Megabuilding H11

Kirchhoff laughed derisively at Bunny's guess for her lie. "Don't know anyone without daddy issues, eh?" She spoke pointedly. She didn't answer completely yet -- that would ruin the fun of the game! She leaned back against the wall of the elevator, arms crossed and inspecting the others while making a fruitless attempt to ignore the blaring ads on the screens.

"Anyway, you don't seem the frugal type when it comes to your fashion." She said, looking over the detail in Bunny's manicuring. "Maybe I'm wrong, in which case you gotta tell me where this spot is, it don't look cheap."

She turned her head to Raul. "Not sure I even need to guess for you. Though, I could certainly cast some doubt on your second option," she joked. "Don't sound all that confident there, min venn."

Finally, there was Tachi. She looked over to him, analyzing and calculating. "Somehow I feel like it hasn't only been three cyberarms. I've certainly heard stranger when it comes to other's exes." As she addressed Tachi, the elevator stopped and in walked the plastic-dressed stranger, whom Kirch only acknowledged at first with a brief, uninterested glance.

As soon as it became apparent that the woman was addressing her, she turned her eyes to her, not bothering with the rest of her head. "Yeah, three of 'em. you wouldn't believe the things you can get from the vending machines on the ground floor, they're not just good for budget handguns and burritos anymore." She smirked to herself, but wiped the smile away as quick as it came. "That's where you got that dress, right? I think I've seen that machine down there."
 
Raul snorted at Bunny and Kirch's responses to his answers, while throwing Tachi a wink. "You get a discount on the love 'dorph blend," he said while pointing a slightly shaking finger at Tachi. "You, on the other hand, might get my patented cockblocker blend in your coffee," he joked towards Bunny. "Caught me though," he added with a grin as he turned to Kirch. "Free samples for you, mi princesa de hielo. I know there's a passionate heart in there som--"

The elevator doors opened, and a harpy walked in. Raul reflexively caressed his left thumb, but otherwise kept silent for a moment as interactions unfolded. He wasn't particularly surprised that their neighbor was apparently a massive bitch. Way of the world, it seemed. He did enjoy Kirch's barbs and decided to try to summon a modicum of wit.

"Now Kirch, it's unfair to attack her fashion sense like that," he said, speaking as if the newcomer wasn't there. "You've read the nutrition label on those burritos. Those programmable synthweave dresses are the only lifeline some folks with eating disorders have." Raul turned towards the newcomer, his face a mask of exaggerated concern. His tone pitched full of saccharine sweetness.

"Ma'am I'm new to the building. I'm a medtech, you see. I'll have my agent send you my card. There's hope for you, I'm trained in both liposuctions and gastric bypasses, you don't have to suffer."
 
Tachi snorted at the woman and the prompt verbal dismantling she received after her comment. "Can't believe we've only been here five minutes and already committed a murder," he remarked, folding his hands behind his head and smirking at her. "I feel like I don't have to add anything at this point, you've already been taken apart enough. But you know, I'm a good samaritan, so I'll give you a life tip."

He leaned casually back against the wall of the elevator. "Not the best idea to step into a closed elevator with four strangers packing more heat between them than a MaxTac armory and open with an insult. Not everyone's as friendly as we are, you know?"

Flashing a toothy, slightly menacing grin, Tachi winked at her. "I'd take your tongue lashing and fuck off, if I were you. Count yourself lucky we're more secure about ourselves than your average heavily armed gonk."

As he spoke, the elevator dinged and opened, and he waved a hand in a shooing motion. "Bye now!"
 
The woman stood there, arms in jars, as everyone else took a turn to drag her through the mud. She looked mildly offended, but not that upset considering what she had just heard about herself. She didn't even look at Tachi and Raul while they spoke, focusing on Kirch instead, and shaking her head in what was intended to pass as disappointment. Well, she did look in Raul's direction actually, for a moment. Her expression twisting into disgust when he mocked her body.

"Guess it's all bitches. Some friends you got, girl..." She muttered, leaving the elevator. She was practically trotting, in heels.

"This is our floor too" Said Bunny when the elevator dinged. Also when he could stop snickering in the background. Because damn, he had picked up an interesting group of BADDASS motherfuckers.

Blonde bimbo bitch, as he dubbed her, left. Power walked... Sort of ran? out of the elevator without saying a word, and right over to appartment number 664. Oh great... Bunny whistled.

