#but instead she's bugged and goes to hell BEST CASE SCENARIO

[heartofsnark]

Can You Feel The Sun? (Chapter Eight): Icarus Falls

Notes: Why, yes, I am posting these relatively quickly. This is the last of a backlog since I’m actively still working on the next chapter, This is a doozy of a chapter, both emotionally and length wise, but I’m rather proud of it, if I’m being honest. I recommend settling in a snack and maybe...just maybe some tissues.... 

Word Count: 15327 

Chapter Warnings:  Multiple deaths, violence, gore, grief, angst. 

If you haven’t yet, you can read the previous chapter here!~

V and Jackie get into the backseat of the Delamain taxi. White and tan leather interior, despite looking the nicest she ever has in twenty years she still feels like she might stain the white leather. No driver, instead there’s screens and consoles in the back of the seats in front of them. An avatar of a bald man with stark unnaturally white skin and blue lips 

“Welcome on board this Delamain service. With Delamain, you leave your problems at the door,” the AI avatar greets them in a robotic voice. 

“Son of a bitch! Better fuckin' believe I will!” Jackie yells out, still grinning. V lets out a breath of air meant to sound like a laugh, but the lump in her throat isn’t making it any easier. 

“I see no reason why you should be using expletives.”

“Sorry, he gets… excited.”  Her voice is tighter than she wants it to be, her leg bouncing now. 

“Damn right, I’m excited. Hey, Del, what about that time I wanted to hire you for my cousin's bachelor party, huh?” 

“Unfortunately, we do not take on such contracts.”

“Three months I'd been savin' up scratch… Egh, water under the bridge. Hit it, Del!”

“Before we begin our journey, I must verify the identities of all customers. Please proceed to connect your personal links,” the mercs plug their personal links into the console, “Thank you. "Excelsior" package activated.”

Crisp subtitles for Delamain alight along her contacts, more comprehensive than the lip reading tech sometimes gives. Maybe his AI avatar enunciates more properly than a human, she wonders. 

“"Excelsior"? Hohoho, this just keeps gettin' better!”

Jackie laughs as the taxi cab starts to drive and V finds herself fiddling with her suit sleeve. It’s perfectly tailored, but she still feels like a kid in dress up. Having to pretend she’s a corpo, having to pretend to be a hearing person. Her bright painted nails seem to clash so much with the persona and she curses herself for not changing the polish. What if they’re caught right away? The corps smelling Heywood and The Badlands on them the second they walk through the door. What if the spoofed SID hack doesn’t work, what if the bot malfunctions… What if, what if, what if; spins around her brain. They can’t fuck this up, there’s no room for mistakes. One disaster will destroy their reputations, hell their entire merc careers. And that's the best case scenario. 

When she glances at Jackie there’s no hint of nerves, no hint of reservation or fear, just giddy excitement. Like a kid getting ready to hit up a party. 

“What’s got you riled up?” She asks in spoken English, deciding she’ll mostly speak for the ride since Jackie is the only person really here, that way he doesn’t have to look at her the entire time. And maybe she’s also hoping if she talks enough she won’t clam up too bad in Konpeki.  

“Hang on, watch this… Delamain! Initiate combat mode!”

She can see the bright red ink of his tattoo peeking from his suit sleeve, eyes drawn to it, and something about that scares her more; a hint of his Valentino roots showing, would it be a literal red flag for Konpeki security. 

“My apologies, but you do not appear to be in any sort of imminent danger,” Delamain crushes Jackie’s hopes, a frown replacing his grin. 

“Huh… Oh well. Trust me, he'll mow down an army of ‘Saka ninjas if it comes down to it,” Jackie explains to V and she wraps her arms around herself, resisting the desire to bring her legs up into the seat, trying to get her mind off her nerves. 

“So, what else is included in Excelsior mode?” V tries signing to the AI, curious if it has translation tech for ASL. 

“Comprehensive health coverage, including the handling and disposal of a client's remains should death occur on board,” Delamain responds without hesitation and instantly ruins any chance of her getting her mind off the massive risks within this job. 

“Damn. Shit got dark pretty quick,” Jackie comments. 

“Dex isn’t skimping though.” 

“And thanks to you, we're still gettin' a juicy forty percent.”

“You’re welcome.” 

“Excelsior…This is how you wanna cruise into the major leagues…” He says like the job is already done and they’re hitting up an after party… 

“Wouldn’t get too excited yet, Jack, doing a job not hitting up a party.” And her words are too sharp, voice too venomous and rough in her throat. She regrets it as soon as they leave her lips, as soon as she’s spoken them into reality, wishing she could swallow them back down. His face drops completely, eyes harsh and she knows she fucked up. 

“For real, V…? See me as that shallow?”

“I-”

“Lemme explain somethin' to you, V… My whole life I've spent in this shit around us! And I ain't goin' back!”

“I’m sorry, really, I just… I’m worried and I let my nerves talk for me, I’m sorry.” She quickly tries to smooth it over, those knots in her gut only winding tighter with Jackie mad at her. 

“Swear to christ, V, I will never fucking get you,” he says, shaking his head and looking out the window.

“What do you mean?” 

“Twenty years old, sitting in the back of a Delamain, on your way to do a job for Dex fuckin’ Deshawn and you can’t even muster a fuckin smile? You fuckin’ know what I’d have done to be where you are right now when I was your age, I was still dreaming of seeing The Afterlife! Took you less than a year to be here, took me ten! And you ain’t even happy about it! Then you act like I’m not takin’ it serious, like I don’t got my fuckin’ head in the game, just cause you can’t appreciate where the fuck you are right now!” 

She chews her lip, not sure what to say to him. Guilt coming over her. He’s right, she hasn’t lived in Night City nor been a merc nearly as long. He’s been doing this since he left the Valentinos… For Jackie this has been a lifelong dream, the ultimate goal. She didn’t even consider it a possibility until she met him and now she’s already on her way there. Of course he’s happy, on the precipice of his dreams coming true. 

“I’m sorry, really I didn’t mean to piss on your parade.” 

“Yet somehow you always do.” 

V sighs watching the city pass outside her window for a few more moments, tapping her fingers, that knot feels like a ball of lead now. She wants to claw her skin off,  tear and tear away at herself, at her being, and maybe, just maybe she’ll find someone better under the gore.  Someone who isn’t such a fucking asshole. Someone who knows how to keep their mouth shut and doesn’t ruin everything for everyone else. She’ll never understand why Jackie puts up with her, why he has for so long. She just doesn’t want to fuck this up. The job, her friendship, the little bit of happiness she’s built. V wrings her hands together, tight enough to hurt and she twists them a little harder, nails digging into the skin. If she can’t find anyone better maybe she’ll just claw away until she’s nothing at all. 

She’s already a bundle of nerves over the heist and she can’t stand another moment of the tension hanging thick in the air. 

“Did you fuck my wife?” She says in her best imitation of something between an Italian and a Brooklyn accent, watching Jackie’s face, the hint of a smile tugging at it. Tension starting to melt ever so slightly. 

“Don’t get me started,” he returns forcing the same cheesy voice. 

“Did you fuck my wife?” 

“I think you fucked my wife and got me started.” 

“I got started cause you fucked my wife.” 

“I could trace back the moment I got started it’d definitely be when you fucked my wife!” 

“That is unquestionably when I got started!” They’re smiling now, giggling at every other word as they choke on their cheesy jokes. Tension melts away as a weight is being lifted off her chest. 

“My records indicate that neither of you are married.” 

And they lose it, laughter filling the car at Delamain’s interjection to their stupidity. Its ridiculous and dumb and they sound like children. But, she’s thankful for the moment, the reprieve, where it’s laughter and not nerves tearing at her guts. 

A call notification lights up on V’s optic contacts, T-Bug’s avatar and V answers, the runner’s voice coming just a moment later. 

“Hey. How's things?”

“Eh,” Jackie answers, “been better, been worse.” 

“We’re nearing our destination,” Delamain tells them and V’s throat tightens. 

“Listen, set up a direct, encrypted line to guide you through Konpeki. V, ring Jackie now, see if we're in sync. Can't be too careful.” 

She puts a call through to Jackie, inteface telling her it’s establishing a secure connection.

“And?” Bug asks, expectantly. 

“Got static,” Jackie cringes, “Say somethin', Bug?”

“The greatest crimes issue from a desire for excess and not from necessity."

“Say what now?”

“Yeah, I read you. Not so much your Greek friend, though it was kind of exciting,” Jackie tells her with the ghost of a smile on his lips. 

“Could give it some thought, try to understand…? How 'bout you, V?”

“I want more Aristotle!” 

“Fuck off, both.”

Jackie and V share a giggle at the runner’s expense, V’s going to miss when Bug goes into retirement. If all works out, even on the brighter side, it may be the last time all three of them work together. But at least Bug will be happy and safe, unlike V or Jackie, this was never her dream or end goal. 

“OK, tech checks out, looks like,” T-Bug confirms. 

“Será mejor que sí…”

“Stay in touch”

And V just realizes the taxi has stopped moving, through Jackie’s window she can see the front entrance of the hotel.  The bright red exterior walls, a worker standing at the ready and those nerves are clawing their way back with a vengeance, tearing up her insides and making her want to bolt, terrified that they’lll be found out as soon as they step foot in. They need to get moving, only way to get through the fear is to take control, do what needs to be done. And hopefully avoid puking in the back of an expensive AI taxi. 

“Thank you for choosing the Delamain service. And best of luck. I shall await here for your return.”

“Shit's finally happenin’… “ 

“Its game time, got any iron left on you, time to put it away,” she tells him, tucking her gun and knife into the center compartment. Jackie following suit. V tugs off her suit jacket and rolls her white sleeves to her elbows, making sure her blades are accessible from the start. 

“Alright, Hannah, let’s go.” 

V opens the door of the Delamain, greeted by the view in front of the hotel, in the distance she can see the space travel facility, night settled over the water. The hotel has trees and plants out front, trying to sprinkle some nature into the cement and chrome world of Night City. She carries her suit jacket over her shoulder, keeping one hand busy with it, while the other sits in her pocket. Hoping it will keep her from signing if she needs to talk. 

“Hold on, lemme grab the Flathead.” Jackie pops the trunk of the taxi and pulls out the case with the bot. 

The mercs take the two marble steps up, a vibrant stript of red along the path.There’s long white marble with planters and the name of the hotel inscripted in gold. 

“'Member, reservation's in your name… Ramón. You're there to meet Hajime Taki - military tech department rep. Papers are for the Flathead” T-Bug tells them as they get closer to the double doors. 

“Welcome to Konpeki Plaza,” a man in a red, black, and gold uniform greets them, bowing his head as they pass by.

There’s a large waiting room, white couches along the sides with monitors displaying documentaries and vases with red hologram plants branching out of them. A security gate divides the waiting room from the front desk, scanners to check each guest for weaponry. Beyond it she can see staff with gold plated skin. All non-security personnel of the hotel are gold plated; receptionists, concierge, bartenders, and the like. A requirement for the job, even staff must match the aesthetic. 

“Welcome to Konpeki Plaza. Please come through single file,” The guard tells them as they reach the full body scanner. 

“You got it, holm-- uh, ahem, sir,” Jackie stumbles and V screams internally, watching her friend step forward. Blue light crackles along him, like lightning, then it flashes red. Misty’s warning of mean reds, flaring in V’s mind. 

“Ahem. Hold on got something,” the guard stops Jackie before he can go any further, “Sir, care to explain why you're bringin’ a combat bot onto Konpeki Plaza premises?”

“Arms dealers.” V yells out quickly, hating how forced it sounds, tightening her fingers in her jacket, desperate not to sign on instinct and not realizing she forgot the ‘we’re’ part of her sentence until she finished saying it. 

“Excuse me?”

“Ah!” A gold skinned concierge steps over,  “You are here to see Taki-san, am I right? Please accept my apologies for the confusion.” 

“Pff,” Jackie scoffs as the concierge bows and walks into the lobby, waiting at the front desk. 

V steps into the scanner, guard assuring her it will only take a moment. It distorts her vision, crackling it with blue for just a moment. Then the guard tells her to go ahead and she walks forward, meeting Jackie at the desk. A woman with gold skin, black hair all shaved except for the bangs and sidelocks greets them.  And V is starting to notice that the Arasaka logo is everywhere, the corp hotel owned by them. On the screens, gold emblazoned on marble planters, and on pamphlets. The hotel and Arasaka logo are clearly one in the same. 

“Youkoso. Greetings and welcome to Konpeki Plaza,” she says bowing her head to them and V returns the gesture.

“We’d like to check in,” Jackie says and V sends him a silent thanks for talking. .

“Of course, just a moment, please” the receptionist taps away at a keyboard, “The name on the reservation is…?”

“Victorino.”

“Double room, two adults, one night. Correct?”

“That’s the one,” V tells her, with a tight nod. 

“Perfect… I will go ahead and notify Taki-san of your arrival.”

“Shit, no good, not part of the plan. Talk her up, V, stall!” T-Bug yells out over the call and V is once again wanting to scream. 

“That, uh,  won't be necessary,” she curses herself for stuttering, “We'll go freshen up first, notify him ourselves.”

“But Taki-san is expecting you, no…?”

“Senorita, do you know how long we been traveling? Eighteen hours from New Barcelona. With a delay on Metakey 'cause some cyberpsycho blew himself into bits inside the terminal…”

“Been a nightmare, ugh.” 

“Of course, I understand. You will be in the Lapis Lazuli Suite on level forty-two. Oh, one more little formality… Please validate your SID chip.”

“Honor's all yours, Hannah.” 

A tablet on the table lights up with a bright blue handprint and she’s reminding of her issue getting into her own apartment. Bug said she put a temporary hack on their SID chip, but there’s an extra twinge of anxiety as V lays her hand down on it. She half expects it to show a senior citizen, to be outed as a fraud and tossed out the door. 

“Everything seems to be in order. We wish you a pleasant stay!~” 

“Better get goin'.”

V murmurs a thanks, feeling a bit of relief at having that part of this whole thing done. Playing corpo is somehow more stressful to her than the idea of breaking into Yorinobu’s penthouse. She follows behind Jackie. Large marble planters fill the lobby, some with trees that nearly touch the staggeringly high ceiling. 

“New Barcelona? Really?” T-Bug comments as V follows Jackie up a short set of marble steps. 

“It's called improvisin' - you should try it,” V stares up at a gold framed painting, “Whaddaya think, Hannah"?

“...” V raises an eyebrow at him with a soft noise in her throat. 

“Quaint, cozy. Not like the hotel we had in Zurich for that convention.”

“Don't need that, Jack. Enough.”

“What? I’m takin’ this seriously!” Jackie grumbles when T-Bug scolds him. 

They take two turns through the lobby, guards passing by talking about dolls being left in rough shape as they near what looks to be a bar in the corner. It's an open pathway inside, the bar illuminated in pink and a gold plated woman stands at a podium bearing Arasaka’s logo. There’s a lit collection of alcohol behind the bar, liquor that costs more than V’s rent, which isn’t a hard feat but still rubs her the wrong way. 

“Bar don't look too shabby.”

“We don't do reservations on weekdays, so feel free to grab any available table. Or a couple of stools at the bar if you prefer?” She explains to them, a valley girl accent to her words. 

“Could bring Misty here one day. When we, uh… close this deal.”

“Might take a look around.” 

The idea of sitting down, if only for a moment, and catching her breath after the close call in the lobby sounds nice. Her nerves are frayed already, she’s never wanted to drink so much on a job before. A quick breather before she has a full blown panic attack. 

“Shit,” Jackie curses, “look like some fuckin' travelin' salesman with this case. Go ahead, I’ll go on upstairs.” 

V nods, watching Jackie go to the elevator, a part of her feels guilty, but she doesn’t intend to take too long. And it’s not as if she’s made visiting bars on the job a habit before, she can have this one. She rubs a hand over the back of her neck, feeling the chrome indents of her Mantis Blades cooling the skin. Half of the room is a lounge with black couches and slick pink metallic chairs, terrariums built into the walls. The other half is, gold stools and booths before the neon pink bar. Each side is filled with people mingling, dressed in high fashion, people who’ve gambled away more money than she’s ever seen. 

“And when I say heads're gonna roll, I don't mean it as a fucking turn of phrase,” a half drunk man slurs his speech at the golden bartender. The stench of whiskey clings heavy to his clothes. 

“Had enough guy, don’t you think? You’re making the other customers uncomfortable,” the bartender sends a pointed look towards V, a slight twang in his voice. She was looking for a breather, not conflict. 

“Good! 'Cause this affects them, too! It'll slap everyone in the face!” 

“What’s that?’ She entertains him, figuring it might get the guy gone sooner. 

“You wanna know what a bearer of bad news looks like? What's four hundred yards long, weighs a hundred thousand tons, and is nuclear powered…? The answer's docked in the bay! Hanako Arasaka decided -,” he hiccups, “decided to take a little vacation!

“Big deal.”

“Don't know how big just yet,” her sarcasm doesn’t penetrate the fog of whiskey, “And by the time we do, it'll.. it'll be too late. Screw this. I'm gonna get some sleep…”

With that the man stumbles away, taking the too strong smell of booze with him and the shining bartender turns to her. His shaved hair either red or pink, color distorted in the glowing light. 

“Evenin, what can I get you, baby?” 

Her nose wrinkles at the term of endearment, “little forward, don’t you think?” 

“Suckled it outta my ma's very breast,” he returns, “Fifty percent protein, the other half pure high octane CHOOH2.” 

He presses two gilded hands to the bar leaning forward as he regales his story and she can’t help but raise an eyebrow; he’s implying he’s a nomad, but why would he tell her that? 

“What?” 

“She had wind and dust in her hair, so to speak. Belonged to the Aldecaldos. Before the bombs began fallin'. Her final words? ‘Wherever you go, whatever you do, be yourself, David.’ And so I ended up here. Still no one but myself.” 

He’s full of shit, she decides immediately. Maybe her own distrust or her own frustration, nobody with nomad blood would end up here, gold plated and slinging drinks to corpos. At the very fucking least, they wouldn’t act so damn happy about it. 

“Lovely story if it wasn’t a crock of shit.” 

“Everyone's making something up,” he smirks, “Just like you, baby.”

“Excuse you?” she chokes out, feeling like ice water has been shot through her veins. He’s seen through her, that implication clear, but how? Even regaling to her some fucked up story of being a nomad, like he could smell the dust of the badlands still on her skin. 

“Can I getcha somethin'? At the least, water?” 

“Bourbon and cherry coke.” 

“You got it, baby.” 

The repeated use of the pet name earns him a glare, V tapping her fingers against the bar, his story and perceptiveness making her nerves worse. He sets the drink on the table and she downs it with a gulp, alcohol not quite loosening her how she hopes. She sets the glass down and leaves the bar, it may be petty but she doesn’t leave him a tip, frustrated at the idea he could have seen through her. 

She jabs the elevator button, tapping her foot as she waits and stares at some painting. Its all abstract bullshit, pretty colors, but she’s not sure she sees much else to them. The golden doors open, the back of the elevator windowed with what looks like foliage inside, maybe it’s just a screen. V steps inside and jabs to her level. And after just a short ride, it stops  at her floor. 

The doors open and she sees Jackie, looking over one of the art pieces, walking past a desk and concierge to greet him. 

“About time,” he says, when he spots her, the pair making a beeline to the suite. They walk past a couple speaking Russian, talking about testing on people, as they find the door. 

Jackie opens the door and she gets her first peek of it, stepping in. The furthest wall almost entirely windowed, looking out over the hills. Another expanse dedicated to a terrarium, a large plush bed, white sofas, and a table projecting hologram displays of fish. V tosses her suit jacket off onto the couch. 

“Pretty snazzy. Too bad we ain't stayin' the night. Nice choice, Bug.” 

“Didn't pick it for snazz. Offers quickest access to the dweller and servers.”

“Sí, sí, me acuerdo,” jackie grumbles as he puts the Flathead case down on a table in front of the terrarium. The little spider bot springs to life the second it’s case is opened. 

“Now you fire up the Flathead and find the shaft entrance.” 

“Sounds simple enough…” 

“Simplicity's sometimes toughest to master,” T-Bug tells her. 

“Aurelius? Aristotle? Who's it this time?”

“Yours truly, that one's mine.”

“Go ahead and find the shaft, chica, I’ll get the Flathead running.” 

V nods and begins looking around the room, scanning around, finding the shaft after a short moment. A little square panel standing out on the wall next to the terrarium, scanner telling her it’s Flathead compatible. 

“Found it.” 

“Good. Jackie, how's the Flathead lookin'?” T-Bug asks, he’s put the control shard in one of his neuroports while V was looking for the shaft, eyes now glowing bright white blue. 

