Going over older chapters I wonder if Motoko feels like she could take a crack at bartmoss' deck now she is an ok net runner(compared to him at least). Imagine all the goodies on there that she could use on scavs.
Ghost in the City Cyberpunk Gamer SI
- Thread starter Seras
- Start date
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- cyberpunk gamer self-insert
Carrot of Truth
War is Peace
Did Motoko finish her jobs for Padre? She probably should since Jackie vouched for her.
Blasterbot
Well-known member
She understands on a personal level. death to scavs.
also correct. though spaghetti also works. and mac and cheese. is this the power of Noods? to make everything better.
Seras
Well-known member
Not yet. That's like a Max level netrunner dungeon. Even Nix nearly got fried, and he is Rogues personal runner.
Not yet. As Motoko said. "Fuck today."
xachariahxx
Well-known member
Motoko is feeling aggrieved, but Maelstrom seems like they're telling the truth here. One idiot going out and working with scavs sounds a lot more likely than this being some kind of sanctioned operation. At a certain size, incidents like this are bound to occur. I'm sure that Brick did nothing but curse when he learned about one of his idiots did to jeopardize the peace he struggled to get.
But the whole point of gangs is that they're responsible. They provide a common group to protect and give leverage to their members, which means that the same common group is responsible on an organizational level for any of their members actions. Maelstrom needs to pay reparations when accidents happen otherwise gangs would constantly employ "accidents" like this. And Maelstrom correctly does so to the Tyger Claws to make amends.
But not to Motoko. Maelstrom sees her as the same as Tyger Claws, and the TCs are pushing that narrative as well to try and claim her. This means that the TCs have effectively 'stolen' her reparations. She has no reason to make amends with Maelstrom, which means she's going to go and cause trouble with them eventually, and it will reflect badly on the TCs because they've already claimed her.
Even though this is a Maelstrom chapter, it really comes down to the same friction she's had with TCs since the start and not having an independent rep.
But the whole point of gangs is that they're responsible. They provide a common group to protect and give leverage to their members, which means that the same common group is responsible on an organizational level for any of their members actions. Maelstrom needs to pay reparations when accidents happen otherwise gangs would constantly employ "accidents" like this. And Maelstrom correctly does so to the Tyger Claws to make amends.
But not to Motoko. Maelstrom sees her as the same as Tyger Claws, and the TCs are pushing that narrative as well to try and claim her. This means that the TCs have effectively 'stolen' her reparations. She has no reason to make amends with Maelstrom, which means she's going to go and cause trouble with them eventually, and it will reflect badly on the TCs because they've already claimed her.
Even though this is a Maelstrom chapter, it really comes down to the same friction she's had with TCs since the start and not having an independent rep.
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Argent
Well-known member
I do like that we are starting to see the start of her reputation spreading. Between her antics on the net ,missions and BDs it was only a matter of time.
I also think that Maelstrom is probably telling the truth. The large scav groups wanted to hit the person killing them so when random gang memebr wanted to sell the information about the Edgerunner thay made him look like a fool they took the offer.
It also is telling that yhe scavs had limited information that Motoko had strong TC connections becsaue I doubt they where expecting this response.
I do have to say at least Motoko can still kill the scavs even if mealstrom is now off limits.
I also think that Maelstrom is probably telling the truth. The large scav groups wanted to hit the person killing them so when random gang memebr wanted to sell the information about the Edgerunner thay made him look like a fool they took the offer.
It also is telling that yhe scavs had limited information that Motoko had strong TC connections becsaue I doubt they where expecting this response.
I do have to say at least Motoko can still kill the scavs even if mealstrom is now off limits.
xachariahxx
Well-known member
I just realized that Scavs are big XBD fans. They're the type of people to gonk out in XBDs and escape life, and even professionally there's a bunch of overlap with several working as both scavs and XBD makers.
Which means that Motoko almost certainly has scavs watching her BDs who think she's preem as hell, even if they don't want to be killed by her.
Which means that Motoko almost certainly has scavs watching her BDs who think she's preem as hell, even if they don't want to be killed by her.
Chapter 108
Seras
Well-known member
I was sitting on the couch. Well laying on it more than anything. I probably should go kill those Scavs… Or play some music to let the hobby do what it was supposed to and soothe out these kinds of emotional issues, but I was just so done.
“Fuck today.” I reminded myself and that was good enough.
“Fuck today.” Jun called out from his room, obviously hearing me.
Then I got a call.
Fuck.
*Hey Hiromi.* I answered. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to my best choom. I just didn’t want to talk to anyone right now.
*Motoko! Tell this fucking ugly gonk at the front of your building to let us up! Otherwise Hiromi is gonna whoop some fuckheads ass!*
I sighed.
Fuck today.
*I’ll be right down.*
I climbed up and didn’t so much put on my boots as I just threw them on my feet. So I wouldn’t step on anything sharp lying around and headed downstairs.
I was so done with today I even used the elevator.
The door opened to arguing.
“Move aside already! I don’t know who you are, and you certainly don’t have the right to keep us from seeing Motoko. We’re Motoko’s gang! Her crew! Who the hell are you supposed to be?”
“The guard in charge bitch! No one bothers the Kusanagi’s! I don’t care what crazy shit you say! You’re gonna get your ass knocked the fuck out if you don’t-Motoko! Hey! Just getting rid of-”
“Hiromi, Ichi, Malcolm. Get in the elevator.” I demanded, not ready to deal with this.
“Ah! They are your chooms then? Had to stop them, and make sure you know? Can’t let some weirdos bother you and your brother Motoko! Do you need anything? I-”
“Hurry it up you three.” I called out and stepped back into the elevator.
“Finally!” Malcolm said obviously as irritated at the argument as I was. “Hey Motoko. How’re you holding up?” He asked, as the first one in the elevator.
“Fuck today.” I informed him and he just nodded along like I said something wise.
“It’s okay Motoko! Your chooms are here to make your day better!” Hiromi called out smiling and Ichi passed me an apologetic smile.
“She was determined to bring us all together today to see what we can do to help.”
“Ah. That explains Hiromi’s Hirominess.” I offered, earning a protesting noise from the girl. I threw an arm over her shoulder and pulled her into a hug. “Thanks for checking in on me. I guess I could use a break from all the stuff going on.”
“Right! If my Motoko needs some relaxation, that’s what we are here for!”
“I thought we were here to make Motoko let us help kill Scavs.” Malcolm said to Ichi in a faux whisper.
Hiromi of course kicked him and the two would have broken into a fight if the elevator didn’t open.
“C’mon.” I called as I walked past the distracted HIromi with Ichi following.
“Oh wow.” Hiromi stalled out along with the boys when they got a look at the apartment. I mean there wasn’t any glass left lying around, but there were still big holes in the walls and the barrier blinds.
“Yeah it’s a little fucked up still. Jun and I need to call in an actual repair guy or something.”
“You are both gonks. I know someone. I’ll call them in to get everything fixed up.” Hiromi said and before I could stop her, her eyes flashed as she made a call and she turned and ignored me as I moved to stop her.
“Heh. That’s Hiromi alright.” Ichi said laughing as he ignored my ineffectual attempts to get Hiromi to stop.
She was stronger though! Did she get more chrome? I looked her over with narrowed eyes. Then I reached out.
“Eep! Motoko!”
“When did you get muscles?” I asked as my hands pulled away Hiromi’s casual clothes to let me check out her bicep, and then her stomach.
Yep those were muscles there.
“I-it’s a Biotechnica upgrade package! Motoko!”
“That’s so… Cool.” I said I was going to say unfair, but really I had absolutely no room to talk there. Biotechnica huh?
That was neat. I hadn’t thought much about Bioware since I kinda just wanted to go full borg eventually.
I shrugged and pulled my chrome hands free of Hiromi’s clothes realizing why Hiromi was wiggling and flushed at my exploration.
“Ah! Sorry were my hands cold!?” I quickly pulled them away and checked my chrome palm against my cheek for a second.
No it wasn’t too bad. Maybe Hiromi just has a high body temperature? She was always looking flushed after all.
“When did you get bioware work done?” Malcolm asked curious, and Hiromi shushed him as she was still on the phone.
