Chapter 40: Reactions
A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!
Lucy is surprised to say the least.
-x-X-x-
Of all the things Lucy was expecting Rebecca to tell her, this… wasn’t one of them. She finds herself sitting there for a long moment in silence, her simple ‘Oh’ hanging heavy in the air between them as neither of them says a word. What was she supposed to say? It was one thing for them to talk about the things they’d been doing and how Rebecca was feeling. Given how much she’d invested in trying to rebuild the other woman, Lucy had a vested interest in making sure she didn’t… well, go cyberpsycho.
It was kind of a weird situation, because Lucy didn’t even know if this new version of Rebecca COULD go cyberpsycho or not. Or would it maybe even be called Cyberpsychosis if it did happen? In the end, it didn’t matter what they labeled it. The potential was there for Rebecca to go off the deep end.
Lucy had found out that was one of the main reasons Rebecca had been granted the first Gemini Body in the first place. On the one hand, the remnants of the Rebecca she’d known were in a bad way, scattered on the Net and slowly but surely brought together by one of Lucy’s predecessors, Sasha. Getting her off the Net and back into a real body again was for her own good as much as anything else.
On the other hand, it was also a test. What if confining what was effectively an AI to one body caused issues? What if it led to problems down the road? Rebecca was a great way to experiment, especially since they were all hoping she would get more benefits from having a body back than anything else.
Still, was Rebecca developing feelings for V a good sign or a bad sign? Did it mean she was deviating off course… or was it an excellent step forward in her ultimate recovery?
Letting out a grunt from beside her, Rebecca suddenly starts to rise, clearly taking Lucy’s stunned silence as a dismissal even though it’s not. In that moment, Lucy finds herself with a split-second decision. Stop her or just let her go. And despite her rational mind telling her to let her go… the Netrunner snaps a handout anyways, grabbing Rebecca by the wrist.
“Rebecca, wait.”
Looking back at her with a frown, Rebecca furrows her brow. Lucy knows instinctively that just saying ‘I want to keep talking’ isn’t going to be enough here. Rebecca wants answers. And Lucy…
“I think if that’s how you feel… you should strongly consider acting on those feelings.”
Thankfully, it works. Rebecca blinks and then flops back down onto the couch, staring at her intensely.
“Really? I just… I don’t know how he’ll react. What if he doesn’t feel the same way as I do?”
Lucy winces at that. She might be one of the least connected members of V’s crew at this point, the most outsider of them all… but she would have to be an idiot not to pick up on some rather obvious things.
“W-Well… before that, let’s figure out your feelings first, yeah? Like for instance… you know he’s polyamorous right?”
It’s a testament to the fact that this isn’t truly HER Rebecca when the other woman just nods. The original Rebecca wouldn’t have known what ‘polyamorous’ even meant, but clearly this Rebecca had a lot more knowledge to go with the memories that made her who she was.
“Yeah. I’ve been paying attention. He’s a bit of a slut, isn’t he?”
Lucy lets out an involuntary laugh at that, more from surprise than anything. The Netrunner definitely didn’t expect Rebecca to call her crush a slut. Still, it wasn’t exactly inaccurate.
“And you don’t care about that? About him sleeping around?”
Rebecca shrugs, averting her gaze from Lucy’s for the first time since she sat back down. The reason why becomes apparent a moment later.
“It’s more that I think I shouldn’t care about it, rather than that I do or don’t care. After all… caring so much is what lost me my chance with David. Maybe if I hadn’t been so hung up on things… we could have shared.”
Um. Lucy blinks slowly as she processes that. Ultimately, she decides that it’s a can of worms best left alone. The original Rebecca never would have gone for it and Lucy isn’t sure she would have either. Neither of them truly swung that way. But this new Rebecca… well, more power to her.
“If you think that the polyamorous aspect isn’t a dealbreaker, and you like him and enjoy his company… then I don’t see why you shouldn’t go for it, Becca.”
Far from being bolstered by Lucy’s support, Rebecca just frowns more severely, squirming on the couch.
“What if… what if he doesn’t like me back though?”
Lucy tilts her head to the side. It was a fair enough worry, she supposed. Except…
“Well, as we’ve established, he is a bit of a slut. If nothing else, you could proposition him for just sex at first. I doubt he’d turn you down, given what we know. Then you can see if that feels right, see if it feels good… and see if your other feelings grow or dim in the face of that physical connection.”
