[ Lucy's cyberware isn't working at full capacity yet, but she still finds herself accepting Selena Voss' invitation. Something's happening in the city, something that's causing her cyberware to glitch out sometimes, something disruptive, something that's causing whispers in the clubs in the entertainment district where Lucy's spending some of her time. Something related to that weird signal they'd found in the garden.
It hasn't been that long since she was actively working as an edgerunner, but it feels like-- it's been an eternity. So much has happened since then. Things she can't bear to think about. But there's a mystery in this city and Lucy wants to throw herself head-first into it so she doesn't have to think for very long.
She'd teamed up with another Otherworlder to seek out more of these Fractured, and Lucy has armed herself for battle. The full body nanosuit she'd been given is largely white, black and purple accents curving over her hips and thighs, over her shoulders, glowing with threads of white-purple Bios. Neon-bright lipstick in some indefinable club-paint-under-a-blacklight color stains her lips. The bodysuit-- it's familiar in a way that hurts, in a way that makes her wants to shed it and go back to her regular clothing, in a way that makes her think of being young and wounded and tired. But it also feels like gearing up for battle, and it has weapons that she can use. ]
Here. Feels like the kind of alleyway that has something nasty lurking in it, doesn't it?
[ They're at the mouth of an alley that looks too dim in the evening light, and as Lucy presses onward, something takes shape in the darkness. A tin soldier, distorted. Twisted. Limbs too long, clad in rusted metal.
Before Lucy can say anything, that awful mouth opens and screams. Breath is punched out of her lungs as she hunches over, hands covering her ears, fear ricocheting through her very bones. She flings up a gloved hand, fingertips glowing, and the thing pauses, frozen, fighting. ]
We need to distract it! If it's an AI-- maybe I can try to rewrite it or something.
β βΈ» the fractured (part ii)
[ Later, still on the hunt, Lucy and another Otherworlder are walking down a backstreet in High Rise village. It's night time, and in the alleys and backstreets people have largely cleared out, drawn towards either their own homes or the more populated nightlife. This backstreet is full of the back-ends of cafes and diners, the smell of oil and herbs and spices still thick in the air.
Lucy makes a mental note to come here later when they're open. Anything that smells this spicy has to be good.
On the air is a strange noise, something that starts faint and tinny, like a radio set on low volume. A song that Lucy can't make out. It grows, and grows, until something is stepping out of the shadows -- a tall, grey-skinned thing with black armor and a long whip-like hair extending from their head. Its terrible smile gleams in the reflected light of neon signs.
It's singing. And part of Lucy wants to... listen, and float away with it. Her voice is rough when she grits out: ]
Fuck. Don't listen to it-- tune it out. It's putting off some kind of hypnotic effect.
lucy kushinada | cyberpunk: edgerunners
[ Lucy's cyberware isn't working at full capacity yet, but she still finds herself accepting Selena Voss' invitation. Something's happening in the city, something that's causing her cyberware to glitch out sometimes, something disruptive, something that's causing whispers in the clubs in the entertainment district where Lucy's spending some of her time. Something related to that weird signal they'd found in the garden.
It hasn't been that long since she was actively working as an edgerunner, but it feels like-- it's been an eternity. So much has happened since then. Things she can't bear to think about. But there's a mystery in this city and Lucy wants to throw herself head-first into it so she doesn't have to think for very long.
She'd teamed up with another Otherworlder to seek out more of these Fractured, and Lucy has armed herself for battle. The full body nanosuit she'd been given is largely white, black and purple accents curving over her hips and thighs, over her shoulders, glowing with threads of white-purple Bios. Neon-bright lipstick in some indefinable club-paint-under-a-blacklight color stains her lips. The bodysuit-- it's familiar in a way that hurts, in a way that makes her wants to shed it and go back to her regular clothing, in a way that makes her think of being young and wounded and tired. But it also feels like gearing up for battle, and it has weapons that she can use. ]
Here. Feels like the kind of alleyway that has something nasty lurking in it, doesn't it?
[ They're at the mouth of an alley that looks too dim in the evening light, and as Lucy presses onward, something takes shape in the darkness. A tin soldier, distorted. Twisted. Limbs too long, clad in rusted metal.
Before Lucy can say anything, that awful mouth opens and screams. Breath is punched out of her lungs as she hunches over, hands covering her ears, fear ricocheting through her very bones. She flings up a gloved hand, fingertips glowing, and the thing pauses, frozen, fighting. ]
We need to distract it! If it's an AI-- maybe I can try to rewrite it or something.
[ Later, still on the hunt, Lucy and another Otherworlder are walking down a backstreet in High Rise village. It's night time, and in the alleys and backstreets people have largely cleared out, drawn towards either their own homes or the more populated nightlife. This backstreet is full of the back-ends of cafes and diners, the smell of oil and herbs and spices still thick in the air.
Lucy makes a mental note to come here later when they're open. Anything that smells this spicy has to be good.
On the air is a strange noise, something that starts faint and tinny, like a radio set on low volume. A song that Lucy can't make out. It grows, and grows, until something is stepping out of the shadows -- a tall, grey-skinned thing with black armor and a long whip-like hair extending from their head. Its terrible smile gleams in the reflected light of neon signs.
It's singing. And part of Lucy wants to... listen, and float away with it. Her voice is rough when she grits out: ]
Fuck. Don't listen to it-- tune it out. It's putting off some kind of hypnotic effect.