I was sitting on the couch. Well laying on it more than anything. I probably should go kill those Scavs Or play so 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 .
Then I got a call.
Fuck.
*Hey Hiromi.* I answered. It wasnt that I didnt want to talk to my best choom. I just didnt 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 so fuckheads ass!*
I sighed.
Fuck today.
*Ill be right down.*
I climbed up and didnt so much put on my boots as I just threw them on my feet. So I wouldnt 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 dont know who you are, and you certainly dont have the right to keep us from seeing Motoko. Were Motokos gang! Her crew! Who the hell are you supposed to be?
The guard in charge bitch! No one bothers the Kusanagis! I dont care what crazy shit you say! Youre gonna get your ass knocked the fuck out if you dont-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? Cant let so 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 argunt as I was. Hey Motoko. Howre you holding up? He asked, as the first one in the elevator.
Fuck today. I inford him and he just nodded along like I said sothing wise.
Its okay Motoko! Your chooms are here to make your day better! Hiromi called out smiling and Ichi passed an apologetic smile.
She was determined to bring us all together today to see what we can do to help.
Ah. That explains Hiromis 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 . I guess I could use a break from all the stuff going on.
Right! If my Motoko needs so relaxation, thats 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 didnt open.
Cmon. 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 apartnt. I an there wasnt any glass left lying around, but there were still big holes in the walls and the barrier blinds.
Yeah its a little fucked up still. Jun and I need to call in an actual repair guy or sothing.
You are both gonks. I know soone. Ill 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 as I moved to stop her.
Heh. Thats Hiromi alright. Ichi said laughing as he ignored my ineffectual attempts to get Hiromi to stop.
She was stronger though! Did she get more chro? 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 Hiromis casual clothes to let check out her bicep, and then her stomach.
Yep those were muscles there.
I-its a Biotechnica upgrade package! Motoko!
Thats 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 hadnt thought much about Bioware since I kinda just wanted to go full borg eventually.
I shrugged and pulled my chro hands free of Hiromis 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 chro palm against my cheek for a second.
No it wasnt 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 monts later she blinked and her eyes were back to normal and then she leapt on .
Wha!
YOU! NOT WHEN IM ON A BUSINESS CALL YOU GONK! She shrieked as she pushed down and tried to faux strangle .
I couldnt help but start giggling, because while Hiromi was pretty strong, I was still stronger, and her response was great.
Sorry!
You arent sorry! She said struggling and I only giggled harder. Okay maybe today wasnt 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 chro, or mods is a bad idea Hiromi. Gotta have the skill to back it up, and my grappling perk made pretty good at this.
Ugh fine! She eventually gave in as I kept her from achieving her goal as she sat up surprising , by sitting her stupid fat ass right on my stomach, knocking the air out of a bit.
Oof! Hiromi!
I dont listen to chairs. She said to the air and then looked to Jun. Hey Jun. You doing okay?
Heh. The day has co where my kid sister's little chooms are worried about . He uttered shaking his head and standing up straight flashing her a grin to my surprise. Im fine. Irritated about everything but fine.
Hmm. Motoko hasnt 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 wasnt one of theirs and the TC is going along with it. So we only got Scavs to retaliate against, but Its impossible to know which group attacked us, or if there will be more attacks coming.
My chooms were quiet at Juns final words.
Im sorry. Hiromi said, reaching over and grabbing my hand as she adjusted herself to not be sitting on my stomach. I cant I cant believe they attacked your ho, and now you cant pinpoint the ones responsible.
So we just kill them all. I say with a shrug. Its been my solution since it happened. Im just going to kill every Scav I find until there arent 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 its ti we settle it there too, Motoko. We reach out with our contacts and make a deal.
Hell no!
Motoko. We got lucky last ti. You spotted the sniper just in ti, but that guy was an amateur. What if they just bombed our apartnt while we were in here. Or sent more than a van full of grunts Honestly Im surprised they sent so few.
I think Randall was the one responsible for that. I muttered and everyone looked at . The Maelstrom sniper, apparently his na 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 seed incredibly interested in all the Chro 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 an its not like my BDs arent getting around. Maybe he told them he knew who was recording the BDs and I dont know.
Everything was just an assumption. Jun had made sure we wouldnt be able to ask Randall, and the Scavs werent exactly chatty.
Motoko There is sothing else. Sothing Fujimura-sama ntioned to . He assigned us a few guards, but they are just kids they cant stop shit He ntioned that we should move into a more secure location.
Fuck no! I snapped outraged at the very idea, but Jun didnt 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. Its safe. Protected.
