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i feel like people think companies will be altruistic and do the right thing regardless of government intervention. like no, companies are driven by capitalism. to make the most out of the day and money they have and maximize profits, especially fortune 500 companies
like without government intervention, strawberry jam would have wood in it. like it's a thing. food companies realized that they could use less of the expensive strawberries as ingredients and just use wood. there are laws you cannot legally call it strawberry jam if you do this. you have to call it a strawberry product or spread. food companies are always trying to get that shit through. they have lobby groups pushing that all the time
it is more expensive to put metal detectors in a food processing plant. companies want to cut costs. it is a legal requirement in a lot of countries to have them. so it forces companies to install them.
also to do routine inspections. that is a government requirement. so are building codes. a lot of codes are the bare minimum. like some companies will exceed the code and have more protections but a lot don't. like if it is not in the code, they don't do it. so that's why having governing bodies that regulate building safety, worker safety, food safety and product safety are crucial. because without them, your employer will not see the need to have exit doors with quick release handles, or do routine fire sprinkler inspections or have road salt for the sidewalks. some of it is basic fucking stuff.
companies when left alone do not regulate themselves. it's been historically untrue. companies want to give you a product that is cheap for them to make and that they can sell at the highest price so they can get the most profit. for everyone who loves capitalism, that's what it is. the free market will not self-regulate. if you don't have anti-monopoly laws and anti-wage theft laws and workers' protections, the open market will not fix that organically.
when government officials talk about removing protections it is not good. like they were put in place for a reason. like drinking water and food regulations were written in blood. same with human rights and freedoms. like people died for the building code to be written. people died for occupational healthy and safety codes to be written. there is a reason food safety codes are there. companies will look at 100 people dying and say it was the cost of doing business. it is the government's job to say that is an unacceptable and for companies to do better
So sick of the "protect the children" rhetoric literally kids are receptive to anything
For example:
Penny: But do daddies carry babies?
Me: Well, some daddies can decide to carry and have babies. You usually see mommies do that but some daddies can, and that's not really any of our business.
Penny: cause it's their body? And they get to decide?
Husband: yes! Like in our family mommy carried you and I went and got soft pretzels whenever mommy wanted
Penny: oh I love pretzels. And I've decided to be a which mermaid
It all comes down to children as property instead of people, doesn’t it? They’re trying to protect their kids from being damaged not in the sense of “afraid and confused”, but in the sense of “my property disagrees with me and might be less willing to submit”.
I've never thought of it that way but you're so right! Never even occurred to me because I do in fact see my child for what she is, a human being with thoughts and feelings and opinions
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my favorite criticism of the MCU, as well as basically all comic books, is that "it's so hard to get into because there's so much and you have to catch up on too much to understand any of the new stuff" because to that I say. just learn to accept that you'll have some knowledge gaps, and even more importantly, learn to pick up context cues. I started watching Doctor Who in the middle of a very plot-heavy season with very minimal background knowledge. the first MCU movie I watched was The Winter Soldier. the DC universe has reset how many times within my lifetime?? pick up a frickin comic book/movie series, figure out what character you like best, and retrace their story in bits and pieces. it's good for the brain and the soul
Heterosexual relationship culture is so alien to me and I don’t know if it’s the fact I’m not cishet or the fact I’m autistic but I hear so many things that make me go “Am I insane or are they?”
There’s a lot of hate on widowers and I saw a woman say “You cannot compete with a dead woman.” which is perhaps a reasonable statement to say if he’s constantly comparing you to his dead partner but that wasn’t what the post was about. And I realized “Oh my God, these people genuinely feel like they’re constantly in competition with their spouse’s exes and the ex being dead makes them feel insecure that they cannot best her.”
