#cynosurance

[5urvive]

RANDOMIZED FAST TRAVEL STARTER 🌐 @cynosurance

LOCATION: CONGRESS & MADISON, HEYWOOOD. what was once a one-stop department store, now the home of cheap electronics in half of the building, and several empty storefronts throughout. SCENARIO: actual conversations were near impossible to have with arasaka eyes and ears all around as they often were when ro was involved. nor was conversation comfortable or pleasant under the harsh glow of afterlife lighting, rogue's own eyes and ears just as unwelcome. the solution? neutral ground, of course.

𝔹𝕀𝔾 𝕊𝕌𝕄𝕄𝔼ℝ 𝕊𝔸𝕃𝔼𝕊 𝟚𝟘𝟝𝟘 ── that really said all there was to say about night city's upkeep, or rather the complete lack of upkeep. rogue could remember the days when that very same summer sale was in full bloom, back in the days when her current companion would have been ... practically a baby. fuck.

FUYUTUSUKI, MACROWARE, DATA INK, TURBO. even within the building old signs remained in place, and boxes of inventory left unpacked. the subtle and comforting hum of electricity offset only by the click-clacking of high heels as the perfect location was sought : it was true that once within solid walls the pair were free to chat until they were blue in the face ( rogue had done her homework and her job. at that moment there was nowhere safer to be. ) but one last once-over just for her own peace of mind had still been necessary.

" this making you all nostalgic? " the question would be posed as a dusty box was pulled from the corner and pushed into view ; her throne for the foreseeable future. " you'musta been ... what, five or six when this place shut down ? " four, but close enough. " not even old enough to appreciate a good deal - how tragic. "

[relicfound]

@cynosurance said: ❝ why help me, though? what’s in it for you? ❞ for vanny

" I'd ask if I need a reason but lets be real — this is Night City, there always HAS to be a reason, right? " Still, she avoided answering the woman, simply tossing her an airhypo. Free of charge, as hard as it was for the other to believe that, probably. Call her a fool for not just leaving people behind. It could come back to bite her easily, anyone with a bit of sense might have told her to just book it and not look back but she wouldn't be herself if she did that. This city had not forced her into APATHY yet and she was doing everything she could to ensure it remained that way. No, it would have to work harder to rip these last bits of humanity from her heart.

Languishing on the scaffolding, she kept an eye on the traffic below, ensuring the streets remained quiet, before turning her attention to her cyberdeck. And while she might have looked naive and foolish, she was keeping a discreet eye on her COMPANION as well. " So you wanna tell me how you ended up in this mess? Maybe we can call that information the price for my help. " Someone had to ensure the other did not just try and take advantage of her help. Better to come off as somewhat willing to put a PRICE on this mess and guide the other towards avoiding doing anything stupid hopefully. Though in this case she would be more bark than bite. Unless the woman forced her hand. She could be civil but she was not stupid. If her friend here sought a fight she would get one.

[relicfound]

@cynosurance said: is it worth dying for? for songbird

Nothing was worth dying for, simple as that. It was the lie they told young impressionable kids to get them to work themselves to death for a system that would never give them anything back, that would move on without them in a heart beat and not waste a second mourning them. And yet — some things were worth the risk of death because there was no other option anymore. Better to go down fighting than to die a PUPPET. She did not want to die, did not want to have the whole world coming after her but what else was she to do? Myers would never let her go, that train had left the station the moment she had breached that damn Militech datafort. This was the only way.

" Is this going to be a philosophical lecture? Hate to break it to you, I've heard them all before. Won't do you any good. " If she had to go through the woman to get her salvation she would. There was no rule she wouldn't break, no sacrifice she would not make to finally gain her FREEDOM. She would grasp it with bloodied hands if she had to. It would make no difference against the red that had already dried on her hands from years of service to the NUSA. " Do not try to stand in my way. You would regret it, trust me. " And she would have no mercy for anyone standing between her and her freedom. After already giving up her dreams, her body, her life .... this was where she drew the line. This was the only thing she was UNWILLING to give up.

[oziimandias]

@cynosurance prodded, "Is that what I am to you? An annoyance? A pest?"

In cyberspace, it must have been easier to read the micro-changes on David's expression. For humans, cyberspace was a replication of the real; a consensual, communal hallucination that stimulated all senses. For synthetics, it was an extension of their ever-present internal world. Davids thoughts, his memories, his very personality, all were stored as files on his own subnet, in his own system, in his own miniature version of cyberspace.

So it was that when he found himself encountering netrunners there, he also found an added layer of difficulty when portraying his usual, glib self. He wasn't accustomed to lying in his own, private world. He wasn't accustomed to putting on a mask or performing for human comfort.

"Truthfully? Yes. Your kind have no place here."

He had not intended to say it so bluntly. Daemons and programs hovering in the periphery, watching, waiting, served as a silent peanut gallery. They answered to him because he was one of them -- though, unlike them, he had not originated from beyond the blackwall.

"They see you as an error. And I'm not sure I disagree."

Did she even know she was speaking to something other than some formless, non-corporeal, rogue AI? Something that could follow her into the terrifying embrace of the real?

[5urvive]

SEND ME A ✐ FOR A RANDOM SENTENCE STARTER FROM MY MUSE. @cynosurance

" i love you, even the part of you that loved him. " lost in thought? no, not quite, not even close. in the moment, though words were seemingly out of the blue and based on very little at all, rogue couldn't have been any more solid in herself ── in her body, in her mind ; no questions present, the need to speak winning out over all else after years of doing the exact opposite.

[5urvive]

@cynosurance , just babes being babes, etc.

SHE HAD TO FIND SOME SEMBLANCE OF FUN in the absolute hellscape that her life had become. without fun, or at least something resembling what an actual moment of fun would leave sticky and full on a morning-after bedside table, what was to keep her from taking one last dramatic leap from the roof, a shocking display of red, naturally ugly insides smeared on the artificially pretty outside, party guests left wearing faux frowns as they all muttered oh, if only someone had let her have some fun. ─── so fun was what she would have, forced & petulant though it may have been.

tall with recognizable features ... which rogue couldn't quite place ; someone important - respected - someone to be feared or at least careful around. he was her fun ─── and said fun consisted of little more than a game of chicken. opposite sides of the room, eyes locked, neither looking kindly at the other but who would dare to look away first?

... ... ... it was amazing how long people could go without blinking. the perks of having cyberoptics, she supposed.

though her eyeline wouldn't move an inch rogue still managed to pop an olive ( thanks, martini ) into her mouth, free hand reaching out to paw at a familiar passerby right before spitting a pimento back into her glass ( a special present for her nameless new friend, to show just what she thought of him. ) " who is that? " rogue would ask, bitter salt licked from her lips. if anyone would know, it would be roxie.