PRIVATE Night of our Lives | Closed

@Margo Bennett

Her arms around his waist felt good, felt right, he lightly pushed back into her so their bodies were pressed together in one line.

That felt even better.

"Oh, I love the Nazaré run. I had a '60, found it in a junkyard and patched it up myself. Was with me for a long time." Until he got himself ambushed and had to pick between himself or the fucking bike. It hadn't been an easy choice even if it sounded like it now. The amount of blood, sweat and tears he had poured into that bike... it was no surprise to anyone he had gone back to the gang and wiped them all out a week later.

His bike was scrap by that point but at least he got his pound of flesh from them.

"Mmm, not angry at you, darling." A soft shrug as she felt him kick the bike into action. It roared with a warm purr underneath them and they were off. Already on the road in minus five seconds. The rest of the conversation was via comm-link since the wind was fierce at this speed. <<Just angry at the world and how it treats people... you will always be safe from me.>>

His words were warm and he once again pressed back into her a little. The only gesture he could make with his hands full.
 
Glossy, coppery hair fluttered in the wind behind them as the bike roared out onto the roads, and Margo reached a hand up to hold her hat in place, tightening the band briefly before letting her head go. She touched her earpiece to make sure it was transmitting. Colt was a solid anchor there, stable and strong even when they took tight corners and roared down straightaways. Her arms stiffened around his middle, and not for the first time that day she wondered what black magic was happening that she felt so comfortable with this enigmatic stranger.

"Hurts like heartbreak to lose a great bike like that," Margo quipped as the wind whipped around her head. "The 2060 was a great year. That was after their rework of the fuel pump system, but before they screwed up the capacitor in the '63 to '66 range."

Dilettante she might be, but Margo Bennett knew her stuff. Mostly.

"Do you think I'm absolutely nanars to take a motorcycle ride -- out of the city, no less -- with a man with a professed desire to disrupt my family business and possibly harm them?" Her voice was light with mirth, despite the objectively serious content of the question.

 
Somehow it didn't surprise him that Margo knew her bikes.

She was... frankly perfect. If she was a Nomad he would never let her go, but he didn't have any illusions. Because she was a corporate... this... whatever this was would be complicated. It probably didn't have a happy ending. Marriage, babies. The things that Nomads valued- a family. All of that would be tough to pursue, but here he was thinking about such things when they barely knew each other.

It was lunacy.

"I dunno. Am I nanars to take you out on that ride when your family is at war with mine?" A soft shrug there. "I have to believe that while we are part of our family... that doesn't mean we are only our family."

That there was more to them both.

And that that would be enough.

The bike slowed down as they exited off the highway and rode up into the cliffways and hills. He knew of a great spot, it would have a perfect view of both Night City proper and the skyline too.

@Margo Bennett
 
"Com-pletely nanars," Margo said, her voice equal parts enigmatic and amused, warm like a late-spring breeze -- or like a late-spring breeze would have been back when Night City still had discernable seasons. "I doubt whether my parents have hired a team or mercenaries to bring me back to the city by now, but that's because mother never met a bottle of champers she didn't like and tends to get a little free-wheeling at charity events like that, and father will be looking after her. Luckily for you, you absconded with me from an event my brothers didn't attend. They diverted to Tokyo at the last minute for some sort of... business... thing."

Margo didn't really get into details. Not yet.

When the motorcycle finally stopped, the corpo heiress removed herself from Colt's person and unfolded herself off the bike. She took the cap off and shook out her hair. "They may well put a bounty on you if I don't return before the morning," Margo continued before gathering her coppery hair and slipping it into a low ponytail. "That's more of an informal notification of a curfew than a suggestion that you brought me out here to murder me. Though if you did..."

Turning slowly, taking in the vista of the city, its advertising holograms stretching into the sky. "...you couldn't have picked a more lovely spot for it. I should warn you, I don't really do manual labor, so I hope this isn't a dig your own grave kind of situation." Clearly teasing, but there was a grain of truth there. Margo Bennett didn't get her hands dirty.

 
He probably should have paid closer attention to what she was saying. About her parents, about her brothers. It was information that Colt could use later against the Corporation.

Instead... He was listening to her voice, breathing her in.

Until they were walking together and watching the stars. "I would never." Colt said very seriously even if it sounded like she was teasing him.

"I will bring you back the moment you decide you have had enough of me."

His time to tease her.

"Yes, we held hands, I noticed exactly how soft they were." Smiling there and again his fingers lace into hers. Squeezing there a little bit.

"A woman like you shouldn't have to work even a day in her life."

