goodbye, v. and never stop fighting.

[3dgerunner]

#3DGERUNNER. an indie roleplay blog for v of cyberpunk 2077, as written by alex (21+, gmt+1, english as a second language). mostly post-canon. mutuals only. activity fluctuates. minors dni.

a story of: an absurdly sharp blade, be careful what you wish for, crapsaccharine world, & more.

[3dgerunner]

tfw i tell my gf this is the tower ending v song and she doesn’t see my vision 😔

[3dgerunner]

sad v song for you while im driving to a family thing(tm)

[neongrime]

@3dgerunner cont.

Sami shifts still on his feet, a mistrustful cat pacing the edges of their conversation, resentful of the openness of it.

We. That’s what bothers him, like a thorn that’s sunk too deep under the skin. He’s never been a we.

That’s a lie. Well, fuck, he never intended to be one again. Too much blood, too many bullets flying around.

“Man, don’t say it like that,” he bristles, irrationally indignant. But as comical as that is, he still looks oddly small, something wild and cornered. Whatever this is, it has him scared shitless, enough to even tolerate this line of questioning. It’s a concerning thought. Sami is a chromed beast, all brute force and anger. Not many things can scare someone like that. “And anyway, don’t you got shit of your own? You’ve been runnin’ all over the city like a headless chicken, last I checked.” He gives her a savage grin, more like his usual self, full of teeth and no care.

[3dgerunner]

Although V isn't familiar with animals—not many people are these days—she can spot someone fighting with the fight or flight instinct from a mile away. Sami looks like a scared, soaked kitten. It doesn't bode well.

"Like what?" She raises her eyebrows, ready to question further, but she doesn't get a chance to. An exaggerated expression of offense takes over, mouth falling open and arms crossed over her chest, but it's just a blink of an eye, and then she laughs. "That's a first!" Yeah, she hasn't heard anyone call her that, but it's oddly fitting these days. Damn it.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," (She does, and it's so much.) "Doesn't mean I can't multitask. So, are you gonna tell me what's going on, or am I supposed guess?"

[3dgerunner]

In unrelated news, I saw a guy who looked like kerry omw home from work. why did nobody tell me samurai is playing in town

[hachiiroku]

Microapartments in Neotokyo

Source: instagram etherealtimecapsule

[3dgerunner]

did i miss all the gross stuff?

THE PITT STARTERS. / @musicien

"Looks like it to me." One look around can tell as much, and V's expression conveys it better than words could, but she still speaks. Sometimes you just have to say some things out loud, and so on.

"I think there's enough for an encore, though, if you're not happy about that," she offers, hands on her hips as she surveys the scene. She has seen better, but she has also seen worse. Ah, but everything could always be worse, and it does once she realizes she's leaving handprints on everything she touches, and it just so happens this is her favorite pair of pants. Damn.

"So, what do you say?"

[piperafterdark]

"Cool as ice, and always ready to throw down if you do decide to start a riot." A wink as natural as anything punctuates the sentence as Piper falls into step with V.

Oh Piper is far from perfect. There are plenty of people who would be glad to see her with a heater pressed to the back of her head, but she's tried to make sure the people who want to see her alive are the majority. After all, who wants to kill the easy going bartender? The woman who helps the occasional stranger and shares her cigarettes with anyone who needs one?

It's as calculated as it is genuine, her kindness.

"Hey," she has to raise her voice now as the noise rises around them, consuming them like the ocean with every step, "I don't think I ever asked, how long are you back in NC anyway?"

[3dgerunner]

It might not be for real-real, but Piper’s response comes more reassuring than V suspected, and it makes her own smile grow.

"Not long," she answers, hooking her arm around the other's elbow so they don't get separated. It doesn't do much for volume though, rising as they get deeper into the crowd, so when she speaks again, it's with her lips close to Piper's ear so they don't have to shout. "Why? Is fun company really so hard to find here now?" The answer is no, or it was the last time V checked, but a little joke never hurt anybody.

