Many And More

Low-effort RP blog for various muses I don't feel like making a full, proper thing for. Independant sideblog for low-effort roleplay. May be prettied up later. Who knows. Low/sporadic activity. Asks welcomed. Follows back from Sailingmakai Penned by Sev

[ificanwish]

There is a man (or a man shaped entity) in a full-body blue jumpsuit - laying on the roof of his equally blue van. His legs dangle over the back of the van, and he taps away at a tablet, occasionally pausing to look around himself, seeming to make note of the area, before resuming whatever he's doing on his tablet.

He seems unphased and unbothered with the Looks he's getting.

[fanfulmultiverse]

Morgana sighed angrily, and if he had his cat ears out (not that it wasn't tempting to let them be) they'd have flicked with growing annoyance. Korra, he was sure was confused as all hell and didn't have much of an idea on how to explain...anything, really. Morgana's just glad she wasn't resorting to fighting.

"Freaking dumb multiverse..." He muttered under his breath. No one attacking each other was the best he got, since even the crowd was still gathering.

Well, this might get Monica's attention.

Korra definitely was confused. Though at the moment all that came out from her was "Corpos?"

Failing to get the crowd's attention away from them, Morgana came back trying very hard to keep himself composed. "Corporations. Like Sato Industries was. Although it'd be more accurate to compare his corpos to megs - mega corporations."

One look to Korra's face showed more confusion, and he sighed again - deeper this time. "You know what, forget it."

Back to Akira. "I know of Night City. I don't know where it is in relation to here." And, well, the local guide wasn't opening a hole near them any time soon. "So you're stuck here for the time being."

As long as Akira seemed like he was calming down - at least enough that a fight wasn't likely to break out in the next few moments - Korra bent the water back into it's little pouch by her side. "...Sorry I spooked ya. You look like someone I know, and..." She sighed. "Sorry."

[ificanwish]

She didn't know what a corpo was...? Damn, he really was far out then.

"Shit, I'm out in the boonies, aren't I. Fuck, no wonder this place looks like it's been built into a mountainside cavern, it probably is-" No better safety than a place with only one entrance. Secure that one entrance hard enough and you had a fortress on your hands.

Akira sighed, though, at the knowledge that the young man only knew of Night City, not specifically where it was in relation to this one. Could be a lie, NC was huge and pretty well known. But if this group was out in the sticks enough, they might genuinely not know where, exactly, it was. What direction they had to go to reach the place.

Down his arms went, hanging at his side as he did another, habitual, sweep of the area with his Oracles (eyes flickering, iris moving as he did so, rotating in a way not unlike a camera, he didn't notice and had long forgotten it moved when he did so) and once again getting a frustrating amount of nothing, not beyond some light lines for power cables, which seemed about standard for a place like this.

A pause, and once again his arms moved - blades pulling backa nd down and in as the plates shifted back into place and made his arms look like arms again.

"...Corpos means 'corporation'. One company that owns a lot of other companies. Group that buys businesses instead of sellable products. More companies you own, more money you get. Own enough, you own the whole city. Unofficial government - you're not the guy sitting in the chair, but you are the one controlling all the shit it needs. Also refers to the folks that work for 'em." He rambled, making sure his blades had settled correctly.

"Assuming you're not lying to my face, which wouldn't shock me any; I guess this place isn't too bad." He said, gesturing to the city around them. Ignoring looks and stares because there were far worse things in NC. "You got plants here. Air smells filtered to hell and back, but in a good way. And there's no grody billboards advertising the latest drug or sex toy. It's nice."

"And no worries - better safe than sorry, I get it. You'd rather have to apologize than to end up with a knife in the back. I don't like how you knew my name, that still freaks me out, but... if you really don't mean any harm, I'll bite for a second."

[fanfulmultiverse]

If it'd been a normal fist fight, Korra would've at least tried to not use any elements against him. At the end of the day, she didn't want to hurt him if they could've tried to talk him down, and if nothing else she could still fight with the handicap.

Those arm blades, however, had her pulling out some water she carried with her just in case. Regardless, she looked both alarmed and a little horrified.

Morgana, meanwhile? Morgana was ready to push back this Akira with wind if he got any closer. He didn't even look phased - either he didn't notice or didn't care about the arm blades.