“All set. Systems’re operational, charge at a hundred…,” a moment passes his expression furrowing as he shakes his head, “Mierda.  Little gonk's stuck.”

“Just gonna stand there and look at it? Gonna have to switch to manual control. V, take the control shard from Jackie. Gonna link your Kiroshis to surveillance so you can guide the bot.”

“Why me, Jack’s got full blown optics?”  She asks, as he pulls the control shard from his head. 

“Yeah, but you got better tech, unlike someone I ain’t run up my tab with Vik. Got last-gen firmware low flow. May be contacts, but you’re working with top notch Kiroshi tech.” 

“Plus someone already has some playtime with the bot,” T-Bug outs her and Jackie raises an eyebrow at V, a teasing smile on his lips. 

“You played with the bot?”

“Just… give me the shard,” she takes it from Jackie’s hand, “Surveillance cover the whole hotel?”

“Mhm. Even the bedrooms in the suites.”

“Seriously?” 

“You'd be surprised what people're willin' to give up to feel secure. Lucky for us, Yorinobu's an exception. Penthouse is dark, no hotel security.’

“Okay, here goes.” V pushes the control shard into the slot, the interface says it’s connecting her, then it glitches and in a moment she’s looking at herself and Jackie through the surveillance camera. 

“Patching you through to in-cam view. Might get a little disoriented, but don't freak”

Her vision switches between rooms; a man getting a lap dance from a doll in a dimly room, two men in another hotel room. And then it lands on a third room. A meeting of four people; two Arasaka suits and two faces she vaguely recognizes. The view doesn't shift again and she takes the chance to look closer, talks of losing control of Watson, election season. And it clicks, the mayor of Night City. 

“Camera’s set,” V tells Bug, political bullshit isn’t her business, she can see the vague outline of the Flathead creeping into the room.  Only slightly visible to her thanks to her connection, 

“Get him to the next vent.”

V scans and finds the next vent shaft tucked in the corner of the room, sending the Flathead to it. She watches as it crawls and creeps through the room. 

“C’mon little buddy, you got it, yes,” She cheers on the little machine as it skitters across the camera and into the vent. 

“It’s a Military grade combat bot, not your pet, V. Patching you into the next cam now.” 

The next room appears, more brightly lit with two maids working to clean it. V goes to send the Flathead into the vent but the request is denied, detecting one of the cleaning ladies is too far into it’s path. 

“Cleaning crew’s in the way,” V tells Bug, listening to one of the women start drooling over Yorinobu. 

“Gotta distract her. Hmm, let's see what's on the subnet…temp control on the terrarium, sic the bot on it.” 

V follows the runner’s orders scanning and sending the Flathead onto the temp control. Barely a moment passes before the maid’s notice, freaking out about how expensive it is. The merc takes her chance and sends the bot into the unblocked vent shaft. 

“Little guy’s through.”

Next cam flickers into a green tinted maintenance hallway, the bots legs tinkering across the floor. Vent on the other side of the room, V sends it through, smiling as her little buddy makes his way through. And it brings her to a new camera, it looks like where the surveillance feeds lead to. A console and row of screens with a security guard watching them. 

“Dweller's just beyond the door. Flathead can jimmy the lock.”

V sends the command, watching it scamper to the door, tendrils working at the lock. But nothing gives away. 

“He’s having some trouble, poor feller.” 

“Shit… Gotta be another way. Lemme think… Got another cam other side of the door, but it's disabled.’

“Got a CCTV port, might be able to enable it.” 

“Go for it.” 

The Flathead creeps across the room and jacks into the port, giving V access to the other camera. And V switches her vision to it, the next room looks like a high tech runner’s nest. Two netrunning chairs in deep cooled divots within the room. But only one is in use, a man jacked into the security frame, illuminated in blue, screens running code around him. 

“Dweller’s inside.”

“Just as planned.”

“Still don’t get why they only have the one.” 

“Decent dweller's as good as a dozen rank-and-file. Lemme graft a demonoid onto your link, you’ll be able to jack the bot directly into the chair and neutralize the runner.” 

“Got’cha” 

“You'll have to get the Flathead in there first, though.” 

“Got another shaft grate,” V finds when she twists the camera’s view, there had to be a vent in the other room, servers lining the walls. Bad ventilation and the entire operation overheats. 

“Shaft may link both rooms, looks like. Toggle to the other cam.” 

V does so, a moment of scanning and she finds a hidden shaft grate in the floor, “Think I got it.”

“Send the Flathead over there, then toggle over to the second cam.”

She waits until the bot is prying open the vent in the surveillance room, then flickers back over to the runner’s den, eyes on the vent and hoping she didn’t send their tech into the wrong room. A moment passes and she sees her robotic friend creeping his way out. 

“Our friend’s inside.” 

“Flathead into the chair, V, jack in.” 

The bot crawls across the floor and into the netrunner’s cubby, creeping up the chair and scuttling over the man’s body. Deep in the subnet the man doesn’t stir or even notice as the bot hovers over his face and jacks into the chair. And the code across the screen glitches, replaced by a T. 

“Holy shit.” 

“Whoop! Got him! Love those daemons!” Bug cheers, louder and more excited than V has ever heard her. They did it, the bot is in, T-Bug has access to it all. 

“Uh, Flathead buddy stays, right?” 

“To keep an eye on the dweller, yeah. Punching into Konpeki’s main net. Go ahead and log out.” 

The young merc’s vision starts to glitch and flicker red, her pulling the shard from her head, everything spinning. Lightheaded and her body feels both too light and too heavy. Like she could collapse and float away all at once. 

“That's how it's done! How ya feelin'?” Jackie asks, concern lacing his voice. 

“Like I’m about to puke on a rug worth more than my car.” 

“Bug? How're you doin' on time?” The runner doesn’t respond right away, a moment too long passing. 

“Bug?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I'm here. Soooo listen, ICE is thicker than I thought. Piercing it'll take a couple hours.” 

“A couple hours?! Can't do it any faster?”

“Want my brain to burst into flames? Just siddown and enjoy your snazzy suite.”

“Thanks, I will! V, you take it easy, c’mon rest for a bit.” 

V doesn’t need anymore prodding, settling down onto the white sofa, hoping her head will stop spinning and stomach cease churning by the time Bug is done. The merc kicks off her heels and lays across the sofa, softer than her bed. Jackie sitting across on the other side of the table, V brings her hand up to her face, trying to block out the blue light from the holo projector. But catches herself looking at the bracelet Misty gave her, the way the beads catch the light, remembering the name of it. 

“Hey, what was our suite’s name again?” 

“Lapis lazuli, why?” 

“Isn’t that what Misty’s bracelets are? The blue beads with the gold.” 

“Oh...yeah, ain’t that some shit, must be a good sign.” 

“Maybe… she read your cards before this?” 

“Nah, didn’t get a chance, nagged me about mean reds though. What about you, cards in your favor?” 

“All I remember is something about a magician and love, blegh.” 

“Hehehe,” his laughter is warm and fills the huge room, “telling you, one day you’re gonna be head over heels with some chiccy or mano and you’re not gonna know what to do with yourself.” 

“That how it was with you and Misty?” 

“Pssh, knew I was crazy about her from day one, took a while to work up the nerve though one day I just told her the truth.” 

“That you were in loooove~.”

“More like I’d take a bullet for her, chica.”

“Romantic.” 

“Fuck yeah it is, in Night City, that’s worth a billion I love yous.” 

“So you say.” 

“Keep doing that and you’re gonna rub the finish off Vik’s work,” Jackie tells her and she realizes she’s been rubbing and fiddling with her implants, “be a waste for free work to be ruined.” 

“I’m gonna pay him.” 

“You give him anything upfront, even a dime?” 

“I… gave him a hug…” 

“Wow,” Jackie says half laughing and she’s laughing too, “a whole hug for top of the line chrome! Probably wasn’t even a real hug, just your half ass shit!” 

“I may have only used one arm.” 

“Santa mierda, V, gotta learn to hug people like you mean it.” 

“Yes, yes,” she yawns, “blah blah blah, never know which hug will be the last one, blah….” 

“Flathead wear you out that bad?” 

“Maybe a little…” Her stomach feels better, but her head is still light, fuzzy. And in the plush of the sofa, with Jackie close by, she finds herself drifting away. Eyelids getting heavier with each word, each lull of his voice. She didn’t drink much, but she’s sure the bourbon didn’t help. 

“Gonna be a while, might as well catch a cat nap, chica. Though Bug might not like it, haven’t quite managed to get the stick out of her ass.”  

“Yeah..maybe…” 

The world fades away, a soft fuzzy sleep taking over. Time ticks by around her as she catches a moment, or maybe several, to sleep. Her brain is still a little foggy, but the dizziness is gone by the time she slowly starts to wake back up. A bad case of cottonmouth as she wakes, world filtering back in. 

Her suit jacket is tossed over her, a makeshift blanket she didn’t put there, she rolls over to sit, more stable than she was before. The time on the terrarium panel tells her only an hour or two has passed.  Jackie’s back is too her, his eyes staring at the window. And she finds herself staring, standing in a suit and basked in the lights of the city view, he’s never seemed so serious. 

“Whaddaya think? Why'd he give it all up?” He asks after a moment and she blinks, brain still foggy. 

“Who?” 

"Yorinobu Arasaka. The good life, I mean. Old news, I know. Just got to thinkin's all. It's like, think… You got everything, right? Eddies, education. Your pops can snap his fingers and turn half the fuckin’ planet into a nuclear wasteland… But instead you're like, ‘Nah, fuck it,’ and whaddaya go do? Start a fuckin' gang! Steel Dragons or some shit! You ghost from your fam, chip some RealSkinn and play gang leader for a few years. For what?!” 

She can sense the frustration in every word, feel it every clench of his fingers or swing of his hands. Someone like Yorinobu was handed everything he could ever want; tried to piss it away to play edgerunner, then found himself sucking the silver spoon once again.  But, she can’t blame him for wanting out from under his father’s thumb; that alone a feeling she knows too well. Her fingers hover over her wrist, the still branded flesh that Vik saved. 

“Maybe...he just wanted out of the system.” 

“So then why’d he come back.” 

“Tough to ditch the system when the system’s your own family,” V admits, finger still on the mark. 

“Black sheep’s still a sheep, eh?” 

“Maybe…” 

It took her forever to get the nerve to leave, she talked about it constantly, but it wasn’t until her mother’s death, murder, culling. Whatever she’s meant to call it, that she finally was pushed to make that move. Been gone for years now, but… more days than she cares to admit were spent wondering if she ever should have run, if she should crawl back and beg. If a family that hates her is better than no family at all… 

“Crawled back on all fours, tail between his legs, fuckin’ cheap ass rebel. Fuckin’ tourist!” 

Her nails dig into her skin; insecurities brimming, fear that maybe she’s just as much a fuckin’ tourist. Some black sheep nomad who’ll go running back to her dad, beg for another chance, playing pretend merc when all she’ll ever be is the family burden. 

“Tourist or not, he just walked into the lobby. And we are back in biz. Penthouse security is neutralized.”

“Perfecto, let’s start this show.”

And with those words, they’re back in business, the younger merc up on her feet. V grabbing her jacket and following Jackie out of the suite, fiddling with the fabric as she walks, heels clicking across the floor. 

“Hey, Bug…” Jackie says after a beat of silence,  “were, uh… were you on comms that whole time?”

“Three and a half hours.”

“Eehh… about that stick up the ass…”

“Mean the one up mine?”

“Ehh, slip of the tongue, y'know…”

“I know. Now's your chance to make up to me,” T-Bug tells him as they reach the elevator, Jackie pressing the button. 

“This is going pretty smooth right,” he turns to V as they wait, “right?” 

“Really are a silver lining type, ain’t ya?” V teases as the doors open and they step into the elevator. 

“Hey, when are you gonna wave off that dark cloud hanging over your head? Tellin’ you, it’s downhill from on in.” 

She rolls her eyes and hits the button to the penthouse, elevator doors closing and the carriage rumbling, shaking as it ascends. Silence falling over them, only the sound of the elevator. Jackie’s leg shakes and she knows that silence is about to end. 

“Ahh, there's the awkward silence. You, uh, wanna hear a joke?”

“Now? Seriously?”

“OK, so why'd the rockerboy's output kick him out of the apartment? ‘Cause he wasn't chippin' in.” Jackie cackles at his own joke and V rolls her eyes, a slight smile on her lips. 

“Jesus Christ…” 

Bug sounds a moment away from killing him, but thankfully for the older merc’s sake, the elevator comes to a stop. Doors opening up to Yorinobu’s suite. It feel different, seeing it from her own perspective instead of Evelyn’s and outside of a braindance editor. The entire suit feels bigger. A part of her wonders if it’s the height difference between herself and Evelyn, but decides to chalk it up to braindance shit instead. 

“Huh… not bad bein' heir to the Arasaka empire. Sure as shit better'n bein' the son of Raúl Welles,” Jackie comments taking in the room. 

V turns the corner through the room and a tank catches her eye. A slightly red light illuminating an iguana. It immediately reminds her of the only other iguana she knows, Manny. Come to think of it, his original crate was from Arasaka? 

“Hey, Jackie, look!” 

“Whoa, another fuckin’ iguana, not as cute as Manny though.” 

“Manny’s original crate was marked Arasaka; think he might’ve been Yorinobu’s before we klepped him?” 

“Think we stole his iguana and made him get a new one?” 

“Maybe?”  She gently taps the tank glass, watching the iguana’s tail flick back and forth. 

“Guys! Focus! The safe! And make it quick!” Bug yells out, bringing the merc’s back down to earth. V tosses her jacket onto one of the seats in the center, searching around the penthouse. Rain patters outside the windowed walls. They know where the safe is, but how do they get it out of the floor?

“Why, what's the rush?”

“Sig on Yorinobu's gone dark!”

“What is he, a fuckin' sorcerer?”

“Some kinda dead zone's my guess - have him back in a sec. And you do your damn job! Look around for a switch.”

V walks around one of the dividers where Yorinobu’s bed is, the slick metal of a gun catching her eye first and foremost. Black and gray, with purple detailing. She checks it for ammo and finds it loaded then decides it’s hers. 

“Looks like Yori left us a little gift,” she laughs, tucking the iron in her waistband. And on the other side of the bed, she finds a little switch. She presses it. 

“Bingo, got somethin' ejectin’! C'mere, V!” Jackie calls her over to the corner of the room, heart pounding in her chest.

They’re so close to the finish line, each click of her heels feeling like a step closer. This could actually work. A large black safe has risen out of the floor, a small jack in port and two red lights. Jackie stands on one side of it, the gray rainy day behind him. 

“What now, Bug?” 

“Jack in your personal and make us rich.” 

V plugs her personal link in, leaning one hand against the safe. Jackie leans against it from the other side, foreheads nearly touch as they wait for Bug to work her magic. Just get the chip and walk out, that’s all that’s left. All they need to do. She can’t stand still, itching to cross the finish line, minutes away from the major leagues. 

“Gimme two…”

The merc’s interface shows Bug uploading the daemons to crack the case and V watches the number rise. Sixty percent, seventy, seventy-five; each ticking number another shaky breath, a rising beat of her heart, and a chill up her spine. Homestretch, nearly there. 

And there’s a hum, V’s focus drawn away from the rising percentage, to the windows. Flying AV whirring through the gray skies, hovering around. She looks to Jackie, hoping somehow he’ll have an explanation, something to help her ignore the way her stomach is starting to drop. 

“We got winged visitors… Bug…?” There’s catch in his voice, nerves. Jackie’s scared and she swallows the lump in her throat. His face illuminated in the red flashing lights of the case, mean reds, the words flash in V’s mind. 

“Dunno who. But staffs abuzz, all two hundred on their feet, can't keep still…” 

Somethings wrong, the hair on the back of her neck stands up, a chill in her she can’t shake. Something is so fucking wrong. 

“Can't say I like this, how much longer, T?!”

“Shit. Yorinobu's penthouse bound!”

“What!?”V’s voice cracks, digging her nails into the safe, they’re fucked. They’re so fucked. 

“Fuck him!” Jackie slams his hand down, rattling the container, “Open the safe!” 

“Almost got it… Done!”  The safe opens, revealing a cryo-container within. Bright white light and a fog of ice cold air coming with it. V rips her personal jack out. 

“Preem, lets get the fuck out of here!”  

“Lemme look to this, eh?” Jackie says, pulling the container out and looking at the little screens across it. 

“Relic intact?” 

"Bioshard integrity - one hundred percent." Guessin' that's a yes,” Jackie reads off the vitals of the shard, picking up the case. 

“Good,  let’s delta.” 

The pair nearly trip through the center of the penthouse, rushing towards the elevator with Jackie lugging behind the giant cryo-container. So close, so close, so fucking close. An elevator and taxi ride away, then they’ll be at The Afterlife counting their eddies. The homestretch. 

“Fuck, too late!” T-Bug yells before V can hit the elevator button, “Yorinobu's about to walk in - find cover!

“Where in the fuck!?” V swings her hands as she yells, they’re so fucking close. She rakes her nails across her face, leaving red angry marks down her skin. 

“That pillar- try that!” 

“You fuckin' kiddin'?!” Jackie screams as the mercs make a move to the pillar in the center of the penthouse, were she thought servers for the room were kept. The back of it opening up and allowing a tight passageway. 

“No! Inside it! Now!” 

V slips inside as quickly as she can, Jackie following suit. He holds the cry-container close to his chest. The glass barrier is one way, they can see out, but it can’t be seen in. Still not ideal cover, ideally they’d be outside of the fucking hotel by now. The merc presses her hands to the glass, cursing under her breath. 

“We’re in,” she whispers to Bug.

“Which don't solve our problem, T.”

“I fuckin' know our problem's still there! Lemme think for a sec, okay?” 

The lights to the penthouse come on, elevator doors opening as Yorinobu strides in. with mechanical monstrosity of a body guard from the BD taking large whirring steps after him. And he seems even bigger now. He’s a cyber giant, one mech hand larger than  any part of V. 

He’s outlined in red, his eyes staring straight at her,  Vik said her new contacts would highlight if enemies saw her.. No, there’s no possible way. The man has barely set a borged-out foot into the room. She meets his gaze head on, swallowing the lump in her throat as she tries to seem braver than she is. On the off chance he may truly know the mercs are there. 

“Is that… Is that Adam Smasher?” Jackie whispers and V trusts him to look at her hands  as she signs, not wanting to break eye contact with the robotic monstrosity, refusing to show weakness.

“Bodyguard?” 

“Worse,” her trust in her friend is well placed, “Night City legend. Bleak motherfuckin' one, too. What's the plan?”

“We stay quiet and we wait.” 

A flash of movement makes V finally break the stare down, Yorinobu walks to the middle of the room and stops at the seat across from the table, black fabric strewn across it. He picks it up, regarding it for a moment and her heart drops into her stomach. 

V’s jacket. She left her fucking jacket on his chair, like an idiot, she didn’t even have time to consider grabbing it. They’re going to die because she left her fucking jacket out in the open and Adam Smasher is still staring at her. 

She half expects Yorinobu to call a sweep of the room, ring security, that he’ll realize the random jacket must be an intruder. But he shakes his head, tosses it aside onto the floor, not giving it another thought. While his body guard Smasher lingers in the corner, robotic eyes staring straight at V, watching the mercs squirm. 

“Are they here yet?” Yorinobu asks out loud. 

“They approach from the landing pad,” an AI voice responds. 

“Fuck are they talking about?” V resists the urge to elbow Jackie, silence has never been more important. One sound too loud and a borged out psycho will rip their heads off. And if her contacts are right, Smasher may just be waiting for the perfect opportunity. 

“Nuh-uh, no fucking way…. This isn't happening…!” T-Bug whispers over comms and V sees someone coming down the spiraling stairs, a guard it seems, with another older man following him, “Saburo Arasaka.” 

The second man is older, much older than the first. Balding with gray hairs and liver spots across his scalp, glasses perched high upon his nose. Dressed in a mixture of yukata robes over what seems to be slacks and loafers he takes slow measured steps down the stairs. The head capitalist himself, owner of Arasaka. 

“The emperor? Yet another asslickin' legend….” 

V taps Jackie’s side and puts her finger to her lips, encouraging him to be quiet. The man who led Saburo in starts to walk around the room. He’s older than V or Jackie, but nowhere near Saburo’s age. Long graying dark hair pulled back in a bun, cyberware across his neck coming out from under his black suit. 

“I thought I told you not to meddle in my affairs,” Yorinobu speaks in his native tongue, V’s contacts translating and subtitling to English. 

“Oh fuck,” Jackie curses as the long haired guard comes to stand in front of them, silver ringed brown eyes starting to scan them. 