"Damn, like Tachi said... We just committed murder. Well, you did I guess. I wasn't as creative. But hell, nice" He said, a mischievous grin on his face. Maybe she'd move out, even. He led the way out of the elevator.

Their floor was much calmer, a but cleaner than the cesspit the lower floors had become over the years. Other types of people walked around, even if there were still some random bums and gonks laying about. Graffiti, layered, still decorated the walls. If they got closer to the door to their appartment, they'd see a single piece of black paper. Or was it cardboard? A business card stuck to it. It was black, with white text. Hard to miss. It also hadn't been there before, when Kirch had been upstairs. There were some graphics on it, the head of a white wolf. Simplified. That was the only thing on one side. On the other, in slick glossy white cursive, it said -Found you-. It had no name, and no address.
 
Though she was effectively looking straight past the woman, Kirchhoff noticed she was staring straight at her. She crossed her hands behind her back. Was this some attempt to size her up, make her feel sorry? It wasn't really working.

She hummed absent-mindedly as the floozy skittered away. "Don't trip over your dignity on the way out," she called out, noticing her inevitable struggle to pick up her pace in the heels. Figures, she lives the next door down. She gave the rest of the group a dry smile. "I love making friends with the neighbors on move-in day," she spoke in a low, sardonic tone as she pushed off from the wall of the elevator and ambled in the direction of the apartment.

"Oh, right, the truths and a lie. My relationship with my parents is just fine. I visit them in Oslo for holidays and concerts. The music scene is much different there. Less rockerboy posturing, more shambling corpses, and music that sounds like it was made by shambling corpses. You guys have probably heard some of it on Ritual FM."

She looked over to Tachi, with a shrug. "As for the booze, I'd say I have a healthy relationship with it. I see it regularly and we spend most our nights together." She cracked a grin that reeked of self-hating irony. "Frankly, I'd say that relationship is better than the one with my partners. At least I'm satisfied at the end of the night when it comes to the drink."

As she was talking, she noticed the strange card attached to the door of the apartment. Her eyebrows quirked and she approached the door, taking a closer inspection. The white wolf emblem had no real meaning to her, but it certainly caught her eye. She took the business card and flipped it over, reading the lettering on the back, and then gave a stern, concerned look over to Bunny while displaying the card to the others. "This mean anything to you? Sure would be a shame if we'd been made before we even did anything."
 
Raul had managed to summon an even more disgustingly faux ingratiating smile at the woman's disgust, and simply shook his head in bemusement as she traded words with Kirch once they arrived at their floor. She had the gall to be offended after her opening? He was with Tachi on this. Lady was lucky he wasn't 17 and this wasn't Heywood. That kind of disrespect used to be a bullet to the face, no questions asked. Figures she'd be a neighbor, but hey. Wouldn't necessarily be the first or last time he utterly disgusted a woman and had it mean something interesting later. Whether she'd try to shoot him or bed him was always a good game of roulette.

He followed along as they departed, listening to Kirch's muse on her game as he took in the sights. Marginally less shitty than the entrance. That's how you knew you'd reached the floors when rent started to be a few units more for the same space. He realized he hadn't check before, and wondered if his window would at least give a cool view between the ad holos and the neon. His last place had the window face the back of an ad wall on the building a few feet away, which was lame. Reminded him of his time in the basement, and he couldn't feel like he'd made any progress unless he at least had a shitty view.

He wasn't sure what triggered the short bout of introspection; maybe it was the blonde. That was usually how it went. Luckily, there was one right alongside to distract from his past.

He'd been about to offer a charming riposte to Kirch's relationship with satisfaction—he was starting to feel better by the minute now that he was through the worse of the flushing—when they got to the door. He quickly walked past their door, leaving the group a few paces behind. He ran a scan with his kiroshis, looking around the walls and the way back to their door. Nothing obvious, and the path of the bitchy neighbors' and their own passing were the only thermal traces he could see.

He rejoined the others, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck as he did so. Diagnostics from his agent let him know that while it would be a supremely bad idea to fire his sandevistan anytime in the next two hours, he certainly could if he was enough of a dumb-ass. Like Kirch, he looked at Bunny. "I at least am pretty sure it ain't for me. My headhunters can be smart, but they're never the sexy calling card kind."
 
Tachi squinted at the card for a few moments before shaking his head. "White wolf doesn't mean shit to me. So unless it's someone who's way more into me than I'm into them..." he shrugged. "Probably not for me."

Despite his nonchalant demeanour, like Raul, he turned to scan their peripherals more carefully, flicking his patch up to reveal the exposed metal of his cybereye and allow it to scan, taking note of everything highlighted on his HUD.

