#smasher talking to michiko

[noxlysium]

[another-corpo-rat]

for the alternate love interests... okay i have several to ask for victoria... hanako arasaka... arthur jenkins... bryce mosley... alt cunningham (also apparently i had my asks turned off lol... didn't even realize)

i have, once again to the surprise of no one, rambled like a mother fucker in response. i apologise 😔

Hanako Arasaka

In brief they wouldn't work - like at all, but you know i love over-explaining: I touched on this in the Michiko ask but: Victoria has no innate love or respect for the Arasaka family. Though she'll certainly play her part as the respectful underling, she doesn't view them as Gods Among Men but painfully human, as fallible, as prone to death and mistakes as she is. And her opinions on Hanako are less flattering still; she sees her as a figurehead, pretty to look at and well-trained on what words and tone to use. And sure, she's a splendid netrunner - but it's easy to hone a skill when you have all-day, every-day to commit to it - Victoria holds more respect for the interns in counter-intel, whose lives are actually at risk when they get into the chair.

She might have garnered some respect for the Arasaka daughter after Saburo died and she was left to forge her own path - but the moment Hanako reveals Saburo's play and involvement? It all goes down the drain. Solidifies Victoria's view of the woman as little more than a pretty parrot.

Hanako, meanwhile, I believe would see Victoria as just another rank and file corpo, another suit who wants nothing more than to climb impossibly higher and higher even to their detriment. And she'll promise that with a smile, a gentle nod, steer their conversation into emotional territory because emotions are easy to wrangle - and she thinks by that furrow in Crane's brow that she's got her.

She sees Victoria as a fool for siding so publicly with Michiko, says as much with a gentle tone, like a parent asking their child why they've done something so naughty. Gives her the whole spiel about being Arasaka's heart, family and bloodshed, perhaps believing that Victoria's resentment of her dead half-brother was a passion thing, that she did it through a strong sense of family worth that Angelo ruined with his very existence. It's a severe misunderstanding of character on both their parts.

They have such low views of one another that they'd never get along or understand each other beyond pretense, but it's made especially worse when Victoria deliberately kills Yorinobu against Hanako's wishes.

Arthur Jenkins

I genuinely had to consider this for a bit, cos they'd be an interesting pairing - but in the way it's interesting to watch a spider web up a fly. Victoria, if she considered Jenkins as anything but a headache, would probably find some joy in fucking with him; encouraging his worst ideas in a subtle enough way that she could claim denial when it'd inevitably comes back to bite him, keeping enough of a distance that people wouldn't assume they're associated in any way beyond the thinnest threads of employment.

And Jenkins, well I imagine it'd play into a powertrip for him, a torrid, tense affair where he's cucking Adam fucking Smasher - it'd preen at his pride, make him feel a little bit invincible for a while. The apparent secrecy a thrill. Until Victoria grows bored, deigning him painfully predictable and moving on, sparing him nary a thought until he tries to wave his dick around, use his position against her, threatening to make Smasher aware-

it wouldn't end well for Jenkins, but when does it ever?

Bryce Mosley

I'll admit I haven't dug into Mosley all that much besides what we know from the Placide mission, BUT!!

He and Victoria have definitely rubbed elbows, mixed together at some corporate events - really it was inevitable that their circles would overlap eventually and they get to talking over over-priced champagne while people-watching; ever observant even on their time off.

They'd flirt, make eyes, but both are equally wary of each other - both know how loyal the other is to their respective companies, and that the other is prying in indirect ways, looking for a drip of information, an admission of doing things they shouldn't (ie Victoria breaching the Blackwall once a decade or so-). It could get physical now and then - a supposed one-night stand that reoccurs more than it should; when a party is too boring and nothing interesting to be learned, they retreat into each other's company - but it is purely physical. Trust is the one thing corpos can't really afford, especially when another corporation is involved.

so, as a sexual partner? 100% but a genuine love interest? not a chance.

Alt Cunningham

they absolutely wouldn't work out- like even less than Victoria/Hanako - but I think they'd have…something. i reckon they might have known each other back when Alt was still a human, before Johnny fucked her over forever and condemned her to a digital purgatory - there was something of a respect there, but begrudging on both ends if even acknowledged - at least where their respective netrunning skills were concerned. As people? Not even a fractal of it.

Victoria knows what happened to Alt, met her beyond the Blackwall shortly after it happened and she can't decide if she's terrified of sharing such a fate or not; digital godhood is appealing in concept but she doubts its so easy in practicality; Alt confirms that. They manage to converse in those years, reach an understanding that was impossible in their humanity. It's odd how civil they manage to be - when Alt despises Arasaka and Victoria is viciously protective of it; but odder things have happened.

