Drich's Demesne

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 2.11

2.11

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I turned around, opening the door before passing through. I took a moment to retrieve the nanomachines, but after that, I went through the stairwell, moving down silently.

They were speaking, and as I came closer, it became easier to distinguish what they were saying through the surprisingly thick walls.

“- saying, that’s a lot of stuff in that Bodega. You really want to burn it all?”

“I don’t fucking care what’s ins...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 2.10

2.10

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My alarm woke me at three thirty in the morning, and I sighed as I got up from bed.

It was a terrible time to be awake, after all.

Still, needs must.

I got dressed quickly, and grabbed a few fruits to eat so that my stomach wouldn’t be empty. I left the building ten minutes after I woke, slipping out through the back since I could still feel the weight of attention on it from the vague direction of where the catgirl had been last night...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 2.9

2.9

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The day continued to pass. Lunch came and went. The catgirl keeping an eye on my building moved only to stay out of the sun as it passed overhead, sticking to the shadows to try to avoid notice and sunburn both.

It was almost five when I started to feel a more malign attention fall upon the building. I sighed to myself, and opened the cameras.

It didn’t take me very long to find the source. A car, driving somewhat slowly, as it went past the...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 2.8

2.8

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The rest of the afternoon passed quietly, with nothing much of interest really happening. The only thing worth commenting on was someone who came into the Bodega at five, stayed for half an hour trying very hard to look like they were browsing the merchandise, only to leave after buying a single lollipop.

Just the average weirdo, on a first glance. Less obvious was the air tanks he’d had under his clothes, sucking in the atmosphere of the Bodega sl...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 2.7

2.7

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It started when an urgent alarm went off, tones sharp and quick. I changed the screens that I was looking at, and the message displayed alongside the cameras.

A man with a silver face had entered the monitoring perimeter. I had added that particular trait to the watchlist last night, and while alone it wasn’t enough to trigger the alert, the weaponry that my scanners could detect the man was carrying changed that equation.

A sidearm, hidden p...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 2.6

2.6

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The next day began what would soon become my new routine.

I woke up at six in the morning, fully rested and fully recovered from my magical exertions last night. I took five minutes to grab a drink, and a small selection of currently-cloned fruits, and then made my way to the gym.

The entire underground section had come out pretty well, honestly. Bright, well lit, and well-prepared for most anything that I could throw at it.

Here’s the ...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 2.5

2.5

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What was magic?

A myth, according to most younger species. A charlatan’s tricks. A liar’s words. A science not yet understood.

The Enlightened eld knew better than that. Where the children saw a reality whose laws were etched in stone, and any possible deviation from them being only a case of misunderstanding either what they were seeing or what they had thought to be the writing, the old knew well that reality was infinitely stranger than ...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 2.4

2.4

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My reading was interrupted half an hour after I started. An alert dinged through the air, and I glanced through my system to see that the NCPD had arrived.

The screens shifted, showing the camera views. The NCPD officers had elected to park on the side of the street, just in front of the building.

I waved a hand, sending the screens away, and stood up before making my way to the door.

I stepped through the plasma barrier leading ...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 2.3

2.3

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“I can barely even tell the difference!” Buck wondered, going through a series of stretches that I had instructed him to do.

“That’s the idea, yes.” I hummed.

It had taken a grand total of forty five minutes. Ten to remove the arm, twenty five to modify it until it was absolutely perfect for its new purpose, and ten more to reinstall the thing.

That was a speed that you couldn’t get anywhere else in this city. Limb replacement...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 2.2

2.2

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I stepped out the tarp right as the trucks carrying the construction workers rolled into the side road next to the building, shutting it behind me.

It was, I noted, the exact same crew as last time, with the exact same vehicles as well. The only difference to last time was the fact that their vehicles had obviously been cleaned up and polished... probably yesterday, judging by the very minuscule amounts of dust that they had accumulated again just dr...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 2.1

2.1

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The days vanished in what felt like the blink of an eye, and all too soon I found myself having reached the end of my time limit.

It was now the tenth of January. Night City predicted an overcast, sand-blasted, and humid day. It was a very inauspicious start to my business in this city, but quite frankly, it wasn’t that different to most days, and so I didn’t take it personally.

Much.

It was eight in the morning, and I found myself wa...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.26

1.26

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I got back to base just as the sun began to set. The smell, by then, had only just started to fade, the ocean breeze providing some minor relief, and so I wasted no time ducking back into my sealed room where I wouldn’t have to deal with it any longer.

It was done. The university would be sending me the records soon, and then I would have everything that I needed.

And that meant that I wouldn’t need to leave the building until the week was...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.25

1.25

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“Drich?” The man asked, seeking my attention, and I noted how quickly they’d already gotten word around. Unlike Theresa, there was not even the slightest hitch as he referred to me. Considering that this one didn’t have most of his body being puppeted by Cyberware, that meant that he’d likely had some practice.

Why he bothered asking when I’d already been looking directly at him, though... Evidently, they had not been a...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.24

1.24

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I opened another holoscreen, accessing the Net. Quickly, I opened Night Corp’s main link, and then started going through the subdirectories.

I owned property, now. Property that was quite large, well within the city, and soon to not be in disrepair.

If I wanted to keep it, and, obviously, I did, then I was going to need to pay the city’s taxes, lest they end up bothering me about it. Since I didn’t particularly feel like spendin...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.23

1.23

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My wings flap one last time, and I finish my descent to the ground gently, my covered feet sinking slightly into the mud and the dirt.

I breathe in, still tasting the filtered air from my mask, and I hum to myself, my wings shifting behind my back the for moment.