Jun I said no! We arent-Im not moving! This is our ho! 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 argunt between family mbers and not being sure what to do.
Sorry guys.
Jun stopped in front of and rested his stupid heavy hand on my head.
Ho 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 cant stop you there. But I think we should move. To a bigger place, a more secure place Dont you want a bigger room? One with your own space.
I like my current room just fine!
Its a closet you gonk. Youve never had a real room before. You could have a workbench and tinker with your stuff without accidentally sitting on it or-
Wait, when did you sit on my stuff!?
Jun blinked at 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.
Im like 90% sure he just tried to distract from the fact he apparently sat on so of my stuff and broke it.
You think so? Hiromi asked, and I nodded.
Im honestly more curious than upset. I dont rember 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 so food, and watch so garbage TV or sothing?
Sounds good to ! Malcolm said before anyone else could argue.
Great. Malcolm, you are with on the food run. Hiromi, Ichi figure out what to watch?
--
The next morning, long after everyone had gone ho, Jun poked as I was working on so programming stuff for Yoko in paynt for the Scav locations.
Cmon.
I already told you Jun. Im not moving.
Co anyways. He demanded and gave a look.
Fine. If only because if I didnt go with him he was going to lift up and carry like a sack of angry kittens.
I got up, got dressed, wasted so ti taking a shower specifically in protest, and ca out only to get whipped in the face with a towel.
Then Jun attacked with the towel.
H-hey! Sto-oooop! I whined but my brother has no rcy in his heart. He ran the towel over my hair like a machine and when he finally released I fell to the floor blinking as if soone had just mugged .
There, your hair is dry, cmon.
You Are you kidding ? Im 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 , 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 its funny. You dont really do makeup or anything, but youre pretty protective of your hair style. Jun said from the kitchen as he watched wrestle my hair with a brush desperately trying not to get it stuck in the ss of my hair.
Im plenty girly!
Jun just gave a look of disbelief. Hey! Thats so an!
Motoko Ive seen you wear the sa 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.
So things should just be kept between siblings.
--
Wow. Im totally impressed, Jun-nii! Truly this is the best place ever!
Your sarcasm isnt really necessary. He grumbled at as we looked at the building.
Funnily enough, we were just down the street from the apartnts that I cleared the other night. The sa tutorial Scav den from the ga. Just north, along the sa road I had leapt over while escaping Jun was a bunch of apartnt buildings all smashed together into a ss.
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 co look at the apartnts, okay? They are big. Bigger than our current place, and they are safe.
Im playing along for now, mostly because I love you, and want to spend ti with you, but Im not interested. I inford him, which to my secret delight earned a heavy hand ruffling my hair a little.
I swiped a punch at him in retaliation of course, but it was still nice.
Cmon lets see the place before anything else. You might like it. Well have neighbors that arent Ms. Kagura. He offered and I blinked before rembering the old lady that was our neighbor on our floor.
Oh right. I forgot about her.
Well there will be so kids our age here. So maybe soone you actually get along with. Soone to add to your little group?
Yeah sure Jun. I agreed without actually agreeing. If they lived here they would be TC brats Okay thats 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 mont 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 ssy space?
I scoffed but followed Jun down the hall. I noticed the security without a thought. Ninjutsu and Netrunning ant I couldnt help but notice it.
Quality caras, 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 didnt 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 like he was expecting so interest, but I had literally been in plenty of apartnts over the last few days.
Mostly killing Scavs, but the point stood.
He looked a little bumd that I was remaining disinterested as he opened the door.
The apartnt was actually pretty big.
It opened into a large living room. Sothing we didnt really have in our place. It even had one of those round dia 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 dont cook in Cyberpunk.
More like they were pushed to not cook, but that wasnt sothing I was going to focus on right now.
The Bathroom still didnt 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 hadnt exactly left my usual self. I took a deep breath and let it out, feeling arctic for a mont, 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 didnt he?
The brush with returning Cyberpsychosis seed to have washed off his back after everything. Which was good, but it did kind of piss off, because it ant Jun was actually
Jun was actually happy looking around this apartnt. It wasnt faked, or sothing he was trying to convince .
This was sothing 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 chro.
A big apartnt.
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 apartnt with room to actually move, and fancy stuff.
He was a teenager taking care of his kid sister. His kid sister that shouldnt be throwing a fucking tantrum like an actual teenager about moving into a bigger, fancier, more secure apartnt.
Dammit. I hated when my face was rubbed in the negative effects of my own childishness. I an I wasnt 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 entertainnt 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.
Thats the bigger room! Jun yelped as he charged at , 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 ti to let him have that happiness without his needy, childish sister getting in the way.
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