(idk if i'll ever write it but i'd love for them to have a discussion on humanity, and their respective lack of it after Victoria becomes a 'borg)

[musesbykai]

rxdhairxdsirxns​:

—– OF course she knew about Michiko, as Smasher had been willing to tell her. It was part of their strange working relationship that they were at ease enough to share such things and be as they were now. Though, occasionally, as he’d just done, someone spoke with a little more intensity and sincerity in their voice.

��Well,” Taryn mused, finally giving more of a sincere smile as she tugged the first stocking up her thigh and moved to clip it with her garter, “I appreciate the compliment. It’s not often I get one outside of the new hires tailing me like wild dogs.”

But it seemed the compliment wasn’t the end to Smasher’s sincerity this evening, as the almost instinctual movement of his hand seeking to grab her own made her brows arch. And just as she watched him, it seemed he’d also caught himself, as the metal digits brushed against her own, reminding her of someone who’d abruptly remembered they weren’t supposed to touch the art in a museum.

“You know, I was holding onto a little hope that you’d ask to join me. You make for much better company that just my lonesome self.”

Though she didn’t say it aloud, part of her was amused by the thought that he’d also requested to accompany her to prove as a sort of bodyguard to chase away anyone else who might attempt to approach her.

“Really? You think I would be good company?” That struck a chord with the borg as he lowered his hand away from her. Night City’s Boogeyman, a living legend being good company? Pssh. No one would ever think that someone… no something like Smasher could hold up a conversation but surprisingly, he had a lot to talk about.

Standing up slowly, the giant borg loomed over her. “Let me know when you are ready to head out. I have to put my shotgun away.” If they were to get jumped at a Japanese bar, he had plenty of other weapons hidden in his arsenal that could easily annihilate anyone that dared to try.

True to his word, Smasher left the office and headed into the armory not too far down the hall. A massive place that was full of weaponry for Arasaka’s forces. Head of security had his own locker, far larger than the ones that surrounded it. Placing the weapon inside he took in a breath, not for air but in order to collect his feelings.

@musesbykai CONTINUED [ X ]

----- THE elite woman swiftly stiffened up at the sound of someone entering her office unannounced, clutching her button-down shirt to her chest until the borg made himself known.

Turning to face him, the redhead let out a relieved sigh and lowered the shirt, resuming the process off folding it neatly along with the rest of her work outfit.

"Fucking hell, I thought you were that new intern from Accounting, again. Little prick's been up here three times today claiming he's lost."

Taryn didn't seem to mind being nude in front of Smasher in the slightest. She easily went about tucking away her folded uniform before retrieving a skin tight black gown from a garment bag nearby.

"Of course they decide I'm going to be the one to show up for appearances sake at the mayor's black tie event tonight. Not even enough time to get properly done back at my place because I just got out of a meeting."

The woman shakes her head with an irritated huff, "I'm very tempted to not bother going and tell my head first thing in the morning that he can stuff it."

[preemshots]

the definitive post of WHERE IN THE WORLD IS JOHNNY SILVERHAND’S BODY?

AKA the post of HERE’S WHY I WANT TO BELIEVE WE ARE GONNA GET JOHNNY’S BODY BACK IN DLC. 

buckle up, gamers. it's time for some lore. this is a very long post. 

warning: this will contain a million spoilers. both for details of multiple game endings, a wee bit of the “where’s johnny” comic, and the cyberpunk RED book. if you want a sparknotes version this is the post for you. my main source here is the cyberpunk RED book as well as as some references to the cyberpunk 2077 world book to cross examine the lore. 

i have no idea if someone has made this post before or what anybody else has been finding in their own lore diving. this is just me documenting my own findings from the sources i’ve been using.

it would be disingenuous not to preface this with the ways in which cyberpunk 2077's telling of the arasaka assault differ from the version told in the TTRPG books. the books =/= the game. pondsmith acknowledges in the intro of RED that this is a bridge between the old cyberpunk world and the new world of cyberpunk 2077. 

we also know that johnny's an unreliable narrator and his memories presented to V are often different than real events. but on top of that we don't know if the reason why many elements are changed is simply CDPR editing/adjusting/condensing the storyline for their own canon, or if it's due to johnny's construct being manipulated by outside influences such as arasaka.

some of the main differences you need to know from cyberpunk RED canon:

in 2023 johnny doesn't bring the nukes to arasaka tower. he's solely there to free alt.

johnny and rogue and their team from the atlantis/the aldecaldos are actually hired by morgan blackhand. 