'No threats detected. Your unit is alone.'

Yeah, thanks for the commentary. I could tell,
he thought to himself irritably. Tachi flipped the patch down again with a scowl and a click of his tongue. He made sure to renew his easy smile before he turned back to face the others.

"Exciting! I thought we'd go at least a week before we had anyone leaving us threatening messages. I wonder if they left us any housewarming presents to go with it?"
 
It was probably the four of them scanning the area by now, or so Bunny figured. The hard didn't have any marks or prints. Neither did the door? Not obvious ones anyway.

"Guessing this wasn't here when you were up earlier?, So... Ugh. Whoever left it can't be that far." He acted as surprised as the rest of them, and gave no signs of recognising the card or the animal logo. Honestly, he guessed someone may associate it with him more because he also had an animalistic theme. But it sure as hell had nothing to do with this.

"I haven't seen it before either? So I guess we'll find out. I can send my agent to find any matching logos or something. It could be a mercenary group, or a funny neighbor. Like that bitch next door." He shrugged, and then didn't actually send his agent to find anything. He just took the card from the door. It was just paper... And just one sentence. How cute.

"We can add it to a box with all the threats we'll end up getting, hm? Now let's see if they got past the door." He said, stepping back a bit and scanning over it one last time before pinging it so it'd open. It did, and it revealed the main room of their living space, looking the exact same way Kirch left it.
 
Despite the caution exhibited by the others, Kirchhoff appeared rather blasé. As the door to the apartment opened, she triggered her Kiroshis to take a cursory scan of the unit, unsurprisingly finding nothing remarkable. Her tech workstation and netrunning suite sat in a heap next to her soon-to-be bedroom door, just as she left it, and the rest of the unit remained practically untouched. As the scanner turned back off, she shrugged and began to step inside.

"Wouldn't be the first time some snot-nose gonk thought they were being cute and mysterious by leaving cryptic notes on people's doorsteps," she mumbled after it appeared that the only thing of note was the card itself. "We can just think of it as a welcoming gift." She looked around the unit, slipping off her jacket and folding it up in her hands. "Dunno if you guys wanna check the other rooms or whatever. As far as I can see, everything looks the same."
 
Raul's vision swam, his eyes moistening while simultaneously feeling like shriveled pits in his head. He dismissed the warning windows thrown up by his agent away from his field vision. Raul'd be damned before he looked like a wuss in front of his new chooms. He shrugged his shoulders, and made it halfway through forming the idea of making a quip before a stab of pain brought on a slight grimace. Down somewhere in the vicinity of his thankfully (if outdated) synthetic kidneys. His agent was quick to get on his case about it; Es hora de dormir pendejo, it played down his eardrums, as his vision once again filled with his medical readouts. Shit, Raul thought, encouraging his agent. He walked past the others, throwing a half hearted wave as he shot them a text message in their channel. Faster than talking right now.

Seriously Primo, the machine synthesized and output through Raul's comms as Raul made his way down the hall to seek his bed. Your right major calyx ain't where you want toxic gunk to crystalize, and you know it. The thing's tone was the infuriatingly laid-back asshole he'd programmed, yet somehow he still managed to get annoyed by it.

Yeah yeah. I'm going. The couriers—, Rau subvocalized in response.

Still on their way, choombatta. Go chill the fuck out. We don't need REM even, get your ass horizontal and semi-conscious, the agent said. The actual medical advice (and accompanying proper bedside manner) was relegated to the agent flashing the particulars of his current condition pulled right out of Raul's saved medbooks through his kiroshis.

Raul grunted as he made his way down the bare short hallway to the room. His eyes were glued to the black neo-vynyl flooring—less a design choice and more a result of thousands of resurfacings between tenants, he thought—as a heavy blanket draped itself over his brain. It dragged his eyes downward like a bad simile. Warning alarms ran across his vision as he slumped into bed, not bothering to undress. He gave them a skeptical eye before dismissing them.

So what? A few inches short of the redline was shy of the line, wasn’t it?

Cumulative, his agent piped up. Adjective; increasing or increased in quantity, degree, or force by successive additions.

Fuck off,
Raul replied. Besides. Nothing money can’t fix right? We’re about to make it big…eventually.

Punto,
the agent grudgingly agreed. Maybe even enough to afford therapy so you aren’t talking to a cheap SAAI copy of how you think you sound like, it added.

