Drich's Demesne

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.9

1.9

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I was not bothered for the rest of my walk.

Not directly, at least. People watched me the entire time, of course, but it seemed that nobody was as stupid as the mugger.

That was good. It made the rest of the walk nearly tolerable. All I had to do was follow the gently curving road for a while, passing by industrial destruction the entire time.

The transition from the Old Combat Zone to the Glen was both immediate and obvious. There was a ...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.8

1.8

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That lasted all of ten minutes, and it had still been so uncomfortably slimy that I felt like I needed a shower.

I swept through the front doors of the building, rising to my full height outside in the sun. The guards were still there, both of them still on edge but one much jumpier than the other.

I ignored them, and moved off immediately.

I had my registration, now. I was officially a member of Night City. In the long term, it ...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.i

1.i

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His name was Don Garner.

He was an employee of Night Corp, a public facing Immigration Agent at the Department of City Affairs.

He would sit at his desk, doing whatever work he had been assigned while he waited for people to come. Since he didn’t have a regular schedule, his boss usually just dumped whatever she didn’t feel like doing on him. When the Corporations shipped more people in, then he would do his official job, and stay ...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.7

1.7

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In the year 2020, to get personal registration done, one would have to go to the City Center and look for the City Affairs Building.

This was a necessity for anyone who was coming in from the NUSA, but since Night City itself was, currently, a part of the Free State of North California, identification from anywhere in NorCal was perfectly valid. For those coming from outside of either, registration was also necessary, but the terms were quite relaxed...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.6

1.6

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To my legitimate surprise, I wasn’t able to add all three accounts to the Agent. Both the man upstairs and the woman downstairs were paired just fine, but whatever that third guy had as a part of his systems, it was apparently enough to stop the pairing from going through.

After the Borg woman, I honestly hadn’t been expecting it. Still, the fact that one of them had something resembling actual cybersecurity didn’t matter very much, be...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.5

1.5

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Checking out the bodies only took me a few minutes each, and I had to say... I was terribly disappointed.

Three dead Scavs, and none of them had a single Eurodollar note in their pockets. Absurd! Who doesn’t keep even a little bit of cash on hand?

Well, as it turns out, the answer was... a concerningly large amount of people in Night City, actually.

At some point in the mid-2030s, Night City’s council had made a concentrated effort to...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.4

1.4

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Chozo.

A simple word. It wouldn’t mean anything to the people of this world, other than a pair of syllables strung together.

If I went around announcing myself as that, I’d get a few weird looks, and then complete dismissal as someone who was utterly lost in whatever obscure cosplay it was meant to be, just like the posergangs of old... If, admittedly, to a greater extent than normal since Exotics weren’t nearly so common than th...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.3

1.3

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Two targets. Neither knew I was here. One was busy, downstairs, behind soundproofing, and working with a loud tool. The other was upstairs, probably watching something other than the cameras, and was expecting to be bothered by the other guard.

It was an easy choice.

I turned around, and walked right back out the door that I had come in through.

Down the hall, turn, and then down the hall again. I pulled the doors open, the sound...

Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.2

Chapter 1.1 of this particular work is available here:

https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/drichs-drabbles.626815/page-21#post-107206415

1.2

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I moved forwards, coming a bit closer to the skylight. It had an access window, which was currently closed, but the only thing keeping it closed was a padlock that had clearl...

Announcement

Announcement:

So, if you’ve been following the Discord, you may already know this. Incase you are not already in the Discord or have not kept up with it for whatever reason, this update reiterates the immediate future.

First, I have elected to take a break from writing for two weeks. I’ve been going for eight months continuously, so I think it’s a bit warranted by this point. I will resume writing on the 8th of September, which means that th...

Embers After Flames, Epilogue

Epilogue: Reb Nobis Faveant

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The Vascular Plant plunged into the Coral cloud.

The resonance took only a few moments to start up. Even if most of it was isolated within the Vascular Plant, it was close enough, now. The masses of Coral were already reorienting around the station, enveloping it. The crimson, glowing, circuit-like patterns that active Coral formed when it moved through solid matter were already stretching across the thing.

And, with so ...

Embers After Flames, Chapter 13.10

13.10

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Neither of us hesitated to charge directly at the other. Funnily enough, we both even chose the same opening move.

I raised my blade, and I watched Raven do the same. We swung at the same time, across the same angle. The Bladewaves that spilled forth met each other head on, and both of them collapsed with explosions of crimson lightning.

Raven went straight through it, utterly fearless. A trio of crimson beams shot forth at me, and my Booster...

Embers After Flames, Chapter 13.9

13.9

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Iguazu had always been pathetic.

For the past five years, ever since the first time I saw him in action, that was always the impression he gave off. He whined, he complained, he marinated in anger. His successes were marred by his caustic attitude. The success of others was drowned by jealousy. He had exactly one friend, and that particular bond had been born from mutual hatred.

Everything else I’d ever learned about his pa...

Embers After Flames, Chapter 13.8

13.8

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“Tch. And who the hell are you?” Iguazu asked.

“If you don’t know the answer to that question, then ALLMIND hasn’t told you... Or, more likely, you just didn’t care to ask.”

“Oh, one of the smart ones.” He really made contempt into an artform, didn’t he? “Well, fuck off. Listening to you lot talk is always so annoying.”

“And the only thing you’re here for is the chance to kill...