morgan blackhand is the one who plants the nuke, unbeknownst to many members of the team. 

morgan blackhand promptly disappears after this event and no one knows if he's alive or dead. (claire confirms this fact to jackie and v before the heist in 2077 canon)

johnny's silver cybernetic arm is its own character, separate from himself. it seems to have a mind of its own and johnny interacts with it and/or is influenced by it.

when he, spider murphy, rogue, thompson, shaitan, and a team of los lobos from the aldecaldos (who are there in place of santiago, as he’s busy as the leader of the aldecaldos at this point) are attacked by adam smasher, johnny and his arm actively choose to draw smasher's fire in a deliberately suicidal move. smasher downs him instantly, but the distraction is enough to also save his friends.

spider murphy shoves a mysterious chip in johnny's dying head as they escape that alt had downloaded to her a long time ago.

johnny's body is later "rumoured" to have been retrieved from the rubble by a full-body borg groupie that was a first responder to the ground zero of AHQ and then hidden away in a nearby garage.

here comes the political lore that makes my eyes cross, so hopefully this accurately summarizes it: the 4th corporate war begins to end. arasaka is ultimately blamed by the NUSA government to have nuked themselves in a political move to protect their secrets and promptly banished from the USA. arasaka denies this all the way back to japan, then eventually returns to “liberate” night city in the unification wars.

but what the public doesn't know is that kei, saburo's oldest son, had actually hidden an EVEN BIGGER MORE DEVASTATING NUKE at the bottom of the tower to, well, do exactly what they were being accused of doing, even though blackhand was the one who actually dropped the smaller nuke on them. and luckily the bigger one didn’t go off.

arasaka tries to find their nuke in the rubble so they don't get in even bigger trouble, only to discover that it was moved and hidden away to... surprise! a nearby garage.

to compare with 2077:

in RED: we have no johnny loading the nukes into the elevator. no johnny being carried off the premises. no meeting saburo. no johnny getting soulkilled.

in 2077: there's a parallel moment to RED's version of events right after johnny uploads "liberator" from alt's old cyberdeck with spider's help into the arasaka mainframe in saburo's office. adam smasher comes for him as he's trying to escape, knocking him off the second floor of the atrium into the rock garden below.

visually this is the same atrium we always meet alt in in cyberspace and also where V meets johnny for the first time. hmmm. meaningful, perhaps.

not unlike what happens in RED, johnny unloads a clip into smasher at that point, but from there the scene instantly cuts to him running to the roof attempting to board the AV with rogue, where smasher shoots him down again. it’s possible johnny actually died to smasher in the atrium and we have some fabricated memories going on. 

either way, in 2077, we lose the character beat of johnny dying for his friends, and the current-day general consensus from rogue and others is that he’s perpetually a selfish asshole with ulterior motives. 

and, just to wrap up the politics of it all: morgan blackhand is rumoured to have been secretly hired by the militech-backed NUSA government to help end the 4th corporate war by... you guessed it! nuking arasaka.

HERE'S WHERE JOHNNY'S BODY ENDS UP IN CYBERPUNK RED (SPARKNOTES VERSION):

RED ends with a story called "black dog" set in 2045. black dog is the last song johnny recorded right before the assault on arasaka tower, but the final copy is a bootleg copy of the song and only a fraction.

we're introduced to a fun group of cybernetic-enhanced characters that represent the classes in the TTRPG and based on/designed by real people in collaboration with CDPR.

this group includes trace santiago, santiago's son, who is a media that is curious about the mystery surrounding the circumstances around his father and the arasaka bombing. 

just connecting lore here: if you talk to saul at the aldecaldo camp in 2077, he confirms that santiago was killed for his involvement with johnny and the bombing, something that rogue and johnny reference when they talk about their now-dead crew from the afterlife, and in chippin in, santiago is a friend that johnny lists as someone he had disappointed.

the group sets off to find any info about black dog, and meet up with a full conversion chrome woman named samantha in a garage who is blatantly a johnny silverhand fangirl. trace discovers she has a history with johnny, having rescued him from a studio fire at some point in 2015 and speculates she could have been a groupie also.

she mysteriously has a more complete recording of black dog, though not perfect, and offers to trade it for a service: she wants the group to transport a large crate to a facility in new mexico, asking them not to open it.

shit goes down. evidently everyone in night city wants to kill them for this package once it starts moving. eventually they open it. it's the arasaka nuke that had been hidden and never went off, emblazoned with warnings.