A few moments later she blinked and her eyes were back to normal and then she leapt on me.
“Wha!”
“YOU! NOT WHEN I’M ON A BUSINESS CALL YOU GONK!” She shrieked as she pushed me down and tried to faux strangle me.
I couldn’t help but start giggling, because while Hiromi was pretty strong, I was still stronger, and her response was great.
“Sorry!”
“You aren’t sorry!” She said struggling and I only giggled harder. Okay maybe today wasn’t entirely awful.
“Ah that explains the noise.” Jun said as he poked his head out of his room and into the living room. “Hey guys.”
“Jun!”
“Hey Jun.” Malcolm and Ichi both greeted my brother while Hiromi focused on trying to stuff my face into the couch.
She was failing and it was definitely irritating her.
Relying too much on chrome, or mods is a bad idea Hiromi. Gotta have the skill to back it up, and my grappling perk made me pretty good at this.
“Ugh fine!” She eventually gave in as I kept her from achieving her goal as she sat up surprising me, by sitting her stupid fat ass right on my stomach, knocking the air out of me a bit.
“Oof! Hiromi!”
“I don’t listen to chairs.” She said to the air and then looked to Jun. “Hey Jun. You doing okay?”
“Heh. The day has come where my kid sister's little chooms are worried about me.” He uttered shaking his head and standing up straight flashing her a grin to my surprise. “I’m fine. Irritated about everything but fine.”
“Hmm. Motoko hasn’t talked about it yet. Anything we can do to help? I do have connections now.” Hiromi said partially preening at her own words.
“Nah. The Maelstrom basically said the guy that attacked them wasn’t one of theirs and the TC is going along with it. So we only got Scavs to retaliate against, but… It’s impossible to know which group attacked us, or if there will be more attacks coming.”
My chooms were quiet at Jun’s final words.
“I’m sorry.” Hiromi said, reaching over and grabbing my hand as she adjusted herself to not be sitting on my stomach. “I can’t… I can’t believe they attacked your home, and now you can’t pinpoint the ones responsible.”
“So we just kill them all.” I say with a shrug. “It’s been my solution since it happened. I’m just going to kill every Scav I find until there aren’t any more.”
Jun snorted, looking like he was going to agree, but to my surprise he ran a hand over his face and through his hair. “Maybe it’s time we settle it there too, Motoko. We reach out with our contacts and make a deal.”
“Hell no!”
“Motoko. We got lucky last time. You spotted the sniper just in time, but that guy was an amateur. What if they just bombed our apartment while we were in here. Or sent more than a van full of grunts… Honestly I’m surprised they sent so few.”
“I think Randall was the one responsible for that.” I muttered and everyone looked at me. “The Maelstrom sniper, apparently his name was Randall… I ran into him before. The night I recorded my BD for The Only Thing They Fear.” I explained sitting up pushing Hiromi to the side a bit so I was sitting up and not just half way sprawled across the couch.
Sitting up I ran through what I had figured out.
“So that night I ran into a Maelstrom girl in the Scav den. They had pulled her apart, but she was still awake… I felt sorry for her, so I helped her get help. Randall was one of the Maelstrom fucks that showed up. He was a moron. But he must have realized who I was after… Probably from the BD? According to GearSlot he seemed incredibly interested in all the Chrome the Scavs had. I think he found a Scav group and reached out to them. Set up the assault on Jun and I. Maybe Revenge for the war? Or he offered our location to the Scavs. I mean it’s not like my BD’s aren’t getting around. Maybe he told them he knew who was recording the BD’s and… I don’t know.”
Everything was just an assumption. Jun had made sure we wouldn’t be able to ask Randall, and the Scavs weren’t exactly chatty.
“Motoko… There is something else. Something Fujimura-sama mentioned to me. He assigned us a few guards, but they are just kids they can’t stop shit… He mentioned that we should move into a more secure location.”
“Fuck no!” I snapped outraged at the very idea, but Jun didn’t let my instant response ruffle him.
“I think we should consider it Motoko. There are plenty of locations we could move to that have more security. Fujimura-sama controls a floor of a building that he rents out to TC. It’s safe. Protected.”
“Jun I said no! We arent-I’m not moving! This is our home!” I denied but Jun moved away from the wall he had been resting against and walked around Ichi and Malcolm who were both being really quiet.
Shit that was the look of a couple of people watching an argument between family members and not being sure what to do.
Sorry guys.
Jun stopped in front of me and rested his stupid heavy hand on my head.
“Home is where we live. Not a place. I want you to be safe, Motoko. I want us to be safe… I try to protect you as much as I can, but you just do whatever you want anyways, so I can’t stop you there. But I think we should move. To a bigger place, a more secure place… Don’t you want a bigger room? One with your own space.”
“I like my current room just fine!”
“It’s a closet you gonk. You’ve never had a real room before. You could have a workbench and tinker with your stuff without me accidentally sitting on it or-”
“Wait, when did you sit on my stuff!?”
Jun blinked at me and then just mushed my hair. “We are going to look around at places… Maybe tomorrow. Keep an open mind, okay?” Then Jun disappeared and as I fixed my hair I looked up to see him disappear back into his room.
“I’m like 90% sure he just tried to distract me from the fact he apparently sat on some of my stuff and broke it.”
“You think so?” Hiromi asked, and I nodded.
“I’m honestly more curious than upset. I don’t remember finding anything missing…” I shook it off. I would tackle Jun in his sleep and demand my answers later. “Alright chooms, enough of this shit. Want to get some food, and watch some garbage TV or something?”
“Sounds good to me!” Malcolm said before anyone else could argue.
“Great. Malcolm, you are with me on the food run. Hiromi, Ichi figure out what to watch?”
—--
The next morning, long after everyone had gone home, Jun poked me as I was working on some programming stuff for Yoko in payment for the Scav locations.
“C’mon.”
“I already told you Jun. I’m not moving.”
“Come anyways.” He demanded and gave me a look.
Fine. If only because if I didn’t go with him he was going to lift me up and carry me like a sack of angry kittens.
I got up, got dressed, wasted some time taking a shower specifically in protest, and came out only to get whipped in the face with a towel.
Then Jun attacked me with the towel.
“H-hey! Sto-oooop!” I whined but my brother has no mercy in his heart. He ran the towel over my hair like a machine and when he finally released me I fell to the floor blinking as if someone had just mugged me.
“There, your hair is dry, c’mon.”
“You… Are you kidding me? I’m a girl you gonk! Now I have to do my hair! Look at it!” I yelled at him my hair was poofy I could feel it. Standing up more like an afro than my normal style!
“I look like I just got in a fight with an electrical outlet! And I lost!”
“Heh.” Jun just laughed at me, and made no motion to do anything more so I scurried back into the bathroom to battle my hair.
I ended up needing to wet it back down just to be able to style it again.
“You know it’s funny. You don’t really do makeup or anything, but you’re pretty protective of your hair style.” Jun said from the kitchen as he watched me wrestle my hair with a brush desperately trying not to get it stuck in the mess of my hair.
“I’m plenty girly!”
Jun just gave me a look of disbelief. Hey! That’s so mean!
“Motoko I’ve seen you wear the same leotard for days on end before.”
I paused in utter betrayal! I was programming then! I was too busy for things like… Showering… Or changing clothes…
“We never speak of this again, or I tell everyone about the bed burrito.”
He blinked. Considering. Then nodded. Turning around and walking away like the conversation never happened.
Good.
Some things should just be kept between siblings.
—--
“Wow. I’m totally impressed, Jun-nii! Truly this is the best place ever!”
“Your sarcasm isn’t really necessary.” He grumbled at me as we looked at the building.
Funnily enough, we were just down the street from the apartments that I cleared the other night. The same tutorial Scav den from the game. Just north, along the same road I had leapt over while escaping Jun was a bunch of apartment buildings all smashed together into a mess.
Of course the entrance was a big red Torri Gate. That and everything was covered in graffiti Tigers.
If you missed the fact this was Tyger Claw Territory.
“Just come look at the apartments, okay? They are big. Bigger than our current place, and they are safe.”
“I’m playing along for now, mostly because I love you, and want to spend time with you, but I’m not interested.” I informed him, which to my secret delight earned me a heavy hand ruffling my hair a little.
