#but everyone seems to be against Mitch and Scorpion

[pinkyjulien]

🌈 Queerness in CyberPunk 2077

I wanted to make this post earlier this month but got caught up in modding shenanigans, as per usual~

BUT! It's still June, still pride, so here it is :>

▶ DISCLAIMER

All of this is my analyses, headcanons, of different characters, some of them not confirmed at all in anyway or form! I'm a queer man myself, but I do not claim to know everything about queerness and being queer, everyone experience the game and interpret the characters differently 🤲 This is only my opinions, based off canon game events, clues, hints, as well as developpers's tweets, streams, files datamining etc etc Please do not see this thread as an attack, or as something invalidating! I'm more than curious to heard what you think about my personal analyses, if you agree, if you don't, and why! If you think other characters also display hints of queerness I'd love to hear it too! 💙

This picture is an update I did in 2022 of lil collage I did back in 2021~

I posted the first version on Reddit back in 2021 and it created this whole "what do mean JOHNNY is GAY?" (because a rainbow behind a man automatically means he's Gay and nothing else right) and a lot of biphobia over his character in particular (gasp- THE rockerboy?! Biseggsual?? In my viddy game??)

▶ You can look at the thread here and have a lil laugh

SO, NATURALLY, after doing the 2022 collage, I went and uploaded it to reddit once again! Because triggering bigots and seeing them stumble over their own tongues trying to debunk everything is really funny ✨

However, I instantly muted the thread and let it rot in its own sauce for some days, weeks, only coming back to it later and Oh Boy 👀

I did a thread on Twitter last year exploring everything that was said on the thread and explaining why I put certain characters on it

Thought it'd be cool and fun to re-explore that and share my thoughts with y'all here SO LETS GET BACK TO IT 😌🤙

▶▶▶

I'll mainly paste screenshots of what I already said on my twitter thread, but I might add some things there and there!

Damn I was kinda pissed off back then HGHFHGF but yeah, this is also the reason I won't ever make any straight or super straight flags I do not headcanon Delamain as Asexual, as there isn't any confirmation anywhere that he's interest in that kind of interaction or not, but I'll come back to him later!

Goro being canonly Queer is often missed, and this surprises me, considering he's one of the popular character! He is interested (or not) equally in both Fem and Masc V, giving he's replying to them the exact same ways! This isn't something done randomly by the devs :)

As said in the tweet, there isn't any direct and clear evidence of Mitch and Scorpion being a couple! Their relationship is heavily queer coded and queer people are more easily picking up on it than non-queer peoeple (and that's normal) Gay men have called their male partner Friend, Best friend and Brother through history maaaany many time, and that's part of my interpretation of their relationship too, especially giving they're both veterans who fought in the same war. The poem Mitch wrotes during "I'll Fly Away" (heavily implied) is romantic and gay coded, the gay novel in Mitch's tent (confirmed to be on purpose) is what we call environnemental story telling, it's subtle but adds to a character's backstory and lore! As for the datamining, I found a Mitch awkwardly explaining to V that no, Saul doesn't have any say in whatever he's doing with Scorpion stuff "because.... because... eh, that's just family stuff"

Note on Delamain here because I've heard it even caused some drama here on Tumblr that I said that? He uses He/Him to describe himself, the Main Entity, but multiples of his splites entities uses She/Her, meaning he's literally Non-Binary in how his entity is formed (I find it really cool for an AI ngl ngl) However if my headcanon offended anyone, I apologize! and I'd love to hear others interpretation :3

There isn't any open and visible MLM gay couple in Cyberpunk 2077! Bouncing off ElvenBeard's amazing analyses and thoughts on Kerry's sexuality, he can be seen as Bisexual (confirmed by RTAL themselves) and Homosexual (confirmed by the devs before and after the game released) he can be Both and Both are correct depending on how you view his character and how he grew from his past relationship (Bisexual with a masc preference, Bisexual who have to heal from his marriage, Gay man who realized his sexuality later after a wonky marriage, etc)

The whole "Responsability=Wife" Takemura take angers me to no end, taking its roots in heteronormativity- We see Goro care for his job above all else, to me that's what his "responsability" is and always was; his job

Nothing more to add here- Jackie's only relationship we see in game is with Misty, this doesn't confirm nor deny anything! (However with how he react to V pushing him, lip-bitting and all regardless of gender, I can totally see him as being queer)

AND That's about it!

It was interesting to dig into that thread last year and thought I'd share that here, as a refresher that Johnny is Bi, Takemura too, and smaller characters like Mitch and Evelynn still have clear hints of queerness to them ✨

I really like how CP77 touches on queerness, it feels realistic, it doesn't feel forced; which, sadly, create this problem of "UH?? This is pure LIES" if a character's sexuality is not splattered in your face, which then create the "Ugh why does it have to be forced down our throat" complains

Something something, lesson here is that people will always complain about queerness, be it loud, be it subtle, so fuck it! Scream it, go apeshit over small details, over-analyse everything cause chances are: this is intentional!

More Characters

I later noticed that Regina have a naked lady tattooed on her forearm, and since we know nothing is done randomly in CDPR's video games, makes me think that she might be sapphic in some way ✨

Mateo is also one of my fav "potential queer", how he could be a trans man, but there isn't anything really to support that other than that one interaction with V

▶ Link to the updated collage Reddit Thread

▶ Link to my Twitter breakdown

[nereol]

Cyberpunk 2077 Prompt Event (29/30)

As usual you can read this on AO3.