"I arrived a few days ago," she continues, "I don't have a set date to come back though." It may be the one good thing that comes out of Reed still treating her like an egg that's about to fall off the table and break. Go for a vacation and rest, he said, take all the time you need. Code words for: so you're ready to start work once you're back.

It's not something she's too keen on talking about, though, and so she moves to divert the conversation a little bit: "Have you ever been outside Night City?"

[3dgerunner]

me: im gonna ease back into writing also me, 10 hours later: does half of my drafts bc nothing is happening at work

[iobartach]

Bickering over the scrapes of ruined legacies, he was willing to drag this out for as long as necessary. Or at least, he thought he was, until, mid-stride, such an approach lost its lustre. Why bother flogging a dead horse when his life was still in danger? "Congrats, you're doing marginally better than other mercs that I could name by noticing that." Blockheads that, for better or worse, he'd antagonise to his own detriment... Unlike her.

That said, be it the jab about providing entertainment, or the salt in the wound that pointedly questioned his usefulness, the combination galvanised Miguel into pitching a clear response. Physically, he appeared to shrink back, a silent mask of outrage offsetting the embittered visage he had managed to cultivate up until this point. As for his words, for a vocalised comeback; it fell on the side of pathetic, surfacing as a tangle of single-syllable options that ranged from "You--" to "dare--!" to "don't--! before settling for a lengthy exhale.

Trying once again.

"Of course there is, but you might not like it." Limited in what he could reach for, a tablet is drawn close, where, after a few taps and seconds spent scrolling, he turns in her direction, presenting a snapshot of data that, to any dying human wishing to stay above the ground, he'd strongly advise reading. "In spite of my new position, I haven't stopped tinkering with merging flesh and metal together. There might be something here that'll help... for the right price, of course." After all, he didn't run a charity -- or any sort of venture or programme, these days.

[3dgerunner]

And here it is again, that tick-tock-ticking of a time bomb that’s already started its countdown. Don’t forget, it say, whose homeground this is.

And she remembers. She knows, and she steps into it anyway, because even if she dies in the end, she will have died trying.

“All right.” With these words, the gun returns into the holster, and V steps closer to the table to take a better look at the data. What’s on the screen isn’t much, and half of it she can’t fully grasp because she’s no scientist, but just as Miguel said, it’s something. If she was willing to bet her future on a mysterious AI matrix, she sees no problem in betting on something much more material than a string of sentient zeroes and ones.

“So it’s… not cyberware exactly, huh. You ever got to try it out on a living being, or am I gonna be the lucky guinea pig number one?” Tinkering implies no serious tries yet, but she’s willing to pretend she’s not right. Hope and all that.

“Tell me more about it. You can start with the price, since you’re already getting there anyway.”

[piperafterdark]

"Close to it." Piper answers. "Got a corner apartment two floors up from where you were."

And it just makes her laugh all over again, a hand running through her hair as she shakes her head. "Damn. Small world when you think about it, yeah? Few thousand people in H10 and turns out a pretty good friend was waiting just a few floors down."

Her soda now empty, she taps her finger on the side of it. Her tongue wets her lips before she speaks again.

"You ever miss it? This place. I keep thinking about leaving but just... haven't gotten the guts to do it yet."

[3dgerunner]

That’s a good question. It proves much harder to answer than one would imagine, and V needs to sacrifice a moment to go over all the things she could reply with, silence somewhat filled by a smile that comes when the other recognizes her as a friend. Ha.

Option one and two are easy enough, and there’s some truth in both of them. Then there’s one more, and the woman bites at the inside of her cheek as she thinks about it.

“There’s memories there,” she finally decides on what to say, neither a yes nor a no. Things are never as easy as that. “Sometimes I want to relive them, and sometimes I wish I could forget them all. I don’t know which would be better.” But deep down, she knows. Renouncing all of the past would render her incomplete, deficient, even if it sometimes brings pain.

It’s life. It’s time she fought to have.

“Why do you want to leave?” She asks then, leaning forward. “Same case, or did you outgrow it?”