Sex was just sex after all. Everyone did it, even if they didn’t have a true romantic partner. Before she’d fallen in love with David, Lucy usually got her itch scratched on the Net, preferring that over having to risk her life out in the real world. Of course, most of the Net was just as dangerous as the real world… but she was stronger there. Much stronger.
Rebecca, or rather the original Rebecca, had taken her fair share of men to bed as well back in the day, though there’d come a point where she’d stopped and looking back, Lucy realized now that that must have been around the time she started falling for David too.
In the present, the new Rebecca considers Lucy’s words for several long seconds before slowly nodding.
“… You might be right. I can start off slow by propositioning him. He wouldn’t turn down some casual stress relief. Although…”
Lucy blinks as Rebecca, despite being in a literal robot body… blushes. The Netrunner has to make a conscious effort not to let her jaw drop in disbelief. She can’t be sure she’d ever seen Rebecca blush before, not even back when she’d been fully human.
“What if… I want him to fuck me in a particular way? What if he thinks I’m weird for it?”
Weird? Particular way? Lucy opens her mouth only to close it and decide right then and there… she doesn’t want to know. No, more than that, she doesn’t need to know. There have to be limits to girl talk and she’s pretty sure she just found hers. As much as she has a vested interest in seeing Rebecca thrive in this second chance at life, she definitely isn’t getting THAT involved.
“That would be between you and him, Rebecca. Whatever kinky shit you’re into… I’m sure you’d rather I not know about it. And I know I’d rather not know about it. So you’re just going to have to decide if someone like V is really likely to judge you… or if he’d be all for whatever freaky stuff you’re thinking of.”
Seeming to realize she’s hit Lucy’s boundaries, Rebecca grins apologetically and leans over to bump their shoulders together.
“Heh, sorry Luce. You’re right, you’re right.”
This time when she rises from the couch, there’s none of the awkward tension that was there before. Lucy doesn’t feel even the slightest compulsion to try and stop Rebecca from leaving. Indeed, the other woman takes the words right out of Lucy’s mouth when she stops near the door and turns back to give her a nod.
“Good talk, choom.”
Good talk indeed. Lucy can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief once Rebecca is out of the room. Who knew helping a dead woman get back on her feet would be so damn stressful?
-x-X-x-
V was, of course, entirely aware of Rebecca and Lucy’s conversation. Perhaps he shouldn’t be, but Alt treated the concept of privacy more as a suggestion than anything else… and then promptly ignored that suggestion ninety-nine percent of the time. Truly, V wasn’t opposed to the idea of being with Rebecca. He just wasn’t sure if he could give her anything more than a physical connection at this point. But maybe that was all reborn mercenary would need?
Alas, when she walks up to him, V has already found himself in the middle of something. So before she can speak up and likely proposition him, he cuts her off… and invites her along.
“Hey. Just got a call from Rogue about a potential gig… but she wants me to come talk to her at the Afterlife first. You want in?”
He can see Rebecca stutter-step, having been in the middle of opening her mouth to speak. He can also see her taking a moment to process his words… and then figure out exactly who he’s talking about.
“Wait… Rogue? As in Rogue Amendiares? The Queen of the Afterlife? THAT Rogue?”
V grins and inclines his head.
“Yeah, that Rogue. Interested?”
“Damn straight I’m interested! Let me grab my piece!”
Soon enough the gremlin is armed with her trusty pink and green shotgun and the two of them are meeting Panam outside to pile into her trusty truck. The Warhorse makes good time to the Afterlife, even as V finds himself somewhat amused by how laser-focused Rebecca is on him… and the looks that Panam keeps sneaking his way.
If it were just him and Rebecca, she probably would have asked him on the way to the Afterlife, Queen-Fixer or no Queen-Fixer. And if it were just him and Panam… well, she might have decided to ‘encourage’ him to do some heavy petting while she drove, perhaps by pulling her tits out of her top or something equally obscene.
Without even realizing it, the two women keep one another in check all the way to their destination. Despite Panam knowing full well he’s not exclusive and despite Rebecca telling Lucy she doesn’t mind him sleeping around… it seems they both still have their hangups.