Daily Prompt: April 29 - dialogue -“You might be surprised by what you can live through.”

Technical Prompt: none

I'll Fly Away spoilers and original dialogues. So, Mitch. That's the 10th pairing I wrote for this event (even so this is not romantic). I won't finish all 30 days, but I definitely achieved the goal of writing as many pairings as possible. Mitch's just a nice guy, I guess he'd be an amazing friend!

Guilt, Grief/Mouring, Hurt/Comfort

Mitch looks up at Val, who's standing a few steps away looking at the fresh graves. "Do you know what it's like to lose your best friend?" Val turns to him, but looks at him only for a brief moment. "Mhmm." She swallows and looks down at her boots. "Name was Jackie."

"Uh-huh." Mitch scratches the back of his head. "How'd he go?" "Like everyone goes in Night City." Her voice is tense, and she looks back to the graves, arms folded in front of her chest.

Shit, he shouldn't have asked her. She clearly doesn't want to talk about it. "Anyway, come on, city girl." Mitch says as casually as possible as he stands up from the rock and crosses his arms. "Help me out with somethin'."

~~~

"Mitch - why me?" Val stands with her arms resting on the concrete barrier and looks into the distance. "Why'd you ask me for help?" Mitch, back against the barricade, looks over at her. "Eh, you seem like a good egg." "I'm serious." She turns her head and looks at him questioningly.

"I don't know, I uh..." He avoids her gaze. "I guess the fact that I'm still here to send him off right - that's thanks to you." Mitch takes a sip of beer and Val shakes her head. Then Mitch continues. "Your paths crossed. Just for a moment... but damn, was it the right one."

"Thanks, but you're wrong." Val says firmly, looking into the distance again. Mitch looks at her from the side. "If our paths wouldn't have crossed, he would be alive." Val adds before taking a sip from her beer bottle.

"What are ya talking 'bout?" Mitch shakes his head. "Talkin' 'bout the truth. Without me... Scorpion would be alive..." She swallows before adding in a weak voice, "...as well as Jackie."

Mitch pushes away from the barrier, places his empty can on the table, and turns to face her. As he eyes her frowning, he sees tears falling down her cheeks. "Hey..." He takes a step closer and puts his cybernetic arm around her shoulders.

Val turns her head away from him so he doesn't see her face. But she doesn't try to shake him off, which Mitch takes as a good sign. "Don't know 'bout Jackie, but I definitely don't blame you for Scorpion."

Val snorts, tears still falling down her cheeks. "Well, you should." Her voice is weak and even though they were silent tears until just now, Mitch can sense her tension. She tries to hold back the sobs, breathing shallowly, teeth clenched.

Mitch takes the beer from her hands and sets the bottle down on the concrete barrier to his right. "C'here." And Mitch turns Val toward him to pull her into a hug. She doesn't return the hug, just stands there, her arms hanging down. But as before, she doesn't shake him off.

Mitch says nothing, just strokes her back with one hand as Val finally lets loose, puts her head on his chest and starts crying and sobbing. As she slowly calms down, Mitch releases the hug and takes a step back, both hands on her upper arms. Val avoids his gaze, looks down. "Sorry... I..."

"It's okay." Mitch eyes her. When he met her a week ago, she was full of energy and cheer. A smile, or to be more precise, a grin on the lips and a sparkle in the eyes. At the AV crash site... sure she was tense there. But now...

"You wanna talk 'bout Jackie?" "I...", Her voice cracks. "Don't know... maybe..." Val looks off into the distance again and turns sideways to lean back against the concrete barrier, and Mitch stands next to her.

Val takes a deep breath. "I almost said he was like a brother. But we made out a few times and it would be fucking weird to call him a brother then." She chuckles low, still crying, and Mitch smirks at her from the side. "But since I don't have any family, Jackie's the closest..." Her voice cracks again and Mitch puts his arm back around her.

"The AV... the guy I needed to talk to... the whole shit started the day Jackie died." Val pauses. She's probably thinking about what she should tell him. Mitch says nothing, doesn't push her. "It's my fault. Without me..." She swallows hard. "I could have saved Jackie... and I could have saved Scorpion... and all the others..."

"Scorpion and the others... I don't blame you." Mitch squeezes her shoulders for a moment to emphasize what he's said. Val shakes her head and lowers her eyes. "Well, one of us, after all." She sobs again and Mitch strokes her back with his hand. "Shh."

"Now I feel bad... sorry." Val looks over at him briefly, but quickly drops her gaze again. "This was for you - for Scorpion and now you're comforting me." "It's okay. You helped me, I help you..." He offers her a small smile.

After a short pause Mitch asks, "Did you ever talk about it?" Val just shakes her head - he had expected that answer. "How long...?" Val interrupts him. "One month." The answer came so quickly, she knows exactly. "Exactly one month last night."

Mitch pulls her into a hug again. “Come on, V. Your a tough girl. You'll manage." This time Val returns his embrace, if only for a moment. "You might be surprised by what you can live through, if you just have someone to talk to about it." And as he pulls back, Mitch kisses her on the head.

---

One month wasn't planned. Just looked into my timeline and The Heist was May 1st and I planned I'll Fly Away for June 2nd. Coincidences...