There’s also been an uptick in the ‘men and women cannot be ‘just’ friends’ rhetoric which I feel like is extremely dangerous and reflects the rise of fascism and sexism. Some of these stories of women feeling threatened by their husband’s female best friend have some merit and others are like “I feel angry that my husband still talks to the girl he grew up next door to and she and her wife are invited to family gatherings and included in family photos sometimes. Am I right to be suspicious?” No. No you’re not. I cannot imagine being you and living with that high level of stress and paranoia and constant torment and jealousy about your husband having a positive relationship with anyone who isn’t you.
okay look i know this isn't relevant to this post past the second paragraph but. here's the thing. the facts of the case are as follows:
1) I am widowed. my Beloved Wife of Blessed Memory(tm) died in 2019
2) I got together with my current partner about 18 months later
3) when I am committing acts of Foolishness my current partner loves to gesture at the sky to my dead wife, like "do you see this shit, my liege" and regularly says to me things like "[wife's name] was right about this" when my Foolishness inevitably comes back to bite me in the ass
4) this happens. all the time
more importantly:
5) my current partner is on tumblr
6) they love to incessantly send me posts
WHICH MEANS:
7) they just sent me this post with this commentary:
8) they really, really are ganging up on me with her. god help us if there's an afterlife and those two ever actually meet. "eternal rest" my ass, i will never know peace again
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🫀Summary: Brains walks a tight line of Maelstrom routine and keeping her fears in check. Brick cannot resist her magnetic pull, even at the expense of resources and his ruthless image. Maybe that's not so bad, though.
🫀A/N: TW mentions of blood/surgical procedures/mental issues and disorders (well they are Maelstrom) but nothing too graphic.
Dum Dum and Bjorn share one braincell, and Brains has its custody. Brick is a softy, fluff and some suggestive content ensues.
🫀Word Count: 5.3K
Previous Chapter | Chapter Ⅲ
The comfortable warmth of Bjorn's apartment made the windows fog up, as both the central heating unit of the old building, and the servers stacked across the back wall, worked overtime. It served well now that winter had officially set in.
The den was strewn with a thick red rug Brains had pleaded for for days on end. Bjorn didn't dare not oblige. Months after the retrieval, and he was begrudgingly still at her beck and call, though he'd rather die than admit that to his borged out chooms.
Books, papers, and blueprints were scattered across the floor, as if a landmine had gone off. The desk she'd also made him get, snug under the windowsill, was brimming with parts and cyberware bits, as she sat there hunched over, pouring over them. It was still early in the evening, sun had just set, so the only source of light in the apartment was the desk lamp. Brains enjoyed the quiet, as she worked on her own time, unbothered. Bjorn's presence inspired safety, but it also came with loud music and slamming things around the cramped apartment. Still, it was a small price to pay in order to keep the demons at bay. He used to put her to bed as a child, and he could coax her back to bed when she'd have Wraith induced nightmares now.
A sharp knock on the door had her jumping, head knocking into the lamp with a yelp. Rubbing at her head, she stilled, waiting to see if the unexpected visitor would go away. She knew Bjorn was working the door at the club tonight; she also had no deliveries due. Fear slowly gripped her throat like a wrench, constricting her of air and common sense. Surely the Wraiths wouldn't knock before shotgun blasting her brains all over the concrete walls.
Another knock came.
She hastily reached for the Unity Bjorn had hooked under the desk, handgun heavy and cool in her organic palm, and now she felt grateful he had forced her to take it. She quietly stalked to the front door, hyper aware of the blood pumping in her ears. The locks were all in place, but that didn't mean jack shit in this city.
"Who is it?" She called out with a voice that didn't feel like her own, a desperate attempt to sound detached and in control. She simultaneously pulled back the safety, knuckles white with strain.
"It's Brick."
Fucksake.
The two Maelstromers leaning on the railing across the door kept scanning lazily around, as Brick shifted from one foot to another. He patiently waited as the locks and safeties turned and unlatched, the door opening with a rusting groan.
"What the hell is wrong with y'all??" She huffed, without a proper greeting, making Brick snort in amusement.
"You couldn't let me know you were coming?!" She pointedly glanced around the perimeter, as if the two Ironstromers flanking him weren't enough.
They shared a silent look, but knew better than to say anything in front of the boss. Brains was by now known to turn volatile when spooked, and the last guy that entered her personal space unannounced got the chrome smacked off of him with the nearest power tool available. She'd fixed his cracked facial cyberware, but she'd also given him a very angry earful at the same time.