“Leave us,” Saburo orders and the guard stops scanning, turning to face the corporate leader. 

“Arasaka-sama, I still haven't done a full sweep.” The guard turns his back and V can see where part of his hair is shaved, allowing intense cyberware extending beyond his neck and towards his scalp. 

“This is my son.”

“Of course. Should I retrieve what we come here to-” 

“I will handle it. You may go.”

The long haired guard bows and goes to leave the room, finally Adam Smasher’s gaze on her drops, as the borged freak leaves with the guard through the elevator doors. If they’re here to retrieve something… it’s likely the biochip, which means if they go to get it and see it’s gone… They’re fucked. They’re straight fucked. 

“Un-fucking-believable… Saburo Arasaka.” That comment makes V nudge Jackie with her foot, once again begging him to just stay quiet. 

“Did you think I wouldn't know it was taken from me?” Saburo asks his son, barely making eye contact as Yorinobu looks through a datapad. 

“Actually, I don't think of you at all. Ever. You see, that's your problem. You think the world revolves around you. Arrogant.” 

“Yorinobu.” 

“Why did you come? To humiliate me? To personally see to it that your son knows his place?”

“"The nail that protrudes from the wall gets hammered…"

“Couldn't think of anything original to say?” Yorinobu yells in exasperation, standing up and pacing around the room.  He’s on edge, looking ready to jump out of his skin and V can’t say she has a good feeling about any of this. 

“And do you think it ‘original’ to sell our greatest achievement to Westerners - our future to these… barbarians?!”

It’s definitely the biochip Saburo is after, they’re screwed, monumentally screwed. V would laugh if she didn’t feel like dying, of course, of course it all goes to shit. 

“Our future? Ours?! You are mistaken. You've only ever cared about yourself… and your sick schemes.” Yorinobu points and swings his limbs, still pacing, every word coiled tight with barely restrained hatred. 

“I knew this day would come. That sooner or later your impudence would cross the line,” Saburo is calmer, measured, taking soft steps towards his son, “There is much for which I could forgive you, but for treason - no.” 

The two men, father and son now stand in front of the pillar before an audience they don’t know. Stares trained on each other, each hateful, but one furious in it’s spite and the other calm in it’s contempt. Moments pass, no word said, each waiting for the other to light a fuse that will set off the powder keg. 

“I'm just glad your mother didn't live to see this. The heart should break but once.” 

And it goes off. Saburo’s words are punctuated by Yorinobu’s hands wrapping tightly around the old man’s throat. Yorinobu slams his father back against the pillar, cracking the glass in front of Jackie and busting open Saburo’s head. Blood streaking the shards. And he pulls away and for a moment, as Saburo clutches at his crushed windpipe, Yorinobu seems nearly regretful. 

“You shall never have to forgive me for anything again.” 

His hands wrap again, choking his father against the pillar. Until Saburo starts to fall limp, Yorinobu bringing him down onto the floor in a lifeless heap. Yorinobu stands over his father. Saburo is dead, killed before the merc’s very eyes at the hands of his own son. Jackie curses and V watches as Yorinobu paces, mind clearly racing before he stands over his father’s corpse again. 

“I wish… I wish to put the hotel on lockdown.” 

What does that mean? What the hell does that mean?

“May I ask why?” The AI secretary asks him. 

“Saburo Arasaka has been murdered.”

“Code red initiated. Attention! Code Red has been initiated throughout Konpeki Plaza. Please remain in your rooms and follow all instructions given by staff.”

Oh no, oh fuck no. The lights in the room drop, only bright neon red ones glowing angry in the dark. What the hell is going to happen? What the fuck do they do now? The elevator doors open, Smasher and the long haired guard walking in; the latter rushes and comes to a full stop when he sees Saburo’s corpse. 

“What happened?”

“Someone… someone poisoned my father.”

“Poisoned…?” 

“Seems so.” 

“Yorinobu-san… I doubt…”

Yorinobu glowers at the guard, pushing into his personal space, trying to intimdate him. Trying to make him stop questioning what happened, trying to stop him from looking any closer. Anyone who gets a good look at Saburo’s corpse will see the fingerprints around his neck. 

“What is your job, Takemura?”

“I don't follow.”

“It's a simple question. Answer it.”

“To protect the head of the Arasaka family.”

“I do sincerely hope you'll do a better job of executing your duties from now on…”

“Forgive me, Arasaka-sama,” the guard drops his head in shame, “I shall not disappoint.” 

Yorinobu turns to leave the suite. The guard, Takemura, follows close behind. And the still red highlighted Smasher follows behind him. The elevator doors close behind them. Jackie and V left alone in the suite again. But what the fuck just happened? 

“What the fuck just happened in there?” T-Bug asks, exactly what’s rattling around V’s skull as the pillar back opens again. Jackie and V clambering out. 

“Yorinobu just killed Saburo, he fucking choked out his own dad, I didn’t even know you could do that!” V rambles and yells as she turns the corner of the pillar, looking down at Saburo’s corpse. She quickly checks his pockets, stealing some cash and a pair of dog tags off of him. 

“What?” 

“His own fuckin’ pops.” 

“Know what this means?l Security's gonna swarm the place any second. Oh my god, we're so fucked!”

“We need to get the fuck out of here, now!” They can’t just go out the elevator, they’d meet security on the way. They’re beyond fucked. Why the hell did they take this stupid fucking job!?

“Gimme a sec!”

There’s the helipad, but it’s not like they have anything that fucking flies. Think, think, think; she screams in her head to just fucking think, there has to be something, anything. 

“We don't have a sec!”

“Okay, got somethin'! Window - now! Releasing the lock! Should see a ladder… Ladder…” 

V sees an opening in the large windowed walls, double doors practically made of glass they goes onto the ledge. This has to be in, T-Bug can undo the lock and they’ll slip out. 

“Oh fuck.” T-Bugs voice drops and a chill shoots up V’s back, something is wrong. 

“Bug!?” 

“No, no, no, no - not now…! I’ve been made… “ 

And panic turns to agony as T-Bug screams, a shrill cry of pain then she’s gone. Connectuon cut and V freezes in place. 

Bug is gone, just gone… 

Maybe, Konpeki just cut their comms? But the scream rings through V’s mind. She’s heard of how runner’s can die, daemons and quick hacks. Having their entire brain fried, every nerve and neuron set on fire, burned from the inside out... And all that's left to find is a simmering corpse stewing in their own filth. Bug was never meant for that, meant to retire, meant to find peace after years of netrunning. But now… 

“Bug.!? Bug!? Can you fuckin’ hear me, Bug please, are you there!?” V calls out, words slurring together. She just needs to hear Bug one more time, and know everything is okay. 

And nothing. 

“¡Pinche Dios Santo bendito! We lost her, V!” 

“They...scorched her...didn’t they…?” 

“We… we gotta go, V,” Jackie says, voice cracking as he smacks at V’s shoulder. 

Bug’s final hack going through, the window unlocked. V steps out through the window onto the ledge, rain pelting her skin as she rushes around the corner. Bug said there’s a ladder they can use, last thing Bug ever said… There’s no time for mourning, no time to cry, they need to get through this. The ledge narrows around the corner, ride lights outside the hotel window guiding the way, secured against the steel of the hotel. V sees the yellow safety ladder. The merc presses her back to the building, gently side stepping across the narrow ledge, if they just reach the ladder. One wrong step and they’ll plummet. 

“You can do it, Jackie… just don't look down,” jackie tries to talk himself up, following V, “ Yep, that's fuckin' high…!”

There’s a whir of engines, an aircraft vehicle buzzing around the outside of the hotel.

“Shit! That Trauma?” Jackie asks and that’s exactly what they need right now, doctors shooting them. 

“If they’re here for Saburo, they’re a little late.” 

“Just hope they didn't see us! ¡Chingada madre!”

The aircraft carrier flies in close, flashing blinding white light onto the mercs. It sees them, definitely sees them. 

“Suspects in violation of security protocols.” The mechanical voice croaks out. 

“Time to bail!’ Jackie screams and the aircraft starts to fire, drone automated shooting at them. 

The glass around them bursts and V jumps, grabbing Jackie’s hand in her left, she swings her right blade out towards the ladder. It hooks in the bottom rung, creaking in distress as it stops their fall. And there the mercs hang, suspended by a single Mantis Blade and a ladder rung; rain pouring down upon them and a drone still searching for them through the debris. The strain pulls at V’s arm, pain shooting throughout, shoulders ache and left arm pulled tight trying to hold Jackie and the case he holds in his other hand. 

If she could pull them up with the blade, maybe they can get to safety. But her muscles already strain, wrought tight with the strength it takes to hold them up. The blade pulling at the inner tissue it’s attached too, never meant to support more weight than the person it’s attached to. Rain and tears sting her eyes as she forces herself to pull with the blade, use it to lift them up. 

“V! I can’t hold on!’ Jackie yells out, rain slick hand starting to slip from her own. She digs her nails into his skin, holding him tighter. 

“Just a bit more, I can do this!” 

Her throat is raw and she doesn’t know how much she believes her own words. Nerves scream in pain as her cyberware pulls at what’s left of her flesh. Muscles cry as forced beyond their capability. She curses beneath her breath, pulling them just a little further up. Immeasurable pain and brute force of will only amounting to the tiniest bit of progress, not even an inch closer to safety. Her blade is pulling further out from her skin, raising up from her arm in a way she knows it shouldn’t. 

Every nerve in her arms on fire; blade tugging at flesh and the other nearly pulled from socket under Jackie’s weight. Barely an inch closer to the safety, Jackie slipping from her grip quicker than she can pull, blade lifting from her arm quicker than she can move them. Her teeth sinks into the inside of her cheek, hard enough to bleed as she pushes herself further. Closer, closer, she urges herself. 

A bright white light shines across them, illuminating them in the gray night, adding another ache to her eyes. Drone marked Arasaka buzzing around, refinding them within the debris of the destroyed hotel wall. The robotic voice speaking again. 

“Violators found.” 

And her blade breaks, V’s eye blown wide as they begin to plummet, shock blurs her pain and deafens the world.  Slowing it for a moment, only able to stare as metal snaps, tissue tears, and her arm is ripped open. Cyberware tearing out tissue and nerves, viscera left behind. 

Then she hits glass, shattering it as gravity slams her through and shock becomes hurt. She hits metal, body bouncing from impact, crying as the air is knocked from her lungs. Her head bashing against something. V clutches her arm, the pain it hitting her as everything else does, blood sticking to her fingers. Each breath hurts, a labored wheeze as bruised lungs strain to work. 

V blinks, sitting up slightly, regaining her sense of self now that her fall is broken. Across from her is Jackie and the cryo-case. She looks at her arm, A solid rip from wrist to near elbow, nearly an open hole, metal and moving inner parts of the cyberware mixed with gore. It doesn’t bleed as much as she'd expect, the internal mechanics helping block major bleed out. It hurts, metal now working against raw nerves. But, she’ll live… if this is the worst that happens, she’ll live.

The cryo-case is dented, part of it sparking and part of it splatted with blood. But her eye is drawn to Jackie. A tear in his gut, shrapnel and glass caught him well, bleeding more than her. The white of the button up around his stomach turned scarlet. 

“The Relic! ¡Madres! Agh… Oh, this ain't good. Agh…” Jackie curses, each breath pained. 

“Jackie, you’re hurt!” 

“Worry about me later,” he growls, “check the relic… "Container depressurized. Biochip integrity at ninety-four percent." And fuckin' droppin'! Carajo! Parker! Call her!”

“And tell her what!? We fucked up!?” 

“Just do it!”

Evelyn answers after a short ring, her avatar coming across V’s contacts. 

“V?! Konpeki's all over the feeds! What the fuck's going on there?”

“Got a problem! Cryo-case is damaged. Biochip's integrity at… Jackie?”

“Eighty-six percent!”

“Eighty-six percent and droppin'!”

“Shit…! OK, listen to me. There's only one thing you can do. One of you's gotta slot the Relic into your neural port!”

“That sounds really dangerous!” 

God only knows how this biochip could fuck them up, the relic itself is like putting another personality in your head, seeing ghosts. If this one is even half as fucked up as that, they could be putting themselves in serious danger. 

“The longer you wait, the greater the risk we lose it!” 

“Well, someone’s got to do it,” Jackie says, voice a rasp, face steadily draining color as he opens the case, “In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit - Amen.”

Jackie crosses his body with the pray and pushes the chip into his neural port and V watches his eyes light up for a moment. And he’s quiet for another, a second too long.

“You okay?” 

“Dunno… I guess… Don't feel any different.”

“Once you're back, we'll take out the Relic and run a full brain scan and sweep. But you two need to get the fuck out of there first!”

“We’re working on it!” 

Jackie and V get back on their feet. He holds his hand to his stomach, trying to press his guts together and she keeps her arm held close to her chest, not putting pressure on it. Jackie calls Delamain. 

“Del, we'll be there in a couple. Be ready, got it?”

“Certainly, Mr. Welles.”

“Better be fuckin' certain.”

“We gotta somehow… reach the lobby. Only chance to hit the garage. And we'd best be quick,” Jackie jabs himself with an air hypo, “ Oh-ho, that's the shit… Great… Now let's get outta here.”

“Wait, take your jacket off, use it to keep pressure on your gut, okay? Should help with the bleeding.” 

It’s minimal first aid knowledge, she knows. Hold something to a wound to keep it from bleeding out as quickly. But it’s all she can offer, helping Jackie get the jacket off with one hand, so he can press it to his stomach wound. She can move her right hand somewhat, but it hurts and she swears she can see the tendons moving around the metal in the gaping wound her forearm has become. She catches herself wondering if she’ll be able to sign with her right hand again. But, there’s no time for those fears. 

She walks down the red lit metal grate, heels nearly catching in it as she turns to a doorway. V leads the way, less injured than Jackie, she pushes the door open. A door lobby with glass banisters and plants, the only light the bright red ones. 

“Great… Now let's get outta here,” Jackie says, each word a stressful choking sound to get out. 

An AI voice speaks repeatedly over the speakers that Konpeki plaza is in code red, as the mercs work to move quickly and quietly. Catching the murmuring of two guards as they reach a marble staircase, speaking of sweeping the floors and checking the lobby. They creep around the corner and past a desk, seeing the back of the men’s through the glass banister. The only sound the pounding of V’s heart and Jackie’s labored breathing. They watch as the two men separate, enough space for each to grab one. 

They move down the last stretch of the stairs, guards talking about evacuating Yorinobu. She lets Jackie take the one closest to them as she moves further to the one at the doorway. V swings her left blade, now her only one, through the man’s gut. Her right arm shoots pain through each nerve, metal inside churching to dispense a blade that no longer exists. She holds back a sound, Jackie’s already choked out the other guard, checking for pockets. Each one armed with a silenced gun. She steals ammo off of them.

They come to another door, each catching their breath. Sweat clinging to V’s brow as they brace themselves for what’s to come next. 

“Careful… security likely to be swarmin' outside,” Jackie warns and V nods, words clumping together in her throat as she opens the door. 

They stay crouched, spotting more guards as they go. The pair hide behind a planter, V taking a scan of the area, spotting a security camera. Remembering Bug’s lessons, she’s quickly able to shut them off. She’s the one to step back out, leading the way for the first time in months of working together. V needs to get Jackie through this, he’s holding on now, but.. 

She grabs a guard from behind and snaps their neck, arm twinging in agony at the movement she throws their body aside, clearing a long stretch of hallway for Jackie to follow her down. All light bright red and screens that once showed commercials now flash the words, Code Red. She leaves Jackie to stay hidden behind a counter when she sees another by the doorway, jumping at his back and dropping him just like his coworker.  

“Ain't doin' too bad… Just a little further…” Jackie whispers as she drops another guy, her arm screaming at her to stop. But she’ll survive without an arm, if worse comes to worse, she can’t let Jackie get hurt any worse. 

They creep through a door, past a desk, hearing a guard yelling out as they sneak and weave through the room. She watches over the top of a planter as the guard walks past them, none the wiser as V creeps around, getting behind him, and taking him down. She can’t risk leaving any behind, leaving one alive and them finding the mercs later. The hotel is huge, a labyrinth of Arasaka guards. 

“Engaging hostiles!” A voice booms out, the mercs spotted by a heavily armed Arasaka guard who nearly trips over V.

Fuck, fuck, so much for stealth. Jackie shoots over a counter, trying to stay somewhat protected from the gunfire, while V takes lead, firing Yorinobu’s gun at the men, only dropping behind cover to reload, she blasts. Fuck it, stealth not an option, she’ll turn the whole damn hotel into a blood bath. 

The guards drop and V knows she’s been shot, but she’s standing so she moves onward. Through a doorway, three more men open fire as the mercs turn the corner. V blasts a bullet through ones head, Jackie blows the second full of holes. 

“One more fucker dead!” 

The third is further back behind a glass door and V charges forward, glass open as she fires at the man. Bullets ripping through his chest in a spray of blood before he collapses, red smeared across the marble. If she gets a chance to sleep tonight, she’ll be seeing red in her dreams. The vivid neon lights of the emergency lit hotel, the burgundy uniforms, and the steady spray of it from every shot fired. 

Jackie and V go running around a corner, through another glass doorway and slide into side of a marble planter. Taking a moment to breathe, she can hear guards talking. Orders from higher up, panicked yells from the less experienced. She can spot two around the corner, but can’t get a clear shot. She runs to the open doorway, catching one off guard as she slams into his view and rips a blade through his gut. 

A full armored worker fires off when he sees it, partially hidden by a linen rack. Another runs in, half hiding behind a planter, firing off around the corner. She presses against a wall between it and a partial doorway, reloading before she looks back through. The less armored man moves around a pillar, peeking from behind cover, and she shoots his head as soon as she sees it, watching him hit the marble. 

She struggles to get a clear shot of the third, still hidden behind the rack and so she runs forward, past the rack and coming to a sliding stop behind him. The guard fumbles to swing around when he realizes where she’s landed. Back turned to Jackie now, her friend fires a shot clean through the guard’s head. 

The room is cleared for a moment and the elevator is nearby, she runs past a desk, when she sees the button screen. A glowing red off symbol. 

“Fuck!” 

“Chingo tu madre! It's shut down! What about the other one?” Jackie yells between rattling breaths, she wanted this to be stealthy, didn’t want to put him anymore danger. 

She runs, heels clicking against blood streaked marble, nearly tripping over a corpse. Quickly trying to stop herself when another guard springs up behind a desk. Two more swarming the room, one in the heavy almost samurai-like Arasaka armor. 

“Orale! Got to plough through them!” 

She focuses on the Saka samurai, pulling the trigger again and again,  Thankful to have emptied the ammo off every body she’s dropped so far. A bullet catches his throat, a gush of blood as he paints the floor,  and she shifts to the other men. A headshot on one, the other already down thanks to Jackie. 

V searches their corpses, pocketing ammo and bounce backs, when she finds an access token on the samurai. V thanks any god that may be listening, if they exist and makes a beeline for the elevator at the end of the room. 

“Got access,” she breathes out, calling the elevator. 

Its doors open and she steps in, the side railing lit that bright red. She waits as Jackie rushes in, he’s still in somewhat decent shape it seems. Not the ideal heist, she thinks as she hits the button, but maybe they can get out of this. Rush Jackie to a ripper, check on T-Bug, collect their eddies, and tonight will be a story to tell later. Remember the Konpeki Heist, how everything that could go wrong did. 

“Hah-… agh! Heh, hng…” She can’t tell if he’s laughing or groaning in pain, maybe both. Blood is coating his hands, has he bled through the jacket? No, Jackie’s bulletproof, said it himself a billion times. He’ll be okay, he has to be. 

“Jackie…”

“Saburo Arasaka, Hundred and fifty years… and today… of all fuckin' days. That's like… some divine comedy shit… hehehehe… agh.”

And he’s laughing, of course he is, holding his guts together and he laughs, because why would Jackie Welles do anything else. She’s not sure if she’s going to cry or laugh along, if she’s charmed or infuriated by it; is he just still desperately searching for that silver lining or does he genuinely not give a fuck if he flatlines? That idea, the thought, makes her throat tighten. He can’t die, he won’t die, she won’t let him. 

“Save your strength, please, we’re not out of the woods yet.” 

“What do you think I’m doing!?” She doesn’t miss the frustration, because if he wasn’t so hurt, he’d been the one leading that battle, charging in to take brunt of it all, “Buuut… chill, V. We'll get out alive.” 

“I know we will,” she says and wants so desperately to believe.