I swiped a punch at him in retaliation of course, but it was still nice.
“C’mon let’s see the place before anything else. You might like it. We’ll have neighbors that aren’t Ms. Kagura.” He offered and I blinked before remembering the old lady that was our neighbor on our floor.
“Oh right. I forgot about her.”
“Well there will be some kids our age here. So maybe someone you actually get along with. Someone to add to your little group?”
“Yeah sure Jun.” I agreed without actually agreeing. If they lived here they would be TC brats… Okay that’s not a good excuse considering most of my friends were just that, but they were probably gonks.
My decision not to like the situation I was stuck in, had Jun rolling his eyes as I shot grumpy looks at him constantly.
We walked into the building from a side entrance through a shop into a hallway that led to a dozen closed doors. Jun led us to an elevator and then hit the twenty-seventh floor.
Finally we hit the floor, and I had to admit. The moment the doors opened I did have to quirk an eyebrow. The elevator entrance area was clean.
Like actually clean.
It was actually a surprise I was so used to the decaying squalor, I barely noticed it anymore.
Yet here, there were clean carpets. White walls which did have Tyger Claw stuff on it, but it was paintings, instead of just graffiti.
“I told you Fujimura-sama owns this floor and rents it out to Tyger Claws. You think he would put up with a messy space?”
I scoffed but followed Jun down the hall. I noticed the security without a thought. Ninjutsu and Netrunning meant I couldn’t help but notice it.
Quality cameras, security features on every door. A hidden HMG turret in the roof inside the elevator entrance way.
Okay it was definitely more secure than our previous place.
There we only had security gates on the stairs which didn’t do much since the elevators were still open access.
“This is it.” Jun said suddenly as he stopped in front of a room. 2704.Jun looked to me like he was expecting some interest, but I had literally been in plenty of apartments over the last few days.
Mostly killing Scavs, but the point stood.
He looked a little bummed that I was remaining disinterested as he opened the door.
The apartment was actually pretty big.
It opened into a large living room. Something we didn’t really have in our place. It even had one of those round media couches indented into the floor in the corner.
There was a small inset nearby that had a fridge, and a pseudo kitchenette. Just without any of the normal stuff in a kitchen, because people don’t cook in Cyberpunk.
More like they were pushed to not cook, but that wasn’t something I was going to focus on right now.
The Bathroom still didn’t have an actual door.
Fucking Cyberpunk. I swear to god doors on bathrooms were normal! Why did no one have a damn…
I sighed letting the irritation go. I was still finding myself easily riled up since the attack. It was obvious the attack hadn’t exactly left me my usual self. I took a deep breath and let it out, feeling arctic for a moment, as I steadied my heart and then breathed normally.
Jun was wandering around looking around the place with a happy smile on his face.
Dammit. Jun wanted to move didn’t he?
The brush with returning Cyberpsychosis seemed to have washed off his back after everything. Which was good, but it did kind of piss me off, because it meant Jun was actually…
Jun was actually happy looking around this apartment. It wasn’t faked, or something he was trying to convince me.
This was something he wanted.
I forgot.
People in Night City cared about reputation. Reputation was important. And the way you showed off your rep was owning things.
Fast cars, fancy clothes, lots of chrome.
A big apartment.
Our place was kinda a shithole. I knew that. I just… I had grown comfy. It was security. Safety like a blanket.
I was going to have to be the mature one. Jun deserved that. Jun deserved to be able to have a nice big apartment with room to actually move, and fancy stuff.
He was a teenager taking care of his kid sister. His kid sister that shouldn’t be throwing a fucking tantrum like an actual teenager about moving into a bigger, fancier, more secure apartment.
Dammit. I hated when my face was rubbed in the negative effects of my own childishness. I mean… I wasn’t going to change, but at least I could acknowledge when it caused problems.
There actually was more than one room here. I guess I really would have my own room. Jun was distracted with checking out the entertainment system, acting like the teenager he was as I checked the rooms.
“I call dibs on this one!” I call out, knowing the reaction it would get.
“That’s the bigger room!” Jun yelped as he charged at me, and I broke the smile on my face before he could see it.
There would be a fight, I would likely be sat on for a while, and in the end Jun would ‘earn’ his master bedroom. But it was better this way.
Because as much as I was focused on my own happiness. I wanted Jun the big gonk to be happy too, and maybe… Maybe it was time to let him have that happiness without his needy, childish sister getting in the way.
“Fuck today.” I reminded myself and that was good enough.
“Fuck today.” Jun called out from his room, obviously hearing me.
Then I got a call.
Fuck.
*Hey Hiromi.* I answered. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to my best choom. I just didn’t want to talk to anyone right now.
*Motoko! Tell this fucking ugly gonk at the front of your building to let us up! Otherwise Hiromi is gonna whoop some fuckheads ass!*
I sighed.
Fuck today.
*I’ll be right down.*
I climbed up and didn’t so much put on my boots as I just threw them on my feet. So I wouldn’t step on anything sharp lying around and headed downstairs.
I was so done with today I even used the elevator.
The door opened to arguing.
“Move aside already! I don’t know who you are, and you certainly don’t have the right to keep us from seeing Motoko. We’re Motoko’s gang! Her crew! Who the hell are you supposed to be?”
“The guard in charge bitch! No one bothers the Kusanagi’s! I don’t care what crazy shit you say! You’re gonna get your ass knocked the fuck out if you don’t-Motoko! Hey! Just getting rid of-”
“Hiromi, Ichi, Malcolm. Get in the elevator.” I demanded, not ready to deal with this.
“Ah! They are your chooms then? Had to stop them, and make sure you know? Can’t let some weirdos bother you and your brother Motoko! Do you need anything? I-”
“Hurry it up you three.” I called out and stepped back into the elevator.
“Finally!” Malcolm said obviously as irritated at the argument as I was. “Hey Motoko. How’re you holding up?” He asked, as the first one in the elevator.
“Fuck today.” I informed him and he just nodded along like I said something wise.
“It’s okay Motoko! Your chooms are here to make your day better!” Hiromi called out smiling and Ichi passed me an apologetic smile.
“She was determined to bring us all together today to see what we can do to help.”
“Ah. That explains Hiromi’s Hirominess.” I offered, earning a protesting noise from the girl. I threw an arm over her shoulder and pulled her into a hug. “Thanks for checking in on me. I guess I could use a break from all the stuff going on.”
“Right! If my Motoko needs some relaxation, that’s what we are here for!”
“I thought we were here to make Motoko let us help kill Scavs.” Malcolm said to Ichi in a faux whisper.
Hiromi of course kicked him and the two would have broken into a fight if the elevator didn’t open.
“C’mon.” I called as I walked past the distracted HIromi with Ichi following.
“Oh wow.” Hiromi stalled out along with the boys when they got a look at the apartment. I mean there wasn’t any glass left lying around, but there were still big holes in the walls and the barrier blinds.
“Yeah it’s a little fucked up still. Jun and I need to call in an actual repair guy or something.”
“You are both gonks. I know someone. I’ll call them in to get everything fixed up.” Hiromi said and before I could stop her, her eyes flashed as she made a call and she turned and ignored me as I moved to stop her.
“Heh. That’s Hiromi alright.” Ichi said laughing as he ignored my ineffectual attempts to get Hiromi to stop.
She was stronger though! Did she get more chrome? I looked her over with narrowed eyes. Then I reached out.
“Eep! Motoko!”
“When did you get muscles?” I asked as my hands pulled away Hiromi’s casual clothes to let me check out her bicep, and then her stomach.
Yep those were muscles there.
“I-it’s a Biotechnica upgrade package! Motoko!”
“That’s so… Cool.” I said I was going to say unfair, but really I had absolutely no room to talk there. Biotechnica huh?
That was neat. I hadn’t thought much about Bioware since I kinda just wanted to go full borg eventually.
I shrugged and pulled my chrome hands free of Hiromi’s clothes realizing why Hiromi was wiggling and flushed at my exploration.
“Ah! Sorry were my hands cold!?” I quickly pulled them away and checked my chrome palm against my cheek for a second.
No it wasn’t too bad. Maybe Hiromi just has a high body temperature? She was always looking flushed after all.
