#araexec

[piperafterdark]

@araexec

It was funny, how small the world could feel. Millions of people in the city, several thousand of them just living in her megabuilding alone, and this was the gonk she ran into.

And he hadn't looked great on first glance, sitting as he was sitting on some steps leading down to street level. Maybe that was why she hadn't approached right away, why she had only doubled back once she'd hit up a vending machine around the corner.

Her right knee popped as she lowered herself down to sit by Katsuo with a sigh.

"So, are you more of a Orange Nicola or a Black Cherry Nicola guy?" She held up each in turn, giving the two sodas a little enticing wiggle.

[borgbutcher]

Katsuo approached Adam Smasher the way you approached a loaded gun; calm, controlled, and pretending he wasn’t afraid. “Martinez,” he said, voice tight but steady, “before you killed him… was he scared?” Katsuo didn’t flinch or look away—just stood there, hands clenched at his sides, waiting for the answer like it mattered more than his pride ever could.

" He died with a shit eating grin on his young face, actually. Fucker was not even remotely a challenge, but it was worth my time ripping him apart in the end. I can respect a man who puts his life on the line for his woman. Even if its dumb as shit, stupid punk thought metal could make up for experience."

He'd cross his arms, watching the rain from outside the towel. It was thundering out now, wondered if any of the cheap scraps would get fried out there. How much money would those meat sacks lose in the end for such cheap investments.

" Who the fuck knows, meat. I might just remember him for at least a year or two. Hahaha! Why do you care, though?"

[patientsun]

❛ the world wasn’t built for guys like us. that’s why we gotta take whatever we decide is ours. ❜. ( To Ichiban)

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐧 (𝐞𝐩𝐬. 𝟏-𝟒) 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. & @araexec.

" I don't know about that. " It's not like he disagrees with the sentiment entirely; he's well aware that the world isn't particularly welcoming to outcasts like him. However, there's a part of the confession that rubs him the wrong way. ' We gotta take whatever we decide is ours. ' Things are never so simple, are they?

" Sorry, I'm not trying to be rude. I guess I'd rather take what the world throws at me and make the best of it, you know? " Ichiban chooses his words carefully, mindful not to sound too judgmental. It's not the first time he's had to deal with a rich kid who thinks he deserves the world just because he says so.

If anything, he's way too familiar with the type. That's exactly how he knows one wrong word can change everything in the moment. " You're in a far more fortunate position than I was in at your age, so don't waste it. That's my only advice. "

[shiranken]

there's too much responsibility on my shoulders right now.

          ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ THE  FAINT  CURL  OF  CIGARETTE  SMOKE,  boutique  brand,  overseas,  lightly  perfumed  in  pomegranate  with rose.  Too  chic,  too  expensive,  it  hangs  from  her  painted  lips,  the  jarring  spectacle  of  crimson  that  stains  the  all  white  hues.  She  plucks  the  stick  with  a  precision  akin  to  those  seen  in  hard  copy  digital  movies,  relics  of  a  bygone  time.  Someone  taught  her  how  to  maneuver  herself  &  lost  in  the  passage  of  time,  she  kept  the  artform  close.  “You  don’t  think  I  have  a  guillotine  over  my  head  as  well?  That’s  not  how  this  works,  you  understand  what  a  fixer  is, what  we  do.  I’m  not  taking  a  loss  because  things  are  too  difficult  for  you”  long  legs  crossing  over  the  other  as  she  fixes  the  oil  slick  sheen  of  her  vinyl  skirt.  Encapsulated  in  the  visage  of  youth,  there  was  an  eeriness  to  her  nature,  the  way  red  stood  out  on  her  pale  demeanor  like  a  gaping  wound.  The  ash  flickers,  collecting  in  an  overfilled  tray,  until  she  extinguishes  the  pale  light  that  meshes  with  the  decor  of  neon  flickering  as  the  pulsating  music  continues  to  echo  behind  them.  She  ponders  momentarily  if  it’s  age  or  her  own  insistent  need  to  recoil  whenever  the  abrasive  thing  she  calls  a  tongue  lashes  out. 