Brick immediately clocked the gun, tightly gripped in her hand, and he let his smirk fall.
"Sorry Brains, didn't mean to scare ya." He added softly.
She sucked her teeth in faux annoyance, putting up a brave front, that fooled literally no one.
"As if." She turned on her heel and walked back inside. "You comin' in or what? You're letting out the heat."
Waving off two fingers over his shoulder, he walked in and closed the door, leaving the Ironstromers to keep watch.
The inside looked much more different than the first time he'd visited after her retrieval. Bjorn's bachelor pad was now lived in, dare he even say cozy. He held back his amusement, as he took in the throw on the beat up couch, the plants on the windowsill, and the personal items of a woman in a once threadbare, minimalist space.
"Are you gonna come in, or just stand in the entryway?" She coaxed, less bite than earlier. He turned his optics on her, as she leaned against the kitchen counter of the open space. The gun safety was back on, iron carefully set on the edge near her. She watched him pointedly in the twilight, moving only to flip the small kitchen light's switch on.
Taking a tentative step onto the tile, he noted her bare feet.
"Shoes off?" He inquired, and she couldn't help the teasing smile that spread across her features.
"Usually, yeah. But I'll let it slide for the big boss."
Undeterred, he bent down to undo the laces of his heavy boots.
"Absolutely not. Rules is rules."
She watched his broad form fill her cramped entryway (well, her brother's), as he set his steel toe boots by the rack (another forceful, civilized addition), like a good boy. She stifled her chuckle, somewhat successfully.
"Can I get you something?"
"No, relax. Have a seat, no need to be so formal." Nodding, she beelined for the large beanbag and sunk in, watching him as he navigated the cluttered space to sit on the couch. He removed his own iron from the holster, and set it flat on the table, a habit of showing goodwill to his conversational partner he simply couldn't quit.
"To what do I owe the visit?" She spoke cordially, eyebrow raised. Brick hardly ever visited her alone, usually catching her at one of the bases on the job. It seemed to her like he was actively trying to give her space. Not that she disliked his company, quite the opposite, really.
"You've been doing a lot of good work." Brick started, shoving his hands into the pockets of his Maelstrom field jacket, legs spreading comfortably. His clashing golden chain caught the warm lamp light, drawing her eyes down reflexively.
"Good work deserves compensation."
"You already pay me, quite well at that." She countered, unsure why he was showing up on a Tuesday with the promise of reward for a menial task on her long roster. She eyed his belt buckle, another Valentino trinket, stark contrast against his rider pants and black wifebeater. Rerouting her train of thought before she got carried away, she weighed possibilities. Brick was not an irrate person. He never did things out of wack, or for personal gain.
"I was thinking of something more...substantial."
She looked back up, unsure which orifice of his optics to focus on. She settled for the two that sat where 'ganic eyes would once be.
"You've been living with Bjorn for quite some time. You would both benefit from some... independence." He cautiously suggested, praying to whoever was listening she doesn't take it the wrong way, flip out like she'd do whenever something unexpected triggered her. He'd witnessed a couple of those episodes, and they weren't pretty. Luckily, he knew how to handle her panic attacks by now, as their much more complicated Psychotic Episode cousin was the prevalent appearance amongst his borged out men.
Truthfully, he'd take her tearful breakdowns over cyberpsychos any day.
She sat there, practically swallowed by the beanbag, eyes suddenly big with a cocktail of hesitation and growing fear swirling in them.
"I...Did Tim say something?" Her voice was small, almost childlike. He felt his regrettably 'ganic heart squeeze.
"Of course not. He is happy to have you here; safe, in his sights."
He glanced around the cluttered space, the overflowing desk, the bulky servers. Yeah, definitely in need of a change of scenery.
"There's an apartment, two streets over. It's solid, second story above the convenience store. Only neighbor's a quiet middle-aged woman, civilian." He coaxed, watching her wring her hands.
"I can't, not without Tim." She mumbled, almost ashamed to admit it out loud.
"Nobody's gonna breathe in your direction. Jensen lives right across the street. He'll keep watch on your apartment at night. Door's reinforced steel. Preem lock, security system, the works. Vecna installed everything from scratch."