Raul let out a rueful chuckle as he set the cleaning subroutines in his kidneys on, and nestled himself into a more comfortable position. His agent pinged him an update to the order put in with the couriers bringing his gear in. Apropos of nothing, I took the liberty to include a bottle of mezcal to share with your new chooms later. You gotta remember to live a little, amigo. Raul closed his eyes, feeling as if he’d set down million-pound weights. He finished the agent’s words himself, in his mind, the old fashioned way. He drifted to a light slumber, listening faintly. To the drone of the others out there. Talking. Moving. Settling. Living.

Raul’s joints popped faintly as he gave in to a self-indulgent stretch, yawning loudly. He absentmindedly released the tension on his monowire down to sleep-mode, before finally drifting off. A single comical snore of cartoonish proportions resounded from the room, but just one, before the quiet of the unconscious permeated the air.
 
"All looks good to me," Tachi remarked as he made his way in, beelining for the couch, tossing his bag to the floor next to it and flopping onto his back to lounge there. "Ahh, home sweet home."

He stretched out lazily, tracking Raul with his eyes as the older man disappeared through to the next room and huffing a quiet laugh at the message sent through their agents. The guy really must be out of it if he was sending them a message that way instead of speaking.

"Oh, and for the record," Tachi held up two fingers. "Number two was the lie. I've never lost a punch-up that badly. My arm's state of the art, so it's been fixed more than it's been replaced. And my ex's new album came out last week. It's nova, you should give it a listen sometime."
 
Collab, as written by: Dashmiel, TheZanta, Script and Machina Somnium.

Everyone walked in, nothing blew up and no one suddenly appeared from inside their cheap oven to shoot at their ass. So Bunny figured they were fine. He leaned against the kitchen island to reply to Raul, poor dude, really. Watching Taro make it to the couch was funny, and he shook his head with a snort.


“You like that couch huh?” He joked, wiggling his eyebrows. Even though the other wasn’t looking in his direction.


“And my lie was the nails thing, I do my own nails most of the time. It isn’t all that cheap.” He said, giving them a once over. He’d have to redo them soon, his morning incursion had resulted in some damage. For now though, he put his yellow bag on the kitchen island and emptied it, checking out the results of his small robbery.


A multitude of small objects, prepackaged foods, and fruits in various stages between fresh and relatively rotten. He started distributing them along the kitchen.


“Called it,” Tachi replied from the sofa. “And as a matter of fact, yes I do. I haven’t had a couch in months, it’ll be a novelty for a while before I get used to it.”


"Oof, sorry to hear. A couch-less life is a sad life indeed." Answered Bunny, sounding too serious to actually be serious.


After a brief inspection of her lab equipment to assure that nothing had gone missing, Kirch walked over to the kitchen island and sat down at one of the barstools, spinning around in it absent-mindedly while slipping out of her synth-leather coat, taking the flask out and setting the flask on the island with a half-empty thud.


"That's one of those unalienable rights, isn't it? Life, liberty, and the pursuit of a comfy couch?" She spoke, still spinning slowly on the stool.


“Would be, if we had any rights” Said Bunny with a shrug.


“We have as many rights as we can shoot people who try to take ‘em away,” Tachi noted. “That’s the gist of the constitution, right? Do you guys still have that?”


“No fucking idea, honestly… by the by, I’ll be going out later to visit a friend. He knows some people, and will definitely help us get jobs. But If I’m not back around uhh let’s say eleven pm, spam call me until I either answer or my agent sends you my location.” He said, casually, as he continued to put the kitchen in order.


“Aye aye, boss man,” Tachi answered, extending his arm and sticking a thumb up. “And like, on a scale of one to ten, how likely are we to have to launch a rescue op? The word ‘friend’ can mean so many things to so many people.”


“I don’t throw it around that often, He’s a solid guy, would… well, let’s just say the warning is more in case I get snatched on my way there.” Almost said he’d trust him with his life, but that wasn’t a mistake Bunny was ready to make again. At least not yet.


"Well, here's hoping it doesn't come to that," Kirch responded, "but we'll be on standby regardless." She eyed Bunny for a moment, if anything just for how little information was being shared about this supposed friend, but said nothing about it.


Bunny merely gave her a thumbs up, and put on some pop music while he put order in the kitchen.


About thirty minutes had passed, when their apartment buzzer went off. It went off for a few moments before the door started being knocked on and shouts of “Raul! Delivery!” could be heard from outside.


Raul’s agent pinged their channel with a message: “Chooms, el pendejo has shut off my wake up alarm. It is safe for his dumbass to be awakened.”