trace inquires about the circumstances surrounding the arasaka assault with an older member of the lobos who had been present with rogue and johnny. the man mentions that it was weird, because morgan blackhand organized the whole thing and then ran off immediately with a mysterious bag that we now know contained the nuke. 

michiko arasaka intercepts the gang, explaining the situation around the bigger nuke, that other factions in arasaka want to utilize it for their own goals (presumably hanako and yorinobu) and her father's legacy, that she feels responsible for. she escorts them to new mexico so that the nuke can be dismantled once and for all.

they meet up with a woman named angel in new mexico that takes the crate from them, at a facility that specializes in nuclear material. she gives the group the full recording of "black dog". the group leaves successful.

this woman is also a johnny silverhand stan. once alone, she calls up samantha, who says, "i promised i would get him to you in the end" and reveals that she had already gutted/dismantled the original nuke and discarded the material into the bay.

angel opens the "nuke" to reveal a hidden cryochamber, and greets the face of the person inside with, "hello, my love."

i mean, holy shit. okay! so that’s DEFINITELY johnny’s body. cool!

now let’s go into all the references to this story in the actual game of cyberpunk 2077 that SUGGEST we are going to pursue this story AND johnny's body since it’s such a HOT FUCKING TOPIC. 

and i know many of the following can just be considered easter eggs. but my personal interpretation of this game is that it has a really delightful way of intentionally glossing over important story details—and not by ONLY putting them in shards (which people tend to dislike because lol reading) but by also hiding them in plain sight, constantly deferring to V's own ignorance, distracting us with shallower, shinier things, encouraging us to actually play as the fool hero of this story. 

so here's the fun list of “””evidence”””:

this one’s a reach, but fun. in the initial arasaka assault flashback in 2023: we can interact with the groupies at kerry's show as johnny. samantha doesn't appear to be present, but the first person and groupie you can encounter in the flashback has a passing resemblance to angel in that she has a cybernetic arm.

in chippin' in, where we go to johnny's "grave" in the oil fields: if we are to take the 2077 retelling of events as truth, the story could instead be pretty easily be changed that samantha procured his body from there.

mike pondsmith, who wrote these stories and created the TTRPG can be heard on the radio narrating various conspiracy theories. and sure, these can just be easter eggs, intended to reference the differences between the TTRPG lore and the game, so take it with a grain of salt:

johnny. bro. tell him it was morgan blackhand

to top it all off, mike also directly references the actual WORSE nuke arasaka had hid in another arasaka conspiracy: 

SPOILERS FOR GAME ENDINGS AHEAD.

in the rogue ending of the game we discover rogue has a son. it's possible her son is trace (edit: nvm NOT LIKELY, since in RED’s black dog story rogue is listed separately from santiago’s mom in conversation) OR possibly one of the other characters. she tells her son to "pull over and look at the stars" or something along those lines. maybe just details, so that screams nomad to me.

rogue also has a photo of herself and johnny with mike pondsmith in her apartment/office in the afterlife. i initially read this as a delightful cameo but it also can mean mike the CHARACTER knew johnny and rogue, and rogue therefore has some kind of relationship to him and these conspiracies on the radio. and why the fuck not make him a full on character? we have a smattering of streamers and personalities already integrated into quests in the game. the creator of all this should be no exception. fuck it! 

rogue and johnny constantly dance around this accusation of her “selling out”. it’s repeated over and over that she and adam smasher worked for "the same people". i'm beginning to wonder if this wasn't meant to imply only arasaka since smasher mysteriously disappeared after the AHQ assault in 2023 and returned to SOMETIMES take jobs from arasaka... but possibly morgan blackhand and/or by extension, the NUSA or any other greater influences. (like nightcorp? we still don’t know where all this shit with nightcorp/the peralezes/sandra dorsett’s discovery about their research into mind control is gonna go) this also doesn’t account for the multiple factions inside arasaka with VERY different motives. 

morgan blackhand and adam smasher are rivals in the TTRPG, a role that appears to be at least partially filled by johnny instead in 2077. in relation to the arasaka factions, it’s worth nothing that smasher specifically works for yorinobu as his bodyguard at the beginning of the game, in part i assume because yorinobu is avoiding working with arasaka security details as he stole the relic and is plotting against his father. he is then promoted to head of security by yorinobu when yorinobu assumes power. 

in the ending as you work your way through arasaka tower with rogue and shaitan and johnny, rogue remarks:

michiko at this point in 2077 is the leader of the more “liberal” faction within arasaka, so it’s possible we’re seeing that while rogue and smasher work for the same people/family, they couldn’t be more different. 