Brains scrambled to find a reason why he'd want her there. There was nothing strategic about the location, or the building. She knew Maelstrom practically owned it, but it was a quiet neighborhood, ten minutes away from the Totentanz on foot.
He suddenly called out her real first name, the one nobody really ever used anymore, and cut off whatever spiral she was hurling herself into. Meeting his gaze, she fought to slow her heartbeat as he leaned forward, lightly setting his hand on her aggressively bouncing knee. She didn't flinch away from his touch, bringing it to a stop.
"We won't let anything happen to you." He firmly said. Promised, even. It made her feel some way, whenever he did this. She wasn't sure what way, but it certainly wasn't bad.
"Why?" She suddenly asked. He tilted his head, unsure about her allusion.
"Why are you setting me up there?"
His robotic voice almost sounded like a purr as he unfurled a low laugh.
"Not everything has to be strategically advantageous, girl." She watched him pull away and reach out to take a fried cartridge off the scratched up coffee table, monitoring the way he carefully held it in his cybernetic fingers. He was taking in the damage with his scanner, probably.
"Maybe I just want to see you outgrow this fear that has you afraid to walk our streets."
"Okay, and how does that benefit you?"
He paused to tilt his head towards her, a small smile playing on his lips.
"Everything's gotta be hard logic and gain for you?"
"That's how Night City works, yeah." She pointedly retorted, always giving him a run for his money. He knew this wasn't going to be easy. She wasn't some run-of-the-mill gangoon, to take blind orders.
"Well," he set down the cartridge, right on the sheet rating its performance tests, "sometimes, I gotta take a leap for no fuckin' reason at all."
"Purely out of the goodness of your heart?" She scoffed, worry replaced with some kind of annoyance he found endearing.
"The one organ I can't seem to out-chip." He joked, watching her form as it sauntered to the kitchen.
"I don't get you, sometimes." She said, cracking open a can of spunky monkey from the fridge.
"That's part of my charm."
"That, and those big arms that should require a license to carry." She shot over the rim, taking another big gulp to hide the heat of her cheeks at the bold statement. His trill laughter struck a pleasing cord in her.
"Whaddaya say, Beauty?" He coaxed once more.
"Sure, but I want a turret."
"Whatever your little paranoid heart desires." He laughed. She graced him with a warm, genuine smile, and Brick felt exactly what he imagined Synapse Burnout would feel like.
Well, fuck.
.
.
.
"Ballad of Buck Ravers. Without a doubt." Dum Dum decided, earning himself an eyeroll from her.
"So your hearing implants' busted or something."
Dum Dum scoffed, already prepping for a groupie sermon. She quickly continued before he could.
"You heard Chippin' In and said, 'No, I'd rather be wrong'. Tinnitus called; they want you to join their shitty band." The sound of the drill filled the space where he'd have a chance to argue back. Still, he tried to talk over it.
"Hey fuck you, all I'm saying is you gotta have nuance, which you clearly don't-"
"Get out of my operating room." She huffed unseriously, fitting the second kitsch leg prosthetic onto Vecna, who was having too much fun, high off the numbing juice.
"You guys are hilarious." They slurred, reaching to tug at the IV drip line for the umpteenth time. Dum Dum snatched it away from them first.
"Ain't a damn thing funny about Samurai. The Ballad is the best song, and them's the facts."
"Is that the hill you'll die on?" Brains taunted, drumming her ripperglove fingers against Vecna's half installed chrome.
"Someone will." Dum Dum shot back darkly, robotic voice dripping with something lethal. Brains just narrowed her eyes at him, and the silence felt deafening in the quiet of the operating room.
"I hope it ain't me." Vecna chimed in a small voice, eliciting laughter from both ripper and Maelstromer alike.
"Go make yourself useful by taking the biohazard waste out, and quit ranking lesser Samurai songs too damn high." She ushered, and Dum Dum flipped her off as he pushed the cart that contained Vecna's 'ganic legs out the room.
"Alright, let's wrap this up, okay?" Brains concluded, screwing the last attachment screw of the prosthetic onto Vecna's base chrome. "I'll run diagnostics one more time, then we'll do a little test on mobility, calibrate with the movement control chip in your head, and you'll be good to go."