No skin off of V’s back though. Even if he IS admittedly a little curious what ‘weird fetish’ Rebecca thinks would turn him off. It can wait though. Rogue… Rogue on the other hand can’t. Having HER call HIM to her side was very interesting, especially since it definitely hadn’t happened the first time around. Rogue had called V for some gigs here and there, and he’d gone to her when he needed help with numerous things he didn’t need help with this time, but ultimately she’d never asked him to stop by the Afterlife like this. That was new. And that made this somewhat exciting.
Of course, the Queen of the Afterlife can’t be seen showing too much in the way of favoritism. Which is how V finds himself waiting at the bar with Rebecca and Panam for Rogue to finally ‘call upon them’.
“What the fuck? You guys have a David Martinez on here?!”
V looks over to see Rebecca staring at the menu, her finger underlining the name of her former choom. Behind the bar, the Afterlife’s bartender comes over, an amused look on her face.
“That’s right. A shot of vodka on the rocks, topped with NiCola. Kid went toe to toe with Adam Smasher right in front of Arasaka Tower. Rumor has it, Smasher himself gave David Martinez his respect. Aimed high and went out with a bang. If that doesn’t qualify him to be a Night City Legend, I don’t know what would. You want one?”
Rebecca looks like she doesn’t quite know what to say to that. V watches her carefully, making sure she’s alright. Finally though, she nods and Claire prepares her the drink with professional swiftness before leaving to help another customer once she’s set it down in front of Rebecca.
Picking it up, Rebecca stares for a second before downing the whole cocktail in one fell swoop. V’s pretty sure that’s not how it’s intended to be imbibed, but Rebecca isn’t exactly human… she’s merely pretending to be human. Doesn’t stop her from doing a pretty damn good job of pretending though. After a moment, the Gemini FBC lets out a watery laugh and shakes her head.
“David would have hated it. He loathed carbonated drinks.”
V chuckles and even Panam cracks a smile at that. Before either of them can respond, however, they get the nod to go and speak with Rogue and he rises from the barstool, paying for Rebecca’s drink as he goes.
Finally, they arrive at Rogue’s booth, with V making sure to mess with Rogue with his usual Johnny Silverhand mannerisms, complete with putting his boots up on the table and stretching his arms along the back of the couch. Rebecca and Panam both pause for a moment, though for very different reasons. Rebecca is pausing because she’s starstruck what with being in the present of the Queen of the Afterlife. Panam is pausing because there’s still bad blood between her and Rogue.
Alas, Rebecca’s pause ends first as a result and the gremlin all but bounces forward to nervously take a seat next to V. In response, Panam comes closer but remains standing, her arms crossed over her chest defensively.
Pretending like she’s not bothered by V’s Silverhand-esque antics, Rogue smirks at Panam for a moment.
“Panam. Looking good.”
Scoffing, Panam rolls her eyes at the Fixer Queen.
“No thanks to you, Rogue.”
V steps in then, not just to make sure Panam gets the last word but also to end the cat fight before it can begin.
“You said you had something for me, Rogue. Must be serious if you had me come all the way here instead of just giving me the deets over a call.”
Rogue hums, her gaze lingering on Panam and then Rebecca before finally moving to V as she nods.
“It’s nothing biblical or end of the world… but it is a bit close to home, I will admit. I have a gig from the son of a dear friend of mine and I need competence and discretion.”
Wait, what? V keeps the confusion off of his face, even as Rogue hands over a data shard. Maintaining a mask of professionalism, he slots the data shard in... but can’t help frowning ever so slightly.
He recognized this. It was something he’d done for Rogue the first time around. Nancy Hartley, aka Bes Isis, aka the keyboardist for Samurai back in the day, had a son who’d gone and gotten his ride klepped by 6th Street. More importantly, there was a rare, one-of-a-kind bootleg Samurai recording in the trunk that was worth huge eddies.
Rogue wanted him to get it back for Nancy’s son Dan and of course, the first time around, V had done exactly that. He’d even gotten Dan his damn car back to boot. The thing was, Rogue had been more than willing to call V up and let him know all about this gig over the phone last time. None of this ‘its personal so I needed to have a face-to-face meeting’ bullshit.
… What the fuck was Rogue playing at here, exactly?
[ ] Reject the gig - 5%
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