The elevator reaches the lobby, doors open to more guards, more gunfire. She shoots at one that looks out behind a wall, three more in the main room of the lobby. Jackie slides behind a desk, using it for cover between shots. V takes lead, shooting from around a doorway. Its chaos and mayhem, V blasting the four men. One dropping behind a chair, catching one through the green ferns growing from a planter.  Three more Arasaka corpses, splattering blood across marble and the roots of those towering trees. Bullet after bullet, shot after shot, until her ears are ringing and three remain; the mercs and one last guard. 

He throws a grenade across the room at them, V shooting it in the air before it can hit them, smoke and fire smoldering across the ceiling. She uses the chance to close the gap and blows his brains out at close range.  

Room cleared they rush through the rest of the lobby, finally reaching the elevator that will take them to the garage. V slams the button, calling the elevator. The door opens and she runs inside, expecting Jackie to run in after her. His steps are slowing and he leans against the wall for a moment instead, having to catch a second wind. He’s getting worse, but they’re in the homestretch, they can do this. They can do this, he stumbles through, leaning against the elevator wall. 

“Argh… I'm leakin' a little…” His voice a rasp. 

The elevator stops at the garage, so close to safety. Doors opening she can already hear the guards and the mercs step out, eye on them, its a swarm of Arasaka. Gunfire rings out alongside the screech of brakes. The Delamain taxis coming to a stop in the center of the garage, it’s doors flinging open. 

“I advise that you waste no time in entering the vehicle,” Delamain chirps at them, like this is a normal night. 

But she needs no prodding. V grabs Jackie’s hand and runs for the taxi, dragging him through the garage to the open doors. Rather than making him walk around, she shoves Jackie through her side on the right, letting him slide into the left seat before she jumps in; he needs the extra second of protection more than her.  The doors shut, bulletproof shields raising as they the taxi is blasted by the guards. They’re safe? Right?

“Welcome back. With Delamain, you leave your problems at the door….”

“DRIVE NOW!” 

And Delamain does just that, engines firing up as he rams through the garage door like it’s nothing. She leans forward on the two front seats. As the taxi takes a sharp turn, they’re almost there, almost safe. Jackie wasn’t fucking around about the combat mode. 

“Not bad at all.” 

“Client feedback noted.”

“How’s the ride looking?” 

“Tiptop. Though alas, we are being pursued.”

And then she sees him, Adam Smasher, the borged monster of a former man rushes them. No hesitation, no fear, as he slams his entire body into the car. Shattering glass, gnashing metal, and nearly sending the car to the side; slamming V and Jackie to the right. 

“Sweet fuckin’ jesus!” 

Jackie curses as V screams, the hell kind of freak is this guy? The car goes back down on its wheels. Adam Smasher on a metal knee, slowing standing up on front of the car. 

“Combat mode activated. Please remain calm.”

“Calm!!!????” She yells out as Delamain begins to drive backwards. 

 “Road block ahead. I kindly request that you brace for impact.”

“¡Oy, mis huevos! Shiiiit!”

The cab takes a turn, rather than driving through Adam Smasher, it goes through another roadway. A row of cars blocking the way and Delamain slams through through without hesitation, taking them through the Night City roads away from the hotel. Jackie is hunched over, bloody hands still pressing the jacket to his gut, the white shirt soaked through with it. 

“A hostile enemy aircraft has a lock on us.”

V doesn’t need a word more from the AI taxi, climbing halfway out of the window, she spots the drones flying after them. Three of them. Needing steadier aim, she flips off her hearing aids with a thought, steeling herself as the car weaves through the road and she fires at them. This is Arasaka’s last ditch effor to keep a lock on them, if she can get rid of them, they’re in the clear. 

Three shots; first drone goes down sparking as it hits the city streets. Two more kills the second, the metal remains slamming into a streetlamp. And the third goes down with a final shot, smoldering onto the roof of a�� BD store. She turns her hearing aids back on as she slides into her seat again; they’re gone. 

“Hostile aircraft eliminated.”

“Nice work there… Del…”

She shifts to look at Jackie, he has one hand on his stomach, the other braced against the door. V grabs his shoulder with one hand and his leg with the other, practically shaking him. 

“We did it, Jackie! We made it!” 

“Heh...guess we did…” It’s not the triumphant excited Jackie, she’d expect to hear. His voice still rough, a rattle barely leaving his lungs. Her eyes sting, no, no. 

“My medical diagnostics indicate that Mr. Welles’ condition is critical.”

“Critical, what- take us to a fucking ripperdoc, now! Vik’s behind Misty’s shop!” 

She reaches to put pressure against the jacket over his wound, hand over his, but the fabric is bled all the way through. Blood sticking to her skin, warmer than Jackie’s skin and he’s looking pale, paler every second. He leans back against the chair, strength starting to leave his body. 

“Apologies, but that will not be possible. Our itinerary has been pre-arranged and paid for in advance. I am not at liberty to alter it.”

“Fuck your itinerary and fuck your liberty, just get us to goddamn doctor!” 

“It's OK, V… I'll hold out…” 

When did his nose start to bleed, when he did he start hacking up blood, red streaking down his nostrils and over his chin. She sucks in a shaky breath, eyes starting to water. No, not Jackie, anyone but him… please.  She doesn’t know who she’s begging; maybe god, maybe fate, maybe just anything in this world that will listen. 

“Yeah, yeah,” she chokes out, nodding, “you-you just got to hold on, okay? And, and, we’ll hit the major leagues. Only the best jobs, swimming in eddies, just like you always wanted.” 

She brings her forehead to his, feeling the cold sweat of his skin, hoping her warmth, touch, her words; anything will keep him alert. The tears flow freely now, wet and hot on her cheeks. 

“Mija...  you’re gonna be rich, I can feel it…” 

“No, we’re gonna be rich, Jackie! You and me, that’s how it’s always been, I-I can’t do it without you, y-you got to stay with me okay! We’ll get back, you can see Misty and your mom, everyone and let them know you made it.” 

“Misty… She knew… She always knew…” he breathes out, eyes glassy with a weak smile, “told me not to take this job, why she always got to be right?” 

“J-just a little longer, please, Jackie...please,” she begs him, like he can stop it. Like he can put his inside back together, stop the color from draining out of his face, and can just stay with her. 

“The biochip…” he holds her shoulder, grasp weak, and takes the chip from his head with the other, “Hold on to it. For me…”

And he slides it into her neuroport, her vision glitching for a moment. She surges forward, wrapping her arms as tightly as she can, burying his head into his chest, crying into him as she clings tightly; wishing she had the strength to just hold him together. 

“Please, please, Jackie, I can’t lose you, just a little longer, please,” she sobs into his ashen skin and blood soaked shirt, begging with every slowed beat of his heart. 

For a moment his hands graze her back and she waits for a bear hug, for him to squeeze the breath from her lungs and lift her from her seat like he’s done so many times. For him to be Jackie; her best friend, her partner in crimes, her brother, her everything. But his touch is faint, the space between each beat growing further and further. Until his hands fall limp, body slack in her arms, and she knows the next heartbeat will never come. 

And she sobs, she holds him and cries out her pain, if only for a moment. No more ‘chicas’, ‘jainas’, or the odd ‘mija’. No more smiles that outshine the sun. No more nagging her to look on the bright side. No more bear hugs or hands the size of her head ruffling through her hair. No more Jackie…. And it’s not fair and it’s not right. 

“Mr. Welles has passed. Where shall I take his remains?” A robotic voice asks and she realizes the car is no longer moving. 

She forces herself to let him go, one of the hardest things she’ll ever have to do. Pulling away, she sees him, truly lifeless. Bright green eyes now dull with no light behind them, limp hands falling away from her. 

“W-what?” She stumbles over the word, brain fogged over with grief. 

“The Excelsior package provides for the disposal of passenger remains free of charge. I merely require a destination.”

“I…he-he’d want to be with his family,” she stumbles across her words. 

“Mr. Welles' closest blood relative is Guadalupe Alejandra Welles, proprietress of the El Coyote Cojo bar. I will make sure to deliver him safely. Mr. DeShawn awaits you in room number two-oh-four. ” 

That’s right… Dex… The chip. The world didn’t stop spinning, only her’s. There’s still a job. And the idea of still going, that there’s a tomorrow beyond today, seems unfathomable. How the hell could she ever move on…  

Because Jackie would kill her if she didn’t and she knows that. He’d haunt her for a thousand years and kick her ass every day of it. She looks at the remains, her friend gone, now limp and bleeding across white leather. And knows if he could speak, he’d tell her to get her ass to that hotel room and finish this job, that he and Bug didn’t die just for V to bury herself alongside them. She squeezes his shoulder, presses her forehead to Jackie’s one last time, feeling the cold of his skin. 

“See ya in the major leagues, Jack…”

V opens the car door and steps out into the backlot behind the motel. Rain pours down across her bloodied skin, soaking her to the bones, a numb chill clinging to her. Painted across brick is the Night City emblem marks the wall, red graffiti altering its slogan.. The city of broken dreams… 

She moves, on autopilot as she makes her way up the stairs and to the back door of the motel, sheltered from the rain once she’s in a trash filled back room. The motel is bathed in the neon red lights, only offset by the white of sign bearing its name, it’s always red. She stumbles up the staircase and then  another, past a tv chattering on about Saburo Arasaka. 

The merc walks down the gloomy hallway, dark except for warm yellow floor lights, Graffiti covered walls, rain washing down the windows at the end of it. And she reaches room 204, her arm leaden as she knocks. 

No response. 

“Its V,” she yells out, knocking harder. 

The door opens but before she can take another step, Dex’s body guard takes a step out. Large hand blocking her from coming further. He checks the hallway, making sure she wasn’t followed. After a moment, he finally pulls away. 

“He waiting.” 

The man takes a step back, allowing V into the room. She pushes through a bead curtain and sees Dex, leaning over a TV screen, another cigar between his golden fingers. She clears her throat, hearing the door close behind her. 

“WNS… N54… Even the pirate networks… You blowin' up everywhere! And the Jackster? He out in the car?” 

“He’s...dead,” her voice breaks, words like thorns in her throat. Having to say it, having to hear it from her own lips… 

“Condolences friend,” he tells her, shifting to look at her rather than the tv, “and the relic?” 

“Here,” she says, voice a murmur as she taps her neural port. 

“Hmm, I was afraid of that…” 

“What?!” 

She got the fucking relic, everyone is fucking dead, but she got the relic! Everyone died for this fucking chip and now he’s disappointed that she has it!?

“Saburo Arasaka?” Dex paces, smoking his cigar, “Dead…?! You got any notion of the shit you pulled me into?! You offed the fuckin' emperor! His majesty! Anyone with so much as a pinky toe dipped in this mess is as good as dead!’

“I didn’t kill Saburo! I- I-” she stalls, wanting to say she didn’t do anything, but can she say that? Can she act like she didn’t fuck up any of this? Like she has no role in Jackie and Bug’s deaths… 

"No shit?l Tell that to the ‘Saka ninjas they send after you!”

“We...we got to leave the city.” 

Badlands isn’t the safest for her, but it will be safer with money, she could settle in another city, maybe. She can outrun her family more than Arasaka. 

“You don’t say.” 

“Call Parker, we close the deal, collect our eddies, and go off the radar.” 

“A’ight, settle down,” he sits down on the leather couch, “Gotta be tactical about this. Parker, eddies, then we leave the city limits behind. But first… Your face… got blood all over it. Bathroom's there. Go get yourself cleaned up.”

He points her to the bathroom of the motel and she nods, in no place to argue, she just wants to be on the other side of this mess. To be able to tell herself at least she made it to the major leagues, at least Jackie would be proud of her, even if he isn’t here to see it. 

V stumbles into the bathroom, legs wobbling. Everything should hurt, her arm ripped open. Bruises mottling every inch of flesh. But she’s… numb. She works on autopilot, only somewhat aware of the door shutting behind her as she grips the sink, streaking blood across the silver.

Her blood and Jackie’s. 

Bile rushes up her throat, stinging as she pukes into the sink, choking and gagging it out. The tears threaten to come again, eyes stinging as he nails dig into the sink. He’s gone, he’s really fucking gone. Her best friend, her brother in everything but blood and name, her rock, and world. The man who took her in, who gave her a goal, a life… 

And how’d she repay him? 

Watch him die in the back of a Delamain. All her promises to keep him safe, to repay back all the kindness he gave to her. And she couldn’t save him, couldn’t protect him, couldn’t do shit but hold him. Fuckin’ only time she really hugged him with all she had and she doesn’t even know if he could really feel it, if his body was too numb. 

If she would have refused the job. 

If she had gotten them up the ladder. 

If she had been stronger. 

If she had been stealthier.

If she had gotten them through the lobby quicker. 

If she could have convinced Delamain to get him to a doc.

If she knew better first aid. 

If….if… if… 

Thoughts spin and whirl through her mind, a thousand reasons why it’s her fault. Why she could have saved him, why she could have done more, why she failed him… 

Misty will never take Jackie’s last name and it’s V’s  fault. They’ll never have kids, they’ll never buy a home together, he’ll never get to take her to that stupid hotel bar with the annoying waiter. 

Senora Welles will be forced to bury her son and it’s V’s fault. She’ll never hold her son again. Never see him smile again. Never see him live out his dream. Never cook his favorite foods for him and nag him not to talk with his mouth full. 

Jackie had a future, a family, people who loved him. He was going to marry Misty one day, have kids. Get enough eddies to provide for them and his mom. And now there’s a hole in all of their lives. The world as a whole now worse off without him, her own world destroyed. It should have been her, she knows that, the world would be better off losing her than losing him. 

Yet here she is and she’s just supposed to keep moving, supposed to keep breathing, supposed to live a life post Jackie. 

When she looks up, she sees her own reflection staring back at her. Red rimmed eyes, swollen  from crying and blood splattered across her skin, stuck in the ends of her hair. And she doesn’t know where it’s from, if it’s her own, if it’s Jackie’s, or if it’s from the people she killed tonight. T-Bug and Jackie gone, yet she’s here. 

A brilliant talented netrunner is gone. But she’s still here. 

The kindest man to walk in Night City is gone. But she’s still here. 

She glares at herself, because she has no right to be here and the world has no right to be this cruel. Her fingers clenches, pulling at her damaged nerve endings and she slams her fist into the mirror. Glass shatters and crackles, shards splintering into her knuckles. 

V washes the blood from her hands and face, cleaner but still a zombie as she turns to the door. Jackie wanted this for her, one of the only people who ever wanted anything good for her. If only for him, she owes it to him to finish this job. She stumbles to the bathroom door and opens it, stepping out.

Knuckles collide with her head, wracking more pain through an already injured merc, she’s sent sprawling to the ground. She curses and twists around on the floor, not sure she has the energy to stand back up, vision blurring as Dex’s bodyguard stomps on her. Heavy foot colliding with her head. She curses and sputters choking on blood.  She twists onto her back, blinking through the pain as Dex’s bodyguard hands him a pistol. The fixer walks closer, standing over her.

“Can't risk it, V,” he says casually, leveling his gun with her head,” ‘Member our first convo?”

“I’ll fucking kill you!” She screams, spitting blood as she stares down the barrel. 

“Seems I've chosen the quiet life, after all. No blaze o' glory for me.” 

The shot rings out, loud and clear, the world going dark as a bullet rips through the young merc’s head. Blood splatters across the dirty carpet, her body going limp, a final breath gurgling forth as she chokes on her own blood, iron taste clinging in the back of her throat. 

Then she’s gone. 

[thefanficmonster]

Quarantine On Crack

Until Dawn Gang + Reader (Female)

Warnings: Swearing, Some underage drinking, A LONG-ASS READ (sorry 😅)

Genre: Fluff, Crack, Humor

Summary: The Until Dawn kids (including Hannah and Beth) decide to go through literal hell - trying to survive each other while being stuck on a mountain, in a lodge together for an undetermined amount of time. It’s really a 50/50 chance of how their relationships will be affected by this much time spent together.

Requested by my dear Until Dawn Anon. This is the first time our babies aren’t suffering yay! Hope you enjoy! Know I had a ton of fun writing. The credit for some of these amazing quotes goes out to you (keep both the requests and quotes coming, I absolutely love them!) Love you, Vy ❤

Imagine what the aftermath of a human tornado would look like. You’ve got an image? Great. Now triple it as though three tornados had ripped through the place. Cause that’s what the lodge looks like right now.

Let me backtrack just for a second so I can give you a proper idea of what’s going on and how it came to be. I’d like to mention this ain’t my first rodeo. I’m not in Blackwood nor am I staying in this lodge with this group of people for the first time. I knew what I was getting myself into when I accepted Josh’s offer to go there now with this pandemic that’s eating away at the world. I knew certain members of the group would be hell to put up with but that quarantine beat staying at home alone with my thoughts, so I gave in. This plan had its perks: since we would be the only ones on the mountains and all of us are perfectly healthy, we’d be allowed to wander the woods and breathe some fresh air. On the other hand, however, I’d have to restrain myself from committing murder. The snowy wood outweighed the possibility of becoming a murderer and that’s how I ended up here with the ten people I’ve been friends with since high school freshmen year. 

We’re on day four so far. Yes DAY four, not WEEK four, and people are already scrapping with one another. Jess and Emily can barely tolerate each other. Mike and Matt likewise. I’ve been done with their shit since day two and am now watching a literal rom-com unfold in front of me. “Will They, Won’t They Squared” is the title in case you were wondering. Why squared? Well we have two pairs of love birds around here that are not official, BUT THEY SHOULD BE. Not naming any names or anything *ahem*.

I probably should’ve mentioned, while I was on the scrapping topic, that I have already managed to threaten Mike at least ten times. Emily and I are trying our hardest to remain civil with each other through passive aggression, and I must admit we’re doing well. 

Another thing that has been going on is A LOT OF FUCKING FLIRTING. I swear we run on hormones and caffeine. And I’m into it.

Jess and Emily were at each other’s throats just moments ago, the argument took so many turns and kept branching out so much I forgot what they were even fighting about. Sam and Josh are sitting in front of the unlit fireplace. Sam’s giving him a hard time about his inability to light a fire. She’s basically doing what I would’ve been doing if Matt hadn’t handed me a cup of homemade cider.

“Y/N.“ He says as he settles on the other end of the couch

“Matthew.“ I reply to his greeting, clinking our cups together

“GET A ROOM YOU TWO!“ Emily yells from somewhere behind us

“We have like three empty seats between us and exchanged two words.“ Matt shakes his head, looking at the staircase over the backrest.

“Oh, sureee.“ Emily replies sarcastically

I can tell she’s about to go on and I’ve already went off on Mike twice today so my argument energy levels are low and I’m not having it. Thankfully, a single look shuts her up real quick and she goes about her way.

Suddenly, a loud scream comes from the kitchen. Everyone turns to look in that direction, but I’m unfazed. It’s Ashley’s scream so I know exactly what’s up.

“Sit tight, guys. I’ve got this.“ I put my cider on the coffee table and walk into the kitchen, grabbing the can of deodorant that I purposely left on the counter for this exact scenario. I pull the lighter out of my pocket and step between Ashley and the source of her terror which is, as I guessed, one of those mutated ass Blackwood cockroaches. 

I waste no time torching it and picking it up with a paper towel before throwing it in the trash. We take the trash out every night at eleven PM as some unspoken ritual, so the corpse can chill there for now. I ain’t going out in the cold just to throw away the dead body of a cockroach.

“Sorry about that.“ Ashley says through a relieved sigh

“Don’t worry, Ash. Everyone’s afraid of something.“ I assure her, putting the can of deodorant where it previously was.

“Even you?“ she asks skeptically

“Nope.“ I respond with a smirk.

“I CAN CONFIRM!“ Josh calls out from his spot in front of the fireplace, “SHE ISN’T AFRAID OF ANYTHING!“

“And a pyromaniac on top of all.“ Chris mumbles under his breath

He’s not wrong. I did teach them the deodorant flamethrower trick.

I notice Jess has taken one of those three seats Matt mentioned were between him and I earlier. The one closest to him, to be specific. Instead of third wheeling, I grab my cup and plop myself in one of the armchairs.

“Is that another point for the ‘Y/N’s burnt cockroaches’ score board?“ Mr. Munroe struts his way into the room.

I hum affirmatively, “Piss me off some more and there will be another point on that score board.” I warn him nonchalantly, taking a sip of my now almost cold cider.

 Ashley, who has safely made it out of the kitchen and is now sitting on the floor by the couch looks up at me and Mike who is now standing behind my chair, looming over me like a street lamp. “Do you two even consider each other friends?”

I give Mike a debating glance, one he returns, before looking back at Ash, “We fuck occasionally.” Mike confirms from behind me.

“That doesn’t answer the question.“ Ashley’s disappointed sigh mixes with Jess’ shocked gasp.

I give Jess an unamused look, “What? Don’t act like I haven’t slept with you too.”