.
.
Bjorn and Dum Dum stood outside the building, sharing a smoke in the crisp winter air.
"So, what'd you do this time for her to kick you out?" He stated rather than inquired, and Dum Dum was already revved up to bicker.
"Man whatever, she's smart, she ain't all-knowing. Who died and made her president of the Samurai fan club, anyway?" He bumped shoulders with Bjorn, swooping down to deep squat. Smoke filtered through his nasal cyberware, curling around him as if his ears were smoking from anger. Bjorn almost choked on his lungful at the thought, smoke escaping him in sharp coughs.
"You two can suck my dick, always on some bullshit." Dum Dum complained, knowing damn well how Bjorn's immature mind works.
"How many more today?" Bjorn asked after he managed not to die, hacking up a lung.
"Two more? I think Frost is coming in in an hour or two for a replacement, apparently he got shrapnel stuck in one of his subdermal implants during some scuffle with the badges when they tried to play hero by the docks."
"Who's the second one?"
"That one bitch from production, the one with the big mouth and even bigger mohawk."
Bjorn laughed at the description, but he had to admit he knew exactly who he was talking about.
"What's she getting done?"
"Hopefully removing her jaw so I won't have to listen to her and Royce yell every time I have to go to Wholefoods."
"You two ever do anything other than gossip like Kabuki fish wives?" Brains suddenly spoke up from the back door, and they glanced back to find her leaning on the frame, still in bloody scrubs.
"I was gonna say Fuckin' yo Ma, but that's also his Ma so-" the smack upside the head was instantaneous, as Bjorn now had both hands on his hips, cigarette half spent hanging from his mouth.
Brains walked closer, stretching the ache out of her 'ganic limbs. Her cyber arm made a satisfying whirring sound, too.
"God, I can't wait to go home."
"Gonna roll on your hot pink sheets and kiss Kerry Eurodyne's poster on the wall?" Dum Dum taunted, and she almost swung at him.
"You people piss me off."
"Who the fuck is You people, I didn't do shit." Bjorn complained, barely escaping the pinch she aimed at his side.
"Vecna is already in the infirmary, gonna have to wait for them to sober up some more before discharge. Frost's coming in at 3pm, and Carla just cancelled."
"Does that mean we don't have to eat at the fuckass Buck-a-slice? Fuckin' nova." Bjorn eagerly celebrated, the prospect of having cardboard pizza for the third day in a row this week looking bleaker by the second.
Standing guard whenever Brains did ripper work at this location was always excruciating. Brick had them posted here since HeavenMed became a synonym to a panic attack for Brains, thanks to the Wraiths, and if Bjorn didn't have enough reason to hate those nomad gonks for kidnapping and traumatizing his sister, being dependent on the Buck-a-slice would do it.
"We can even grab Chinese down by the docks." She suggested, suddenly hungry for fried tofu. She practically ripped off her single-use scrubs, chucking them in the biohazard container.
"Join us?" Bjorn directed at the squatting Maelstrom lieutenant, blindly throwing his car keys at his sister.
"Yeah, that way I can treat and you can finally stop saying I owe you for helping me move to the new place last month."
And by God, he wouldn't shut the fuck up about it, as Brick had made him and Kurt oversee the move, only to end up carrying half the boxes themselves.
"Can't. Gotta run back to Brick, we've got some corpo gonk coming in for a talk. Probably wants someone tortured for screwing his wife, or something equally boring."
"What are you waiting around for, then?" She asked in turn, standing by the passenger door.
"Vecna. Gonna drive 'em back, then head over."
"Aren't you sweet?" She mocked in a loving voice, watching as Bjorn pulled at one of his dreads playfully. Dum Dum swatted his hand with a huff, rising to his full height.
"Can't have the one competent Techie falling in a ditch somewhere."
Bjorn rounded the vehicle, as Brains had rushed into the Maelstrom tagged car, head now popping out the car window, arms folded on the sill.
"Tell Brick we said hi." Trying to keep her voice non-committal, burrowing into her worn sweater.
