> DO I DARE DISTURB THE UNIVERSE?

she heard it through the grapevine. she heard many things through the grapevine of arasaka, dense and barbed—step too close, ear too eager, and you’d be cut. the experimentation of the latest strain of subdermal armour had caught her interest but she knew how close to stand without nicking those weaved thorns. indeed, sometimes information had to come to you, presented on a pretty little silver platter, rather than going and seeking it out yourself.

as it’d turn out, one day dalilah managed to catch air of one of the subjects apparently have absconded from that very same armour experimentation. interesting, for them to not have sufficient means in place to prevent that very possibility, but she wouldn’t dwell too much on that specific thought. said escapee had become something of a nuisance for arasaka, in any case.

and here was where you sometimes had to seek out information yourself: knowing her colleagues would be tight-lipped about this annoyance, she opted to search up his file herself. not exactly hard to find, especially with her net privileges. she made sure to get one of the netrunners to veil her electronic footprints—just to be a smidge on the safe side. she got a good look at his notes, his face, and every stretch of information in between.

and she never forgot a face.

it was evening. the sky was a bruise of pink and orange, swirling and melding. it wouldn’t be too long now until velvet darkness encroached, steady but inevitable. she’d thrown back a glass of red quicker than she would’ve liked. she liked to let the wine breathe, to let its aroma pervade the air around her but ... alas, her company was in poor taste and she couldn’t be bothered entertaining them any longer. pardoning herself, she went to the streets.

click, click, click. the sound of her elevated heels punctured the air again, again, again. many people passed, chattering happily, obliviously. as the dregs of the day’s warmth beat down on her back, illuminating, her eyes flashed to the side.

ah-ha. 

she came to a stop. then, just as he was about to pass, her arm extended in front of his midriff, halting him.

dalilah has a strong, personal inclination towards the study and application of manipulation of hormones. this spurred her most public success of adrenal hormone manipulation—especially with the intent of circumventing lie detectors. she’s also been the one to construct more mainstream sex hormone manipulation (as opposed to the hormone balancers seen in combat implants), which has been incredibly popular amongst trans and non-binary individuals who wish to control and monitor their own hormone therapy journey.

although it has also been used for other purposes, such as aiding conceiving chances and sex hormone deficient individuals, but it’s most prominent usage is amongst the trans population. the implant is commonplace nowadays; users will be given instructions on how much and when to exhibit / inhibit particular sex hormones and what this can result in, physically and emotionally. it allows for a far more personal journey and personal control over what aspects they want out of hormone therapy.

𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓, 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒆𝒏𝒅.