Bunny was laying on the couch, in a position that looked extremely uncomfortable for the average human. He was scrolling through some intranet dashboard, since he was done organizing the kitchen, and was taking small sips from some synth drink that was 100% sugary shit and 0% nutrients. He rolled his eyes at the agent's message and insistent knocks on their door.


"Someone get that!" He shouted, referring to the delivery for Raul. But he did get his ass up and walk over to the occupied bedroom. The door was pinged open and Bunny took a moment to watch Raul sleep. Aw, he looked kinda cute, murdery-cute. And still like he had been run over by about 3'5 cars.


"OI SUPERSTAR, your stuff is here. If you don't want it I'm gonna scrap it and make sex toys with it. Better hurry!" He shouted at Raul from the doorframe. Only coming closer to throw a pillow he grabbed from the other bed at him.


“Star sextoy?” Raul mumbled as the pillow made contact with his face. Fuck, the couriers, that’s right. He got up out of bed with a light jump, and glanced at his reflection in the mirror. He looked like shit, but he didn’t feel like it. With a brain free of implant goop, he was practically a new man.


Bunny snorted lightly, amused by Raul's half asleep mumbling, and smiled.


“You don’t need to scrap anything,” Raul said on his way to the doorframe. “Pretty sure there’s some dilators somewhere in my kit. Happy to customize them with ‘lil thermal barbs for ya.” He punctuated his statement with a good natured obscene gesture towards Bunny as he made his way to the apartment’s door.


"Dunno if you'll have any that are big enough!" Was the answer Raul got, that and a good laugh. The blonde had made a return to the couch once Raul was up. He watched the delivery people and his new doc from there, with veiled interest.
 
As writen by @Dashmiel @Script @TheZanta and @Machina Somnium

Raul opened the door to find a familiar face from his past along with his rented gangoons.

“Pedro! ¿Qué carajos haces aquí?” Raul exclaimed with joy as he pulled the figure at the door over and quickly exchanged a complex and multi-stepped handshake.

“Took over Juan’s Moving ese. I’d be the preemest in discrete shipping around your hood it seems.”

“Fucking nova tipo. I guess I don’t have to ask if that’s real Mezcal el aparato ordered?”

“You know it hermano,” the courier said as the pair of heavily muscled lifters with him brought forth a bundle of boxes neatly stacked underneath obscuring netting. The man reached under the net, and pulled a heavy looking glass bottle shaped like a skull. It carried no label.

“Got a fresh shipment from down south. Damn nomads we hired cost enough to cut into profits, but it was worth it to get the real shit past the Militech cordon.”

“Sabes que…” Raul started.

“Yeah, this one makes us even. Next time you fucking pay for it, cheapskate,” interrupted the courier with a rough laugh as he handed Raul the bottle.

Raul promptly directed the lifters to his room, and within moments they’d left a bundle of now visible boxes. Some were locked down, and made of metal, while others were overflowing with cabling and exposed parts. He wasn’t looking forward to the pain in the ass getting the whole set up together would be, but he was proud to say he owned everything needed to supply basic clinical services in a heck of a portable package.

He looked down lovingly at the bottle in his hand as the lifters continued their work, and then stepped back into the living room proper.

“Choombattas. Who’s up for formally chippin’ in, here?” Raul asked as he gestured with the liquor bottle at the others.

"I've actually got to go see a friend, but you guys have fun. I'll be back tonight!" Said Bunny, who had only just realised he may be kinda late. So he slipped into his room to get ready-er.

As Bunny left and the lifters brought Raul's belongings through the cramped living space, Kirchhoff stayed planted at the barstool. Though, as soon as the doc presented the bottle to everyone, she jumped out of her seat with a sudden enthusiasm. Admittedly, it was an enthusiasm that she wasn't proud of, but it didn't stop her.

"Shit, can't turn down mezcal. Always prefer it over tequila, it's so much smokier." She approached Raul to get a closer look of the bottle. "Though I don't think I've had this one," she said, looking with interest at the unique design of the glass.

“You most likely haven’t, unless you know any other suave and charming men of Hispanic descent with ties to the criminal underworld,” Raul said with a smile at Kirk as he popped the cork off the bottle with a practiced flick of his rippers.

“Only us crooks and the stupidly wealthy get to drink this. This shit is artisanal. Small batch distilled in this little village where the same family has been doing it for like 300 years now,” he said as he passed Kirk the bottle after taking a sniff.