“When did you get bioware work done?” Malcolm asked curious, and Hiromi shushed him as she was still on the phone.
A few moments later she blinked and her eyes were back to normal and then she leapt on me.
“Wha!”
“YOU! NOT WHEN I’M ON A BUSINESS CALL YOU GONK!” She shrieked as she pushed me down and tried to faux strangle me.
I couldn’t help but start giggling, because while Hiromi was pretty strong, I was still stronger, and her response was great.
“Sorry!”
“You aren’t sorry!” She said struggling and I only giggled harder. Okay maybe today wasn’t entirely awful.
“Ah that explains the noise.” Jun said as he poked his head out of his room and into the living room. “Hey guys.”
“Jun!”
“Hey Jun.” Malcolm and Ichi both greeted my brother while Hiromi focused on trying to stuff my face into the couch.
She was failing and it was definitely irritating her.
Relying too much on chrome, or mods is a bad idea Hiromi. Gotta have the skill to back it up, and my grappling perk made me pretty good at this.
“Ugh fine!” She eventually gave in as I kept her from achieving her goal as she sat up surprising me, by sitting her stupid fat ass right on my stomach, knocking the air out of me a bit.
“Oof! Hiromi!”
“I don’t listen to chairs.” She said to the air and then looked to Jun. “Hey Jun. You doing okay?”
“Heh. The day has come where my kid sister's little chooms are worried about me.” He uttered shaking his head and standing up straight flashing her a grin to my surprise. “I’m fine. Irritated about everything but fine.”
“Hmm. Motoko hasn’t talked about it yet. Anything we can do to help? I do have connections now.” Hiromi said partially preening at her own words.
“Nah. The Maelstrom basically said the guy that attacked them wasn’t one of theirs and the TC is going along with it. So we only got Scavs to retaliate against, but… It’s impossible to know which group attacked us, or if there will be more attacks coming.”
My chooms were quiet at Jun’s final words.
“I’m sorry.” Hiromi said, reaching over and grabbing my hand as she adjusted herself to not be sitting on my stomach. “I can’t… I can’t believe they attacked your home, and now you can’t pinpoint the ones responsible.”
“So we just kill them all.” I say with a shrug. “It’s been my solution since it happened. I’m just going to kill every Scav I find until there aren’t any more.”
Jun snorted, looking like he was going to agree, but to my surprise he ran a hand over his face and through his hair. “Maybe it’s time we settle it there too, Motoko. We reach out with our contacts and make a deal.”
“Hell no!”
“Motoko. We got lucky last time. You spotted the sniper just in time, but that guy was an amateur. What if they just bombed our apartment while we were in here. Or sent more than a van full of grunts… Honestly I’m surprised they sent so few.”
“I think Randall was the one responsible for that.” I muttered and everyone looked at me. “The Maelstrom sniper, apparently his name was Randall… I ran into him before. The night I recorded my BD for The Only Thing They Fear.” I explained sitting up pushing Hiromi to the side a bit so I was sitting up and not just half way sprawled across the couch.
Sitting up I ran through what I had figured out.
“So that night I ran into a Maelstrom girl in the Scav den. They had pulled her apart, but she was still awake… I felt sorry for her, so I helped her get help. Randall was one of the Maelstrom fucks that showed up. He was a moron. But he must have realized who I was after… Probably from the BD? According to GearSlot he seemed incredibly interested in all the Chrome the Scavs had. I think he found a Scav group and reached out to them. Set up the assault on Jun and I. Maybe Revenge for the war? Or he offered our location to the Scavs. I mean it’s not like my BD’s aren’t getting around. Maybe he told them he knew who was recording the BD’s and… I don’t know.”
Everything was just an assumption. Jun had made sure we wouldn’t be able to ask Randall, and the Scavs weren’t exactly chatty.
“Motoko… There is something else. Something Fujimura-sama mentioned to me. He assigned us a few guards, but they are just kids they can’t stop shit… He mentioned that we should move into a more secure location.”
“Fuck no!” I snapped outraged at the very idea, but Jun didn’t let my instant response ruffle him.
“I think we should consider it Motoko. There are plenty of locations we could move to that have more security. Fujimura-sama controls a floor of a building that he rents out to TC. It’s safe. Protected.”
“Jun I said no! We arent-I’m not moving! This is our home!” I denied but Jun moved away from the wall he had been resting against and walked around Ichi and Malcolm who were both being really quiet.
Shit that was the look of a couple of people watching an argument between family members and not being sure what to do.
Sorry guys.
Jun stopped in front of me and rested his stupid heavy hand on my head.
“Home is where we live. Not a place. I want you to be safe, Motoko. I want us to be safe… I try to protect you as much as I can, but you just do whatever you want anyways, so I can’t stop you there. But I think we should move. To a bigger place, a more secure place… Don’t you want a bigger room? One with your own space.”
“I like my current room just fine!”
“It’s a closet you gonk. You’ve never had a real room before. You could have a workbench and tinker with your stuff without me accidentally sitting on it or-”
“Wait, when did you sit on my stuff!?”
Jun blinked at me and then just mushed my hair. “We are going to look around at places… Maybe tomorrow. Keep an open mind, okay?” Then Jun disappeared and as I fixed my hair I looked up to see him disappear back into his room.
“I’m like 90% sure he just tried to distract me from the fact he apparently sat on some of my stuff and broke it.”
“You think so?” Hiromi asked, and I nodded.
“I’m honestly more curious than upset. I don’t remember finding anything missing…” I shook it off. I would tackle Jun in his sleep and demand my answers later. “Alright chooms, enough of this shit. Want to get some food, and watch some garbage TV or something?”
“Sounds good to me!” Malcolm said before anyone else could argue.
“Great. Malcolm, you are with me on the food run. Hiromi, Ichi figure out what to watch?”
—--
The next morning, long after everyone had gone home, Jun poked me as I was working on some programming stuff for Yoko in payment for the Scav locations.
“C’mon.”
“I already told you Jun. I’m not moving.”
“Come anyways.” He demanded and gave me a look.
Fine. If only because if I didn’t go with him he was going to lift me up and carry me like a sack of angry kittens.
I got up, got dressed, wasted some time taking a shower specifically in protest, and came out only to get whipped in the face with a towel.
Then Jun attacked me with the towel.
“H-hey! Sto-oooop!” I whined but my brother has no mercy in his heart. He ran the towel over my hair like a machine and when he finally released me I fell to the floor blinking as if someone had just mugged me.
“There, your hair is dry, c’mon.”
“You… Are you kidding me? I’m a girl you gonk! Now I have to do my hair! Look at it!” I yelled at him my hair was poofy I could feel it. Standing up more like an afro than my normal style!
“I look like I just got in a fight with an electrical outlet! And I lost!”
“Heh.” Jun just laughed at me, and made no motion to do anything more so I scurried back into the bathroom to battle my hair.
I ended up needing to wet it back down just to be able to style it again.
“You know it’s funny. You don’t really do makeup or anything, but you’re pretty protective of your hair style.” Jun said from the kitchen as he watched me wrestle my hair with a brush desperately trying not to get it stuck in the mess of my hair.
“I’m plenty girly!”
Jun just gave me a look of disbelief. Hey! That’s so mean!
“Motoko I’ve seen you wear the same leotard for days on end before.”
I paused in utter betrayal! I was programming then! I was too busy for things like… Showering… Or changing clothes…
“We never speak of this again, or I tell everyone about the bed burrito.”
He blinked. Considering. Then nodded. Turning around and walking away like the conversation never happened.
Good.
Some things should just be kept between siblings.
—--
“Wow. I’m totally impressed, Jun-nii! Truly this is the best place ever!”
“Your sarcasm isn’t really necessary.” He grumbled at me as we looked at the building.
Funnily enough, we were just down the street from the apartments that I cleared the other night. The same tutorial Scav den from the game. Just north, along the same road I had leapt over while escaping Jun was a bunch of apartment buildings all smashed together into a mess.
Of course the entrance was a big red Torri Gate. That and everything was covered in graffiti Tigers.
If you missed the fact this was Tyger Claw Territory.
“Just come look at the apartments, okay? They are big. Bigger than our current place, and they are safe.”