Dum Dum snorted, opening the back door of the building to fetch Vecna.
"Sure. Want me to blow him a kiss, too?"
She flipped him off, tongue sticking out.
"Oh I'm sure you'll blow him something."
Dum Dum shook his head, the robotic edge of his voice sharp as he laughed it off. He watched them peel out of the lot, then went back inside.
Their work day was ending, but his was just beginning.
.
.
.
A few days later, Us Cracks chirped through the open driver's door of the Maelstrom car, Brains swinging her legs to the beat from her spot on its roof. The morning sun fell gently over the adjacent building, sunrays warming her skin and chrome alike. The Wholefoods parking lot was practically empty, save for the two cars and motorcycle that formed a social circle. Bjorn's unimpressed face stared up at her, leaning on his motorcycle with a nonchalance only a Maelstromer could exude in this part of town.
Dum Dum sat in the passenger seat of the second car across her, door open and his legs spread on the gravel.
"I can't believe you listen to this shit." He said after a deep inhale of Lace, cocking his head at the ripper.
"Coming from the guy whose Hear-me-out is Lizzy fuckin' Wizzy." She ruthlessly pointed out, and as expected, his panicked reaction was rewarding.
"That was a JOKE! Made in CONFIDENCE! Drunk!!" He complained, crossing his arms defiantly.
"I mean, at least she's chromed the fuck out." Bjorn defended his buddy, catching the dangerous attention of his sister.
"Besides, I've seen your taste in men-" Dum Dum started, though between the gagging sound Bjorn made at the unwarranted stray bullet that was his sister's love life, and her own groan, he didn't get to finish.
"You don't know shit about me, or my type." She huffed quietly, rolling her eyes. The sound of a crackling exhaust system had them craning towards the new car that pulled up front and neared them.
Another Maelstrom tagged car. Bjorn didn't release the cautious hold on his iron, strapped on his chest harness, not until Brick and Frost walked out, coffee cups in hand.
"Who knew Night City's worst woke up this bright and early." Brick joked, approaching the trio. Dum Dum grumbled over the early rise, as he'd been manning Totentanz with Royce the previous night, but swiftly got up and locked his car anyway. Brick silently held up one of the styrofoam cups to her. Taking it with a grateful nod, she inhaled the warm scent of hot chocolate through the opening, pleasantly surprised.
"Let's get this over with, I gotta go back to the docks-" Frost's robotic voice expressed his sleep deprivation with real fervor. Brains seemed amused to be the only one in decent form in attendance, cradling her warm cup with eager, cold fingers.
Brick's outstretched hand stole her attention before she could poke fun at the old timer, as she tended to do whenever she met with Frost, a man her father's age that sported her custom made chrome in his entirety - a great sign of trust between chromeheads. Having little time to school her features to indifference, she flashed Brick a surprised glance from her perch. Bjorn, who had moved to do the same as Brick, stood baffled at the interaction, as he watched his boss help his little sister off the car with a bit more attentiveness than warranted.
"Thanks." She curtly said under her brother's scrutinizing gaze, brushing past Brick and skipping after Dum Dum, who went ahead and opened the garage door.
Brick refused to acknowledge the look Bjorn was giving him. He didn't exactly owe him an explanation. Bjorn tried to catch Frost's optics to feel less crazy, but he seemed too preoccupied to notice any of this as he was tightening some valve on his arm's exposed tubes.
.
.
"Everything seems to be in order." She sighed, mostly to herself, while checking the final part off her list on the tablet.
The fluorescent lights of the Wholefoods factory floor bounced off the loads upon loads of crates that had been delivered the previous night. She made no comment of the ones marked by red X's with spray paint in the back. Suzie had already bid her hello and let her know they were for the lab, probably for the Lace production. Brains watched Suzie through the glass as she waved animatedly to her fellow chemists, whose smiles stretched taut over their facial cyberware. She usually, pointedly, ignored anything drug and XBD related. The less she knew, the better. Her thing was chrome, anyway.
"Got everything you need?" Brick's robotic voice scratched a satisfying itch inside her brain. She turned to look up at him, eyeing the cigarette he was about to light, hanging off his lips.
