he liked her. hell, maybe even loved her. she was his girl, riding on the back of his bike, putting stickers on the paint and ripping them off just to reveal some of the chrome : said it gave the bike some personality. she wore his jacket, wore his headband, held his hand while he dragged her to whatever show that had been playing at whatever club that night. and now? nothing. he had died, been sent to the net prison made by arasaka in the basement of the night city headquarters. he had no way to contact her, no way to see if she’d survived the night city bombing. he lost her, completely.
❝ vera, you must take me for a fool if you think i’m going to let you walk away from me. ❞ he steps forward, not quite ready to grab her arm but holding his hand out towards her anyway. ❝ look, you don’t have to like me, but i need your help. plus, i… you need to know the truth. about us, about what happened. ❞
“nah, know you ain’t the fool here. i am. been nothin’ but a fuckin’ fool all these years.” it’s why only just recently she got out of prison. ended up in there because of a man in the first place. seems like nearly all the trouble she’s gotten into over the years has been because of men, because of romance or lust. she’s sick of that shit-- refuses to keep being somebody’s fool. getting back into the mercenary world hasn’t been easy, and she’s beyond pissed that he ended up being the one who hired her. she was hoping this would be her big break through.
her lip quivers when he steps forward, though she doesn’t move back. doesn’t pull the knife out of her sleeve. fuck, fuck. does she still seriously have feelings for this scumbag? can’t learn from her mistakes, seems like. “only reason i have any interest in helpin’ you and stayin’ here is because you’re paying good eddies, and i need the boost in my reputation. what do you need my help for?” she ignores the part about the truth about them, because as far as she knows, he got bored and left her and that’s that.