you can also encounter rogue more than once on the phone fighting with wakako, who has apparently crossed her. wakako also seems to have her own ulterior motives and works mainly with the arasaka-backed tyger claws. she notably gives v/takemura the parade security info for “play it safe” without asking for anything in return, enabling hanako’s kidnapping. my theory is that yorinobu intentionally leaked the parade info to her to give away to put hanako in danger or at least continue to destabilize arasaka. 

in the takemura/devil ending of the game, there is a point where violence breaks out at the arasaka board room meeting when yorinobu-allied security open fire on them. one of the only people that survives along with hanako is michiko arasaka, who was at odds with hanako’s decisions, but  very involved in the preceding discussion.

and now for is my favorite detail! in the afterlife AT ALL POINTS IN THE GAME (but it can only really be inspected in the rogue ending when we are allowed behind the bar), we can find a photo of the squad that transported johnny's body from samantha to angel on the shelf below johnny's tequila, of them hanging out in front of the afterlife sign:  

this implies rogue has some relationship with them, and sentimentality, if we're to judge by the placement. she maybe even took the picture. i don't know, it's charming, it could be all easter eggs. who fucking knows.

either way, rogue and these kids both have in common that they worked with or at least interacted with michiko arasaka. 

and you know what my final evidence is? more wishful thinking! black dog plays on the radio in game. we got a full recorded version of it by refused. if not an oversight, i go ahead and take it to mean the final version was finally released to the public by those kids that were looking for it. 

i haven’t the slightest idea how this is gonna wrap up in future DLC. who has johnny’s body now in 2077, decades after it was dropped off in mexico? what is the truth?? where the fuck is morgan blackhand?? from the devil ending, we know that arasaka stole jackie’s body and put his soul into mikoshi, so the idea that they would just toss johnny’s corpse has always been laughable. the “where’s johnny?” promotional comic was even about thompson unsuccessfully trying to find johnny’s body. i know i am biased here but i cannot fathom all this talk about johnny’s body ending off with us NOT finding it, whether it’s just to bury it, shove johnny’s engram back in it, make out with it, or WHATEVER.

if you made it through this slog, congrats. thanks for reading! 

[waspgrave]

I never posted my cyberpunk 2077 theory that I know think is going to happen, but I just found it in my drafts. Here u go - ending spoilers and whatnot

Thinking about how Rogue had Johnny’s jacket and if you ask her why then she gets hesitant just like she does if Johnny asks why she has his favorite tequila and for what occasion. And then if you’re playing as Johnny and raid the tower with her to get to mikoshi, she talks about how she’d just met up with Michiko a month earlier which would follow the timeline of how long it’s been since konpeki heist. The interesting thing is that Michiko was the one to move a cryo pod in that short story, Black Dog, and is very much against her family (she has her own P.I company, is married to a P.I, and has often made small moves to fuck over Arasaka) and trusted her uncle Yorinobu above anyone else. And that Saburo was going to set off a nuke that night before Yorinobu killed him, so she and Yorinobu clearly were up to something, thus why they had Johnny’s biochip.

Anyways, it’s interesting that during the ending where V lets Johnny take over, Rogue and Johnny make it to that door before Adam Smasher and she looks so hopeful and says something about time not needing to run out to him. He doesn’t get to ask just what she’s talking about, because scripted event happens and she’s killed. And bc she died, we don’t get to learn what she was talking about. The thing is that she cares for V, cares for Johnny, so there was no reason for her to be excited at one or the other living. But if you do any other ending, she’s under the impression that Johnny is gone for good or that he manipulated V and took their body, so why would she mention anything like that again?

Anyways Rogue knows/knew where Johnny’s body is and was meeting up with Michiko to try and get him back to make up for something she caused with their old crew (tldr on that one - she and Spider Murphy used soul killer on the oldest Arasaka son, Michiko’s father, and Saburo likely used it on Johnny as an act of vengeance despite Johnny not knowing this was the case) That’s why Rogue had his stuff, isn’t surprised by his and V’s situation, and knows he’s probably in that tower or the wreckage of the old one you can walk in. She thought Johnny and V were both going to make it out. 

there are rumors about Johnny’s body being under the old Arasaka tower sO

that hug scene we see Keanu doing for mo-cap probably isn’t a cut scene but a pre-recorded event where Johnny and V reunite.

[another-corpo-rat]

and the wheel keeps turning

told myself i was gonna sit and get at least the beats for Victoria's storyline in place. instead i wrote what could ultimately be its epilogue \o/

Adam Smasher/OC Summary: With Yorinobu’s blood on her hands, there’s a significant target on Victoria’s back. Michiko has a solution.

.