"Yeah. I should be able to push out a solid set of prototypes with the new designs by the end of the week for those enhanced prosthetics, and the reinforced subdermal implants. The guys in production can do the rest once they have the blueprints and the OK from testing."
She never knew if he was looking right at her. She always just assumed he was, felt his optics on her, watching her every move. Not in a creepy way, more like an amused predator watching his prey way. Indeed eyeing her through them, he let out his first drag of smoke.
"Come up to the office, I wanna talk about something."
Bjorn, who stood a pace away, seemed to hone in at that. Last time they'd "talked alone", he had her moving out of his place. He was, in a way, grateful; Brick quietly took care of her rent and bills, and Bjorn could have his space back. He didn't exactly care to have his new input over as much, as to see his sister grow out of fearing her own shadow. It also made him feel less useful, though. Tit for tat, he supposed.
Dum Dum elbowed him with a snarl that was supposed to be a conspiratory smile.
"Ooooh, someone's in trouble!" He mocked, and as Brains walked with Brick to the elevator, she flipped him off over her shoulder. Dum Dum's mechanical laugh made Bjorn relax, but his eyes remained on them as the doors closed.
.
.
"You want me to what-?" She gaped, grounding the chair she had been leaning backwards on fully.
"It's not a big deal-"
"Like hell it isn't!" She called out incredulously, though she immediately regretted it as she threw a glance at the unmoving netrunner mere feet away. He seemed lost somewhere deep into cyberspace. She still set her boots on the ground heavily, to make a point.
"Beauty," Brick placated, leaning his forearms over his meaty thighs, "I know you don't wanna be involved in that shit. But if we're gonna temp the whole Cyberpsychosis thing, we need the chrome and the drugs to work together, not in parallel." She wrenched her wandering eyes from his muscular legs and back to his face, her own features screwed up in something akin to hesitation. He immediately went to reassure her.
"I won't let anything bad happen. We'll make sure the guys are docile before they come to you-"
"You want me to hang with fully aware and unmedicated Cyberpsychos, to test the new batches simultaneously. Do you understand how insane this is?" She pointed out quietly, frustration evident. Brick's frown seemed sympathetic.
"Look, I know it's a big ask-"
"No shit." She cut off, but he persisted.
",but I need someone with a good, lucid head on their shoulders in on this. Two birds, one stone."
Her sigh filled the heavy silence.
"...can I think about it?"
"Yeah, of course." He leaned back onto the couch, legs spreading along. She watched his muscles slacken, as he brought a half spent cigarette back to his mouth. The swell of his chest as he inhaled, the brief pause as he tilted his head back. The column of his neck, the shine of the cyberware there under the dimmer lights of this space.
She swiftly got out of the chair and sauntered over to him. Settling next to him on the edge of the couch, she eyed him with a childish pout.
"Why are you bullying me?"
The laugh that spilled out of him was rich and deep, its metallic edge making her hair stand. He lolled his head to the side, to look at her through the dissipating cloud of smoke he'd just expelled.
"Please. You're like a protected species up in this bitch." He retorted, showing some good natured teeth. She wondered if the stories about him ripping some 'Tino guy's throat out with them were true. She also wondered if the feel of them against her neck would make her pulse jump, and if so, would he feel it?
"Then why are you making me do shit like this?" She whined, pursing her lips. He chuckled, this one low, rumbling through his bare chest before her. She almost felt compelled to reach out and touch him, run her fingers over the expanse of skin, chrome and muscle. The powerhouse he was.
"I'm not making you do anything. I'm askin'. Nicely." He reasoned, pulling forward just enough to put out his spent cigarette in the ashtray on the table. The muscle and implants in his beefy arms rippled along the movement. She followed it like a cat watching a mouse.
"So if I say no-?" She taunted, pushing to see how far his kindness ran. Truth was, she always did shit like this. She simply couldn't fathom someone leading a gang like Maelstrom being kind just for the hell of it. Shit, nobody in Night City, to be fair. But she always enjoyed pushing it till it bends. Especially with Brick. 'cause he actually was.