“I’m playing along for now, mostly because I love you, and want to spend time with you, but I’m not interested.” I informed him, which to my secret delight earned me a heavy hand ruffling my hair a little.
I swiped a punch at him in retaliation of course, but it was still nice.
“C’mon let’s see the place before anything else. You might like it. We’ll have neighbors that aren’t Ms. Kagura.” He offered and I blinked before remembering the old lady that was our neighbor on our floor.
“Oh right. I forgot about her.”
“Well there will be some kids our age here. So maybe someone you actually get along with. Someone to add to your little group?”
“Yeah sure Jun.” I agreed without actually agreeing. If they lived here they would be TC brats… Okay that’s not a good excuse considering most of my friends were just that, but they were probably gonks.
My decision not to like the situation I was stuck in, had Jun rolling his eyes as I shot grumpy looks at him constantly.
We walked into the building from a side entrance through a shop into a hallway that led to a dozen closed doors. Jun led us to an elevator and then hit the twenty-seventh floor.
Finally we hit the floor, and I had to admit. The moment the doors opened I did have to quirk an eyebrow. The elevator entrance area was clean.
Like actually clean.
It was actually a surprise I was so used to the decaying squalor, I barely noticed it anymore.
Yet here, there were clean carpets. White walls which did have Tyger Claw stuff on it, but it was paintings, instead of just graffiti.
“I told you Fujimura-sama owns this floor and rents it out to Tyger Claws. You think he would put up with a messy space?”
I scoffed but followed Jun down the hall. I noticed the security without a thought. Ninjutsu and Netrunning meant I couldn’t help but notice it.
Quality cameras, security features on every door. A hidden HMG turret in the roof inside the elevator entrance way.
Okay it was definitely more secure than our previous place.
There we only had security gates on the stairs which didn’t do much since the elevators were still open access.
“This is it.” Jun said suddenly as he stopped in front of a room. 2704.Jun looked to me like he was expecting some interest, but I had literally been in plenty of apartments over the last few days.
Mostly killing Scavs, but the point stood.
He looked a little bummed that I was remaining disinterested as he opened the door.
The apartment was actually pretty big.
It opened into a large living room. Something we didn’t really have in our place. It even had one of those round media couches indented into the floor in the corner.
There was a small inset nearby that had a fridge, and a pseudo kitchenette. Just without any of the normal stuff in a kitchen, because people don’t cook in Cyberpunk.
More like they were pushed to not cook, but that wasn’t something I was going to focus on right now.
The Bathroom still didn’t have an actual door.
Fucking Cyberpunk. I swear to god doors on bathrooms were normal! Why did no one have a damn…
I sighed letting the irritation go. I was still finding myself easily riled up since the attack. It was obvious the attack hadn’t exactly left me my usual self. I took a deep breath and let it out, feeling arctic for a moment, as I steadied my heart and then breathed normally.
Jun was wandering around looking around the place with a happy smile on his face.
Dammit. Jun wanted to move didn’t he?
The brush with returning Cyberpsychosis seemed to have washed off his back after everything. Which was good, but it did kind of piss me off, because it meant Jun was actually…
Jun was actually happy looking around this apartment. It wasn’t faked, or something he was trying to convince me.
This was something he wanted.
I forgot.
People in Night City cared about reputation. Reputation was important. And the way you showed off your rep was owning things.
Fast cars, fancy clothes, lots of chrome.
A big apartment.
Our place was kinda a shithole. I knew that. I just… I had grown comfy. It was security. Safety like a blanket.
I was going to have to be the mature one. Jun deserved that. Jun deserved to be able to have a nice big apartment with room to actually move, and fancy stuff.
He was a teenager taking care of his kid sister. His kid sister that shouldn’t be throwing a fucking tantrum like an actual teenager about moving into a bigger, fancier, more secure apartment.
Dammit. I hated when my face was rubbed in the negative effects of my own childishness. I mean… I wasn’t going to change, but at least I could acknowledge when it caused problems.
There actually was more than one room here. I guess I really would have my own room. Jun was distracted with checking out the entertainment system, acting like the teenager he was as I checked the rooms.
“I call dibs on this one!” I call out, knowing the reaction it would get.
“That’s the bigger room!” Jun yelped as he charged at me, and I broke the smile on my face before he could see it.
There would be a fight, I would likely be sat on for a while, and in the end Jun would ‘earn’ his master bedroom. But it was better this way.
Because as much as I was focused on my own happiness. I wanted Jun the big gonk to be happy too, and maybe… Maybe it was time to let him have that happiness without his needy, childish sister getting in the way.
Carrot of Truth
War is Peace
Motoko realized she was being an obstinate brat over the apartment, Kind of funny since moving to a better place would have been near the top of her list early on probably.
There will come a day when Motoko finishes a gig from a fixer that's not Wako, but it it not this day.
This day we shop for a flat.
This day we shop for a flat.
Chapter 109
Seras
Well-known member
We went home to the apartment after and the whole time Jun was being insufferable.
"I told you you would like it!" he teased, smiling like the stupid gonk he is.
My desire to punch him was rising. Just because I had accepted that moving was what Jun wanted, and I shouldn't hold him back didn't mean I really wanted it.
But he was acting like I was super happy with it all.
"Jun shut up." I told him simply as I walked around my room cleaning things up. Gathering up everything so we could start moving stuff.
"When do you want me to call Ichi with his truck? Wait, when does the lease and stuff actually go through?" How did leasing even work in Night City?
"What do you mean, it's already ours." Jun said as he popped his head around the corner from his room to look at me.
I narrowed my eyes.
"Fujimura already gave you the apartment before you ever tried to convince me to move didn't he?" I accused him, eyes narrowed as I prepared for the answer I already knew.
Jun blinked realizing he was suddenly standing in the middle of a minefield.
"Nooo?" He said and I chucked an old shoe at him that I had found in a corner. Unfortunately he was pretty quick and dodged it.
"Jerk." I grumbled as I continued to dig things out of corners. And finding bags and boxes to put them in.
I picked up another cardboard box that Jun had grabbed to stuff shit into.
Well it wasn't actually cardboard. It looked like it, sorta felt like it, but it wasn't. And I had long ago decided not to ask questions about what stuff in Night City was actually made of.
I should be killing Scavs right now.
Not dealing with moving.
I pulled out my little dresser, noticing a bunch of stuff that I had never seen before back behind it.
Motoko was kind of a slob…
Okay I was still kind of a slob, but I had a lot less knick knacks and junk…
Okay I still had a lot of junk, but it was all tech supplies!
"Huh." I muttered pulling out an actual digital photo display. I switched it on and blinked.
"So that's what I looked like before." It was a picture of Motoko… Well older Motoko sitting on Jun's Kusanagi. She was dressed up fully in Tyger Claw swag, hair done up in mohawk…
I guess HIromi and I used to share hairstyles? Although mine had been a shorter faux hawk.
I looked at it for a while. I had no real connection to it. Jun was younger. Probably fifteen? He looked hilarious with his tough guy wannabe looks…
No wait. That means he would be around Ichi and Malcolm's age! He was a wannabe too! Oh man!
"Hey Jun, look what I found!" I called out smirking as I walked out of my bedroom to see Jun carefully disassembling the family shrine.
"What'd you find?" He asked solemnly as he slowly took down the picture of our parents.
"Nothing that interesting. Need some help?" I asked as I threw the picture frame onto the couch and moved to help Jun pack up our family shrine.
I'd tease him about the picture later.
—--
"So you're really moving?" Ichi asked as I led him inside.
"Yeah. It was important to Jun." I admitted as I pushed a box to the side to clear up some room on the couch. "Take a seat."
"No I can help!" He offered doing the usual childish act of flexing an arm.
"If you want? But the guy who brings the truck can put his feet up if he wants." I informed him which earned me a chuckle.
"Crazy to think last night was the last time we'll ever meet up here." He muttered, and I did my best to keep cool, to not let that thought strike my heart.
For Jun.
"Yeah, but starting tonight, You'll be able to meet up and party at our new place." Jun said as he appeared from around the corner, holding a box in one under and a long bag that I realized was acting as his gun bag.
Huh, I didn't know Jun had a gun bag…
Wait fuck I don't have a gun bag! All my guns were stolen from gonks! It's cool. Just pretend I don't notice and it won't matter.