“Power suits you,” Victoria offers in greeting. It’s not a lie this time – there’s something to the set of Michiko’s shoulders, a tightness in her core that straightens her spine and pulls her chin up into the slightest tilt. The image is no doubt helped by Smasher’s lingering just by the doorway, an obsidian sentinel against the brighter golds and blues of their new CEO.

But it’s ruined, partially, by that serene and genuine smile that softens the woman’s features; warming her into a real person and not an untouchable empress.

“I find it quite ill fitting. It’s been tailored to my grandfather and uncle.” And then ruined entirely as she fidgets, picking at where chrome gives way to flesh on one of her hands. Victoria has to give her some credit; even that is a gracefully subtle motion. “I’m almost drowning in it.”

There’s an opportunity here to be sharp again. To drive a knife, metaphorically this time, into her confidence, or to gently pry and twist, coaxing her focus from the throne Victoria had a hand in setting her on.

The netrunner considers it while looking over the woman in front of her, pointedly ignoring the cyborg’s presence and how his attention hasn’t slipped from her since the moment he entered.

“Then cut off what you don’t need. Or, restyle it – you have the means to do whatever you chose now.”

“I do.” The fidgeting stops with a practiced intake. One that strikes her as too purposeful and has a tension roll down her own spine. “But…”

Victoria’s own calming breath is much subtler as white eyes focus on her. Searching for…something. “That’s talk for another time.”

“And perhaps with a better choice of conversational partner.”

“I’m certain Hanako would agree with you there.”

“Mhm, I’ll have to retract that statement then,” she says, baring her teeth in a smile, “simply to be contrarian.” Michiko’s lips twitch but she foregoes smiling to instead glance about the apartment.

There’s an odd pressure that rises with that, an active fight not to look around her own space with new eyes, noting oddities and imperfections that denote it as lived in. A fight she’s sure she’d lose if she didn’t distract herself with a sip of too-sweet wine.

She knows well what will be seen; the small shelf of physical books – all nonfiction aside from the thinnest, tucked away out of sight, a still smoking cigarette propped against an ashtray on the kitchen counter, the sheer dressing gown she had traded for one that wasn’t see-through the moment her sensors alerted her to a visitor tossed over the back of a chair.

 “How have you been?”

“Fine.” An honest answer, with its wide variety of meanings.

She’s fine, but she’s clawing at the walls. She’s fine, but she hasn’t slept properly since well before the coup. She’s fine, but she’s wary of everyone who steps through her door.

She’s just fine.

And Michiko has been at this for longer than she’s been alive, giving her a scolding look that’s all the worse for how gentle it is. Piercing enough to have her shift in her chair and look away, sorely regretting that she left the cigarette across the room. “All things considered. This…punishment has been rather cosy.”

“It’s not a punishment, Victoria. This is—”

“‘For my safety,’ I’m well aware.” She bares her teeth in tone, the venom spitting before she has a chance to swallow it down. Behind Michiko, Adam shifts ever so slightly and she bites to squeeze the poison from her tongue. Without it she sounds more defeated than intended, tired. Honest. “But it feels like one.”

Her fingers twitch again, but unlike so many times before Michiko doesn’t keep herself from reaching across. Her hand is warm as it takes Victoria’s, firm in its grounding squeeze and fond in how her thumb rubs a comforting circle.

“Then you’ll be happy on several accounts.” She says, soft and warm like honey in its sweet appeal. The sort she wouldn’t mind getting trapped by if she wasn’t caught in it already, reliant in a way she doesn’t have the energy to mind.

When she opens her eyes again, Michiko’s smile meets her, less wolfish than her usual company, crinkling the crow’s feet at the corner of her eyes. “Zaburo has finalized your security, and I’ve taken efforts to ensure they will not be disruptive to your routines.”

“An unnecessary effort. You have enough on your shoulders.”

“I do, and the sooner I have you working the less I’ll have to carry.” Ah. She can’t help but smile at that, and Michiko’s own grin takes on something conspiratorial.  

“Oh, am I getting your cut-offs?”

“I’m sure you’d fashion something suitable with them.” The CEO sits back, her hand slowly trailing away as she does. That searching to her eyes comes back again, the plotting smile still there. “There’s a party in a week’s time and your attendance is mandatory. I expect you to look your best.” Spoken like an order, with no room for argument. A reminder of the cloth this woman was cut from.

“In the meantime,” Michiko glances over her shoulder, smile slipping into a downright devious thing as she motions with two fingers, “I’ll leave you and your new bodyguard to get acquainted.”