       “It’s  your  lucky  day!  I’m  feeling  rather  merciful.  What  is  it  you  need?  I  can  help  directly;  the  rest  of  the  gig  is  up  to  you.  Remember,  everything  pays  heavily  for  a  steep  price,  this  is  no  different  from  what  I  warned  you  prior  to  our  meeting”

[edgeran]

@araexec liked for lyrical sc.

" more yet to come. we trained for this. worse yet come. "

[dreamrcven]

@araexec asked: [ collapse ]

Nonverbal Angst || Accepting !!

[ collapse ] sender collapses into receiver's arms

❝ Woah, hey - !! ❞

With a swift motion, she manages to catch Katsuo before he could fall, being careful with pushing him up so that she could try & have him stand on his own.

Crimson eyes overlook him carefully, had he gotten hurt? Get into some fight? Or was it something else? Regardless, it had her worried.

❝ What the hell did you do... ?? ❞

Masuyo hoped it was nothing, maybe he was just tired, overworked? She hoped so.

[man-butcher]

Katsuo felt the weight of the moment pressing down on him. Standing mere feet away from Adam Smasher, the legendary cyborg, was both awe-inspiring and terrifying. Katsuo's mind raced, but he had to seize the opportunity. He took a deep breath, trying to steady his voice as he finally spoke. "Mr Smasher," he began, his tone respectful but firm, "I know you've encountered countless people in your line of work, but I have to ask; David Martinez, what was he really like? Beyond the headlines and rumors?"

Night City's boogeyman loomed over what one would perceive as Arasaka's many tree toots, Katsuo, his gargantuan cybernetic frame casted a long, intimidating shadow. Katsuo's question hung in the air, and Smasher memory accessed a fairly distant slither of memorable data. David Martinez— now that was a name he hadn't heard in a while. Smasher's voice rumbled out, cold, inhumane, mechanical and downright nerve splitting.

❝ David Martinez, ❞ he began, " You're askin' me about a punk who thought he was untouchable Ambitious, reckless, a piece of meat who never amounted to nothing great -- ❞ Smasher's metallic laugh chambered slightly across the room, bouncing off each wall like a mad cacophony. ❝ but he had guts, and I had fun, a shame he provided me such short source of excitement. ❞

Not a moment sooner and silence ensued, it brewed, it stalled as Smasher's diabolical eyes remained fixated. Unnatural was their hue, lenses focused and rotated indiscriminately, only God could truly understand what rampaging thoughts swam a cross his defiled mind regarding Katsuo's strange curiosity. ❝ Some advice - don't be a fuck-up by wasting your time taking lessons from him unless you want to end up the same. ❞ Those last words chimed more as masked threat than advice, yet anyone could be biased on the interpretation. David Martinez might not have gone down as a Legend, but our tyrant would certainly pay a pretty penny to have another shot at a scrap like that.

[cyberpawn]

"how do you kill a god?"

𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐍𝐄𝐘'𝐒 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 (𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟕) 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒.

"Simple. Treat 'em like a human!" V chirped, their chest proudly puffed up to Katsuo. Their morals were that of the "speak first, think later" nature, shot from the hip with a sharp-toothed grin that would fight tooth and nail to make this city a better place. One must imagine Sisyphus happy, and that's where you get the short merc clad in a kaiju t-shirt while they talked shop with a new face on their radar.

"What's separatin' us from gods? A couple billion eddies? A monopoly on a city? I might not have either of those things, but I know how to be a hell of a thorn in corpo sides. They only thrive if you take them seriously, you can do some real damage just by questioning the man in charge, y'know!" Their tongue stuck out past their teeth, Vale shared a funny face as they laughed again. "Why d'ya ask? You in the business of killin' gods now?"