He did, however, groan and facepalmed - after Akira mentioned a certain city. What concentration he had - along with the blue - vanished. "Of course he's from that one..."

Korra slightly lowered her water as she glanced to him. Still keeping an eye out for any more signs of escalation. Not the time, but "that one?"

"Yeah." Morgana pinched the bridge of his nose, then looked up. By now, they were attracting a few concerned on-lookers. Crap...! He quickly waved his arms around, moving to get them to leave. "It's fine, everything's fine!"

While Morgana did that, Korra directed her attention back to Akira. "No one sent us. And no, we're not." Kidnap. If it wasn't so serious an accusation, she'd probably find it funny. Her? Morgana? They'd be the last people to do something like that.

But why was he here and not Traverse Town? Far as she could tell, he wasn't brought nor traveled. Weren't people supposed to go to Traverse Town first? It was a place of refuge even before it became part of Neo Etheirys.

Wishful thinking, but maybe that meant his world was still there. ...Wherever it was. Certainly not around here. And Vigil clearly saw it a non-issue to arrive.

So how - and why - was he here?

[ificanwish]

He'd expected some kind of defensive reaction - even if they were innocent there'd have been a reaction, pulling weapons out and preparing for violence, it was just how things worked.

But that.

That? There was water just. Just floating there!

That got his attention, the second blade whirling up in her direction as he jumped back, putting a bit more distance between them as he slid into more of a combat-ready stance. He did not know what that was, which made it dangerous.

"Yo what the fuck is that-" He hissed. "And fuck you 'everything's fine' leadhead - you called my name, not the other way around. Noone knows that name 'cept for Corpos and the gonks working for 'em." Or Judy, but these strangers were very much not Judy.

V might know his name. But he didn't care about V. V knew lots of shit they shouldn't.

Besides, they weren't V either. He'd never met V, but they were not V.

But as the girl lowered her... water, Akira tentatively lowered his blades a bit, eyeing them cautiously. Ready to bolt if he absolutely had to.

"...What's your brilliant explanation then? And if you know where I'm from then tell me how to get back. I have a job and a hideout to get back to, not to mention some BD's that need editing if I feel like eating half-decent food anytime soon."

[fanfulmultiverse]

Thanks to the portals and Vigil setting things up, Korra and Morgana could visit Aionios pretty quickly. Seeing how apparently they were on an island and the continent was spirits-knew-how-far, it was pretty helpful. It helped them be in touch with Ouroboros when they were in one of the colonies of Keves and Agnus, and The City. Maybe some day they could explore the other lands, but it wasn't going to be through the portals for now.

Regardless, Korra and Morgana had to visit The City for some talks. Namely how they wanted and needed to form the little group to explore other worlds, where would be best for them to stay, supplies, ect.

For the moment, Monica was busy. So while they waited, Morgana suggested he and Korra checked out The City. He'd been there before, so he was able to show Korra around. It's while they're at the stands browsing that someone caught Korra's eye. Faster than she could stop herself - let alone Morgana could catch her mistake - she asked "Akira?" to a boy that looked clearly lost and unused to his surroundings.

And it's then she realized it wasn't who she thought it was. If it was Akira, he might've been another world's Akira. Not hers the one that left, nor the Reflection of him.

By the time Morgana caught on, he glanced to the boy, frowning slightly. A hint of blue around him. Just in case they needed Zorro.

[ificanwish]

Akira froze.

That was his name.

His name that noone here should know - hell, most people in Night City didn't know his real name outside of the Mox and the folks at Lizzies. Which were predominantly Mox, if they weren't customers.

The rare few in the city center that knew his name rarely left Center to chance seeing him in the first place, so whoever this was had no business knowing his birth name.

What were his options, he thought, in the half-beat before he acted.

Run? No, she was too close and he didn't know the area. Daemons definitely not an option; this one, like everyone here, had no systems in her. Where the fuck WAS he? Threats, then. But no outright violence until he determined what was going on.

And so up his arms went. Naked, sleeves rolled up to just above the elbow - it made it easier for the blades to come out when the bits didn't have to try and open against the restrictiveness of a sleeve.

Arms up, it almost looked for a moment like he was about to try and fistfight them - before the dull metallic markings on his arms split down their middles, his arms practically unfolding as the plates made way for the deadly blades beneath.