She narrows her gaze as Adam steps forward, pressing down on the urge to crane her neck and see if there’s someone standing behind him, if this was all an elaborate joke. A quick jump to a camera with an angle assures her that no, there wasn’t.  Her vision settles back through her eyes, fixed squarely on him until Michiko stands, still smiling as she asks: “I trust you have no objections?”

No, she wants to admit. None. But heaven forbid she makes it easy for anyone, including herself.

“Isn’t he better suited to guarding you? It seems a waste—”

“No.” Spoken sharply to cut through her sentence, not in Michiko’s warm cadence but Adam’s mechanised bass. He’s staring down at her, the weight of his gaze near unbearable. The dressing gown feels too heavy, bare as she is beneath it. “She has Kenny.”

“Kenichi.” Michiko presses, too amused for it the correction to hold any weight.

“Kenny.” He repeats after a brief pause and passing glance at his ex. “And she’s not the one loyalists are gunning for.”

Simplest explanation, but not the right one.

The right one is a messy thing, a labyrinth. As ensnared as she is, longing for his attention and affection no matter how sparsely they’re given, he’s likewise caught in one of her own design.

And neither of them have made any true effort to tear free, instead settling in and becoming familiar with the surrounding walls; knowing it was built for them and finding traces of the other in decorative murals and toothed traps. A terrifying thought, but of everyone that could know her so well she’s glad it’s him.

That in itself is a problem.

“Then I have no other objections. He’s—” a pause as she catches the words between her teeth, dangerous things in their blatancy and apparent expectation as Michiko raises an eyebrow with a too-knowing look. “Suitable. Despite the mar on his record.”

“Excellent.” There’s a soft, pleasant clink as Michiko gently claps her hands together. “Then as I said, I’ll leave you to it.” And she does, with nary a look back and a haste to her step that doesn’t quite hide the self-content bounce.

Girlish, she would’ve called her once, naïve even. She’s since decided that was an unfair assessment; someone naïve and girlish could not have managed a nearly bloodless coup as Michiko did. Whatever joys the woman had she was more than entitled to; and Victoria would protect them, tooth and nail.

“What fucking mar on my record, Blondie?”

Even if she’d rather curse her timing and approach to certain matters at the moment.

“The one left by Yorinobu.” It’s easier to look into the red of the wine than his optics, softer on the eyes. “Or his death, to be more accurate.”

A stain by her own hand, splattered onto his reputation.

A beat of silence answers her. Then another.

And another.

She looks over the wineglass to meet his stare, her lips pulling with a smug smile. Adjusting herself, she lounges into the chair and curls her finger in a ‘come here’ motion. The thrill of his obedience mixes nicely with the familiarity of his looming, with the cool of metal hands against warming skin. “I trust you’ll be more…attentive with me, Smasher.”

“I’ll consider it,” a pause, and she can see the wheels in his head turning just as easily as she sees the pull on his maw, that mockery of a smile he can manage, “cunt.”

“Prick.”

[another-corpo-rat]

Vic x Michiko? I know they’re friends in your canon and I’m honestly desperate to know more about their dynamic. xD (can’t remember if I’ve asked before, sorry)

oml the besties, the co-conspirators-

are you ready for me to ramble? cos im going to- the readmore is a warning tbh

I have 100% considered them as a couple -- a polycule actually tbh, Smasher wedged his way in there as he's wont to do -- and i haven't exactly ruled it out just yet. One of the sticklers for my consideration is Michiko's husband Marc and his position/role in it all, or if i want him alive at all.

The foundations for it is already there, or will be if i ever actually write but yknow,

Victoria and Michiko's companionship starts with a simple basis: the mistrust of Yorinobu Arasaka. I'm operating soundly on headcanon here, but I reckon any corpo worth their lick of salt would feel something in the air before Yorinobu stole the relic; an anticipation, kinda like when your hair stands on end before lightning strikes too close.

For Victoria, Michiko is more appealing than any other of the Arasaka bloodline, and while she holds no love for the family she recognises them as powerful pieces of the board: if change is to happen, it has to be with one of them at the helm. Yorinobu made it clear he held no love for his father and the company in tandem, and Victoria holds something of a grudge after he attempted to have her replaced as Smasher's netrunner. Hanako would be more appealing were she not confined to a compound for most of her adult life - too sheltered, even from the teeth of their own company. Victoria doubts she could solve a conflict if the weight of her family name wasn't enough.

And that leaves Michiko; the black sheep. Once sheltered herself but thrust into the public and Arasaka eye following the death of her father. And while once Victoria did fall for that sweet, naive act that she held up like a shield, it was soundly shattered in her eyes once she learned the girl and Smasher had a thing. Her founding and the success of Danger Gal also raised her quite a bit in Victoria's opinion.