Poor Matt, who’s halfway through a sip of his drink nearly chokes at my words, “Wait, WHAT?”

“OK, show hands everyone who HASN’T slept with Y/N!“ Mike declares.

Chris, Ash, Sam, Josh and Matt raise their hands in the air.

“I’m honestly offended that I haven’t.“ Sam says while raising hers.

“Offended that you haven’t what?“ Hannah asks as her and Beth come downstairs a bunch of board games and puzzles in their arms. “And why are we raising our hands?”

“People who haven’t slept with Y/N.“ Jess quickly explains, grumpily folding her arms over her chest. I can’t help but laugh, nor can I restrain the urge to fluster her even further by winking at her.

“I would raise my hand but these boxes would go everywhere.“ Hannah shakes her head.

“I won’t raise mine because....well, I just won’t.“ Beth blushes, making me laugh.

Josh whips around to glare at me, “Seriously?”

I raise my hands in surrender, “Wasn’t my idea.”

Thankfully the topic is dropped by the time Emily walks in. She sits down on the other side of Jess on the couch, more than happy to interrupt her and Matt’s flirting.

“Oh, finally!“ Sam says as the fire that’s been in the making for a while now finally lights, “I knew you could do it, Josh!“

“We could’ve done it a lot quicker if you helped, you know?“ He narrows his eyes playfully at her, taking the hand she offered to him so she could help him up.

“True, but I was your moral support. You know I like focusing on one task rather than multitasking.“ She teases him, “And now I’ll be your cider supplier. Be right back.“

I give Josh that knowing smirk when I see his ears reddening. You know something’s up when your cheeks/ears are burning hot in a room that’s around freezing - you’re either burning with a fever or a crush. No other explanation.

Hannah and Beth have set the board games they’ve brought onto the coffee table so we can decide what we’d like to play.

“UNO?“ Beth offers while Jess, Josh and Matt look at the options.

War-like flashback ensue when I shake my head, “No! Nah hah, I’ll be tempted to strangle somebody.”

“Over UNO?“ Josh gives me this look that’s between disappointed and deeply concerned

“I’ve been tempted to kill over Rock, Paper and Scissors.“ That statement tells him enough that he turns back around with this stunned look on his face.

Eventually, after a lot of convincing, the whole gang is on board with playing a round or two of truth or dare until one of us decides something more original because we really don’t feel like playing board games.

“Truth or dare, Y/N?“ Emily asks, not giving anyone else a chance.

I smirk, kicking my feet up on the table, leaning back in the chair, “Truth for the first round.”

“Who here is the best in bed?“ she sneakily narrows her eyes at me, thinking she’s intimidating. How cute.

“Dare.“ Why don’t we make things interesting?

Em doesn’t complain, “We still have that cockroach’s corpse?”

“Enough said.“ I get up from my seat only to get grabbed by Mike and pulled back down.

“Easy there, caveman.“ He says, shaking his head, “Just answer the question. This doesn’t need to be gross.”

Chris, Ash, Matt and Jess look mortified. “You were gonna do it, weren’t you?” Matt gathers the guts to ask.

I give him a sweet smile and a nod. “And to answer your question: Me. My turn! Josh, truth or dare?” 

He glares at me intensely, “Dare.”

The fucker knows I’m not the type to give ‘kiss this person’ or ‘7 minutes in heaven with that person’ dares. But I do ask some risky questions. Well...the only way to get him into my trap is to use his hatred for bug against him.

“We do still have that cockroach. So...“ I give an innocent shrug of the shoulders, giving him the chance to put two and two together instead of breaking it to him.

You could pinpoint the exact moment the realization hits him, his face turning in disgust. “You know, Y/N, sometimes I really love you.” He says, very touching of him, “And sometimes I’d love to kill you.” He takes a moment, a moment filled with aggressive eye contact between us before finally giving in, growling: “Truth.”

I think I’m level with Mother Theresa for what I did next. “What’s your favorite video game?”

The relief that washes over him is priceless to see. His answer comes as a sigh that indicates that the whole world has been lifted off his chest, “Metal Gear Solid.”

“Cool.“ I say with a cheeky smile.

Being the college kids we are, we easily get bored after a few more rounds, but not before having to defuse an argument that’s basically name-calling between Jess and Emily. I’ve noticed a pattern: if one of them as much as breathes in the other’s direction - a cat fight takes place.

Thankfully, the group disperses into smaller groups or in pairs. Sam, Josh, Chris and Ash go to the theater. Mike and Jess head upstairs, and I think no one would like to go to that area of the lodge in the next two or so hours. Emily and Matt go on a stroll while Hannah and Beth somehow convince me to play Monopoly.

The round ends with Beth somehow gathering all of mine and Hannah’s territories. After a brief celebration they head on over to the theater to join the others. I turn down their offer to accompany them and go warm up the cider that’s now literally frozen.

“Grab whiskey if you want to speed up the process.“ I’m surprised to hear Munroe’s voice behind me but don’t show it as I refuse to even turn around to answer him.

“I’m saving the whiskey for when things get really fucked up.“

“Smart, I guess.“

I choose to be nice and fill up a cup for him as well. I hop up on the counter, taking a slow sip of my drink while looking Mike, who’s standing opposite me, leaning against the kitchen island, dead in the eyes.

“You know,“ he’s the one to break the tense silence that surged between us, “jealousy is a poisonous thing.“

Intriguing opening, Michael. “I’ve heard, yes.”

“Then why don’t you just drop it? You’ll be happier if you do, trust me.“ That smug look on his face makes me want to pour the hot liquid (Destery Smith, anyone?) directly onto his handsome features.

I hear a pair of footsteps approaching the kitchen. A side glance in the direction the noise is coming from confirms that there are indeed two people coming this way - Chris and Ashley.

“A bold thing to tell me while we’re around so many sharp objects.“ If the eyes are really windows to the soul, I would like to picture his with a bunch of stab-wounds from my glare-daggers. Though my gaze is intense, there is a calm smirk on my face. “I can kill you right now.“

Chris and Ashley walk into the kitchen and freeze - they clearly hadn’t noticed us until it was too late. They are looking at us like a pair of deer caught in headlights - mortified.

Mike jumps at the opportunity to ensure his safety, “You can’t! There’s witnesses.”

Unfazed, I turn to the pair who’s on the fence about what they should do, “Guys, could you please excuse us for a moment.”

They both nod hesitantly, slowly taking a step back. Mike is not about to let them go, however. He straightens up, setting the cup he’s holding aside. “No, no, no! Don’t move! Not another step!”

Their eyes land on me and I give them a reassuring and encouraging nod to exit the room. They both comply easily.

“Guys, come on!“ Mike pleads desperately, making me suppress a chuckle

“Sorry, Mike. But you won’t show up at my house in the middle of the night....“ Chris trails off with his apology when Ashley takes hold of his hand so she can lead him away from the kitchen.

“She will.” Ash finishes his sentence, giving me a subtle wink to which I reply by blowing her a kiss.

“Checkmate“ I say triumphally, turning to look at a somewhat scared and disappointed Mike.

“A FIRE IN THE THEATRE!“ Hannah’s scream startles all of us.

I look at the where I left the deodorant earlier, finding the spot vacant. Oh boy...

“Damn it, Josh! I told you not to use the flamethrower without my supervision!“ 

As Mike and I run out of the kitchen I hear Chris say: “I’m afraid this is the only time this getaway will be lit.”

I hope Ashley gently smacked him upside the head in response to that.

[metalandmagi]

Summer 2020 Anime Worth Watching!

Apparently it’s time for the summer anime season, even though it feels like time is meaningless at this point. But somehow, there are still new shows coming out, so if you’re looking for something to watch when you’re stuck at home, here’s a list of the first impressions I got from this season. I don’t really know if it’s going to be worth it, considering how the spring season delayed so much, but here we are. 

As always, not all of these are available on Crunchyroll, but I’ll put a * next to the ones that are.

And if you’re looking for a bit more variety, I have lists for 2019 and the rest of this year’s seasons too...because remember when there was good anime being released instead of just everything being an ecchi or a second season?

2019 master list

My master list for every season of 2020 anime

New Shows!

*The God of High School: An over the top action anime consisting of one big tournament arc! It follows a group of teenagers competing in the epic “god of high school” martial arts tournament to determine the best fighter in the country. Following in the footsteps of Tower of God, this is the newest “crunchyroll original” that is being adapted from a South Korean webcomic. You can tell from the first episode that this will be a spectacle with crazy characters and lots of wild action and humor!

Great Pretender: When a Japanese con man pickpockets the wrong person, he ends up hopping on a plane to Los Angeles and getting wrapped up in a scheme with a sassy Frenchman named Laurent...who basically runs the mafia. There’s humor, there’s plot, there’s great characters, and it’s kinda gay. It’s an exciting original anime from studio Wit, so the animation is bursting with character, and both the music and the general vibe remind me a lot of Baccano or even Lupin III. And since it takes place in America with several foreign characters, there's hilarious English and accent shenanigans abound! The bad news is it’s still in Netflix jail, so if you want to watch it legally you’re kinda stuck for now. 

Japan Sinks 2020: A giant earthquake hits Japan, and a family must cope with the mayhem together. Because what the hell else could possibly go wrong this year? This is a new series (based on a novel) made by Masaaki Yuasa, the guy behind Ride Your Wave and Walk On Girl, if that tells you anything about the style of this anime. I’ve only watched the first two episodes so far, but I heard it goes from being a gripping realistic disaster series to a balls to the wall adventure. To be honest, disaster shows/movies freak me out, and this one is pretty devastating so far, which is a testament to how well it's made. But I appreciate that they include glimmers of hope when they’re needed. The best moments are the quiet ones that focus on the actual people and the narration that juxtaposes the time periods. There’s so much atmosphere, and the music really enhances the experience. And it’s all out on Netflix now, with a dub and a sub!

Deca-Dence: When humanity has been pushed to the edge of extinction by monsters called the Gadoll, the rest of civilization is forced to live in enormous mobile fortresses and send groups out to battle the unknown monsters. So basically like Mortal Engines but the fortresses can turn themselves into giant fists and punch the monsters. We follow a girl named Natsume who wants to be one of the soldiers who fight the Gadoll, but she is constantly rejected because of her prosthetic arm. So she ends up with five years of cleaning duty supervised by a stern but mysterious badass named Kaburagi. I honestly don’t care at all about the plot of the anime, because for me the characters are what drives everything, and these character dynamics are great. I’m not going to say it’s the most original story, but I think it’s fun so far. 

*Rent-a-Girlfriend: A typical harem/romance anime that follows the world’s most annoying protagonist named Kazuya. After Kazuya is dumped by his first girlfriend, he seeks out a rental girlfriend out of self pity….BECAUSE APPARENTLY THAT’S A REAL SERVICE THAT EXISTS IN JAPAN?! Like you can actually rent moms/dads/girlfriends/boyfriends and so on. Anyway, his fake girlfriend is the picture of anime waifu perfection...until Kazuya starts being his typical asshole self and she reveals her true nature of being an absolute sass master who don’t take no shit from no boring ass main character. Shenanigans happen and the two of them end up having to pretend they are in a real relationship. And I’m just calling it now...Kazuya’s grandma is the real best girl of the series. If you want a harem that’s actually funny and doesn’t mind roasting the protagonist, give this one a shot. Although I wish this were just a straight up romance instead of a harem because there is no way in hell that any girl, let alone more than one would want actually to date this guy. 

Next Seasons and Continuations!

*Fruits Basket 2019 (Season 2): Thank goodness Fruits Basket wasn’t delayed or cancelled last season because sometimes I feel like it was the only thing getting me through the spring. I’ve ranted about how good it is enough by now. If it can’t brighten your year, then nothing will. Just watch it if you haven’t already. 

*Re:ZERO-Starting Life in Another World (Season 2): Subaru is still trapped in another world, and he’s still as angsty as ever, but that’s not going to stop him from constantly putting himself through hell when he keeps dying horribly every time he needs to reset the timeline! There are mysterious new villains, nobody knows who Rem is (again) and I think there’s a plot somewhere under all the suffer porn. Seriously though, this show is pretty cool (even if I was two years late to the party). It’s one of the most interesting isekai anime I’ve ever seen, and it feels like it’s acting as a deconstruction of the genre, kinda like how Madoka Magica is for magical girl anime...both shows certainly have enough crying. The story is weird but interesting, the world building is cool, the villains (and sometimes the heroes) are batshit crazy to watch, and I like its moments of humor. 

No Guns Life (season 2): The story of Juzo, the hard boiled detective who plays by his own rules continues in the second season of No Guns Life. In case you missed the first season, this is a mystery/action anime that feels like an old noir film had a cyberpunk baby. There’s underground conspiracies, there’s interesting side characters, and...oh yeah the main character has a gun for a head. That’s right. we came to see a bara detective with a literal gun for a face, but we stayed for the world building and mysterious plots!

*Fire Force (Season 2): I’m going to be honest here, I really didn’t know if I should include this one or not. I have a major love hate relationship with Fire Force, but I figured there may be other people out there who would like it more than I do. So in case you missed the first season, this show follows a group of firefighters who puts out fires caused by spontaneous combustion using a mixture of guns and super powers. It was created by Atsushi Ōkubo, aka the guy who made Soul Eater. So it’s bound to be amazing right?

Not necessarily. Strap in for this one lads. 

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed with this show overall. Its main characters just aren’t that interesting most of the time, it can’t decide on what kind of show it wants to be, and so much of it just dragged for a good part of the series. I don’t know if it was a problem of pacing or if the plot was just that uninteresting for a while. The first couple episodes set up a very unique plot, filled with intriguing moral dilemmas. And then it proceeded to abandon everything interesting in favor of badly timed fan-service. It just couldn’t strike the balance that Soul Eater had between its humor and its sincerity. If they wanted to make an ecchi show, they should have just made one instead of inserting the same overplayed scenarios into every episode. I don’t care if a show has fan-service as long as it fits the tone, or if it only has certain episodes dedicated to playing up the humor. But Fire Force has a habit of just inserting it wherever it wants regardless of what’s actually happening in the episode. Also, some of the humor revolves around one of the main female characters who has a really messed up self image because she’s slightly more muscular, and not a tiny delicate flower like some of the other girls. Not going to pretend that doesn’t bug me. 

But that doesn’t mean there is nothing good about it! If there wasn’t, I wouldn’t have finished the first season, and I wouldn’t be including this one. So far, the second season has actually been funny because it made the first episode more like filler, instead of cramming in too much plot all at once. And to the surprise of no one, the animation is absolutely god tier. I wish it was being used for something other than clumsy fan-service, but it’s still really something to see. The world building is super creative and 100% my aesthetic, and there were a couple side characters I really loved later in the series (Benimaru). And I did like the twists and turns the series took later in the season when it actually focused on the conspiracy behind the fire force and the cult. When it follows the mysteries it sets up, it’s more fun to watch. Who would have thought? 

TLDR: There’s good stuff and there’s bad stuff. This show is really something you have to watch for yourself to decide if it’s going to be worth it. I’m going to at least try the second season, because I want to see where this goes, but it’s on thin ice. 

Honorable Mentions

Isekai edition! Both of these came out last season, but I hadn’t mentioned them when I made my spring list. But they’re both getting dubs now so I’m still counting them.

*My Next Life as a Villainess- All Routes Lead to Doom!: A twist on the isekai genre where our main protagonist wakes up as a character in her favorite otome game...only to find that she’s actually the bitchy rival side character who ends up either dead or exiled in every route of the game. So naturally she does everything she can to prevent this by becoming a sweet and caring supporting character...who inadvertently makes every single other character in the game fall in love with her. I ignored this show for the first few episodes because I need another isekai in the world like I need a hole in the head, but after hearing everyone rave about it, I caught up with it in no time. It’s a fun take on the otome game tropes, and it manages to be funny and sweet while not committing to any particular pairing.

*Ascendance of a Bookworm (Season 2): That’s right, it’s another isekai where an adult is reincarnated into the body of a child in a fantasy world. But this time, it’s a nerdy girl whose entire purpose in life revolves around reading books (can relate). However, when our main character Mine is thrust into this fantasy world, she quickly realizes that this particular fantasy setting is a little too...medieval  for her tastes...meaning a family of commoners like hers would have no clue how to read and books are only meant for rich people or the church. So of course Mine has to figure out how to either get her hands on some books or make them herself. This is a super cute show that I waited a long time to finally watch, and since the second season is finally being dubbed I wanted to shout it out. It’s just a wholesome isekai version of Dr. Stone. There’s no real action, but it’s a relaxing watch if nothing else. 

Well, there you have it. Hopefully nothing else gets delayed or cancelled because it’s pretty slim pickings as it is. And before anyone asks, I didn’t include GIBIATE because I thought it was a massive disappointment that somehow made a time travel horror anime plot boring. There’s also My Teen Romantic Comedy Snafu, but it’s been 5 years since I watched the other seasons and don’t remember anything about it. But there’s that too in case anyone is a fan of the series and didn’t know it got another season. 

See you next season…if the world is still here by then?

[operationrainfall]

Title Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight Developer Bombservice Publisher DANGEN Entertainment Release Date January 10th, 2019 (Switch) Genre Metroidvania Platform PC, PS4, Switch, XBox One Age Rating T for Teen – Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Suggestive Themes Official Website

I first bought Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight when it released on Steam a couple years ago. Though I enjoyed it after starting it up, I found the hassle of allocating time to set up and play on my laptop to be a bit daunting. As such, I didn’t get that far. But then I saw Momodora was headed to the Nintendo Switch, and despite already owning it, I knew this was the perfect fit for the indie Metroidvania. There’s no setup involved in just playing portably, so I bought Momodora: RUtM for a second time. Was it worth the wait, or should I have beat it on Steam?

As a fan of the genre, I was quickly drawn into the world of Momodora. This is a beautiful, gothic world being poisoned by darkness, and only a lone priestess from the village of Lun can stop it. That priestess is named Kaho, and while she is well animated and capable of doing great damage with her trusty maple leaf, I can’t say I knew much about her. That may be due to the fact Reverie Under the Moonlight is my first experience with the world of Momodora. I haven’t played the other 3 games which preceded it, so there’s a very distinct chance I was missing out on some context fans of the series already had. Regardless though, I can’t help but wish the game had given me a more complete portrait of the protagonist. Thankfully, where the game falters a bit in the storytelling, it more than makes up in the gameplay.

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Right from the get go, Momodora gives you almost all of the tools you’ll need at your disposal. Yes, Kaho’s weapon is a leaf, but she wields it like a short sword, doing fierce 3 hit combos effortlessly with a push of the Y button. She is also capable of doing powerful aerial attacks with the leaf. For long distance assaults, she’s armed with a crossbow equipped with infinite arrows, which can be fired with a press of the R button or charged for more powerful attacks. For agility, B provides a double jump and A does a dodge roll, which is utterly crucial since it grants temporary invincibility. Meanwhile, the L button is used to alternate between equipped items (of which you can have 3 in your inventory at a time), and they can be expended with X. I was very fond that each item, once found or bought once, had a set number of uses which were recharged whenever you saved your game. That’s a really nice feature that’s lacking in most Metroidvanias, which require you to either scrounge for or buy copious amounts of items.

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The controls are perfect on the Switch and everything feels natural, which is a good thing, since Momodora is no pushover. Unlike most Metroidvanias, you won’t constantly be leveling up, and though you can increase your starting health, you never really improve your initial stats. What that means is that most every foe in the game can demolish you if you’re not careful. A few well placed hits will put Kaho in the dirt, and that goes double for the powerful and challenging boss fights. Thankfully, the combat in the game never felt overly punishing or unfair. It just quietly pushes you to do the smart thing and learn enemy attack patterns and smartly dodge to survive. I died several times in my first playthrough, and I guzzle Metroidvanias more greedily than coffee.

One of the only ways to get stronger is by collecting Crest Fragments.

Besides the basic combat, you’re also able to mix things up with your inventory. I said earlier that you can equip 3 items in your inventory, but you can also equip up to 2 passive items at a time. These can do anything, from drawing Munny towards you to increasing your resistance to status ailments. If that wasn’t enough, active items in your inventory have a variety of effects, from healing Kaho to summoning eldritch forces to even temporarily increasing your attack power. So while you by no means have to try the various items out, it’s very much in your best interest to experiment. That said, if you’re a purist like me, you’re more than capable of defeating the game just with Kaho’s leaf and bow.

