Fenix Arsenal
The littlest brother wasn't tough. He was weak. Always hesitated before he pulled the trigger. Cried when things got too heavy. That's what he grew up with. When Haven told him he was too trusting of others, too quick to make friends...he knew deep down that she was right.So he absorbs your words. The idea that it wasn't something to feel shameful about. Or push aside completely to let the numbness and calculations settle in its place.
"I am." Grateful to have someone. There's no smile with it though. Just a quiet admission of the truth. He'd teased and joked about 'IRIDIA's just jealous'. It was just a bit from time to time when they drew a reaction from you in public. But...
On to more cheery topics...that makes him hold very still and even quieter. Like any sound might set off the hellish fates you described for yourself and him. What results is a protracted silence...that he has to break out of discomfort...
"We would fight for you, IRIDIA. To stop that." 'We' is a vague term. It includes him. And a few others. Most others you know beyond the status 'stranger'. Sentimentality strikes again.
"I should..." A pause in his words as he slides off the counter to stand up. "I should get back to the bunker. I need to drop these off for the Founding Festival." Without a spider-bot, Echo has to pick up the box of swarm drones in his arms like Neanderthal.
"Sunday night. Outskirts. If you want to come, just tell them I invited you, si?"
Giggles softly."Okay. I'm convinced."
Nods and smiles approvingly.
People are being weird, katie is right.
That's a few people now.
People are being weird, katie is right.
That's a few people now.
"I'm not convinced. Sorry."Sighs and shakes her head.
"What a load of horseshit."
settles
"Okay."Smiles and heads back out again.
me? oh i'm fine, thanks
see you later
"Weird? Are you okay? Do you wanna come to my room with me?"Smiles.
#r-feather
hi Seven
sorry, i'm on my way out ... it's too weird around here tonight
"God, you're hard to track down."Pounces and smothers you in kisses.
"Hiya, ya little firecracker you!"
Smiles.
Ow.
Double hrmph!
Ow.
Double hrmph!
Fenix Arsenal
"Mmhm."A greasy napkin turned into an origami crane — a synecdoche of Night City. Emblematic of her.
"Maybe," her gaze softened as she slid her attention from you to the paper you were holding.
"…but it doesn't make you any more vulnerable than someone like Fuse. He fears for his life, sees opportunity to escape, it motivates him to betray his cause. He doesn't have to be sentimental to be vulnerable…"
IRIDIA picked it up back up when you set it down, unfolding it to flatten it wide. "In my opinion, sentimentality only expands your attack-surface, maybe gives you more to defend but I'm sure you're grateful for even having something worth defending."
The napkin was crumpled up, added to the rest of the trash.
"Besides, I think if the roles were reversed, and you found yourself in a drippy signal-isolated room surrounded by unfriendly faces, given a choice between betrayal and the absolute worst that could happen… I think sentimentality gives you strength."
Let's never ever find out, though.
IRIDIA drained the last of her soda and tossed it, too. "For me? Some version of death. Could be a software wipe, if the powers-that-be decide I'm worth salvaging. Nuke who I am, install a replacement, drop me somewhere new — maybe Halley Research Station? Maybe some rig outside Hawaii or Guam? Won't matter to me since what makes me me will be some magnetic debris on the scrubber-head of a data wipe probe, or if I'm lucky I sit in cold storage on physical media, a crystal slab in a lead box underground waiting to slowly degenerate via cosmic rays."
It's like she's practiced this monologue to deliver to someone else.
"This is what I get for trying to get close to people. They leave. Without warning. Without a goodbye. Just...gone."Sighs.
"I need a sign that you're out there, God. Please."
*tosses a pillow at your head*
*tosses a pillow at your head*
No it was extremely weitd