"Yeah that's true. We'll have a new meetup. Motoko's fancy new place."
"It is kinda fancy." I whispered to Ichi as I walked by arms full of boxes. "Grab that one?"
"Yeah sure." He hefted up another box and all three of us headed down towards his truck.
It was parked just out front of the apartment, and the guards were keeping an eye on it, so we wouldn't have to worry about anything going missing while loading it up.
Pushing my box in, I stopped and headed over to the meat stick guy. "Gonna miss my usual." I told him and he chuckled and passed me an extra large stick.
Thanks, Meat stick guy. You're the best.
I paid extra though. I definitely had more eddies than the poor old man.
As I took a break and ate my last meat stick skewer I looked around. Mostly because I was still on edge and expecting to see a Scav hunter group or something barreling down the road.
But there was nothing.
Just a quiet day on the streets.
In the end, despite my fears there hadn't been a second Scav attack. No bomb, or trick. It made me nervous because I thought there would have been and yet.
Nothing.
I didn't know why though. Then again what I had done could have been completely covered by the acts of the Tygers.
Considering how Scavs act. We could have killed the Scavs that knew about where I lived. Or killed all the Scavs that cared.
The whole thing was a massive mess, and unlike in a video game that would always have a helpful conversation shard sitting on the side of a table or something, there wasn't anything that helpful for me to figure this out.
I still really wanted to kill them. Just to make sure, but the whole thing was weird.
In the end the real world wasn't a game, or an anime. I wasn't the main character of Night City.
Well…
Not yet.
—--
"Well. This is it." Jun said as he dropped the last box of stuff into the middle of the living room.
We were completely moved out.
Our entire apartment, our entire life, had fit in the back of Ichi's truck. It had only taken one load to move everything over.
Our vehicles were now parked in a garage under the building.
Our stuff was there on the floor. Malcolm and Ichi were watching the truck to make sure nothing went missing while Jun and I unloaded.
"Yeah." I muttered before sighing and walking into my room. It had an actual bed. One of the weird future beds that were everywhere in Night city. Gently I pulled out a special object out of my jacket. Something I hadn't trusted letting anyone else mess with. The bed had little drawers along the side of it, and for now that was good enough. I slipped it in.
"What's that?" Jun asked, not quite startling me.
"A cyberdeck." I explained. I just didn't explain that it was Rache fucking Bartmosses deck.
"Okay?"
"It's rare, one of a kind, so I kept it on me." I told him and then shrugged heading back out to the apartment. "I'll go get the boys."
"Yeah, sounds good." Jun said looking at the pile of junk that we had stacked up on the floor. He sighed and grabbed the first box.
That's right Jun! Suffer at the knowledge that moving sucked!
I headed out. The hallway as usual was so fancy it almost made me uncomfortable. I kept checking my boots to make sure I wasn't tracking mud on the carpets.
But as I walked past the apartment right next to ours, I heard something that halted me in my place.
Music.
Not recorded sound, but someone actually playing an instrument. I stopped to listen for a moment as the tune came through the walls.
Huh. They were good! I hummed along for a moment as I let the song play through. I liked it. The musician had a recorded track they were playing with, a lot of recorded sounds, and a definite Japanese electronica groove.
Honestly I was just thankful it wasn't Us Cracks.
I shook it off, and decided I would say hello to my new neighbor sometime soon.
Until then I needed to head back down and let the boys know we had finished and they were now free.
I headed down taking the elevator that took forever to get down to the garage basement floor.
I walked out and had to frown.
A few Tygers were messing with the boys.
Around the front of Ichi's truck were a group of teenagers. They were obviously unwelcome as they were resting against the truck, one even sitting on the front of Ichi's hood, her legs swinging as they obviously were causing trouble.
"Hey!" I called out as I walked over catching the eyes of the group. "What are you guys bothering my chooms for?"
"Eh? Bothering? We are just checking out these weird gonks idling in our garage. Who the hell are you?" The one that had been hanging his elbow in Ichi's window called out, but didn't move away, instead a couple of his chooms were focusing on me.
"They were helping us move in. Twenty-Seventh floor." I called out, emphasizing the floor. Fujimura owned the entire floor? Then anyone in the area would know not to mess with anyone from that floor.
Their 'leader' slowly pulled away from the window as he looked me over.
"You don't look like the type to live on that floor."
"Fujimura and I have an understanding… And my Nii-chan is one of his men. Now stop harassing my chooms." I demanded.
I had learned from my lesson with Hiromi. Be blunt and direct with gangsters because they might not have the brain cells to rub together to understand a less blunt threat.
It still grated at me. To rely on Fujimura's rep. The stupid "Do you know who I am?" Statements always annoyed me.
I walked past the group, noticing the girl on the hood had slipped off, and tried to make it look like she hadn't just been sitting on Ichi's truck.
"Thanks for the help guys. Jun and I have it from here. Why don't you head out of here, We are just going to be unpacking for a while… Here, dinner's on me, okay?" I quickly sent a bunch of eddies to Malcolm and Ichi, despite Ichi's glare.
He had refused any payment for helping out today, but I wasn't going to let them help Jun and I move for free.
"Hey! That's the boss for you!" Malcolm called out more than happy for the payment.
"You don't have to… Motoko!" Ichi yelled behind me but I was already hurrying away, passing through the gangster gonks who were all watching me, their faces all showing their curiosity in who I was.
If I was important.
If I was lying.
If I was telling the truth.
But I wasn't here to satisfy their curiosity. I rushed back to the elevator and headed back up.
Time to unpack.
—---
Jun and I both flopped onto the big round couch.
"That was tiring."
"Yeah." I agreed with Jun. Everything was unpacked, or at least the boxes were put away in our rooms for later. Our family shrine was up. Our weapons were stored away, which had taken a bit longer than expected.
My armory had to my absolute delight put Jun's to shame, and we might have gotten into a wrestling match when he made a move towards my HMG.
Mine!
But now we were basically done.
All moved out.
All moved in.
"It's gonna be great Motoko. You'll see." He said and I didn't respond. He had been saying stuff like this to me all day, trying to hype me up for the new move.
"Aren't you the least bit excited? A new place? Bigger! Better!" I could try to explain to him that I knew what moving to a new apartment was like. It usually just ended with a month of getting used to it, before realizing all the new problems you had to live with that might not be the horrible ones from the last place, but were still shit.
But I couldn't exactly tell him that. As far as Jun was aware this was my first new place ever.
"I'm gonna play the entire Samurai Catalog at full blast right outside your room all night… Fair warning." I informed him and received a retaliatory pillow in exchange.
"You'll like it. It's better in every way from our old place." Jun informed me with a dreamy voice.
"You realize of course there isn't an XXL burrito machine outside the apartment door anymore." Then I let that tidbit settle in. A moment later Jun was at the door and then rushing down the hall.
I had checked as we walked in. No XXL burritos in the area that I had seen.
Good luck Jun-nii!
—--
Okay. We were moved in. Now back to work.
*Yes really. Why are you so confused? You sent the shard with the code over, and I just spent the last couple hours debugging it. It's done.*
*I expected you to take at least a week checking it over Motoko… Please make sure you are thorough.*
I sighed audibly and rubbed my face.
*I've already gone through it all Yoko. I'll add a file into the shard showing everything I fixed just so you can be sure, but I'm done. There isn't anything else that needs to be fixed unless you want me to start rewriting the code from scratch.*
The line was quiet for a while. *Very well. I'll have a runner come by your new place for a pickup. I'll confirm the work, and message you when I've found an issue, or written off the favor.*
*Perfect. Talk to you later then.*
I hung up. Wakako was right. Hanging up on people that were annoying you was great.
I groaned as I flopped on the couch. Between coding work and moving in. I was done for now. Jun was still bustling about his room setting things up looking happier than I had seen him in a while.
Stupid Jun. Being happy about this crummy apartment.
I wanted to go kill Scavs.
I rolled up and rushed to my room. Grabbing my ammo and MaxDoc pouches, I suited up. If I went fast enough Jun wouldn't catch me leaving and bother me again.
I geared up quickly, grabbing my Kang Tao armor and doing a full suit up.