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It’s a little hard to explain the platforming in the game. On the one hand, Momodora feels very minimalistic and linear. Yet at the same time, it somehow feels a bit open ended. Sure, you can go wherever you want most of the time, but you’re also driven in the right direction by smart contextual clues. You also will rarely know when you’re around the corner from a boss fight, since they come upon you unexpectedly. Thankfully, most of the platforming is pretty easy. Sure, there are instant death spikes strewn around pretty liberally, but I found those were rarely a problem so long as I didn’t get overwhelmed and rushed through an area. While you won’t get tons of new skills to traverse your environment, the one you do get is quite fantastic. Kaho will eventually be able to turn into a feline using the Cat Sphere, which allows her to access narrow tunnels. Better yet, she’s more than capable of combat while in kitty form. So if you want to get through part of the game as a cat, you’re able to! Just keep in mind, you can’t use your inventory in that state.

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Visually speaking, Momodora: RUtM is dripping with gorgeous pixel art. Honestly, that’s what first drew me to the game, and it doesn’t disappoint. There’s almost a hand painted quality to it, and everything feels very fluid and organic. That goes double for the action, which is very dynamic. I loved the art for the foes and bosses, ranging from cackling witches with fancy hats to ethereal wolves to tiny thong wearing savages. The bosses especially shone, though perhaps my favorite was the Witch Lubella. Rarely have I seen such a marriage of dark necromancy and pillowy bosoms. The music for the game is a bit hard to describe. Most of the game is actually devoid of music, and features more ambient noise such as the grunts of foes as they attack you or the sound of your leaf swishing through the air. The points where the music always shows up are in boss fights, and there it’s ominous and full of energy. Much like the rest of the game, it’s minimalistic but charming.

As is often the case in real life, evil witches usually have large bosoms.

Most of my experience with Momodora was very positive, with one small proviso – it’s an incredibly short game. My first playthrough took 4 and a half hours, and that was with getting 97% map completion. Granted, I got the bad ending the first time, but that only encouraged me to play again, and then I was able to get the true ending in under 3 hours. I’d wager a true speedrunner could beat the game in less than 2 hours, which isn’t to say the game isn’t worth your time, it very much is. It’s just that, as enjoyable as the experience was, I really wanted more of it. More plot, more character development, and more areas to explore. Hell, if they decide to add content via DLC, I’ll be one of the first people to buy it. I enjoyed the game that much. Having said that, there were a couple of minor niggling issues which bugged me. First, while the controls are mapped brilliantly to the Switch, I wish I didn’t have to pause the game to access the map screen. Map it to the ZL or ZR button instead. And a weird issue I encountered was that when I went to load a game and tried to return to the title screen, it wouldn’t respond. So I would have to load it and select Return to Title instead. Other than those, it was a pretty rosy time.

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All in all, Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight was worth the wait. It’s a wonderful experience on Switch that I’d recommend to all fans of Metroidvanias. While it’s true that it is very short, there is a bit of replay value. First, there are two endings to get. Secondly, there are different difficulty settings you can try, if you crave a bit more challenge. There’s also a hidden boss fight and New Game + with added difficulty. Sadly the achievements found in other versions aren’t present here, which is a missed opportunity. While I do wish there was more to do, I can’t deny I had a good time playing it. $14.99 may sound a bit pricey for a short adventure, but I feel it’s worth it. Worst case scenario, you can always pick it up on Switch when the game goes on sale. If you want a short and sweet game to play, you can’t go wrong here.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″]

Review Copy Purchased by Author

REVIEW: Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight Title Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight

[ryouverua]

Miu and Co’s Stimulating Virtual Adventures (Part 1)

is this going to be a normal field trip?

WITH KOKICHI OUMA? NO WAY ~ !

insert shuichi groaning

Oh cool we got a whole animated sequence!

I FUCKING KNEW IT

AAAAAAH!

AAAAAAH!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

THEY’RE SO FUCKING CUTE WHAT THE HELL

THIS ISN’T WHAT I EXPECTED AT ALL!!!!

Yeah, seriously! I guess I was expecting sprites similar to Hajime’s from last game, or at least an island setting - this really does look like a murder mystery manor! good god we aren’t on rokkenjima are we

I’M SENDING A STRONGLY-WORDED LETTER TO THOSE IN CHARGE

Aaaaw, it’s played off for laughs but it really is sad for K1-b0 to be constantly disparaging himself like that.

But there is good and bad about the new sprites, which someone who has been incredibly aware and sensitive of the changes in his own body probably clued into immediately...

See now that the audience knows, he can slip and say stuff like this out loud, huh? It... almost makes me wish the scene at the end of the last chapter had taken place at the end of this one. That might just be a pacing thing though...

PUSH HIM DAMN IT

PUSH HIM ON IT SHUICHI I BEG YOU

... DAMN IT HE’S NOT PUSHING HIM.

HA

I just realized, we’re going to see a lot more of people’s emotions thanks to the way the sprites work. I wonder if they directly translate to mood? Does that mean Maki and, hell, Kokichi will be more transparent here?

Omfg the literal first thing Kokichi does to K1-b0 is punch him!!! The robophobia never ends...

Wait, question though - how is it connected to K1-b0? I mean blah blah blah, brainwave technological voodoo etc is connecting all the other kids to the helmets, but what about for K1-b0? How does that work? I... guess it’s better not to think about it too hard? 8′D

Man, Iruma’s a lot cuter here too. Also, seems like a good time to mention I’m totally in love with their little headshots at the bottom left with the little animated dialogue bubbles. The others might not like the sprites, but I like it, Miu! Maybe it’s just different when you’re in a 3rd person POV vs 1st person POV?

I love it when Tsumugi goes off like the total fucking nerd she is.

DAMN WE’RE NOT EVEN ON A TROPICAL ISLAND AND PEOPLE ARE STILL GETTING BURNED

LEAVE K1-B0 ALONE KOKICHI JEEZ

So basically they’re leaving the door open for someone to be killed in here. I figured that would be the case...

Kaito is pretty quick on understanding too which I appreciate, considering how they’ve been playing up his ‘brash dumb’ character type up lately.

You are way too happy about that.

Though it also means that if someone dies in here, we’re not going to see any marks left on the body in the real world or here? That’s not good either!

Yeah, that’s... honestly what I’d like to know. Seriously, wouldn’t Miu have found it when recoding everything if it was in here already? And if she did, why wouldn’t she tell them?

I’m telling you, Tsumugi being a snobby nerd will never get old to me. You know she’s got a N64, Super Nintendo, and maybe even older consoles like Atari and Dreamcast tucked away somewhere!

It’s funny - Kokichi doesn’t reference games nearly as much as Tsumugi, but he’s clearly a gamer too. Makes sense I suppose - I always think of a chessboard when I look at his scarf.

I’m sure this info will come in handy, but not sure how yet. 

THAT WILL DEFINITELY BE IMPORTANT FOR GONTA-RELATED REASONS

NO DAMN IT STOP DEATHFLAGGING HIM BY NEUTRALIZING HIS ADVANTAGES DAMN IT

This... really sounds like they’re setting up the rules for a murder mystery game...

Maki made an interesting note about the game - when you take physical advantage away and talent in general, it’ll completely change how a killing game would potentially go down. But I mean... wouldn’t that just be battle royal-type slaughter? Not that any kind of killing game can be considered ‘elegant’, but I can’t help but wonder why a brutal option like this is available at all..

Also can I just say the remixed music and the cute little noises when they waddle around... I love this. I love this, guys. Also watching Shuichi run is hilarious tbh.

A wild rarepair Kaito x Tsumugi appears???

I’m telling you, we’re going to be seeing more of everyone’s genuine emotions on their face here! Man, I’m really liking this set up already.

Kokichi is desperate to ship Kaito with anyone other than Shuichi so he can have Mr Detective all to himself

I think it means he falls for Kokichi’s verbal bait way too easily. 8′D But hey, Tsumugi doesn’t seem to be against Kaito’s interest! Not... obviously, anyway. just gonna casually that pairing to the question mark pile...

Yeah, that’s a pretty classic Kokichi move and... that’s... also a really bad idea. Maybe this is a good chance for Shuichi to get to know him in the context of the game as opposed to FTEs?

Okay, is it just me or is he trying to piss Kaito off especially right now??

NO GONTA YOU’RE TOO GOOD FOR THIS WORLD AND THE ABSOLUTE WRONG CHOICE TO WATCH KOKICHI

fml if Kokichi gets Gonta killed which is where I feel like this is going I will be so upset - but I feel like Kokichi won’t do it himself??? Maybe someone attacks Kokichi and Gonta puts himself in harm’s way instead and dies instead? Like, Kokichi is basically turning Gonta into a goon of his, and we all know what happens in movies and games to the henchmen of ‘Supreme Leaders’...

Honestly guys, how soon do we forget? Are we really going to let them go off together like this? The Bug Meet-and-Greet was literally just a week ago! I know a lot has happened since then, but still!

I do like that both Maki (not included) and Kaito caught on that Kokichi pulled that trick on purpose to have Gonta with him - I just wish they followed up!

On the other hand, we could just as easily get Tsumugi murdering Miu lmao. I’m telling you, if Miu shows up dead...

I didn’t need this in here but I kept it because he’s adorable like this

SHIT THAT’S RIGHT THAT’S HOW MY DOG REACTS WHENEVER HE JUMPS IN THE SNOW I-I mean don’t call Kaito a dog, Maki! That’s not very nice even if it is accurate

Man, I’m starting to wonder if Tsumugi is going to kill Miu here for real 8′D

Always a ray of sunshine, our Sweetcheeks. I’m leaning towards them having some sort of incident happen by the end of this, if not an outright murder. They’re talking too much about how the brain and senses experiencing ‘death’ and causing the body to follow suit for them not to do anything with it. I mean, I guess the exception would be if it’s talking about an overall VR experience like the last game!

So the storage room is pretty much empty and the binoculars can only see as far as the line on the map which Miu is going to explain too. Man, the more things get set up, the more convinced I am that someone isn’t going to make it to the end of the chapter...

Next K1-b0 has an interesting bit of dialogue about how there’s nothing beyond the walls of this world, and how it makes him think about the academy walls. Which... again, I think is leaning towards an apocalyptic world/space scenario? It certainly seems that way to me. It’s interesting to have him point it out though, for some reason. 8′D

I’m 99% sure that’s her default setting, but okay.

weird tangents like this is why I love shuichi

It’s like, a legitimate thing to fixate on and worry about and I totally relate to it but at the same time I’m sure he recognizes how ridiculous it sounds in his head

Isn’t that you? 8′D

oMFG WH A T

WHY ARE YOU DOING HIM WRONG LIKE THIS MIU

MAKI NO I THOUGHT YOUR ROASTING DAYS WERE FINALLY BEHIND YOU

HIMIKO I THOUGHT WE WERE BONDING EARLIER

WE WERE BONDING DAMN IT

I’m shocked that the sprite is able to capture the absolute betrayal on it face but somehow, it does

whispers this is getting its own special post

“Look at my glorious self, doing you the favour of allowing you to prostrate yourself in front of all your classmates!”

Miu you’re making a lot of enemies this chapter, including the sub (lol) protagonist. We've already had one first POV murder - do we really want another one?

That’s going to go missing at some point. If the murder happens, maybe the murderer will grab it and hide it or something?

"Oh, I’ve been lurking here for a while! But I needed some time to come up with my best masochist!Shuichi jokes and lines. You’re not going to hear the end of this for a long time, Masoichi Subhara!”

... or that. could be that too.

Hm, so I guess it’s on the other side of the map. It would be one thing of Kokichi is by himself but Gonta is with him and I trust him way farther than I’d be able to throw him and Kokichi for that matter

KAITO NO YOU’RE MAKING THINGS WORSE

OMFG SHUICHI IS JUST A COMPLETE WRECK AFTER WHAT JUST HAPPENED

And you know Kokichi is totally trying to figure out what he missed, and why all the other classmates are giving the two of them weird looks/snickering...

Oh, and now we’re finally getting to the line shown in the map.

Kokichi are you just trying to cash in some Saiouma chips because you realize how much Saimota happened when you were away with Gonta? 8′D 

H-Hey don’t look at me, look at Miu! She started it!

Okay at this point I will be shocked if there isn’t a murder here or some sort of incident causing a murder in the real world.

Also Kokichi you’re way too happy about this...

What are you playing at here man???

And you! Shouldn’t you know where it is since you reprogrammed the whole thing?!?!

Miu and Kokichi are conspiring about something??? Again???

Please don’t fall for it...

..... Yikes. 8′D I-I’ll give it to him because I have a feeling his failing health and the events of last chapter regarding the occult probably have him feeling emasculated.

Yeah, seriously. So Kaito is on the roof, Kokichi is in the salon and... free for all for everything else. Uh, okay....?

IF GONTA FUCKING TURNS UP DEAD KOKICHI I SWEAR I WILL DUEL YOU IN A SHADOW GAME MYSELF duel links has upped my skill somewhat I should be able to hold my own...

Thank goodness for Tsumugi’s odd affinity for Gonta oTL

a) Maybe this is the chance for us to get to know Tsumugi a little better in-game since we’re going to explore the rest of the mansion together

b) Kaito really has no bloody idea how he and Shuichi’s relationship comes off to the rest of their classmates (or maybe he does and he’s a-okay with it)

c) MAKI...... 

oh no

THAT’S.... NOT..... QUITE IT.....

nothing like the sting of figuring out you’re third-wheeling 

This is in no way the game trying to establish groups and/or alibis. Got it.

Left side: Kokichi, Gonta, Kaito, Shuichi, Tsumugi

Right side: Miu, Himiko, Maki, K1-b0. Alright, good to know.

I really don’t need this to be here but the fact that Kaito is so woefully oblivious and also apparently just... completely into Maki as a friend only is  hilarious to me. I mean, maybe the game will push more romantic feelings on his side in the last chapter but he’s just coming off as so gung-ho about their friendship without taking it to the next level - it’s just.... so refreshing...

It’s nice to see Kaede always being in his thoughts outside of general ‘I must do this for Kaede! Inspiration via manpain!’ stuff.

FUCK YES I THINK I’M RIGHT ABOUT THE ESCAPISM SECONDARY THEME we’re finally bringing it up in nearly identical words again! sorry tsumugi things aren’t looking good for you mastermind-wise

With that said, of all people, she dismisses it herself. 8′D Maybe if the game had better graphics engine - would that be good enough for you princess???

DANGANRONPA YOU ARE DANCING ON A KNIFE’S EDGE RIGHT NOW

Man I keep dancing back and forth between the idea of her being a victim this chapter and a killer and I just... can’t... decide on one. Ugh. The only thing that keeps me from thinking she’ll be a victim is having Gonta right there, raising just as many death flags as her. I-I guess we’ll find out shortly anyway...

Meanwhile while I ramble, K1-b0 has Priorities

[drunklander]

Drunj!Der Yells About Outlander

Thoughts on Ep. 312

Ok so I *really* like half of this episode, and then I really don’t give a single fuck about the other half. But! It manages to jump around enough that the parts I don’t give a fuck about never reach the point where I’m annoyed that I’m still watching them. Which like, is the best case scenario for an episode dealing with a storyline I’m not partial to?

The squad is finally actively trying to find Young Ian, you know, the actual main goal of the back half of the season! But it also feels a bit like they threw all of the plot confetti they needed to into it in order to set up the finale after spending so long on side-quests. There are some great scenes but there is also some batshit insanity. This was the first time in a while that I didn’t check to see how much time was left in the episode. So that’s a bonus.

I personally give zero fucks about the prophecy stuff, but since that’s a massive part of the end of the book, and the show has always stuck maybe a little too closely to the source material, it’s not like I was surprised that a lot of the episode was dedicated to that. And since this episode yet again feels like something completely different from the previous ones, most of my feelings and reactions to it are yet again based on it as a standalone thing and not as part of the season as a whole. (I’m finding more and more as the season goes on that while I have really enjoyed some individual episodes or scenes, if I look at the season as a whole, I’m left feeling sad about missed potential and what might have been if they had made different choices along the way.) So yeah, personally I was like 50/50 really enjoying the episode vs. rolling my eyes at its complete ridiculousness. Which, compared to how I’ve felt about other eps, is pretty solid.

I love that Young Ian keeps fighting on the Bruja and doesn’t give in to the fear he must be feeling. Like if he’s going down, he’s going down swinging and I really do like that wee goober.

Of course Geillis takes literal blood baths. Fucking of course she does.

This whole part is absurd. But like I guess that’s the point? Geillis is fucking nuts. (It does make me roll my eyes a bit that they keep being like “we don’t do gratuitous nudity” while literally having a lady walk around naked and then doing long shots of her showering. Not complaining, just observing.)

DON’T EAT THE CAKE, YOUNG IAN! THIS LADY LITERALLY JUST TOOK A BATH IN ACTUAL BLOOD! SHE’S CLEARLY FUCKING INSANE! DON’T EAT THE THINGS!

NOOO, NOT THE TEA! LOOK AT YOUR REACTION TO THE TEA! THERE IS CLEARLY SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE TEA! STOP DRINKING THE TEA!

Ok, let’s just remember Young Ian’s reaction to being drugged without his knowledge and sharing things he doesn’t want to share. He’s clearly not ok with it. Just keep that in mind for a second...

Geillis is so fucking creepy. Like Lotte Verbeek is so fucking good at pretending to be the creepiest motherfucker ever.

Aaand then the show decided that it was a good idea to have yet another child get raped. This is, what, the third time? Mary, Fergus and now Young Ian? There is no plot-relevant reason to keep this in the show. But they did. Because of course they did. If a girl gets roofied and sleeps with a guy, we call it rape. Because you can’t consent when you’ve been drugged. They’re *literally* called date rape drugs. So here we have a kid getting basically roofied and then it’s implied Geillis sleeps with him. It doesn’t matter if he seems into it. Saying what happens to Young Ian isn’t rape, in my opinion, is the same as saying a girl who gets roofied and taken advantage of wasn’t raped. This, to me, is a rape and I’m *rull* pissed and disappointed, but not at all surprised, that the show decided to include it. (Yes, I know it’s in the book. It was one of the things that I was hoping they’d cut. But given this show’s track record, that was clearly a naive hope to have.)

< / rant >

Ok Claire has that whole trunk of clothes on the ship. Why is she still wearing the same outfit? Seriously, I get that the production is like weirdly attached to that blue dress, but at some point the woman should be allowed to change her clothes. Especially since last week she was like bleeding all over her sleeve and she’s basically been wearing the same outfit for months. Like no fresh dress to go ashore in? Really? I mean, who cares. It’s not anything to like actually get worked up about, it’s just silly to me.

Although, good riddance to the bumroll. I like the outfit much better without it, tbh.

Claire immediately closing the parasol when it’s pointed out that it makes her seem respectable makes me smile. Especially after drunkenly asserting that she *was indeed* respectable last week.

The episode does a decent job of setting up Geillis, though. With the Rose Hall “RH” brand on the enslaved woman Claire sees and the mention of Mrs. Abernathy from a rando in the crowd.

The whole slave market sequence makes me angry and uncomfortable and that’s exactly how I’m supposed to be feeling. It’s clear that’s how Claire feels too. Plus an added dose of helplessness because there’s literally nothing she can do.

And I’m not at all surprised it’s seeing a man being sexually assaulted that makes her snap. With all of the times Claire herself has been assaulted and knowing what Jamie went through at Wentworth, it makes perfect sense for her to manage to hold it together despite her strong feelings, but then to lose it when she sees a man being dehumanized even further in that particular way.

Um, why the fuck did Jamie use Claire’s name instead of his own on the paperwork for Temeraire? She clearly had such a visceral reaction to the situation and he was like well you wanted me to fix it, so I bought a human...in *your* name. It’s really not a big deal. I think it just bugs me a little due to residual Jamie-annoyance from the episodes where I wanted to punch him in the face.

I *am* here for Jamie being immediately on board from the start with needing to get Temeraire somewhere he can live safely. As someone who has been a prisoner in one form or another for so much of his life, it would be out of character for Jamie to respond in any other way.

I like that Jamie and Claire make it clear to Temeraire that his freedom doesn’t hinge on his cooperation in helping them find Young Ian. They tell him he’ll be free as soon as possible regardless, and I’m very glad they make that explicit. Because again, it’d be out of character for them to do anything else. This is, however, kind of becoming a generic white guilt/white savior story. Like they can’t solve slavery but look at how they’re helping this one guy. But honestly, considering there’s like no time in the episode to devote to this particular storyline, this is about as unproblematic as it could get.

Aaand on to the prophecy stuff. It’s all well acted and stuff, I just have no interest whatsoever in this part of the plot.

Although Geillis’ sassy “bitch please” fan flick when Archibald says something is pretty great.

The whole time at the party I was like scared Claire’s hair was going to fall over to the side. Like you can do it, hair, defy the laws of physics! Don’t fall down! I believe in you!

Marsali calling Jamie a dandy is my everything. I really like Marsali, you guys.