"Who the hell sent you-?" He demanded, using one blade to point at the two of them. The other arm-blade was held in the air, at the ready. "Are you why I'm here? Cause you picked the wrong fucking guy to kidnap if so." A pause as he narrowed his eyes for a moment, glancing back and forth between the two, and then he added- "Unless you have nothing to do with this, in which case, I'd love to know what direction Night City is so I can try and get back there before I get fired."

[ificanwish]

They were, at this point, used to finding themselves places they had not been before. Not that it happened a lot, but it had certainly happened at least once before - from their time period, into the far far past. And now they were somewhere they couldn't even tell what time period it was!

But it was certainly very pretty.

Not a city by their standards, and it was definitely not THEIR preferred level of technology, but it looked nice enough!

And they couldn't see a Fazbears! Which was... both good and bad. It meant they wouldn't be declared rogue malfunctioning property, but it also meant that it would be even harder to maintain themselves.

"This. Is why I decided to study mechanics and engineering..." Moon grumbled, adjusting his Illusion Disk slightly and grabbing at Sun to make sure it too, was operating properly.

At the very least, Moon wanted them to look like tall humans rather tall gangly robots with an unfortunate rictus grin.

"D'you think the kids are okay?" Sun asked his brother, as they began to move - to explore whatever new place they'd been popped into, whatever new place it was that didn't seem too surprised at the unexpected arrival of two strange young men.

"Freddy is there. He's responsible enough to keep everyone out of trouble." And they had ways of getting energy, besides. "Focus on us. We need to orient ourselves and learn where we are. Find shelter, tools, and the local language." Because they might not speak english here.

Sun and his brother knew a variety of languages, sure, but one never knew when they might be surprised by a language they did not know.

"Maybe we'll make some new friends~!" Sun chimed, bouncing slightly as he walked. Moon said nothing - merely pinging his brother to follow as they moved.

Maybe they would make new friends,Moon thought, watching their surroundings. But maybe they'd make a new enemy, too.

[ificanwish]

"...Something's going on. Dunno what, but it's got Judy spooked. Makes me wanna... go on a run, or something. Do some climbing, maybe. Something distracting. I don't like when people are that kinda jittery..."

[ificanwish]

He didn't know where he was.

Sure, he knew where he wasn't, but that wasn't remotely helpful - Night City (where he was supposed to be) was a pretty small place when compared to literally the entire rest of the planet. But that was just it.

Akira never left Night City.

He'd never even gone into the desert outskirts, much less up to and past the toll gates that would very much have noticed a kid trying to pass through, and would not have let him.

And he was positive he had not been kidnapped, nor drugged. Between his being raised Corpo, and his new life working at Lizzie's, Akira knew damn well to avoid eating random foods, or hooking into systems he didn't fully trust.

Which made this mystery... honestly kind of terrifying.

He was in a city, yes.

It was not Night City.

The city was... large, as far as cities went. Possibly. It didn't have nearly as many skyscrapers, mostly just Tall Buildings. And while it had plenty of people, it had a shocking lack of technology.

He'd noticed it quickly as he wandered - a complete and total lack of raunchy billboards and in-your-face advertisements urging you to buy this or that product you were better off not wasting your time on.

There were signs, there were advertisements, but they were... silent. Still images and retro designs. No swears, no naked people, no nothing.

It was freaky.

Very refreshing!

But freaky.

More terrifying; he couldn't manage to hook into any local networks. They didn't seem toe xist - nor did anyone seem to have any cyberware in them.

His Oracles weren't explicitly designed to detect other peoples upgrades, but as long as you had a few Daemons loaded and ready to go, you could, through them, immediately tell via compatibility (or lack thereof) what systems a person had in them.

When something as simple as a Ping wasn't compatible? That meant there wasn't a system in the first place. Nothing was immune to Ping. Ping was compatible with everything. His Oracles couldn't find anything, and neither could his Daemons.

Not that he had a lot of them. Just a few easy ones, for stealing and self defense.

So - Akira had somehow found himself in a completely different city, with no tech, no systems, no Corpos, no flying vehicles, and a frankly captivating amount of greenery. And terrifyingly clean air - he hadn't noticed how aweful NC's was until now.