[adrotans]

There are barbs on the question, too sharp to swallow, too true to ignore. He chews on it a long while, the texture of it elastic as tripe -- the inner linings of someone's organs where everything's tender and laid bare, trembling awful erratic as his claws maul into them. See, contrary to his station, his nature as an expendable unit to clear out the city's shame ( the unwanted, discarded people that have expended all their use ) Kenshin's observant. Not quite a slave to his impulses, but rather an intimately ardent lover of indulgence; unraveling someone to the core just to see their thoughts turn as honest as their gutted bodies. And see, again, use those eyes! There's something off about V recently. A tick-tock-tick when the usual is a hiccuped tick-tick-tick whenever they catch up now and then.

His head tilts, keeping her features in full view. "Just a feelin'. Ever lose time here and there? It's somethin' of a trend these days," he says, drawl effused that grating rumble, every word edged with gnawing intent. "Selective memory ain't what it's cracked up to be, take it from me." A dramatic sigh as his form settles across, picking up the photo frame on her desk. Friends or family? When's the last time she called any of them? "Can't forget a smell though. Humor me, describe a scent you'd bottle up if ya could. Talkin' real nostalgia here."

[3dgerunner]

V raises her eyebrows again, but concedes in not questioning further. “All right,” she says instead. “If you say so.” She will find out what this means, sooner or later.

Kenshin is right about one more thing: some memories do appear blurred to her, but she’s never paid it too much mind. Or rather: until recently. It’s been a thought V kept close to herself, first blaming it on damage from the relic, then dismissing as being too anxious. Neurological complications. All the meds she has to take to keep her body from rejecting the little implants she was able to keep. But how much blame can you put on one thing?

The silence between the two is broken by a deep exhale, and followed by more nothingness. When V speaks again, she doesn’t sound sure of herself, at least not at first. “Maybe the air after rain,” she hums. This comes easy. It’s familiar. “Even Night City smells nice for a bit after it’s rained. It’s… fresher.” Rainy days in Langley aren’t much different, just a new scenery. New windows for the raindrops to splatter against, new plants to be watered. New people to run for cover from a downpour.

“Yeah, I think I’ll go with that. Are you gonna tell me why now?”

[neongrime]

@3dgerunner cont.

“Yeah, found that the hard way,” River answered, voice raspy. 

That deeply lodged shame of how far he had strayed, how easily it came by. The darkness. Most days the city was like the rapids that no longer ran down the mountains. It was so easy to get carried away in its currents. And once it took you, it was nearly impossible to swim to dry land, to simply stop. 

He pushed his mind from the mental picture of Harris in that hospital bed, from the terrifying chill of his own hatred.

“Randy—” he sighed, a hopeful kind of exhaustion on his face. Wasn’t easy dealing with a traumatized teenager recovering from that kind of horror. The hormone imbalance made him depressed, more gloomy than usual. His body didn’t respond the way he remembered. The rising hospital bill was a worrying shadow above them all, and yet. “It’s hard but he’s safe, alive. He just needs time and thanks to you he’s got it.” He looked up then, sincere. “I’ll never be able to repay you, you know that, right? I think Joss might rise a statue in your name, right in the middle of the trailer park.” 

[3dgerunner]

There is no right thing to say in the face of tragedy. V chews on her lower lip as she listens, her mind violently thrown back into the past as River’s must be as well, but the ray of hope in the man’s voice disperses her clouds. A small, encouraging smile curves the corners of her lips, and quickly blooms into a wider, honest expression.

“Well, someone should eventually build me one,” she counters as she looks away from River and to the empty spot (emptier than other spots) in front of the trailer. She even leans back as if deep in her imagination, and the warm, harsh wood of the porch is pleasant against her palms even with all its splinters. “Just make sure it’s a big one. You can have yours at mine’s feet too, just a smaller one, of course,” she finishes with a grin, her attention back to the other.

“I’m glad Randy’s doing better, but none of that would’ve happened without you, remember?” V turns her body to the side, her knees poking River’s as she squeezes his forearm. An I’m here, you can talk to me, spoken without words. “So what about you? Are you okay?”