Techgogs equipped I was ready for war.
Sliding the goggles over my eyes I slipped over to my door and peaked out.
No Jun in sight. Operation was a go.
I rushed out bare feet utterly silent on the carpet. Honestly it was a weird feeling since I was so used to the tiled floors that filled NIght City and the fact I usually just wore my boots around so I would be safe from any trash on the floor.
But this apartment was too clean, so I had to leave my boots at the front door. I quickly grabbed them and left through the door once the door was closed I slipped them on. Taking a minute to secure everything and then I was heading down the hall. Passing by music neighbor and reaching the elevator without anyone noticing beside the cameras.
I quickly sent Jun a Text.
*Motoko: Heading out for a while.*
Just as the door shut.
Didn't want Jun to try and stop me. I whistled fakely as I pretended to ignore the text he sent back in response wanting to know what I was doing.
Then I was back in the garage, and the city was mine.
I walked out stalking towards where Jun and I's parking spot was located. Ignoring the attention that the Tyger teens gave me as I walked around.
Don't call me a Dough Girl. Don't call me a Dough Girl!
I ignored them. I didn't even want to know what they were saying as I walked up to the Quadra and popped the trunk.
Inside my armory was ready. I grabbed the Copperhead from the roof of the trunk. I had spent some time adding additional weapon slots to the trunk over time. Honestly I had a few cutouts that I didn't even own yet, but more as future desires.
I patted my Nekomata a bit as I left it behind. I needed to work with Jackie and V and stuff more. I would get more sniper work with them I felt.
But I ignored that as I walked to the driver seat and laid my Copperhead in the passenger footwell. So I could grab it quickly if needed.
I had a few more places to hit tonight.
Time to get to work.
"I told you you would like it!" he teased, smiling like the stupid gonk he is.
My desire to punch him was rising. Just because I had accepted that moving was what Jun wanted, and I shouldn't hold him back didn't mean I really wanted it.
But he was acting like I was super happy with it all.
"Jun shut up." I told him simply as I walked around my room cleaning things up. Gathering up everything so we could start moving stuff.
"When do you want me to call Ichi with his truck? Wait, when does the lease and stuff actually go through?" How did leasing even work in Night City?
"What do you mean, it's already ours." Jun said as he popped his head around the corner from his room to look at me.
I narrowed my eyes.
"Fujimura already gave you the apartment before you ever tried to convince me to move didn't he?" I accused him, eyes narrowed as I prepared for the answer I already knew.
Jun blinked realizing he was suddenly standing in the middle of a minefield.
"Nooo?" He said and I chucked an old shoe at him that I had found in a corner. Unfortunately he was pretty quick and dodged it.
"Jerk." I grumbled as I continued to dig things out of corners. And finding bags and boxes to put them in.
I picked up another cardboard box that Jun had grabbed to stuff shit into.
Well it wasn't actually cardboard. It looked like it, sorta felt like it, but it wasn't. And I had long ago decided not to ask questions about what stuff in Night City was actually made of.
I should be killing Scavs right now.
Not dealing with moving.
I pulled out my little dresser, noticing a bunch of stuff that I had never seen before back behind it.
Motoko was kind of a slob…
Okay I was still kind of a slob, but I had a lot less knick knacks and junk…
Okay I still had a lot of junk, but it was all tech supplies!
"Huh." I muttered pulling out an actual digital photo display. I switched it on and blinked.
"So that's what I looked like before." It was a picture of Motoko… Well older Motoko sitting on Jun's Kusanagi. She was dressed up fully in Tyger Claw swag, hair done up in mohawk…
I guess HIromi and I used to share hairstyles? Although mine had been a shorter faux hawk.
I looked at it for a while. I had no real connection to it. Jun was younger. Probably fifteen? He looked hilarious with his tough guy wannabe looks…
No wait. That means he would be around Ichi and Malcolm's age! He was a wannabe too! Oh man!
"Hey Jun, look what I found!" I called out smirking as I walked out of my bedroom to see Jun carefully disassembling the family shrine.
"What'd you find?" He asked solemnly as he slowly took down the picture of our parents.
"Nothing that interesting. Need some help?" I asked as I threw the picture frame onto the couch and moved to help Jun pack up our family shrine.
I'd tease him about the picture later.
—--
"So you're really moving?" Ichi asked as I led him inside.
"Yeah. It was important to Jun." I admitted as I pushed a box to the side to clear up some room on the couch. "Take a seat."
"No I can help!" He offered doing the usual childish act of flexing an arm.
"If you want? But the guy who brings the truck can put his feet up if he wants." I informed him which earned me a chuckle.
"Crazy to think last night was the last time we'll ever meet up here." He muttered, and I did my best to keep cool, to not let that thought strike my heart.
For Jun.
"Yeah, but starting tonight, You'll be able to meet up and party at our new place." Jun said as he appeared from around the corner, holding a box in one under and a long bag that I realized was acting as his gun bag.
Huh, I didn't know Jun had a gun bag…
Wait fuck I don't have a gun bag! All my guns were stolen from gonks! It's cool. Just pretend I don't notice and it won't matter.
"Yeah that's true. We'll have a new meetup. Motoko's fancy new place."
"It is kinda fancy." I whispered to Ichi as I walked by arms full of boxes. "Grab that one?"
"Yeah sure." He hefted up another box and all three of us headed down towards his truck.
It was parked just out front of the apartment, and the guards were keeping an eye on it, so we wouldn't have to worry about anything going missing while loading it up.
Pushing my box in, I stopped and headed over to the meat stick guy. "Gonna miss my usual." I told him and he chuckled and passed me an extra large stick.
Thanks, Meat stick guy. You're the best.
I paid extra though. I definitely had more eddies than the poor old man.
As I took a break and ate my last meat stick skewer I looked around. Mostly because I was still on edge and expecting to see a Scav hunter group or something barreling down the road.
But there was nothing.
Just a quiet day on the streets.
In the end, despite my fears there hadn't been a second Scav attack. No bomb, or trick. It made me nervous because I thought there would have been and yet.
Nothing.
I didn't know why though. Then again what I had done could have been completely covered by the acts of the Tygers.
Considering how Scavs act. We could have killed the Scavs that knew about where I lived. Or killed all the Scavs that cared.
The whole thing was a massive mess, and unlike in a video game that would always have a helpful conversation shard sitting on the side of a table or something, there wasn't anything that helpful for me to figure this out.
I still really wanted to kill them. Just to make sure, but the whole thing was weird.
In the end the real world wasn't a game, or an anime. I wasn't the main character of Night City.
Well…
Not yet.
—--
"Well. This is it." Jun said as he dropped the last box of stuff into the middle of the living room.
We were completely moved out.
Our entire apartment, our entire life, had fit in the back of Ichi's truck. It had only taken one load to move everything over.
Our vehicles were now parked in a garage under the building.
Our stuff was there on the floor. Malcolm and Ichi were watching the truck to make sure nothing went missing while Jun and I unloaded.
"Yeah." I muttered before sighing and walking into my room. It had an actual bed. One of the weird future beds that were everywhere in Night city. Gently I pulled out a special object out of my jacket. Something I hadn't trusted letting anyone else mess with. The bed had little drawers along the side of it, and for now that was good enough. I slipped it in.
"What's that?" Jun asked, not quite startling me.
"A cyberdeck." I explained. I just didn't explain that it was Rache fucking Bartmosses deck.
"Okay?"
"It's rare, one of a kind, so I kept it on me." I told him and then shrugged heading back out to the apartment. "I'll go get the boys."
"Yeah, sounds good." Jun said looking at the pile of junk that we had stacked up on the floor. He sighed and grabbed the first box.
That's right Jun! Suffer at the knowledge that moving sucked!
I headed out. The hallway as usual was so fancy it almost made me uncomfortable. I kept checking my boots to make sure I wasn't tracking mud on the carpets.
But as I walked past the apartment right next to ours, I heard something that halted me in my place.
Music.
Not recorded sound, but someone actually playing an instrument. I stopped to listen for a moment as the tune came through the walls.
Huh. They were good! I hummed along for a moment as I let the song play through. I liked it. The musician had a recorded track they were playing with, a lot of recorded sounds, and a definite Japanese electronica groove.