It is absolutely incredible how much better I feel after having flown. It is very nearly a physical relief. Just... It had felt like I had been tense for so long tha...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.22

1.22

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I went through a series of stretches, shifting my entire body one group of muscles at a time. Dull, unreflective grey moved with me, the suit covering my entire body without restricting my agility or my flexibility. Segmented plates shifted smoothly and silently, dark weaves moving as they should around my joints...

What I was wearing now was... quite the far cry from what I used to wear when I was a Warrior. It was basically an armoured fu...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.21

1.21

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The shower felt... weird.

For the parts of my body that were covered in feathers, it didn’t really feel like anything. My down feathers provided a layer that kept the water from my skin entirely. I felt the droplets hit my feathers and then either bounce off or run down the barbs before falling off.

For the parts of my body that weren’t covered by feathers, though, it was... well, a mix between something approaching normal and som...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.20

1.20

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My eyes open.

For a moment, I simply stared at the ceiling above me. The dream that I’d had runs through my mind, and I need absolutely nothing to know that it had not been a dream.

“Ah.” I said, aloud. “Well, at least it wasn’t something as trite as a ROB.”

I shifted, the recliner following my movements as it folded up to a simpler chair.

“The better question is, how did that lead to me getting here.” I wo...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.ai

1.ai

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The sky is lovely today. The rainbow hues of the clouds stretch from horizon to horizon, swirling and twirling upon themselves. The sight is as beautiful now as it had been when I first saw it, an Age ago, and when I had last seen it, a mere decade ago.

I breathe deep and slow, tasting the sweetness that lingers in the air.

It is good to be home.

A shift in the air draws me from my reverie, and my head lowers to see the doors shift open....

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.19

1.19

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Time had managed to sneak up on me. It felt like I’d blinked and it was now nearly six in the afternoon. Indeed, the only reason that it didn’t pass me by completely was because of the feeling I’d gotten that my attention would soon be required elsewhere.

Since I wasn’t in a position where my attention was needed, I rose from my recently created lounging chair, and moved straight over to the space that lift had once occupied.

It was go...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.18

1.18

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The Nanofactories got to work quickly. The first thing they did was start processing the feedstock that I’d tossed them on to.

A lot of it was scrap metal, yes, but a significant amount of it also consisted of materials that had once been a part of the Scavenger’s setup. This mattered because, when I’d been rendering them down into scrap, I’d made certain that it was ready for reprocessing later on.

It was now ‘later on’, ...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.17

1.17

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The scent of spices hit my nose almost as soon as I opened the door, and it only grew stronger as I stepped inside and closed it behind me. Cumin, paprika, chili powder, oregano, garlic, and onion... All of them were familiar scents, and they did well in hiding the polluted air of Night City.

There was a woman who’d been leaning against the counter when I’d walked in. She stared at me now with a pale face, though she hadn’t moved away from the...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.16

1.16

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As I swept through the front door of the building, the only thought going through my mind was that if I never have to meet another Corpo again, it will be too soon.

All of two hours in her direct presence, and it still left me feeling like I needed to fling myself head-first into a pool of soap.

And that was with her on her best behaviour, unaware that I didn’t actually have a massive amount of Eddies behind me.

Eugh. The mome...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.i-2

1.i-2

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Her name was Theresa Valentino, and she was not enjoying the game that she now found herself playing.

She leaned back in the seat of her car, sitting as relaxed as she could make herself, her Cyberware assisting through hormonal regulation. The driver kept his eyes on the road, following the car in front of them as it headed to her destination. The car behind them, in turn, followed her own vehicle, keeping a steady pace.

Two hours ago, she w...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.15

1.15

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Santo Domingo’s City Manager was named Theresa Valentino. According to her public profile, she was an Italian woman whose grandparents had immigrated to America just in time to see the Collapse of the United States, bringing with them their teenage child. Her family ended up in Night City, and, nineteen years later, she was born in 2015.

After surviving through the complete fucking mess of the Time Of The Red, Theresa decided to start a political ...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.14

1.14

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I was approaching my fortieth hour awake, and I still wasn’t tired, yet. My arrival in this world had, as near as I could tell, occurred so close to beginning of the new year that it might have matched it exactly, down to the planck time, and despite all the things I’ve gotten up to in the hours since, exhaustion had yet to sink its claws into me.

I could go for quite a bit longer if I had to, but I had a feeling that Chozo 2025-10-15 13:18:55 +0000 UTC View Post

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.13

1.13

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By the time that I had something that I was satisfied with, it was well into the night.

I barely knew it. Hours passed in what seemed the blink of an eye. My focus had laid completely on my work, the entirety of my attention directed towards a single purpose. It was a state that I’d only rarely been able to get into back when I was still entirely Human, but it flowed so easily for me now.

Mental acuity... Of all the perks of my new state, be...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.12

1.12

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From my first examination, it was easy to see that most of the equipment here was well-used.

It was a rather eclectic array of parts and products, sourced from a number of corporations, both local and not. The biovat, for example, came from Biotechnica, and judging by the serial numbers, had been produced locally within the last year. The autosurgeons, breaking my expectations, came from Militech, and were just three years old.

The diagnostic ...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.11

1.11

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A few moments passed. All three of the Scavs stared at my spherical form. Unknown to them, I was staring back, but I didn’t have eyes and so I would win any contest.

“So, we agree this is suspicious, right?” The first one asked, not taking his eyes off of me. “Big weird ball thing in a base with all ‘ware but no people...”

“It’s suspicious.” The second agreed. “But I’m not detecting any signals or anything.”

“It...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.10

1.10

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Stopping that car in the manner that I did was simply showing off.

I had other options. I could have just moved out of the way, jumping over it or even just stepping to the side, and it would have run right into the barrier that had been behind me and achieved roughly the same result as what my kick had achieved.

I had chosen not to do this for a simple reason.

Reputation.

In this city, there were three things that drove e...