Yi Tien Cho’s shade at Frenchmen is also my everything. Yi Tien Cho in general in this episode (and this season) is my everything.

Seriously, his face at Jamie telling him he’s there to be a distraction. Like aw *hell* no. I feel you, dude. It’s fucked up.

Ok the “Ye look as ‘twas yesterday.” line about Claire looking like she did at Versailles is a bit of on-the-nose meta commentary about how they don’t look like they’ve aged that works because it’s a super sweet thing to say regardless of how she actually looks. But Mr. Campbell’s line about “What chance that we end up on the same island, eh?” is up there with The Replacements’ lines last week about Claire randomly showing up in the weirdest places. Like we get it, there are a fuckton of convenient coincidences in the show. No need to point them all out.

The sadness and sympathy on Claire’s face as she sees all of the enslaved men around the room is perfect, as is Jamie’s picking up on it and asking when it will end. But his being in tune with just how much seeing enslaved people affects her again makes me wonder why he put her name on the certificate of sale. (Whatevs, it’s really fine. I don’t like hate Jamie for it.)

Ok so Jamie only calls Yi Tien Cho by his name when he’s making YTC play the part of the Exotic Other. Claire calls him by his name all the time because it’s his name. I do judge Jamie a little for this. When Jamie decided to rename Claudel to Fergus, it was a tad presumptuous, but Fergus embraced it and was on board. Mr. Willoughby was never a name that Yi Tien Cho embraced so calling him that seems a tad disrespectful, regardless whatever Scottish word his actual name sounds like.

Also, Claire’s face when the girl calls him Mr. Cho made me wonder if it was ever made clear what YTC’s family name vs. personal name is. Isn’t it custom for family names to be said first? So he’d actually be Mr. Yi? Is that what Claire’s face is in reaction to, or just the girl being absurd and racist about meeting YTC? Serious question, I can’t recall if this was ever addressed in the book...

Regardless, Yi Tien Cho has more patience and tolerance for bullshit than my privileged white ass could ever hope to have.

Giving him a storyline with Margaret is also infinitely better than the foot fetish bullshit from the book. But again, no brownie points for fixing the obvious problems, show.

Oh man, the look between Jamie and Claire. All the love and lust, and sadness and regret about losing so much time, and thinking of what might have been and what is still to come now that they’re together again. Just all the fucking feels. Their faces are good at emoting, guys.

Still a bit salty that Claire never got to really make Jamie see what the separation was like for her and that Jamie was so easily let off the hook for his behavior and that we had to headcanon most of their reconciliation but I’m tired of being salty, sooo whatever. *pours one out for what could have been*

Lord John’s happy puppy face when he sees Jamie is adorable.

I need Lord John and Chris Traeger to be best friends and like go on happy, optimistic adventures together.

“I thought she’d died too, but she returned to me.” “My god. But how”? “It’s a long story. I’ll send you the BluRay in a couple months. It’ll catch you right up.”

I know the party wigs are intentionally bad because they’re supposed to be wigs of the time period as opposed to the dead animal that’s been living on Jamie’s head all season, but Geillis’ wig is a special kind of ridiculous. (Also why is she randomly blonde now? Like whatever, who cares, but it’s a random change to make. Unless it was literally because the actress didn’t feel like dying her hair or something, haha.) (ETA -- It’s probs how they chose to show she’d aged. I’m an idiot.)

The scene with Jamie, Claire and LJG in the side room is perfect and awkward and I want to give them all a hug. Like look at all of their faces. LJG is like omg I heart you. I am full of feels about how I heart you. And Jamie is like omg thanks for raising my kid. I am full of feels about my kid. *writes and deletes a broken record rant about how it would have been nice to see him show this much emotion even fucking once about his other kid* And Claire’s like pulling double duty on the feels like oh man it’s so sad that Jamie doesn’t get to raise his son but it’s great he has someone to talk to about him and maybe just a bit of jealousy over Jamie getting to be part of Willie’s life for a bit but not Bree’s, and then also like yooo this dude is in love with my husband. I am so full of feels about how this dude is like pining over my husband. You’d better stay in your lane, dude.

TL;DR: Their faces. They’re good at emoting.

This episode does kind of cross over into the gay-guy-in-love-with-his-straight-best-friend trope area a bit. Part of why I liked show!LJG so much in episodes 303 and 304 was because while it was clear he liked Jamie, that wasn’t his primary feature. In this episode, it is. And while I’m here for Claire to notice that he cares for Jamie in a way that’s more than just buddies, it’s a tad too heavy handed with the heart eyes for me. Especially when he keeps telling a romanticized version of the sapphire story.

Like, it sucks to the max that Lord John can’t live honestly, but it seems that a guy who has been given shitty posts because of the rumors about him would be more subtle? The gay-guy-pining trope isn’t that interesting to me and part of why I don’t like book!LJG as much as most people. I know I’m probs in the minority here... I *am* still enjoying show!LJG much more than book!LJG though, and (to me) the genuine friendship between him and Jamie plays better here than in the book too. Like when they’re sitting at the table just catching up. I’m so here for their bromance, just not the pining.

I do love that Jamie calls Young Ian “our nephew” in the scene though, instead of “his nephew.”

If Yi Tien Cho and Margaret don’t run away together in the finale, I’m going to be sad. They win the prize for most surprising ship of the season. But I am On. Board. They each just want to be seen for who they are. Not just as an Other.

Love the convo between Claire and Lord John. And that it seems like he knows (or at least assumes) she knows about him and what he feels for Jamie because he knows Jamie tells her pretty much everything.

I also love Claire’s emphatic “I have.” to Lord John when he notes how she has returned. She’s Jamie’s wife and she is the only person who he loves in the way John wishes Jamie would love him. Like, she finally has Jamie back and she’ll get territorial with anyone who might presume to have a claim on him in a romantic sense. I honestly think that Claire being like this isn’t due to Lord John being a dude so much as just that he’s a human who has feelings for Jamie and at this point, regardless of the person’s gender, she’d start peeing circles around Jamie if *anyone* tried to make a move on her dude. Especially after 20 years with a guy she didn’t love. She did the opposite of pee circles around Frank. She let him do whoever whatever he wanted. He wasn’t worth fighting for. Jamie is. So I am *here* for Claire being a bit possessive. It’s the first time in a long time she’s had someone in her life worth staking a claim on.

I liked the convo with Claire and Geillis until like halfway through when I was like oh shit, wait, CLAIRE, GIRL, REMEMBER THAT SHE’S FUCKING CRAZY AND HAS STRAIGHT UP MURDERED THREE OF HER HUSBANDS AND RAPES BOYS AND KILLS THEM FOR HER BATHS AND HAS YOUNG IAN! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!

“Why are men such fools?” You’re batshit crazy, Geillis, but you raise a good question.

Of course Geillis went to her own execution. I’d be disappointed in her if she hadn’t.

Ok but Geillis knows how Dougal really died, right? And she’s going to like bring it up with Jamie and Claire next week as something she’s butthurt about, right? It’s come up twice in the episode and I can’t tell if that’s because it’s going to be a thing or if she’s just talking...

Aaand now we get to the pure ridiculousness that I kind of just don’t pay attention to because I can’t even with this storyline.

Also, you’re really just going to grab at the governor’s crotch, Geillis? This lady has more red flags than a Chinese airport.

I get it’s a story that involves time travel, but apparently I draw the line at prophecies.

“A 200 year old baby? Do ye think I’m an idiot.” Geillis, who do you know that could maybe have traveled 200 years between getting knocked up and having a baby? Think about it for a hot second. The riddle is obvious af for us, the audience, but like even for Geillis it shouldn’t take that much to get to the answer. Sure she doesn’t know at the moment that Claire was pregnant and DeLorean’ed her way Back to the Future, had a baby, and then came back again, but she knows Claire’s a time traveler. They literally *just* talked about it. Whatevs. I’m guessing she’ll find the pictures of Bree next week like in the book and put it together so Claire has to murder her to stop her from going to kill Bree with the bloody machete from the promo clips and then she’ll be the skeleton in Joe’s office who was beheaded with a dull blade, which I still don’t think was important enough to include but whatevs, some folks love it and that’s fine too.

How convenient that the escaped slaves live near Rose Hall. But I am so here for Temeraire being like nope, not later, I’m going to be free now, here, goodbye.

For as problematic as the pictures have been for me this season, I do love that Jamie’s first thought when about to be arrested is protecting the pictures of Bree and Willie.

I do not love that we end on another cliffhanger.

*starts singing One Week More to self to the tune of Les Mis*

[prisoner619b]

Love Bite

So after seeing @eyugho ‘s comic I just needed to write this. It took me longer than I intended due to work and midday naps but I finished it! Hopefully there aren’t too many typos in it I wanted to get it out before going to bed today.

Word count: 4648

fic under the cut

or on [ao3]

Planet Oulike was, to say the least, adorable. Lance was certain that there couldn’t be a more adorable race in the entire universe. The Ouliken were kind of sheep-like, and their wooly coats were braided and woven into intricate designs. Lance was fairly certain that the colors were artificial, dyes added in the braiding process to enhance the designs. Their Queen’s coat was an intricate masterpiece that was reminiscent of a Persian rug. Some of the wool was sheared off in the process of making their clothes, but part of it was carefully spun while still attached to create the base of the weave. They showed the Paladins the process since they were all pretty curious about how their clothes seemed to be attached to their bodies.

 Even the insects on the planet were absolutely adorable. Lance held his hand out for a pink heart-shaped moth-like bug to land on.

 “I see one of our Hubun has found you!” The queen said happily. “They are a delightful creature, native to our planet.” She told them. “You may want to be careful, however. Their bite – ”

 Lance didn’t even wait for her to finish talking. As much as he might enjoy a cute little bug, like moths or grasshoppers or cicadas he hated anything that might bite him. He shook his hand furiously and the moth went sailing into Keith’s face.

 The Queen chuckled. “Now now, you don’t have to be afraid of the Hubun,”

 Keith suddenly yelped and smacked the bug off his face. It flew away into the distance, no longer interested in any of the paladins.

 “Lance! What the hell?” Keith whipped his head around to glare at Lance. “Why’d you have to throw it at me?”

 “I didn’t mean to throw it at you, I didn’t want to get bitten!”

 “Yeah and now I’m the one who got bitten!”

 “I didn’t realize there was so much discord between your paladins.” The Queen said, though she didn’t seem the least bit disturbed by this. If anything, she seemed amused. “Perhaps the Hunbun chose them for a reason.”

 “What exactly are you talking about?” Allura asked.

 “The bite of a Hubun causes uninhibited infatuation with the first person the bitten person sees, only for a few days. In this case it seems your red paladin has fallen for your blue paladin.”

 Keith blinked a few times, then stared at Lance, his glare softening. “Wow, Lance I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that.”

 “Oh no.” Lance’s face paled.

 “Oh yes.” Pidge slapped her hands together.

 “Shiro!” Lance yelled across the crowd to where Hunk was getting his hair braided and Shiro was being covered in woven wreathes with all the colors of Voltron.

 Shiro looked up immediately at the tone of his voice and quickly pushed through the crowd to make his way over to the rest of his team, followed shortly by Hunk who was very unhappy that the Ouliken didn’t get to finish doing his hair.

 “What happened? Is something wrong?” Shiro looked around quickly, looking for whatever could have caused Lance’s obvious distress.

 “Please help me.”

 In the short time it took for Shiro and Hunk to rejoin the rest of the group, Keith had made his way over to Lance and was now standing behind him with his arms wrapped loosely around his waist and his pressed against his neck.

 “I. Um.” Shiro stammered, unsure of the sight before him.

 “Get this.” Pidge said happily. “Keith got bitten by some alien love bug and now he’s even gayer than usual and completely into Lance.”

 “Help. Please.” Lance said again and Keith’s hands started to roam.

 “Are you uh, are you doing okay there Lance?” Hunk asked.

 “Do I look like I’m doing okay?” Lance practically shouted.

 “Calm down, Lance.” Keith said softly into his hear, eliciting a shiver from the other boy.

 “Okay, Keith, please let go of Lance. You’re clearly making him very uncomfortable.” Shiro ordered after processing what exactly was going on.

 “In our culture,” The Queen cut in, “We typically reciprocate the Hubun’s effects by having the other party become bitten as well. We believe strongly in the free exchange of love. I’m sure it won’t be hard to find another Hubun for your blue paladin here. The experience will bring them closer than ever.”

 “I like that idea.” Keith pressed a kiss against Lance’s shoulder. He then said, quietly so only Lance could hear him, “I know you don’t like bug bites, but how about a love bite from me?”

 Lance figured out how to get his legs working again after hearing that and immediately pushed himself out of Keith’s arms and stumbled forward. Shiro got between the two boys before Keith could reattach himself to Lance and held him back.

 “I think the best course of action would be to get everyone back to the castle.” Shiro said.

 “We thank you for your hospitality, truly.” Allura bowed to their queen. “If I may, could we take a specimen back to our labs? We want to be able to do some tests to see if the bite will have any unexpected symptoms on our paladin due to his different biology. Any information you have on the Hubuns will be greatly appreciated.”

 “Of course dear! Come this way.” She ushered Allura back towards the village center. “Thank you and continue to spread the love.” The Queen said with a wave to the rest of team Voltron.

 Once they were back at the castle they had time to try and figure out what exactly could be done about Keith’s situation. Figuring things out, unfortunately, meant that Coran was needed for his knowledge on alien biology, Hunk and Pidge were needed for their combined extensive knowledge on pretty much everything else, and Shiro was needed for leadership. Actually, Lance was pretty sure that Shiro wasn’t needed all that much and really wished that Shiro would come help keep Keith off of him. They could have at least made Keith a part of the think tank trying to find a way to end the love infection sooner instead of just taking a blood sample and leaving it at that. Lance resorted to locking himself in his room. Keith tried a few times to convince him to open the door but he refused and Keith eventually went away.

 Lance buried his face in his pillow and sighed.

 “Why did this have to happen?” He moaned. Of course his crush would get space roofied into falling for him, the universe was just out to get him like that. He couldn’t handle it. Keith’s hands on his body made his skin feel like it was catching on fire even through the paladin armor. The memory of it burned in his mind and felt like that fire of emotion had left scorch marks on him and he could feel himself blushing. Lance wanted nothing more than anything to fully give in to Keith’s insane infatuation with him, but he wasn’t that kind of guy. “Obviously Keith would never like me without some stupid alien bug bite,” he told himself.

 “Lance? Buddy?” Hunk’s voice called through his door.

 “I’m not here.” Lance answered.

 “I fixed up some dinner if you’re hungry. I made some of your favorites!”

 Lance crawled out of bed and opened the door. “Fine. I’ll come out for food.”

 “Oh and also we have some new information about the Hubun love bite.” Hunk said very quickly, grabbing Lance by the arm and tugging him away from his door before he had a chance to retreat back inside to safety.

 “You lured me out with food just to tell me bad news? Hunk, you’re demoted. The mice are now my best friends.” Lance huffed.

 “It’s not that bad! It’s not like, best case scenario news but it’s better than we thought.” Hunk admitted. “From what Allura gathered about the Hubun it only lasts a few days, but that’s on Ouliken. On Keith, it might be a bit less. We think a larger body is going to work through the toxin faster, but we’re not entirely sure. The only thing we’re really sure about is that there’s no way to lessen the effects artificially, so we can only hope it wears off in a day or two instead of taking even longer. The Queen said it can sometimes last up to a week with Ouliken.”

 “Hunk!” Lance cried. “I’m gonna die. This is it. I’m going to die of being too bi to function. I bequeath to you all my hair supplies. But Pidge gets my face masks. If I’m dead she can’t get mad at me for thinking that she needs them.”

 “It’s not that bad.” Hunk said. “I thought you said you got over your crush on Keith anyways.”

 “I might have underestimated the size of that crush and the whole ‘getting over it’ was a bit of wistful thinking and storytelling.”

 “Oh, Lance.” His friend sighed. “It’ll be okay. Shiro can help keep Keith away from you if he goes too far. And I’m pretty sure dying of a crush isn’t an actual thing.”

 “Yes it is!” Lance insisted. “I’ll have a heart attack! All my blood is gonna rush to my face and then my head is going to explode. It’s going to be super gross and I can’t do this!”

 “You don’t really have a choice, man.” Hunk said awkwardly. “Like I said, there’s not really anything we can do but wait this out.”

 Hunk continued to lead Lance to the dining hall. Lance could feel his heart pounding in his chest, still stuck on the thought of Keith’s hands on his hips. Luckily, Keith was missing from the dinner table when he and Hunk arrived. Allura and Shiro were chatting and Pidge was fiddling with her phone while Coran set the table with the amazing food that Hunk had made for them. At least Hunk was a good friend who knew just the right foods to make for Lance when he was on the verge of panicking.

 They all sat down to eat. Shiro was looking at the door, clearly concerned. They all chatted like nothing was wrong but even then, the nagging feeling remained. It wasn’t just Lance who was trying to stay calm. Hunk didn’t say it, but Lance knew he was worried about Voltron. They couldn’t form Voltron if Keith was completely out of it like this. Allura and Shiro were likely worried about the same thing, and Shiro was worried about Keith’s well-being on top of that. Pidge actually didn’t seem all that stressed out. She was more amused than anything else by the whole situation.

 “Honestly this whole thing is great.” Pidge said, grinning. “Not only can I make fun of Lance for being so scared of a cute little pink heart-shaped moth – ”

 “I wasn’t scared! I just didn’t want to get bitten by some alien bugs right on my face!” Lance exclaimed. “Look at this face! Bug bites are a bit fat no no with the amount of time I spend looking this good.”

 “You do look really good.”

 “Oh quiznack.” Lance said.

 Keith had strutted into the room, Lance’s green jacket hanging off his thin frame. He took a seat next to Lance and grinned at him.

 “How did you get my jacket?” Lance asked him.

 “You left your door open. I was looking for you, and you weren’t there.” He was pouting and oh no, Lance could not handle that.

 “Keith.” Shiro chastised. “You really should give Lance his jacket back.” It was like he was talking to a child, but Keith wasn’t having it.

 “No way. It smells like him.”

 Lance moved his seat a bit away from Keith, or tried to at least. Keith hooked his ankle around the leg of the chair and pulled him back even closer than before.

 “Keith.” Lance whined. “Just let me eat in peace, please.”

 Keith didn’t respond. He took the fork out of Lance’s hand and finished the bite Lance had been about to eat. He withdrew the fork slowly from between his lips, never breaking eye contact with Lance before handing it back.

 “Well thanks for dinner Hunk I’m just gonna grab some of this and head back to my room.” Lance said very quickly, his voice cracking as he did. He went to grab a few bread rolls but Keith got to them before him. Keith took a bite of the one he was holding before handing it over to Lance.

 “I um,” Lance’s eyes darted between the roll and Keith’s lips. He grabbed the offered roll and darted off before anything else embarrassing could happen.

 Lance needed a break. His heart was pounding in his chest, and not from running back to his room. He needed a shower. A very long, very cold shower, followed by about ten hours of sleep to hopefully clear his head.

 It worked, a little bit. When Lance woke up he felt a lot better. Nobody was waiting for him outside his door as he left to get breakfast. Keith usually got up early to train, though Lance had no idea if he was still doing that in his current state. Everyone was already at the table when he got there. There was a spread of leftovers and food goo for them all to enjoy. Keith smiled as soon as Lance entered the room. He thought for a moment, contemplating his choices in his mind. If he didn’t sit next to Keith, Keith would probably end up moving next to him, right? So maybe it would be for the best to sit next to him from the start.

 “Lance, sit here.” Keith waved him over.

 “Yeah, fine.” Lance grumbled. Keith was giving him puppy dog eyes but that definitely wasn’t the reason why he was going to sit with him. Nope. Definitely not.

 “I got you a plate.” Keith pushed a plate filled with first picks of Hunk’s leftovers. It was a nice gesture, and Lance was very hungry after ditching halfway through dinner the night before.

 “Are you feeling alright?” Keith asked him, leaning in close. “You left in a hurry last night.”

 ‘Deep breaths’ he told himself. “I’m fine.”

 “I’ll say.” Keith grinned.

 Pidge groaned and dropped her fork. “I can’t believe Keith is worse than Lance!”

 “Hey! You’re the one who was enjoying this yesterday!” Lance shot back at her.

 “It’s funny watching you be in pain.” She said.

 “Come on guys, let’s just eat our food and then we can get some training in.” Shiro ordered. “And Keith, please try to behave yourself.”

 “No promises.”

 Lance elected to ignore Keith’s flirtations as he ate his food. It was hard though, and it wasn’t even just the flirting that was killing him. The soft looks and the quiet sighs from Keith as he stared at Lance like he was the most beautiful thing in the world made his head spin, but he had to get ahold of himself. If Keith couldn’t control himself, Lance had to at least be able to control himself. It wasn’t helping that Keith was still wearing his jacket.

