PRIVATE A More Traditional Love

[Cyrus "Risers"]

She had done him proud. His gifts still came wrapped in black and blue and his words still carved into her flesh - but if their everyday had been anything less, than he wouldn't have been so proud. It wasn't often that he was proud of anything but the blood splatters across Watson, so this was truly a special occasion. Other men had women who wouldn't bleed for anything, but he had a woman who had bled and let blood in name of a bright tomorrow. When the fighting was done and Night City bowed their heads to The Great Caesar, his woman would still bleed. Children, proper western children with proper western ideals, and she'd have enough of them to drown the pathogens out of the world.

But it wasn't often that he had time to stop and think about after. So often there was only the killing that needed to be done now. Still so much to do now. He didn't have time to think of after, he only had time to act. And so it was that today was such a very special occasion. Today was an after.

Dust had spent time inside after the last riot they'd orchestrated - it was possible that this next show would see them both inside again. Or dead. In either case, it wouldn't be right to owe the woman twice at the same time. Dust had earned her chrome and he'd see her have it. In a show of rare thoughtfulness, he'd even kept the whole affair a surprise. He'd called one of their trusted rippers and set up the appointment, told him that whatever he had he better hold it and that the bill was going on the gang. He wasn't a chief by any means and he wasn't about to learn on anyone else's account, so instead he had one of the boys call up a frontman to use his credentials to order out at one of the few places in NC that served real steak. Not that bullshit SCOP.

He hated giving cash to corpos, but a good steak was a good steak, he just made sure that the frontman used funds they'd klepped through their last supplement scam at the university. If he was going to pay them, he wanted to at least believe he was paying them back with their own kid's money. After it was all done, he sent Dust out of the house on some bullshit errand and had the meal brought into their apartment. The smell must have wafted through the hole he'd put in the apartment earlier, because he saw heard the fat prick's labored breathing on the other side.

It was nothing the racking of a shotgun didn't fix.

Then he sat behind the find plates and did his best not to let his mouth water too bad. He though of just how much all this shit cost to take his mind off the food and rest himself back into comfortable anger. Then, he waited.

@Evi "Dustoff" Ashford

 

[Evi "Dustoff" Ashford]

Loose concrete crunched under the tires as she pulled into her usual parking space, and she turned off the car, letting her head fall back against the headrest with a sigh. Her gaze fell to the box sitting in the passenger seat, and Evi found herself wondering not for the first time just what the hell it was. Risers hadn't bothered to tell her, and she wasn't about to ask either. Whatever it was, it was important enough that she had to go pick it up personally - not that this was the first time he'd had her running errands. It was easier not to give a shit about it.

The remnants of her cigarette fell to the ground as she stepped out of her car, carrying the mysterious package under one arm. Her car locked automatically once she began walking in the direction of the apartment, the metal stairs creaking under her weight as she ascended to the second floor. She stopped a couple doors down from their place, listening quietly for a moment. The silence was the strangest part, but maybe he wasn't home.

Evi fumbled for the keycard in her pocket with her free hand, waving it in front of the sensor and impatiently squeezing her way through the doorway once the door had slid open just enough. Muscle memory sent the card clattering on the counter, and she set the box down next to it.

The smell was the first thing she noticed, and it took her an extra couple seconds to process the sight of him sitting there once she turned. "I thought you were–" Out, away, with C.D.S as likely as another woman. Then she saw the plates, and the food. Real food, by the looks of it, not the fake shit that tasted worse than it looked. More expensive than she ever wanted to think about, but that thought didn't stick with her for long.

"Is that for us?" She took a few steps forward, equal parts surprised and uncertain. It wasn't just the cost of it all that made this so strange, because it wasn't really about the money. Early on, when they first started dating, she'd made peace with a lot of things: the violence, her boyfriend fucking around with other women, and a general lack of most things that made a relationship…a relationship. Sure, he'd go out of his way every now and again, but this? This was fucking weird.

Evi sat down across from him tentatively, and like every other time, tried not to let her apprehension show. "That explains why Faust was acting like such a dumbass."

@Cyrus "Risers"