"Where the fuck am I...?" He muttered, turning circles as he walked, taking everything in. At least he still had his Mantis's. He would never be without efficient self-defense with those beauties.

"I got a shift at Lizzies tomorrow, the shit am I supposed to do - Judy can only pull so many strings if I just stop showing up!" Maybe he could find some neat loot, at least?

...Or something good to eat. They had to have food here somewhere.

Everyone had to eat, after all.

[ificanwish]

"New place - keys obtained. No idea who it 'legally' belongs to, but - well! Mine now. Shouldn't have let it get so visibly abandoned, I say! The bird is mine now too. I'm gonna take care of her and make sure Night City doesn't kill her like it kills everything else."

[ificanwish]

Redwood Market. Probably not the safest place for Akira to finally lay down roots, given the proximity of a few Tyger Claw territories, but something about the height and the general inaccessibility of many of its 'upper' portions made it feel safe to him.

Safer than anything down on the ground, at least.

Up a spiraled set of stairs, through a maintenance shaft, and across some rooftops was the place he'd staked out, the place he'd chosen. The main floor had two restaurants and a sex club of some variation, but the third floor of the complex... was largely abandoned.

It's only operational establishment was a laundromat. Other than that, there was a barred off door that looks like it hadn't been attended to since it had been welded shut (he had plans to break in later and see what could be seen, once he determined how long ago that had been) and a small complex with three - technically four - attached rooms, all of which were covered in a liberal layer of dust barring the open-air hallway between the main room and another.

Not used. Not in a long time, it seemed. Rusted locks, ragged posters, and not even any graffiti to mark the passing of gangs.

Forging some keys would be simple enough, Akira wagered. There was plenty of space for his needs, and the open-air hallway provided a fantastic entry point for when he didn't want to be seen using the door - and it required enough dexterity that common burglars would be unlikely to bother trying.

It was no high-rank corpo luxury suite, but... if he was being honest, he'd never liked the sterility of those places anyway. They looked too fake.

What solidified it for him? The robin nesting in the open-air hallway. A real one - flesh and feathers and dark little eyes blinking down at him as though it wasn't an impossible creature defying Night City's confidant proclamation of having killed all birds.

Yeah.

That settled it.

This place was his now.

[ificanwish]

She's crouched low to the ground, claws dug into the soil - red, spade-tipped tail lashing behind her.

Ahead of her is a bird, minding its own business. She watches it intensely, and makes sure to move slow and steady.

It's still for a moment - and then flies away. The girl (approximately a teenager) immediately makes a frustrated noise, rolling over to lay on her back, limbs splayed out.

"I was so close!"

[ificanwish]

It was hard to forget, sometimes, how lucky he was that he still had his cyberware. Most people, when stripped of their position and rank, were also stripped of all their cyberware, too.

Sure, Akira hadn't exactly been a member of any one particular company, but his parents had been, and so it had been on that company's indirect dime that he'd been outfitted with comparatively advanced kit for somebody his age.

The Oracle optics he had, had been intended as a way to help keep him safe. Giving him the ability to spot a wide array of potential dangers long before they came close enough to harm him. And so, he thought, half-wedged between one building and another - more than a few stories above street level - them not stripping him of what little cyberware he had was either due to his parents caring about him on some level, or that they just cared that little about taking his three upgrades.

He would have liked to believe it was due to care. But honestly, it could just as easily been a whim. Hell, it could have been something as simple as the order being given by somebody they didn't like, so they ignored it to spit in their eyes. Anything, really.

It didn't matter in the end, he supposed, letting out a quiet, frustrated sigh as he continued clambering his way upwards (to either a rooftop or the next poorly secured window) - even if they did come looking for him with regret in their eyes and a desperate desire to see their once-so-precious-son safe again, he was done.

Cushy safe corpo life was nice, and all, but nothing beat the thrill of robbing some fuck blind because they decided to forget the threat of a good old fashioned 'phantom thief'~

[nightcitychronicles]

Continued from here

"Nah, there really isn't anything else to this gig." Judy was being plenty nice here giving such an easy gig to the teen. "I'm not making any payment from this myself but I'll give you your standard gig rate as we agreed to." She wasn't going to let him not get paid. Her line of work with the amount of clients she had, she wasn't exactly short on money.