“I heard the sound of a bottle opening!” From the room Bunny had disappeared into, Tachi poked his head out, joining the other two in the main room. He wore a grin that called into question whether he was even capable of making the expression without looking like he was up to something. “And at least one word that sounded like it meant expensive.”

The young solo slipped through into the kitchen, weaving his way past the scattering of freshly delivered boxes, and hopped up to sit on the counter to survey the mess. “You’re making me feel like a pauper here, doc– I only had the one bag!”

Kirchhoff smiled derisively at what she figured was typical Heywood boy posturing, and carefully took the bottle out of the man's hand. Though, as soon as she got a hit of the aroma from the lip of the bottle, the skepticism faded quick behind the intense, smoky agave scent. It was a scent that she never experienced before anywhere, let alone from a spirit.

"Åh herregud, you weren't fuckin' kidding," she said after practically being knocked back by just the aroma itself. She offered the bottle to Tachi as she went to search for some glassware that would do justice for this liquor.

“I don’t kid about fuckin’, mami,” Raul said with a smirk at Kirch’s expression as she moved again. He looked at Tachi and waggled his eyebrows, awaiting his opinion on the liquor, before his attention diverted to Bunny’s statement.

"Save me some, or… have a party I guess. Gotta go!" Said the blonde, who had apparently changed in the three minutes or so he had been inside the bedroom. He came out and headed for the entrance.

"I'm not cleaning any messes either, unless they're mine. Bye bitches!" He slipped through the front door, and he was gone. On his way to see his friend, Shade Under a Willow Tree.

“Hasta luego bag-man, get us something juicy!,” Raul called out loudly at Bunny’s retreating back. As the door closed, he turned back to Tachi.

"Safe travels, venn," Kirch responded to Bunny as she returned to the counter with an assortment of rocks glasses in her arms that she set out among the three of them. They weren't exactly what she would be using for this particular drink, but it was sufficient and she wasn't about to complain.

Tachi had been squinting at the bottle of liquor with some degree of suspicion, wrinkling his nose slightly at both the smell. “Last time I had anything real expensive was back home, some whiskey that cost more than my bike. Can’t say it wasn’t fucking good, but… I’d rather take the bike.”

He shrugged and poured a drink out for each of them, setting the bottle on the side before picking his up and raising it in a toast. “Kanpai, dachi!”

Kirch leaned over to put an elbow on the counter and took her glass. “Well, we can be thankful that we’re not the ones paying for it this time,” she joked, holding the glass up in the air alongside Tachi. “Skål,” she answered with an amiable smile, slamming the bottom of the glass on the counter before bringing it up to take a swig.

“No liquor is as sweet as free liquor, savor it because I sure as hell can’t afford more,” Raul said good naturedly as sauntered to join Kirch and Tachi by the counter after retrieving his own glass. He poured two fingers in, and swirled the smoky contents around savoring their aroma. “Brings back memories,” he whispered poignantly, before lighting up with a smile. “But helps you get rid of them even better, Salud!” he cried out while raising his glass before taking a healthy swig.

“Hmmm. Wish we had some worm salt and more oranges, but this is great. Speaking of wishes, what’s everyone’s hopes for our first gig, eh?” he asked conversationally. “I mean, bagman sure left a wide-open list of possibilities.”

Kirchhoff took a moment to savor her glass of mezcal before finishing it and setting the empty glass on the counter, a warm and toasty sensation flowing from her throat to her chest. She exhaled, enjoying the feeling. "Next bottle's on me, then. Have to return the favor in some way," she said, already reaching for the bottle to pour herself a second glass.

She pondered on what little she knew of what the party's first gig would be. "Well, I'd like to say I'm ready for anything, but I've been dead wrong about that in the past." She answered, a difficult history clear in her tone. "That said, I'm good as long as our first job doesn't involve delivering a body… at least not one that gangoons are searching for." She shifted in her seat. “Sure had my share of shady fixers who decided to tell me I’m doing a ‘routine delivery’ and leave it to me to find out exactly what it is I’m transporting.”

“I’m kind of on board for something flashy,” Tachi remarked, leaning back on the counter with his glass. “Something that lets us make our mark on the scene. Maybe not too ambitious, don’t wanna draw the wrong attention, but… big enough to get our names out there.”

Raul nodded sagely at Kirch’s anecdote whilst gesticulating animatedly as he took a sip of his second drink. The ‘Wrong Corpse in A Box’ was practically archetypal to the Edgerunner mythos at this point. Always a fool out there looking to offload that fun bad decision onto bigger fools.

