\+/ PAST \+/
The neon glow of Night City shines bright within the darkness of the night sky... reds and blues, pinks and purples... the neon pollution becomes more and more imposing the deeper you venture into that cage of light. A concrete jungle... a cesspool of desire and debauchery coated in the noise of a thriving and active city. The city of dreams... a place you dare not call home.
We enter a megabuilding to see Brian and Graves, stood across from each other squared up in stance with their fists in the air. Graves closes the distance and feints before throwing several punches at Brian whom dodges each before attempting to tackle him. Graves recognizes this and effortlessly stops the takedown, flinging Brian's large fram to the side with a big smile on his face. The room shakes under the weight of these giant men at horseplay. Brian gets back up to try again, this time feinting a punch to distract before trying to tackle him again with full force. They hear a knock on the heavy metal door to their room causing them stop.
In walks Marilyn... sporting her Mox best... neon-turquoise platform high-heels with pink bottoms, black leather spandex so tight it really made her curves pop. The color pattern in her outfit weaved between light and dark... the glow of her fit cascaded down the front of her bare legs, down to the neon glow of her toenail polish. Her EMP threading was subtle and seductive... pairing well with her petite, lanky frame. Brian walks over to the radio and shuts it off as she walks past him. Graves takes a seat, whipping out a Black Lace inhaler and taking a whiff.
"So? How'd it go? Evelyn's friend still eye-fucking you?" Brian and Graves both chuckle.
"Fuck off." Marilyn rolls her eyes lighting a cigarette, she takes a drag. She finds a seat on the couch... crossing her legs before closing her eyes with a deep breath. She pulls out the wreath the maelstrom ganger gave to Allie along with the tailored, unmarked BrainDance chip freshly tuned. Brian grabs both admiring the end result of Marilyns work... her reliability has steadily grown into something beyond even his optics. He moves her cigarette away from her lips, giving her a deep kiss. She immediately pops the cig back in as Brian leaves her lips.. she looks out the window.
"Right.. now, lets go over this again" Brian says
As Brian paces back and forth in the room breaking down the plan, Graves listens attentively while Marilyn gazes out the window... the beautiful neon Night Cityscape resting just behind the couch. The city stares back at her... longingly... infatuated... their connection feels... inseparable. The first taps of rain begin to hit the window... Marilyn recalls a memory:
Marilyn sat in the basement of Lizzie's Bar rests her back up against a wall patiently waiting... taking long drags of her smoke with arms crossed. She surveys the warm room.. curious about the various tech and hardware stacked along the walls before taking a seat in the big comfy scrolling chair. Pretty spacious area all things considered... when it comes to braindance tuning, she'd imagine this is about as high level as it gets. Evelyn walks in and sees her sister.
"What the FUCK!! I said you can't smoke in here!"
A hand is quickly placed on Evelyn's shoulder from behind as a woman walks in past her.
"No no, its ok Ev." She smiles continuing past Evelyn and approaching Marilyn... her gaze fixated directly on Marilyn's eyes with tamped desire. She kneels down in front of her at the scrolling chair, handing her the the small black braindance chip.
"Here you go! Should be all set... i've uh... honestly never tuned a virtue like this before."
"Thank you SO much!... really I... your name again?"
Evelyn stood in a corner watching with arms crossed rolls her eyes.
"Judy." She says with a smile on her face slightly disappointed.
"JUDY! RIGHT!.. I'm so sorry- it's just been-"
"-Hey, don't worry about it..." Judy smirks with a pause looking down before back up into Marilyns eyes. "Its not everyday that i get to help out Mox royalty."
The two giggle together as Evelyn turns and walks out of the room. Judy looks back at her leaving... turning her attention back to Marilyn as the door closes... she stands up, walking back to her desk. Her tone shifts.
"She's... got a lot going on right now... the stress is killing her... really good at keeping me in the dark too."
"I know.." Marilyn mumbles taking another drag of her cig while glancing at the door Ev walked out of with skepticism. "Susie won't let me get involved."
"Why..? I mean... she's your-"
"-As calculated as ever. You know her... I've pretty much stopped bothering to ask at this point." Marilyn sits up and shifts her weight in the seat, slowly crossing her bare legs.. catching and holding Judy's eye.
"S-she's... the brain and you're the fist huh..." Judy mutters to herself... checking her out mesmerized. It's like Marilyn represents this impossible perfection to her... the epitome of prestige and raw power... deep in the life they work in. Her chance at even a piece of that makes her shudder at the thought of the attempt.
Marilyn takes another drag.. holding up the BD in the light, looking at the tiny, unmarked piece from various angles "Hm... Don't let her 'calculated' demeanor throw you off.. I've still got a ringin' in my ear from my initiation."
The pair laugh together before a long pause... sharing the space with each other in comfort for a short while. Judy breaks the silence.
"I've... gotta ask. I can't help it."
Marilyn looks over at Judy.
"Your... friend that you run with. Brian was it..?"
"What about him." Marilyn asks in a shifted tone, directly into Judy's eyes as she takes another drag. The shift in tone with direct eye contact intimidates Judy a bit.
"Uhhmm... Ev told me a little about him."
Marilyn scoffs, breaking eye contact. Judy continues
"Mainly.. that... she doesn't know much about him...? And.. how much that bothers her."
"Everything bothers her." Marilyn dismissively says tamping her smoke out underneath the arm rest of the chair. She gets up to make her way to the door.
"Y-yeah.. i just..." Judy pauses... standing in front of Marilyn and blocking her path... looking down contemplating whether or not she should say it.
She looks back up and into her emerald green eyes.
"Just be careful... ok? Please..." Judy pleads with concern.
Marilyn looks at her inquisitively after hearing the crack in her voice... caught off guard by the sincerity. Judy continues
"Night City street mercs... they'll... they'll do anything to get what they're after... risks and consequences be damned. The truly lost ones... set no limits for themselves... they're committed to the edge."
Marilyn breaks eye contact at the statement... a long pause rests between the two in each other's presence as Judy backs up slightly to move out of the way.
Marilyn finally speaks... projecting her thoughts outward at Judy.
"But... but what if I don't know what they're after?"
Judy looks at Marilyn... feeling a breakthrough.