Plus, she liked the kid.

Yeah, he was former corpo, or at least part of a family of one, but then again she knew a merc that was former corpo as well and that was how she was really starting to learn that not all corps were absolute bastards. Yeah, a lot of them were but that didn't mean that everyone of them were.

She spun around in her chair a bit and was being a bit silly but things were allowed to be a bit silly every now and then. "Oh, and pizza's on me. You've been working so hard lately I figure I should get us something. Sure, buc a slice is about as reliable as a gonk but it can still be alright.

And also if you want, I have this pretty preem virtu here. Pretty adrenaline rushing. Could help you with our little virtu training."

@ificanwish

[ificanwish]

Huh.

Yeah, this was shockingly genuine if that was all there was to it. Edit a BD of family that had passed away. Deliver it to the recipient. And that was it? No corruption, no crime, no breaking and entering - nothing. Just a simple, honest, memorial.

How pleasant. Money or no money.

"Are you- Are you sure?" He responded, looking at her in a mix of curiosity and uncertainty at her statement of paying him. "You'd be operating at a loss... Uh - you. I mean-" He stammered, flushing slightly in embarrassment - hating how corporate that phrasing sounded. "You'd be... losing money. I could just pick up more shifts up above if you need it more..." Akira pointed vaguely upwards.

He didn't exactly enjoy working in Lizzies proper, and honestly he probably shouldn't be working there at all considering the clientele, but work was work, and anyone willing to hire and house a corpo brat with minimal strings attached was well worth whatever unsavory strings might've been attached.

But he couldn't help but brighten at hearing her other offer - pizza and a virtu? Now that, he definitely didn't have any problems with.

"An easy delivery and I get pizza and a virtu? I'm sold~! Want me to head out?" He bounced ever so slightly where he stood, pointing towards the door. It wasn't like he had anything else to do - not legally, anyway.

Some thieving, maybe, planning out the breaking and entering of whatever gang hideout or corp shack that looked loaded enough to bother. But that could always wait. And he was sure that few would complain if it kept him from once again pressing his luck by staging a break-in with nothing but a good pair of Kiroshis and some razor-sharp mantis blades.

[ificanwish]

"Yo, Kira. Got a quick gig for ya." Judy announced holding out a BD. "Simple really. Just need you to deliver this virtu to a young woman in watson. Megabuilding H10. I'll give you the exact address on your way there. Wanted it to be hand delivered. No, it's not porn for once. Didn't even get paid for this one either. Couldn't say no to it. Wanted me to edit a thing of them seeing their father since she lost him due to gang violence. With that sort of story, can't say no."

With a visible amount of confusion on his face, Akira took the BD held out to him - taking only a moment to look the thing in his hands over before looking back up at Judy.

"No payment kinda stings, but..." Again, he shifts, looking back down at the BD. "Somebody just wanting to preserve a memory of family is refreshingly genuine, for this city." Something honest, here? Something sentimental that wasn't intended for crime or pleasure?

Well shit. Felt like he was holding onto a tiny little unicorn.

"Not too far away, either. Should be fine to deliver it - sounds nice and simple." Assuming he didn't get mugged or kidnapped, but he'd long ditched his corpo clothes, so he should be fine unless the Maelstrom were feeling antsy. "I'll makes sure it gets delivered - I'd feel like a monster and a gonk if I couldn't get this done." H10, huh? Didn't even need a vehicle for that.

"More than happy to do something nice for somebody. Is that it, or...?" Akira trails off, as he tucks the thing away - mindful of where he put it, not wanting to break it or drop it somewhere. He considered himself better than that, but... overconfidence was what ruined people most, not so much a lack of skill.

[ificanwish]

"...I wish cyberware wasn't so expensive... I want a high-quality op-cam so bad..."

[ificanwish]

"Another day, another chance to find the perfect death~" He sounds. Very cheerful about this concept. Very cheerful.

[ificanwish]

He's out in the park, in the middle of the night. Just... laying down, sprawled out on the grass. Staring at the stars in the sky.

He doesn't seem keen on moving.

[ificanwish]

(( opted to remove my Lelouch from this blog

I feel like the idea was kinda dumb, looking back, is all. ))