“I could go for flashy,” Raul replied, draining his glass and reaching for the bottle. “Notoriety I can take or leave,” he clarified as he finished pouring and held the bottle out for whoever would take it next. “Pero, flashy does tend to come with a side of big eddies. Could use some of those.”

Kirch could only laugh dryly. "Anything big enough to make our names known is going to draw unwanted attention no matter what," she theorized, swirling the beverage around in her glass. "Though I have faith in our ability to deal with the consequences as they come," she downed her second glass of liquid blind courage.

“Ai, I barely even count pissing off some nobody gangers as unwanted attention– life would be too boring without being on somebody’s shitlist,” Tachi snorted.

Raul nearly choked on his drink as a short and rueful snort-laugh escaped him. “Trust me,” he said as he downed his glass. He promptly reached for the bottle and filled up a third measure while continuing. “It’s a bit too fun to be on everyone's shitlist. That said compadres,” Raul announced. He raised his glass in an ironic toast. “Right now, I too have a good feeling and faith in our abilities. Let’s make sure those other gonks— whoever the fuck they turn out be—are the ones getting iced.”

Watching Raul fill up his third glass, Kirch quirked an eyebrow, and promptly took the bottle once he was done with it, filling her own glass for the third time. She eyed him through the process, and a barely-visible smirk crossed her lips in a silent challenge. "I'll drink to that, kammerat," she responded heartily. "To zeroing gonks and earning some real scratch."

Tachi laughed and held a hand out for the bottle, topping his own glass up again. “To zeroing gonks,” he agreed with a smirk, tipping his glass. “And a life that’s fun enough to be interesting, but not so fun that it kills us.”

A mostly alcohol-fueled grin overtook Raul’s features as he gestured a clinking motion with his glass. “Let’s get started with the fun part!,” he encouraged boisterously, draining his glass in one. The bite of the drink didn’t even register at this point, just more pleasant smokiness joining the pool that was beginning to set him afloat. He dismissed his agent’s warning almost without a second thought.

“I think you already left us behind at the starting line, buddy,” Tachi remarked with a grin, pouring himself out a second glass - taking a slightly more measured approach to the drinking than Raul, largely due to being aware that for all his tolerance was fairly impressive for someone of his size… he was still his size.

Kirch laughed a faintly tipsy laugh. "Speak for yourself, choom," she said before slamming back her third glass and knocking the bottom of the glass twice on the table, all in a rhythmic motion. "I'll be damned if I'm going to be outdone." The warmth that permeated her chest had spread to the rest of her body, the smokiness bringing about quite the pleasant buzz. Though, it was sure to be more than just a buzz considering the path of the night ahead.
 
To make his way back swiftly, Bunny had had to jump around a bit. It was always hard on the knees to land from too high, double jump included. So It was better to manouver and maybe break a couple radiators. With music on, though, he could pretend he was in some badass Watson sights tour BD. By the time he got down, he got a to go sugary drink at Xenofé. Banta's milk?, whatever, It was preem and blue. He pitched in Nova, by Tachi's ex'put and went in. He had to lightly stab a pick-pocketer who was not impressed, but it was an uneventful ride back home. Except for the music, which he absolutely added to favourites.

A while and a few (drunk lol) chat messages later, at exactly 10:59 pm, the door to their apartment slid open. He hadn't heard much noise, so the party or whatever his new chooms had had, may be over. There was also the possibility that the pack had checked back in, and they'd all been zeroed. But that was a bit of a stretch, no card at the door and all. So hopefully hey all got alo- !!!. He had taken half step in when a knife flew by, too close!. Admiteddly it just got stuck to the wall by the door, but what the fuck??.

"When I said get along it didn't mean to also gang up against me when I came back!!!" He screeched as he sidestepped in, wolvers out and back to the wall as he stared at Kirch and Tachi. Okay, HUD on, but It really didn't feel like they were going to jump him. He'd be three kinds of dead by now if they were gonna do It, probably. Yeah Bunny, you would be.

He looked a bit ruffled, and a teensy bit upset. Otherwise, same outfit, makeup a bit smudged. If it wasn't for the darkening bruise on his neck. Almost as if to emphasize its presence, Bunny coughed a bit.
 
Upon Bunny's return, he would be greeted by the consequences of leaving three mercs alone with an illicit bottle of mezcal and some free time. The consequence that just flew past Bunny's head, in particular, was of a Norwegian techie who had claimed some real estate on the kitchen island, surrounded by near-empty glasses and disparate tools and modifications scattered messily across the counter.