Honestly I was just thankful it wasn't Us Cracks.
I shook it off, and decided I would say hello to my new neighbor sometime soon.
Until then I needed to head back down and let the boys know we had finished and they were now free.
I headed down taking the elevator that took forever to get down to the garage basement floor.
I walked out and had to frown.
A few Tygers were messing with the boys.
Around the front of Ichi's truck were a group of teenagers. They were obviously unwelcome as they were resting against the truck, one even sitting on the front of Ichi's hood, her legs swinging as they obviously were causing trouble.
"Hey!" I called out as I walked over catching the eyes of the group. "What are you guys bothering my chooms for?"
"Eh? Bothering? We are just checking out these weird gonks idling in our garage. Who the hell are you?" The one that had been hanging his elbow in Ichi's window called out, but didn't move away, instead a couple of his chooms were focusing on me.
"They were helping us move in. Twenty-Seventh floor." I called out, emphasizing the floor. Fujimura owned the entire floor? Then anyone in the area would know not to mess with anyone from that floor.
Their 'leader' slowly pulled away from the window as he looked me over.
"You don't look like the type to live on that floor."
"Fujimura and I have an understanding… And my Nii-chan is one of his men. Now stop harassing my chooms." I demanded.
I had learned from my lesson with Hiromi. Be blunt and direct with gangsters because they might not have the brain cells to rub together to understand a less blunt threat.
It still grated at me. To rely on Fujimura's rep. The stupid "Do you know who I am?" Statements always annoyed me.
I walked past the group, noticing the girl on the hood had slipped off, and tried to make it look like she hadn't just been sitting on Ichi's truck.
"Thanks for the help guys. Jun and I have it from here. Why don't you head out of here, We are just going to be unpacking for a while… Here, dinner's on me, okay?" I quickly sent a bunch of eddies to Malcolm and Ichi, despite Ichi's glare.
He had refused any payment for helping out today, but I wasn't going to let them help Jun and I move for free.
"Hey! That's the boss for you!" Malcolm called out more than happy for the payment.
"You don't have to… Motoko!" Ichi yelled behind me but I was already hurrying away, passing through the gangster gonks who were all watching me, their faces all showing their curiosity in who I was.
If I was important.
If I was lying.
If I was telling the truth.
But I wasn't here to satisfy their curiosity. I rushed back to the elevator and headed back up.
Time to unpack.
—---
Jun and I both flopped onto the big round couch.
"That was tiring."
"Yeah." I agreed with Jun. Everything was unpacked, or at least the boxes were put away in our rooms for later. Our family shrine was up. Our weapons were stored away, which had taken a bit longer than expected.
My armory had to my absolute delight put Jun's to shame, and we might have gotten into a wrestling match when he made a move towards my HMG.
Mine!
But now we were basically done.
All moved out.
All moved in.
"It's gonna be great Motoko. You'll see." He said and I didn't respond. He had been saying stuff like this to me all day, trying to hype me up for the new move.
"Aren't you the least bit excited? A new place? Bigger! Better!" I could try to explain to him that I knew what moving to a new apartment was like. It usually just ended with a month of getting used to it, before realizing all the new problems you had to live with that might not be the horrible ones from the last place, but were still shit.
But I couldn't exactly tell him that. As far as Jun was aware this was my first new place ever.
"I'm gonna play the entire Samurai Catalog at full blast right outside your room all night… Fair warning." I informed him and received a retaliatory pillow in exchange.
"You'll like it. It's better in every way from our old place." Jun informed me with a dreamy voice.
"You realize of course there isn't an XXL burrito machine outside the apartment door anymore." Then I let that tidbit settle in. A moment later Jun was at the door and then rushing down the hall.
I had checked as we walked in. No XXL burritos in the area that I had seen.
Good luck Jun-nii!
—--
Okay. We were moved in. Now back to work.
*Yes really. Why are you so confused? You sent the shard with the code over, and I just spent the last couple hours debugging it. It's done.*
*I expected you to take at least a week checking it over Motoko… Please make sure you are thorough.*
I sighed audibly and rubbed my face.
*I've already gone through it all Yoko. I'll add a file into the shard showing everything I fixed just so you can be sure, but I'm done. There isn't anything else that needs to be fixed unless you want me to start rewriting the code from scratch.*
The line was quiet for a while. *Very well. I'll have a runner come by your new place for a pickup. I'll confirm the work, and message you when I've found an issue, or written off the favor.*
*Perfect. Talk to you later then.*
I hung up. Wakako was right. Hanging up on people that were annoying you was great.
I groaned as I flopped on the couch. Between coding work and moving in. I was done for now. Jun was still bustling about his room setting things up looking happier than I had seen him in a while.
Stupid Jun. Being happy about this crummy apartment.
I wanted to go kill Scavs.
I rolled up and rushed to my room. Grabbing my ammo and MaxDoc pouches, I suited up. If I went fast enough Jun wouldn't catch me leaving and bother me again.
I geared up quickly, grabbing my Kang Tao armor and doing a full suit up.
Techgogs equipped I was ready for war.
Sliding the goggles over my eyes I slipped over to my door and peaked out.
No Jun in sight. Operation was a go.
I rushed out bare feet utterly silent on the carpet. Honestly it was a weird feeling since I was so used to the tiled floors that filled NIght City and the fact I usually just wore my boots around so I would be safe from any trash on the floor.
But this apartment was too clean, so I had to leave my boots at the front door. I quickly grabbed them and left through the door once the door was closed I slipped them on. Taking a minute to secure everything and then I was heading down the hall. Passing by music neighbor and reaching the elevator without anyone noticing beside the cameras.
I quickly sent Jun a Text.
*Motoko: Heading out for a while.*
Just as the door shut.
Didn't want Jun to try and stop me. I whistled fakely as I pretended to ignore the text he sent back in response wanting to know what I was doing.
Then I was back in the garage, and the city was mine.
I walked out stalking towards where Jun and I's parking spot was located. Ignoring the attention that the Tyger teens gave me as I walked around.
Don't call me a Dough Girl. Don't call me a Dough Girl!
I ignored them. I didn't even want to know what they were saying as I walked up to the Quadra and popped the trunk.
Inside my armory was ready. I grabbed the Copperhead from the roof of the trunk. I had spent some time adding additional weapon slots to the trunk over time. Honestly I had a few cutouts that I didn't even own yet, but more as future desires.
I patted my Nekomata a bit as I left it behind. I needed to work with Jackie and V and stuff more. I would get more sniper work with them I felt.
But I ignored that as I walked to the driver seat and laid my Copperhead in the passenger footwell. So I could grab it quickly if needed.
I had a few more places to hit tonight.
Time to get to work.
I imagine the teens were wondering whether or not to hassle her then saw the rocket launcher when she popped the trunk.
Carrot of Truth
War is Peace
So is some of the original Motoko still in there? It would explain some of the new Motoko's more childish and immature personality quirks.
Seras
Well-known member
Ehhhhh. Motoko doesn't have any memories of pre coma Motoko. But I do like Seat_Admirals The New Man having Pre-Coma Motoko being similar to new Motoko in personality just without the memories. So she is fully into the TC because she doesn't have OOC memories of them being the villains etc.
Motoko just being childish, is just because it's fun to be childish, and even grown people can act childish at times. Especially in stressful situations.
A few moments later a furious Oni will be stomping down the stairs demanding of those poor little gonks to tell him where his precious little sister went.
"It's too dangerous for my sister to go out alone!"
"She had a fricking rocket launcher in her car's trunk!"
"She's practically defenseless!"
Blasterbot
Well-known member
Had a rocket. Does she have reloads?
Corvus 501
Active member
I mean how many can you practically use? Cities are crowded, and cyberpunk cities have a shitload more metal and other dense stuff around waiting to be turned into shrapnel. More importantly, Motoko fighting Scavs, usually in theor own places.
She's not taking a swing at MaxTac, or Adam Smasher, so flexible firepower is more important than raw firepower. A single loaded rocket launcher, with maybe one or two reloads is perfect for getting out of sticky situations, without unduly risking ammo explosions.
Seras
Well-known member
The Uragan is a 10 shot Rocket Launcher. So she has 9 left.
Didn't she also use one on the yacht?