For Michiko, Victoria is another ally in her pocket but perhaps one with more gusto than the rest of the Hato faction - Michiko despises talking ill of her own people, but a majority of them think that her leading them is enough for victory. She knows it is not, and she wasn't going to turn down the opportunity of having a damn good combative netrunner with a direct line into Yorinobu's dealings on her side

Beyond that practical reason, Michiko did just genuinely want to get to know Victoria as well. She was curious of the woman, but noted her aversion to companionship and so wanted to think her approach through carefully - kinda like building trust with a stray cat, done gradually with consistence

Later in Victoria's canon, when Yorinobu is dead and Hanako has retreated to Japan, not quite with her tail between her legs but certainly shaken by the sharp turn taken by the Hato faction, Victoria and Michiko's dynamic become what it would remain if they were to be a couple; the empress and her shadow. Very much a 'they shout my name, yet whisper yours' sort of thing

Michiko doesn't want to destroy Arasaka in the same way her uncle did, reform is enough for her. Rebuilding, restructuring (because unlike her uncle, she doesn't spew moralisms and then turn around and destroy livelihoods with the same self-righteous folly he condemned his father for-) but she's not naive, and she trusts Victoria to reel her in when her ideas border too closely to ideals.

Just as she is there to reel it back when Victoria's suggested methods are a touch too brutal to be acceptable, too much how things used to be done. She understands that force and fear are necessary at times, but the netrunner tends to push it too far; her bloodlust more readily apparent when its not being overshadowed by Smasher - and as much as its a steady cause of conflict between them, it is something that draws Michiko closer to Victoria. she has a thing for danger, she guesses

It would bring them together, already close as they are after planning a coup within a coup - placing an explicit trust that paid off for them both, solidifying their companionship into friendship and then potentially something more

so yes, 10/10. absolutely am considering Michiko as a potential partner for Victoria

[another-corpo-rat]

4, 8, 13 for the ask game? :3

tyyy for the ask!! 💖 Questions are here!

4 – How do they compare to each other’s exes? Are they the same “type” or an upgrade/something different?

Smasher is a significant departure from Victoria’s usual choice in a partner. Physically, he’s a far cry from her usual type: none of her past partners even come close to his level of chrome (understandably), at most they might mirror her own; arms, something lining their jaw or neck. All have had a Mr Studd or Midnight Lady. But, he’s about right on the scale of emotional availability of her type; in that having an even vaguely emotional conversation is like pulling teeth.

In theory, she’s always had a thing for guys with power – something Smasher has in fucking abundance – but she’s never acted on it before, too wary about the influence they might have over her professionally and personally. He’d be the first she’s ever been submissive to in a range of matters. So that’s a change as well.

Comparatively, Victoria could be considered a downgrade from Michiko Arasaka (Sanderson) in terms of the potential influence she brings to the table in the rising power-struggles in Arasaka. However, Smasher considers her an upgrade in that they don’t have gushy talks about how they feel about each other, and that Victoria doesn’t need the constant verbal affirmation that young Michiko did at the time.

The women share some similarities, scarce as they are – for one, neither were afraid when they first met him. And while Victoria didn’t blatantly insult him like Michiko did, the dry tone in which she said ‘charmed’ upon introductions was close enough.

8 – What do they find physically sexiest about each other?

For Victoria – his height, his hands, the voice. All of the above.

Smasher is 100% a thigh guy. I cannot be convinced otherwise. He also has a thing for her neck, but that’s more that he likes seeing his own hand wrapped around it.

13 – How do they express love for each other? Do they have compatible love languages?

Verbal affirmation is out the window for these two, unless Victoria is drunk af, but they do have their own ways of expressing it even if there’s some mix-up in the reception now and then.

Victoria’s love language is biting, which is a shame when your partner is made of metal— jk, kinda. She adores quality time, just sitting quietly in each other’s company, doing their own thing. In her particularly needy moments she might plant herself on his lap or lean into him. Giving though, she’s very much a gifts girl, which can be difficult considering Smasher wants for nothing.

Smasher is an acts of service sort when it comes to love, because it’s easier to say ‘I solved that problem for you’ instead of ‘I love you.’ In terms of receiving he’s a mixed bag, he likes being touched but he’s numb to the warmth of it, he’s hard to buy for because he can just get whatever he wants for himself. I think he likes the idea of being at the forefront of someone’s mind when they make a decision – and not in a ‘will he kill me if I do this’ way but in a steady ‘I’m loyal to him’ mindset.