleeping or dead, or whatever the equivalent is for them,” The smirk Summer now held was almost predatory as her eyes sparkled at the word, disturbing Raven ever so slightly. “And for currently unstated reasons, the original company abandoned the site. Now leaving it fair game.” Raven wanted to question how this supposedly inconspicuous woman had gotten ahold of such info, but knew better than to ask.

“So, what. You wanna raid the place or somethin’?”

“Not exactly. My group believe we could use the site to, in fact, research the sleeping arcotech. Data from which could be revolutionary, given the technology that has come from them that we still don’t understand. Research at the source may change that.”

“Okay,” Raven spoke hesitantly. There was still one thing she didn’t get. “But, why exactly am I needed for your little ‘research expedition’?”

Summer hummed in response, tapping the table. “Well, even with the arcotech currently down, we can’t be certain any Mechanoids it’s created are. So, we need someone to protect us all, hence why I’m trying to hire your pretty face.” She finished with a smirk, catching Raven momentarily off guard. She quietly readjusted herself, careful not to look Summer in the eye as she did. “That makes sense, I guess.”

“Good! Well, if you’re happy with this price, it’s a deal!” She pushed a few more buttons, and slid the little device over to Raven. She took a look-

…

“Oh, I’m in.”

“Good!” Summer brushed off her white cloak as she stood, looking down at Raven with a smile. “We’ll be meeting at the Terima hangars, B12 and B13. You know how to get there?” Once Raven had nodded, Summer’s smile grew. “Great! I’m looking forward to working with you.” She turned, still looking over her shoulder with a mischievous grin. “Partner.”

Raven would leave fairly soon after Summer had, making her way down the various steel walkways of the endless city that made up the Urbworld’s surface. Eventually making it to her apartment, she slumped into her bed, a small caw coming from her pet raven, Red. But even as she fell asleep to the bird’s caws, Summer’s parting words and smile kept floating in her mind.

This was gonna be a long job.

~ ~ ~

BANG!

CLASH!

Turns out, it was gonna be a lot longer than expected.

Everything had been going fine at first. Raven had managed to convince her brother to come along for the job, given the years she’d have to spend in cryo. They’d managed to get on well enough with the crew, and had set off on their journey.

Only problem was, they hadn’t reached their destination. Raven had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with them going hunting for a literal arcotech, but their navigation AI had malfunctioned. Luckily, their ship warning system didn’t, so they’d actually had some warning when the ship split in two above the planet they were currently on. One which they shouldn’t have been anywhere near.

A rimworld. Wild. Chaotic. Untamed. And sat right at the edge of space, with no technology to speak of able to get them off its surface.

Normally Raven would ask herself how things had gone so wrong. Currently, however, she was very occupied dealing with the Mechanoids that had jumped on them the moment the survivors crashed down. Qrow was somewhere nearby, judging by the sound of his old-fashioned ballistic revolver firing through the woods, whilst Summer was at her side, firing at the encroaching Mechanoids with a charge-pistol. Cutting through another Lancer, Raven looked around…

There!

Crashing through the woods was a Centipede. Most likely, the Centipede. Raven grinned. This was her chance.

Dropping low, she charged, dipping back and forth as the Centipede spotted her and began to fire its large charge blaster, ripping through the ground as Raven drew closer and closer, grass and dirt flicking at her mask. With a final slide she reached it-

SLASH

The plasma sheath of her sword cut through the blaster, and as it reached its core, a flash of light marked its explosion, throwing Raven crashing into the upturned dirt. Thankfully, her shield belt took the brunt of it, as she shakily stumbled to her feet, grinning manically at the charred corpse of the machine. Sensing the tide changing, worried chirps sounded from the surrounding Mechanoids as they began to flee. Of course, Raven took that chance to take a few more down.

When they were all gone, however, she slumped to the ground, taking her mask off and wiping her forehead. She’d still been disorientated from the cryosleep, so the fight had taken a toll. As she sat, a clattering caught her attention, and she watched curiously as Summer attempted to tear the charge lance from a dead Lancer. After about a minute of watching the poor woman tug to no avail, she rolled her eyes and pulled herself up,w walking over and, in one fell swoop, cutting the lance off and sending her flying backwards. “You could’ve jus’ asked me to help, ya know?”

“You… looked… tired….” Summer gasped between long breaths, dumping the lance next to her as she lay on the floor, desperate for air. Raven just rolled her eyes again and sheathed her sword, walking over. “Hey, I don’t have time to be tired.”

“Of course… you don’t,” Summer shot back sarcastically, but all the same, she took the hand Raven offered, flopping on her as she tried to steady herself. “So… what now?”

“Huh. What do you mean?”

“Well,” Summer started, leaning down to pick up the lance after removing herself from Raven. “I thought you might know a bit about what to do now, as being stuck on a world at the edge of colonised space with no way off it is not in my area of expertise. It’s… scary, to be honest. I- I don’t know what to do.”

That was an understatement, judging by the look in Summer’s eyes. Raven felt for her, but it wasn’t like she had any answers. Not real ones, anyway. With a sigh, she placed a hand on Summer’s shoulder.

“I will admit, I’m as lost as you are. But right now, I think we should focus on the now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the ship should’ve dropped us somewhere we can at least live. It’s just unlucky there were some beaten-up mechanoids here already. So we need to get the group together and formulate a plan. Bury any dead, collect food, find water, and make shelter. All the survival essentials. Do you think you can focus on that for now?” Raven gave a smile of reassurance, and slowly, Summer nodded. “Good. Let's start on number one.” Raven walked off and cupped her hands together on either side of her mouth.

“ANYONE WHO CAN WALK, GET YOUR LAZY ARSES OVER HERE NOW. ANYONE WHO CAN'T, SOMEONE ELSE CARRY!”

Summer chuckled at her crassness, and Raven turned back, smiling cheekily and giving her a thumbs up.

Maybe, things would turn out okay. For now, at least.

So long as they stuck together.

#rosebirdweek #rosebird #summer rose #raven branwen #rwby #rwby au #au

7 notes · View notes