"Then I'll figure it out." He simply replied, arms resting back on his thighs. Looking at her now, he took in the exposed skin beneath her worn, studded Maelstrom jacket, the shirt cropped and open at the sternum. Tattoos and light chrome creeped in the shadows of the swell and valley of her breasts, her torso.
Focus, Brick.
"What, no complaints, no hassle, no issue?" She mistrustfully baited, but all he did was shrug, a small smile gracing his lips.
"I don't force my people to do shit they don't want to do. If you don't wanna do it, I'll find someone else."
There was a charged pause, as if he were mulling over something he wanted to say.
"I'd never make you do anything you don't want." He finally added. Her stomach flipped at the connotation. He always did this with her. Small, seemingly unnoticeable gestures, to show her she was the one in control. She wasn't stupid; she knew he was microdosing her with self confidence, ever since they rescued her from those raffen bastards. Worst part was, it was working.
"Why ask me in the first place?" The question seemed genuine. His gaze fleeted over her face, those intelligent eyes he couldn't bring himself to disappoint, the ones that he felt read him like an open book, despite the years of experience he had on her.
"Because I trust you."
She felt something shift inside her, like the final piece of a prototype design, sliding into place and clicking just right, finally making sense. In the span of a second, she pushed his broad shoulder back against the old couch, and slotted herself over his hips, settling in his lap. Brick's face contorted in surprise, but his chrome hands naturally found her hips nonetheless. Tilting his head to look at the netrunner over her shoulder, he quietly cleared his throat.
Was he...embarrassed?
"He's out like a junkie in Pacifica." She mischievously reassured, but Brick didn't share her amusement as much.
"This is a dangerous game you're playing, Beauty." He cautioned, but the way his fingers gently squeezed the fat of her hips said something else.
"I guess I just trust you." She shot back in something akin to a challenge, face dangerously close to his now.
He took in the sight of her features, bathed in the red light of his optics. Eyelashes dusting her cheeks, almost bashfully, lips parted, a literal breath away. She had already made a leap, she wasn't going to make the last (first) step. He felt himself biting back a chuckle at the implication.
Cautiously, almost experimentally, he pressed his lips against hers. It was a gentle brush, to give her the chance to back out, to pull away. It felt like deja Vu, always offering with an open palm, expecting a reactive bite that ultimately never came.
He was pleasantly rewarded when he felt her kiss back, a bit braver now. The soft, sweet sensation lit a fire in his synthetic stomach, one that he hadn't experienced in a while. The fruity taste of her lipgloss, and a hint of hot chocolate on her tongue, the softness of her curves against the solid mass that Brick was. He felt her grip his biceps, her nails digging into it in a pleasurable tinge of pain. He gently, carefully, slid his own cybernetic hands over her back, one hand on the small of it, the other cradling the back of her head. She melted into him, chest to chest, mouths slotted against one another, like perfect pieces of machinery, crafted to fit together.
By the time they parted, she pulled back feeling hot in the literal and metaphorical sense. She gently kneaded her knuckles against the expanse of his chest, greedily gulping air back into her deprived lungs. He sat there, regarding her with a tender, content smirk.
Glancing back at the still unconscious netrunner, she let out a shy laugh. He let his hands gently squeeze her sides.
"You know, all you had to do was say no, about the trial thing." He teased, and she couldn't help rolling her eyes.
"Aaaand you ruined it." She made to pull back, but his fingers interlocked around her waist, keeping her in place.
"Let me take you out properly, Brains." He offered, face serious now. She felt caught off guard, perched on his lap like this, as if she hadn't started it. Well, he was treading into uncharted territory, she guessed she was allowed to be.
"Like, for real?" She dumbly asked, regretting it the moment it flew out of her gonk mouth. God, what was she, 12?
"Yeah. Unless this was so underwhelming you've changed your mind?" He joked, acutely aware of her racing pulse thanks to his optics scanner.
"Yeah, I-" she paused, sheepishly meeting his gaze, "I'd like that."
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sometimes on the tumblr app you click on an image to see it fullscreen and it will give you a completely different image it has sourced from the fucking aether. i hope they never fix this because i got flashbanged with an image of scooby doo calling me a ‘raggot’
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