Of all your memories, which stands out most clearly?
"Hey, kid. You really patchin' up a stab wound with duct tape?" Antiseptics, the bite of an air hypo, leaving love marks that she'll never let him fix. Whiskey and boxing matches. A guy the size of Placide, but that one's smiling, calling her chica. A safe place, then a sofa, then an apartment.
"… oh, and most importantly – a splash of love." Cigarette smoke and booze, sweat and the heavy beats of chrome rock, she could sing along with her eyes closed and would rather swallow her tongue. Claire's smile. Two days before everything had gone south. She’d not met the samurai.
Saburo’s bodyguard, looking right at her through the one-way glass. If I'm lucky, he fucks me first. Chromanticore Cherry, kibble and awkward arousal, worst unrequited crush, and the tapeworm raging whenever the omega blockers stop kicking. "Vee, wait. I need you."
Saburo fucking Arasaka.
"Hold on to it. For me." Heartbreak.
"If Hanako-sama believes us, I could offer you more than half of nothing." He's ridiculous, the way he insists on treating her like she's worth anything, as if there could be a future even though she's dying.
"Tags are proof of my promise." Losing a brother she never had for a chance to meet her idol. Never meet your idols. You grow to love them, and then you kill them, too. Second brother in as many months. Jesus Christ on a stick, it hasn't been longer?
Other peoples' brothers, too. "You're an odd thief, to return what you stole." The face is the same in the news, but when Saburo smiles with it, it's no longer kind.
"I want you to be my family, Vee." Gonk tears all the time.
