#vik definitely severs first for Obvious reasons

[killlrabbit]

jayvik/vikjayce severance au where their innies have arcaneverse personalities and their outies are leagueverse

[boltsandbonecharms]

Cyberpunk 2077 Prompt Event - Day 2

Prompt: Drunk/high as a kite. Would be a good idea to call someone, right?

Pairings: Past V x Vik, implied/reference V x Dum Dum

- - - - - - - - - - - 

About a quarter of seven in the morning, Vik’s agent pinged. A text from V.

[You up?]

V only ever asked that when she was planning to talk. So when he replied, he expected a call to follow shortly after.

Aside from brief messages checking in on her – clinical questions which received appropriately clinical answers – V had been radio silent for the past week. She had answered him well enough when he asked how she was doing; noting her symptoms or lack thereof, how often she was taking the blockers, how they were working; but she offered nothing more than that.

This was the first time she had reached out since… everything.

After a couple minutes, her call came through on holo.

“Hey V,” he answered. “Everything okay?”

“Hey Vik,” she replied, light and hazy. “’m fine. Winding down. Just… wanted to talk.”

The black makeup around her eyes was smudged and her hair – usually neat and styled back – fell over her forehead in a choppy fringe.  

“Long night?”

She huffed a little laugh. “Yeah something like that.”

Using holo was a rarity for her, and the look on her face was just as rare. Relaxed, eyes lidded, a barely there smile. Sleepy and dazed, in a pleased sort of way. He’d seen something like that before, once or twice, while sharing a cigarette after a particularly… vigorous session. She looked well enough, but Vik suspected she’d been drinking.

“Sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah. All good. Nothing dangerous last night. Just… busy.”

He told her to come by for a checkup soon, and she hummed her agreement. There was a lull, and then she asked:

“Why’d we stop hooking up?”

Ah. She had definitely been drinking.

“V, you drunk?” It was a doctor’s question; she was allowed to have her fun, but between the blockers, the chip, and the three bullets he pulled out of her not too long ago, excessive amounts of alcohol was not a good idea.  

“Nah,” she drawled. “Still pretty fucking high though.”

Even worse. He’d seen her tipsy more than once – she lightened up and loosened up when she was riding that edge – but never outright wasted. And never on anything illicit.  

“We had fun, didn’t we?” she asked, “Hooking up?”

Yeah, they’d had a lot of fun. A little too much fun, that he was a lot too damn old for. Twenty-five, thirty years ago, she would have been perfect. But now? V was too much for him, plain and simple.

She was also high as a fucking kite, so there was really no point in having this conversation now, if they were going to have it at all. “Yeah,” Vik said with a sigh, “We had fun.”

“So why’d we stop?” God she sounded young, her voice soft with a hint of a pouty whine. She looked it too, with her smudged makeup and messy hair. Those two things combined… it may’ve been the first time Vik had seen her actually looking her age.  

Incidentally, that was also a part of why they had stopped.

“We can talk about it later if you want,” Vik said. “Look, I gotta get to work, and you need to get some sleep. Doctor’s orders.”

Thankfully, that distracted her from the topic. She yawned, covering her mouth. “Yeah, I do. See you later?”

“You going to be alright? What have you been taking?”

Predictably, V dismissed the question with a wave. “Be fine. Just tired. ‘m home, safe and sound.”

“V,” Vik said firmly, “What were you taking? If there are any interactions with–,”

“Would’ve happened by now,” she interrupted. “’m on the downside of it. I’ll be fine.”

Vik sighed. There was also no point in this conversation. He was either going to have to take her word for it, or go over there and make sure. Aside from the obvious, she did seem fine – her eyes were focused, she was cutting words short but not slurring, her movements were coordinated.  

“Alright, kid, if you’re sure.”

She nodded, and it was interrupted by another covered yawn.

“I’ll see you later then,” Vik said. “You know where to find me. Call if you need something.”

V nodded again, mumbled something too soft to make out, and ended the call.  

Vik sighed, took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. He didn’t have the patience to deal with anyone inebriated these days, and the fact that it was V somehow made it worse.  

With her… condition, he supposed it was understandable if she wanted to escape for a little while. But if she was going to find a way out of the mess she was in, she couldn’t afford time wasted getting wasted. That thought lit a spark of anger in him; he stamped it out. V was a grown woman and she could make her own choices, good or bad.  

As long as it didn’t become a habit, or worse, then he wouldn’t give her any trouble about it.  

And if it did, well… at least an addiction was something he knew how to treat.  

- - - - - - 

It was late when V woke up.  

She’d slept hard and didn’t dream; it felt like she had only just closed her eyes, so she didn’t understand why the alarm on her agent was ringing. She felt around for it blindly and turned it off. After a minute, the disorientation cleared enough for her to remember what the alarm was for, and she propped up on her elbow and felt around for the bottle of blockers too.

The shutters were closed and the lights in the apartment were off, as they always were, so she handled the pills and water bottle by touch alone. She was too tired to open her eyes for more than a few bleary seconds anyway. Pill swallowed and bottles recapped, she flopped over on her back to nap for a while longer.

The feeling of the sheets and her clothes across her skin was irritating, it was too warm, and most of her was hurting. Not bad, but enough to be uncomfortable; cuts and scrapes and bruises. Enough to keep her drifting on the edge of sleep, dozing here and there.

A short trill from her agent snapped her back to wakefulness. A message, not important. V laid there for a while before she rolled over again – god she was sore – and picked it up to check the time.

Almost nine p.m. Several messages.  

Fuck, it’s late.

She dragged herself to the edge of the bed, and then to her feet, and then to the bathroom. The lights came on automatically; too bright even on the lowest dimmer setting. Her mouth was dry, her eyes were dry… all of her skin felt hot and dry too. She rinsed her mouth out, splashed water on her face.

She was in last night’s clothes too. Or, underwear and shirt at least. Underneath the smell of sweat, spilled alcohol, and… everything else, there was a hint of her own blood. She really should have showered when she drug herself home in the morning.  

Still squinting in the light, she thumbed through the messages while the shower warmed up. Most from fixers, cars and jobs, which she marked as read. Two that warranted replies. The first was from Vik.  

[Vik: 8:38pm: Doing alright?]

It was a little fuzzy, but she did remember calling him that morning. If she had been half as fucked up then as she was most the night, he probably had a reason to be worried.

[V: Fine. Just woke up.]

[Vik: Come in tomorrow?]

She left him on read. He knew she was alive, that would do.  

The second was from… someone new. Someone who could wait. V got into the shower, clothes and all.  

V had spent the better part of the night and early morning at Totentanz. Partying with Maelstrom may have been the best bad idea she’d had in a long time. She hadn’t been there an hour when a familiar ‘borg found her; he’d offered her a hit of Lace, and oh, that was exactly what she had been needing.

The rest of the night was spent in a haze, Dum Dum pressing an inhaler to her lips every time she started to come down. She didn’t pay him for it in eddies, and she had been needing that too.

V wrung her shirt out and draped it over the sink to dry. Wrapped in a towel, she opened the other message.

[Hollow-point: 1:12 pm: hows the hangover?]

V’s lip quirked up and she exhaled a puff of air in amusement.  

[V: Slept through it. Sore as fuck tho tyvm.]

[Hollow-point: i bet u r]

[V: Haven’t had it that rough in a while. Just what I needed.]

[Hollow-point: anytime princess]