 At least today Keith wasn’t taking any food from Lance. Lance wasn’t really sure if he’d be able to handle that display a second time. Maybe he saw how uncomfortable Lance was yesterday and decided to stop? Lance had no idea what was going through the guy’s mind. Across the table Shiro was shooting Keith stern looks. Brotherly fear must trump alien bug bites, Lance figured. Keith was inching very close to Lance, however. He got close enough that their arms brushed together every so often and Lance could feel the blush creeping back onto his cheeks. Pidge had her phone out and was not so subtly taking pictures of the two of them.

 Training came next.

 Lance immediately made a beeline for Hunk for his sparring partner. He actually did think for a second he’d be able to train in peace, but he should have known better.

 “Lance.” Keith grabbed his arm and tugged him backwards. “You’re with me today.”

 “I always train with you! I want to train with someone else today.” Lance said, trying to get out of it.

 “We train together because we’re the closest in fighting level.” Keith replied, still pulling Lance over to their area of the training room. “Plus I’d really like a chance to get my hands on you.” He winked at him.

 “Shiro!” Lance called for their leader.

 Shiro was, however, completely distracted by Allura. ‘The heteros have failed me again.’ Lance thought bitterly. The two were sparring and Lance was pretty sure they managed to make it more romantic than even Keith could manage in his current state. It’s not like Lance could really blame Shiro though. Being pinned by Allura was a fantasy anyone with eyes had.

 “I’ll taze him if he gets weird!” Pidge yelled across the room. Keith stuck his tongue out at here and yeah, okay, that was really cute. Lance wasn’t going to make it through today alive.

 “You always end up with your ass on the ground, let’s see if you can hold me down for once.” Keith said.

 Lance did his best to push the double meaning out of Keith’s taunt so he could focus on sparring. He hoped that Keith had his mind on sparring as well, but given how easy it was to get under him to flip him over and pin him to the ground, his mind was anywhere but fighting.

 “I knew you had it in you.” Keith grinned. Lance sat up quickly and backed away from the boy laying underneath him. “Aw, come on. I know you’re shy, but you’re so cute you can’t expect me not to want this.”

 “But you don’t want this!” Lance hissed. “God, you’re so smart Keith, how has this thing infected you so completely that you can’t even realize that these feelings you’re having never existed before yesterday?” Keith looked like he was about to say something but Lance didn’t give him the chance. He stood up and stormed out of the training room, calling out over his shoulder to Shiro that he needed a break.

 Footsteps sounded in the hall behind him as he made his way back to his room. Keith. It had to be Keith.

 Lance turned a corner, then another, heading away from the rooms and hoping that Keith wouldn’t know where he went. He pressed his back against the wall to make himself fit in a small crevice there and held his breath as he heard Keith’s steps stop in the hallway, then return and grow louder.

 “Lance? Where did you go?”

 Lance struggled to make himself as small as possible inside his hiding spot but he knew that if Keith got close it wasn’t going to matter.

 “There you are!” Keith said happily when he caught sight of Lance hiding. “What are you doing there?”

 Lance’s first thought was to move – get away from the wall and run to his room before Keith did something Lance wouldn’t be able to resist. He couldn’t. Keith was in his space immediately and pressed himself up against Lance’s chest. His face was as red as Lance knew his own must be, and his eyes were dilated past what would be normal for this light.

 “I know you don’t think what I’m feeling is genuine.” Keith said softly, his breath warm and intoxicating against Lance’s face. “But I feel it, Lance. You’re all I can think about.” He wasn’t even looking Lance in the eyes, he was staring down and to the side. “If what I’m feeling isn’t real then why does it hurt so much to be apart from you?”

 Lance could feel his breath catch his throat. He wanted more than anything to lean forward and kiss Keith. He wanted to let Keith kiss him, have him in any way that he could imagine but he couldn’t.

 Keith raised his gaze to look Lance in the eyes. “Please Lance.” He breathed. “Let me kiss you.”

 He wasn’t thinking, he couldn’t think. Lance nodded before he could stop himself and suddenly Keith’s lips were on his. This had to stop, Lance knew that. He tried to push Keith away but Keith just took his wrists and pinned them back against the wall so he keep kissing the object of his infatuation.

 “Keith stop – ” Lance tried to say against his lips. That was a mistake, Keith took his chance to push his tongue between Lance’s lips and deepen their kiss. Lance could feel his face burning. ‘This must be what dying feels like,’ he thought. He had to be dying. His brain was on fire and he couldn’t think about anything except the electricity shooting through his veins as Keith continued to kiss him and press up against his body.

 Finally, Keith pulled back. He licked his lips and smiled softly at Lance. “Lance, I,”

 Lance didn’t wait for him to finish. It was becoming habit to run away from these situations with Keith at this point. There wasn’t much else he could do. He shoved Keith. Hard. Keith stumbled backwards and tripped, falling hard on the ground. Lance didn’t care. He had to get away. He just ruined everything real he could have ever had with Keith and he had to get away. So he ran.

 Once he was back in his room where Keith couldn’t flirt with him and make him feel weird all over, he tried to force himself to relax. He pulled out a box of sewing supplies he’d found in his closet as well as some old clothes he was using for scrap fabric and began to stitch pieces together. Since he’d gotten into space he’d tried to make souvenirs for his family for when he one day got to see them again. Now he was sewing a small Queen Luxia for his niece. She loved mermaids even more than he did. His hands were shaking and he could barely see straight as he looked at the fabric swatches in his lap.

 There was a knock at the door and Lance dropped the needle he was holding.

 “Go away Keith! I’m not opening the door until you’re better.” He yelled.

 “It’s Shiro.”

 “My bad. Go away Shiro. I’m not opening the door until Keith is better.”

 “I actually ran into Keith in the hallway.” Shiro said. “I heard about what happened. I’m sorry Lance, I should have followed you sooner after you left. But if it makes you feel any better, I may have accidentally locked Keith’s door from the outside. He can’t get out until I let him.”

 Lance got up and opened the door. “You seriously gave him a time out?”

 Shiro chuckled. “Yes. He needed it. Can I come in?”

 Lance hesitated for a moment before stepping to the side to let Shiro come in. He sat down on Lance’s bed and motioned for Lance to join him.

 “We need to talk about what’s been happening with Keith.” He said. “I should have been monitoring the situation more closely, and I’m really sorry you’ve been put through all this, Lance. I hope you’ll be able to forgive Keith for his behavior once this is all over and out of his system.”

 “That’s not the problem.” Lance mumbled.

 “What?”

 “I said. That’s not the problem.” Lance repeated a bit louder.

 “What are you talking about?”

 “I kissed him!” Lance hid his face in his hands. “I’m a bad person, Shiro! God I liked him so much and I knew it was wrong but I let him kiss me! What kind of person does that? He’s been infected by some sort of space love potion and I was enjoying it! He kissed me and he never would have done that if he had been in his right mind, and I know that and I still let it happen!”

 “I heard he kissed you, I had no idea,”

 “No idea how awful I am, I know, right?” Tears were burning behind Lance’s eyes as he spoke. “He’s going to hate me. I’d hate me. Hell, I already do hate me. You probably hate me now, too. I took advantage of your baby bro because I’m selfish and weak and – ”

 “Hold on Lance, you need to calm down.” Shiro put his arm around Lance’s shoulder and tried to hold him steady as his body began to shake. Tears started to drip down his cheek but at least Shiro couldn’t see that with his face buried in his hands.

 “Lance, listen to me. You’re not a bad person.” He paused. “You have a crush on Keith?”

 Lance nodded.

 “You’re right when you say it’s wrong to take advantage of someone who can’t think straight, but nobody can expect you to be perfect when someone you like is acting like that towards you. It’s the Hubun’s fault, okay Lance?”

 Lance took a shuttered breath and uncovered his face. Shiro wiped a tear away with his thumb and smiled at him.

 “Have you heard of the bro code, Lance?”

 Lance snorted. “Yes dude, of course I have.”

 “Well, there’s a funny thing about it. It only really applies to friends. For example, I’m not going to turn around and tell Keith that you have a crush on him when he gets better because we’re friends. Keith on the other hand, isn’t a friend. He’s a brother.” He was grinning mischievously and Lance wasn’t sure he trusted it. “Which is why it’s my duty to tell his secrets if they’re embarrassing or if I think it’ll make things better. So Lance, I have no obligation at all to hide the fact that Keith actually does have a crush on you, and has for a while now.”

 “You’re lying.” Lance said almost instantly.

 “Scouts honor.” Shiro held up three fingers in a scout salute. “When he gets better, you two should have a talk.”

  -oOo-

 Best case scenario seemed to be the one that happened. Lance woke up the next morning to find his jacket folded up neatly by his door, which Lance took as meaning that Keith was back to normal. He knocked on his door and while there was no answer, he could hear shuffling coming from inside.

 “Keith?” He called out. After there was no response, he tried again. “Keith, buddy. We need to talk.”

 A couple of ticks passed, then a few more, a dozen more; Lance was about ready to leave when the door finally slid open.

 “Lance I’m so sorry I can’t believe how I was acting oh quiznak you must have me I’d hate me and I – ”

 Lance decided that after all the hell Keith had been putting him through he deserved the opportunity to deal back exactly what had been done to him. So he stepped into Keith’s room and silenced him by grabbing his face and kissing him.

 Keith stepped back, eyes wide like a deer in the headlights. “You just – but – Lance after what I did – ”

 “I really, really like you Keith.” Lance said. “I have for a while and that’s why I was freaking out with how you were acting. I thought you couldn’t possibly like me without that stupid bite but Shiro said – ”

 “Shiro is a traitor!” Keith was blushing furiously.

 “Oh come on, you can’t be that mad.” Lance laughed. “Do you want to try to kiss me without being all love potioned and overly aggressive about it?”

 “Yes. Hell yes.” Keith grabbed the front of Lance’s shirt and pulled him back for a passionate kiss.

 If they ever went back to Oulike, Lance might have to thank them for this.

[dramallamadingdang]

Ermahgerd, somanyreplies...

Mostly because I haven’t had time to sit and answer ‘em.

So! For @mrningbrd, @simblrkersil, @emeraldfalconsims, @simper-fi, @holleyberry, @vampireacademysims, @penig, @serabiet, @kayleigh-83, @getmygameon, @stinkyunicorn, @alexbgd, @fuzzyspork, @crystaldollhouse, and last, but certainly not least, @strangetomato...

mrningbrd replied to your post “Well, this is a pain in the booty...”

Im also having ACR issues even though i 100% finished the story. Same exact issues too

mrningbrd replied to your post “So I had a bit of a think...”

I think i fixed my acr problem. Did u try taking it out and then redownloading it and putting it back in? That fixed it for me

Yeah, I did try taking it out/redownloading/reinstalling. Multiple times. And nada. It’s so frustrating! I was kinda disheartened when you said it didn’t work with having played the story, but reassured when you got it working. :) I mean, I know it works because it worked just fine in my initial install, once the story was played. So, I’m hoping that’s the key. I think it must be, because there are some fundamental changes with how the story neighborhood works once the story is completed. If that’s the case, I’m hoping it’ll still work even though I started the freeplay scenario before doing the story. 

So, I’m about halfway through the story. Hoping to finish it tonight with enough time to experiment in the other neighborhood. I’m encouraged by the fact that I peeked in the freeplay hood and the story rewards I’ve unlocked in the story so far were also available there. So *fingers crossed*.

simblrkersil replied to your post “So I had a bit of a think...”

Melissa Fancey, maybe? (IDK how you feel about her, but I love her XD horrifying flame pants and all)

It was between her and the adult Ivy Copur, actually! But in the end I went with Ivy because I’ve never had her as a playable before. :) I’m sure she’s thrilled to go through this torture.

emeraldfalconsims replied to your post “20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing?”

I think the next time someone asks me what my aesthetic is, I'll just direct them to this post. :P

It’s tough when you don’t fall into one box or another but instead cherrypick bits and bobs from all the available boxes in order to build your own wacky box. :) I think henceforth I’m going to call my game aesthetic “Mutant Hybrid FrankenSHTEEN.” *nods sagely*

emeraldfalconsims replied to your post “So you’re stranded with seven other complete strangers on what may or...”

So I see overlay boxes work? Was not expecting that.

They do! At least the ones I installed do! (Male and female body hair and two tattoo boxes.) It’s likely because the game has the “heatstroke” overlay from Seasons. (And maybe the frozen one, too, but it’s sort of hard to freeze on a tropical island... :) ) Many things work, in fact, but some only after you’ve completed the story. 

I’m still trying to figure out the game engine the thing uses because knowing that will make it easier to predict whether or not a TS2 mod will work and/or which version of a mod to try first. It’s either Seasons’s or OFB’s or maybe a hybrid of the two. But it also has some stuff from BV, like the pirate ship. Those are all just objects, though; the beach lots don’t have surf like BV beaches do. (Which is a shame because it’d be fun to have @maybesomethingdunno‘s surfing mod in it, but I’m 99.8% certain that won’t work. :) And even if it did, it’d look weird without surf. :) )

simper-fi replied to your photo “So what do you do when you have way too many babies on a lot and not...”

BABY CORRAL! I love it!

holleyberry replied to your photo “So what do you do when you have way too many babies on a lot and not...”

Haha! That is awesome.

Heh. It was one of those ideas “born” out of desperation. I had seven babies at the time, couldn’t afford cribs (But I decided early on that rock “fences” would be free, in order to create “rooms” on the lot, if needed), and no one could sleep on the lot with a baby laying on the ground. (Which is SOOOOOOO stupid and needs to be modded out.) Hence, baby corral. It works. For babies, anyway. :)

vampireacademysims replied to your photo “So what do you do when you have way too many babies on a lot and not...”

Lmaaao! Wow I'd go crazy, I cursed my life each time I got quadruplets, now imagine this XD

Well, it helps that there are 8 adults to share the load. :) Nine babies isn’t so bad with 8 adults around, as it’s almost a 1:1 ratio, so long as no one slacks. *side-eyes Orlando Centowski* It’s just that they can’t do much else besides baby/toddler care other than occasionally shoving something edible in their face and maybe taking a nap here and there. :) In a normal two-parent household where at least one has a job, I pull my hair out with just twins. Maybe I won’t, so much, after doing this, though...

penig replied to your post “Preggo Ben!”

At the volume there's about to be, it hardly matters anyhow - nearest person deals with whoever's howling.

Ah, but the problem is that they’re ALL howling at once. :) Basically, they all have to cry themselves to sleep, since there are no cribs to put them in. Well, I do have ONE crib now, actually. One crib for nine toddlers. They get rotated in and out of it. I could buy more now, but the toddlers are all going to age up soon -- and there’s no “selling back” according to the rules I’m using for this scenario -- so I think I might want to save the resources for other things. Like more leaf beds. Hopefully children can use those.... And maybe some hammocks for the adults. I think they’ve earned them. I shudder to think of the hell it must’ve been hell to sleep on the ground in the third trimester...

serabiet replied to your post “In this Castaway scenario I’m playing, the castaway’d townies must use...”

why am i getting incoming village of the damned vibes off this development

It is kind of like that, actually... *laugh* Thankfully the lots in the game are big. Lots of a room for a tribe of the damned children.

kayleigh-83 replied to your photoset “When you spend hours on stuff that’s purely, uselessly decorative....”

Ahh you to so much more trouble than I do! I wish I had the patience to plan it out and apply it. My strategy for making my neighbourhood look better is essentially MOAR TREES!!!

More trees is my go-to, too! :) But actually, I don’t plan this sort of thing. It’s more like, “Hey, that lot opened the Athletic career! Now they need someplace to play.” *plops down baseball diamond in random spot* Then it’s, “Hmmmm, that looks really out of context. *moves baseball diamond close to lot that unlocked the career* Then it’s, “If people are gonna come see the game, they’ll need some place to park their car.” *builds adjacent completely useless deco parking lot* Then it’s, “I’m envisioning cracked windshields. Plus, how’re they gonna tell if it’s a home run?” *plots strategy to put lots under baseball diamond just so that fences can be built.* And on and on.

It’d be so much easier if I could just plop down the hood deco and be done with it, but I...just...can’t....

getmygameon replied to your photoset “So this is what I decided to do with Castaway. Take 8 of...”

Very neat :) you're really making that game your bitch aren't you? LOL jk XD

I’m tryin’! Although lately, it’s more like I’m the game’s bitch, jumping through hoops trying to make things work the way I want. :)                 

stinkyunicorn replied to your photoset “Komei has a “job” as a hunter, so he’s off the lot for a chunk of...”

"Hard row to hoe in this scenario"... You're a poet and didn't know it. I'm enjoying all your Castaway posts!

I’m glad you’re enjoying them! :) I’m having a blast playing it. It’s a great change-of-pace for when I get in one of those “I don’t feel like loading TS2″ moods. And it’s like instant gratification because the game loads instantly, so I can go in and out of the game to screw around with things and test out bizarre, wild hair ideas really easily.

And it was totally accidental poetry; I didn’t even realize it rhymed beyond “row to hoe” until you pointed it out. :)

alexbgd replied to your post “Goopy in Wonderland. :)”

a zoo with sims..

Preeeeeety much, yes. :)

holleyberry replied to your post “Goopy in Wonderland. :)”

Come on Goopy. Sandy's there too. Go after her man.

I totally thought he would! They double-bolt! They’re the only possible pairing with more than one bolt, I think. But.... Sandy goes for Ben Long and Goopy seems to like Andrea Hogan best. Go figure. They seem to be each other’s second-faves, though. And it’s not like it really matters since it’s basically one big polyamorous clan. Which is exactly what I wanted. 

fuzzyspork replied to your post “Goopy in Wonderland. :)”

At least those sand mites he just acquired in his nether crevisce will keep him company. XD

Poor Goopy. Only the lice and the stink bugs love him. :) Well, OK, that’s not true. Everyone loves him except Marisa Bendett; those two are oil and water, apparently.

crystaldollhouse replied to your post “Goopy in Wonderland. :)”

This looks so fun :D

It’s realllllllllllllly fun. Very addictive, too. And beyond being fun to play, it’s really fun to experiment with it, too, to see what’ll work and what won’t. 

strangetomato replied to your photoset “So this is what I decided to do with Castaway. Take 8 of...”

I agree with Fuzzy. this makes me want to play Castaway again too. Maybe I'll start loading that up again as a "just for fun" game.

DO EEEEET! You know you want to. Come to the dark side...

fuzzyspork replied to your photoset “So this is what I decided to do with Castaway. Take 8 of...”

You make me want to track down a copy of Castaway! I'll forever kick myself for not buying the one I saw at a thrift store last year. D;

*cough*games4theworld*cough* I pirated mine, and that site is nice. (No creepy porn ads, at least! :) ) The game’s not legitimately for sale new and unused anymore, so unless you can find a used copy, pirating is actually more ethical than paying more than retail to some shady online “store” that doesn’t have the right to sell it for those prices. *gets very irked at “stores” who ignore retail agreements*  Either way, EA doesn’t get any money out of it, so...eh. :)

emeraldfalconsims replied to your post “Drat! Dang! DOUBLE DRAT!”

This is probably not helpful at all, but I just discovered that in TS2 there's a settings option to add the Pets unlocks from codes shared with friends. I suppose it's too much to hope that they've done that for CS as well.

Not that I know of. I searched around a lot and read lots of “game strategy/hint” websites, and didn’t find anything about it. Buuuuuut, as it turns out I’m playing the story, anyway. In the end, you’re kind of forced to, at least if you ever want to use any of the electricity-dependent items in it. I’m just kind of blitzing through it to collect up all the story rewards, including some I missed on my first play-through.

emeraldfalconsims replied to your post “corruptuslocus: Also ACR 1 vs ACR 2 I know ACR 2 has more features...”

I only use V.1, and the only thing I know of to miss is autonomous proposals and go steadys. Have you seen this much with V.2, Icad?

Last I heard, twojeffs never got the auto proposals/go-steadys working in V.2, anyway. V.2′s kind of an eternal beta, as I understand it. The biggest differences between the two is that in v.2 you have far more control over the settings on a Sim level, so it’s much MUCH more customizable than v.1 is. It also has some settings that I really like, like setting a Sim’s “ideal family size” which further moderates whether or not a pair will try for baby. That being said, you have to fiddle with those settings manually on a Sim-by-Sim basis to get the full effect, which can be tedious unless you’re a person like me who gets off on tedium. So, like I said, which version is “better” really depends on how much control you want to have and how much effort you’re willing to put into it. I like v.2 a lot better, personally, but it requires AL/M&G, so I can’t use it in Castaway.