"Fy faen, this torque motor... er, thingy... I had it working, damn it, I swear!" Kirchhoff stuttered and cursed as she clumsily stumbled over to the doorway and tried in vain to retrieve the stuck Stinger from the wall, tugging at it fruitlessly. "I'm s-sorry, Bunny, I wasn't aiming for you!" What was she aiming for, though?

In a drunken attempt to apologize, Kirch retrieved a glass and filled it close to the brim whatever may be left of the mezcal and brought the beverage over to Bunny, holding it out for the roughed-up man. She smiled to him amiably at first to disarm his nerves, but soon some concern fell over her eyes as they landed upon the worsening bruise. "D-did you get mugged or attacked or something? You should've called! Are you o-okay?" She almost sounded like an overly protective mother if she weren't slurring all of her words.
 
"Maybe he just had a good time," Tachi chimed in with a lopsided grin from where he was straddling one of the kitchen chairs backwards, resting his arms on its back. "Little too much've one. Some people're into a little choking, Kirch, let's not judge."

He waved a hand dismissively. "Besides, if someone was gonna pick strangling to kill someone, they'd use like... a wire. Not their hands. Unless they're really shit at their job, in which case... probably wouldn't have gotten that far. Bunny'd have kicked their head off or something." He grinned again. "I kinda assume that's how you fight. Lotsa kicking, to stay on brand."
 
Bunny's face was fucking priceless as he stood, confused, and took the glass that Kirch offered him. He put his wolvers away after the cutesy apology, because she was not a threat. At least not actively. But he didn't understand what the fuck she was talking about. Because he really didn't think he looked so bad that he may have been mugged.

"I wasn't uhh" Then Tachi mentioned he may have also gotten lucky. Which prompted him to think about doing shit with Shads. Ew GROSS. No. Not ever!

"I do kick, but what the fuck are you talking about?"

He brought his hand up to his neck, which stung a bit. And then put the glass down on the kitchen island to kind of trot over to the bathroom and turn the lights and the mirror, on. It didn't smell great, and someone... Had made out with the mirror or something? What?. He could've asked, but he was busy frowning at his reflection.

He didn't actually look that bad, thank fuck, he was still gorgeous. Makeup could use a touch-up.

"How do you get a bruise like this with no memory of being strangled?" He asked, a bit quiet and very unsettled. He leaned over the sink to look closer, and rubbed his hand over it a bit. It sort of hurt. It explained why he had been coughing. But when did this happen?!. There was an itch at the back of his mind. You know when, this stinks of pre-R&R action.
 
Bunny's confusion prompted even further concern from Kirch, and she watched as he retreated to the bathroom to inspect his wounds. Though her brain may have been clouded by the uncertain number of glasses of mezcal that she had, she was still well aware that something was rotten in the state of Denmark.

"Do you have any gaps in your memory?" She called out to the bathroom, suspecting some sort of daemon foul play. How foul the play may be was to be determined, but a mysterious bruise was certainly foul enough for Kirch to be cautious, especially since it wasn't typical of some average street punk to pull a stunt like that.
 
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"Yeah, that does kinda seem like something you'd remember," Tachi hopped to his feet and wandered over to the bathroom door to quirk an eyebrow at Bunny. "Maybe you should get the doc to take a look at you. An' Kirch to take a look at your tech. See if you've been messed with?"

He flashed a lopsided smirk. "Strangled on the first day, though? Never heard of start as you mean to go on?"
 
"I... Uhm..." Fuck. He could definitely use Raul's help. Just to check everything was fine with his neck at least. But he knew they had used R&R, so this must have happened just before Shade decided to mess with their memory. This wasn't something he wanted to talk about with his newly acquired team though. And Tachi still managed to make him snort and laugh like an idiot though.

"If this is how I go on, then you're all going to be drunk for the duration of it huh?" He said, reining in his thoughts. He was fine, home, surrounded by his team to be. He took one last glance at his reflection and turned away, telling his agent to ping him later so he'd call Shade and have a chat about the bruise.

"I guess I should be jealous... And I'll wait until everyone is sober to talk about our first gig. I'm fine, I hadn't even noticed the bruise until you pointed it out. How was your evening here?" He walked out of the bathroom carefully brushing past Tachi and sat at the kitchen island. He took a sip from the glass Kirch had given him and wrinkled his nose.

"The fuck did you give me??"
 
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