[neongrime]

“Thank you,” he nods, simple, even as complicated as it is. That much he can get, that much truth remains between them, after all the lies they’ve said back and forth. He never thought V did things intentionally, just that she was wrong. That was the problem. 

Now— he’s not so sure she had been all that wrong, but he can’t bring himself to say it. Can’t find an honest ‘Sorry’ of his own. He’s can’t be sorry, just— wrong.

Outside the rain comes down in full force, a few alarmed gasps from tourists, the diligent and silent work of clerks in their little shops, efficiently packing things up, pulling plastic tarps over their wares. A couple of young tiger claws walk in, sauntering in their colorful and sleek chrome. Like taken straight out of a catalogue. They throw a glance their way, not brave enough to do more than sneer in silence. They’ve learned better than to mess with the old dragon. 

V’s voice brings him back, he can already see the frayed edges of her anxiety as she works through whatever she intends to say. It still catches him off guard. A sober ‘I’m sorry’ has a different cadence to ‘I wanted to apologize’.

It hangs in the air between them, naked and brittle, raw like an organ just pulled out of the body, not meant to be on the outside, still warm from its fading heat. And before it a rare, shocked expression on Takemura’s face. It could almost be comical.

“V—” he starts, fingers bending the edge of a laminated menu on the table, its edges sharp as a knife against the RealSkin pad of his thumb. “What is this? You don’t seem like yourself.” He’s not blunt enough to say it out loud, but the question is written all over his face. “Is it the relic again?” Are you dying again? Is this some kind of last testament and will, settling old matters? But he’d never be so boarish as to ask that.

[3dgerunner]

The rain bangs on the window, and it almost makes V miss that minute change in Takemura’s expression. Almost.

“What?” She asks in return, eyebrows furrowed in surprise, but it comes from different reasons. Not that Takemura’s conclusion is off base; just not one she’d expect him to come to so quickly.

“No. No,” she shakes her head and turns slightly to the side before pushing a few locks of hair behind her ear to expose an empty chip slot, the same the relic used to be jammed in. There is condensation already forming on the bottom of the window beside them, no doubt an effect of a gap in insulation. Not surprising at a place like this, one that’s not meant to cater for the wealthy.

Sooner or later, if not for that then for the air outside so filled with rain, it’s going to make the ends of V’s hair regain a more wavy texture. Maybe it will take off some of that flashiness of the Tyger Claws as well; even big cats always look silly when they’re soaking wet.

“Is this really so unlikely of me?” She turns her gaze toward the other again. She already knows the answer, so she continues: “Time passes and people change. I think I grew up more in these few months than I did in years before Konpeki Plaza.” This new life has definitely been a learning experience. Humbling, too, and putting things in perspective. Seeing her former partner in crime brings back memories of a person she used to be. The Tygers remind her of the sobering first day back in Night City.

“I used you, Takemura,” the admission of guilt continues with her gaze fixed on his. “I admit that. And I don’t want this to be an excuse, it’s more like an explanation, but… I thought you were going to use me as well.” Is delivering the first strike all right when you’re defending yourself? Is throwing away someone’s chance at redemption, when it’s your only chance to live? “I didn’t want it to end like it did. I know I can’t turn back the clock and I know you might not accept my apology, but I offer it nonetheless.” V bends her neck in a bow. Her grandma would be proud for her remembering how it’s done, even if such a small one wouldn’t truly do. Or maybe it’s a nod to a different tradition; much older, when men like Takemura carried swords and cared for honor.

Does that mean he should impale her on one for their scores to be squared?

After a moment’s pause, she adds a question: “How has your life been after?”

[3dgerunner]

i was having a bit of a mental low moment (weeks) but hi i think im back? ill be trying to ease back into writing things. in the meantime, hmu in dms or on discord (miette4772) if you wanna plot some stuff or chitchat.

[maxxie-or-smth]

you've met me at a very "yeah i'm trying to work on that" time in my life

[scipunk]

Ghost in the Shell (1995)