Colt wished he could give her that but then again she already did, no?

@Margo Bennett
 
She slipped her hand into Colt's, natural as breathing, and followed with him through the dusty path.

Margo smiled faintly at the thought of not working for the rest of her life. "I don't know if I'd like that," said Margo. "I think work is -- good. I think the culture of work and, really, overwork, has gone completely off the rails. Sometime in the last millennium we decided here that wanting to have some kind of life, some kind of pleasure beyond being disposable little worker drones and procreating more disposable little worker drones was tantamount to communism." A brief sigh. Almost ironic; spoiled little rich girl spouting what was almost Das Kapital. "We were so concerned about communism that we sleepwalked directly into authoritarianism by the fucking corps."

A brief pause. "I realize the irony," she said dryly. "But I can't help who I was born."

A longer pause. She realized she sounded like an utter idiot, especially talking to a Nomad whose farm her own family was trying to steal out from under them. "I should stop talking and look at the stars. You weren't kidding. Look at them all."

 
He leaned in and kissed her cheek.

"You are doing just fine." It was interesting to see that someone who was born in luxury and wealth could also catch these sort of realities.

Maybe she was just special.

She felt special. Each time he squeezed her hand and she squeezed back, confirming that Margo wasn't some sort of dream.

"You know, you are right, your birth doesn't define you." Colt said gently as they looked up at the sky.

"You could be whoever you wish to be. It's your actions defining you."

That was as far as he went right now. Because how do you ask a person to basically betray their family? He would never agree to it if the roles were switched, would he?

"What would you like to do? If you could do anything. If you were the only one who controlled your destiny?"

@Margo Bennett
 
It was a complicated question.

She had never really thought about it. Her life had been decided before she was even born. Baby Bennett No. 3 -- not yet known to be a boy or a girl -- would be involved with the company, carrying on the family legacy, and that was that. It was a comfortable life, a safe and steady thing to rely on. And it would be foolish to repudiate safety, especially in the hellscape that was Night City.

Margo let the silence envelope her. It was uncomfortable but not in a bad way. A life required examination to be worthwhile, and that would be inherently uncomfortable. Finally, she blew out a sigh. "Something good," she answered finally. A deceptively simple answer to a complicated question. Both shallow and fathoms deep. "Something... worthwhile. Something challenging." Looking over and up at him. "No idea what that is, yet."

Another brief pause. "What about you? Stop the farm takeover, but then?"

 
She was honest and she was thoughtful.

Margo was wonderful.

He enjoyed being silent with her. Just taking in the stars while listening to her breathe. If he was quiet enough Colt could almost hear the gears turning in her mind.

"There is always a new challenge when you are part of a Nomad pack." Colt said truthfully as he squeezed her hand again.

It made him feel more present and in the moment.

"If it isn't a big corpo trying to shit in your cereal it is something else. Bandits, scavs, nature itself."

Colt shrugged.

"Not a shortage of things to do to make things better for the family while challenging yourself."

His eyes meaningful on hers.

"Can I see you again? Past tonight?"

@Margo Bennett
 
The pair came to a rocky outcropping and Margo tugged him over to it, then sat on the ground by it. The rock was slanted, angled to make a perfect star-viewing recline angle. She settled against it, tugging Colt's hand so that they could sit there together. "That sounds exhausting," she admitted, resting her head against his shoulder. "But -- you've gotta do it, right? I mean, what's the alternative? You've got to keep your family safe."

She drew her knees up to her chest, thoughtfully silent for a few moments.

Then he asked the question: Can I see you again?

Margo drew Colt's arm around her shoulder. "That would be pretty stupid, don't you think?" she asked softly. "Thought experiment: assume that you and I do nothing that would be considered disloyal to our respective families. Further assume that we see each other. Our association is discovered; what are the reactions? My family would assume I've either been taken advantage of, or I'm -- of my own volition -- somehow betraying them. I would never see the light of day again."

A brief pause. "Your people - well, I don't know them, but I assume they would assume the worst. My last name is enough to condemn me to your people, and you for associating with me." Margo leaned back a little, looked over at him curiously.

"All this to say -- of course we'll see each other again. Fuck 'em."

 
Everything she said made sense.

His clan would disown him if they found out. Her family would do the same. It was easy for him to think it didn't matter. Colt was used to discomfort, if he was kicked out of the camp, he'd make his way even if it would be difficult. That wasn't something that he could expect from Margo. She was used to a certain kind of life. "I understand, you are right, of course. It would be silly to-"

Then her last words actually registered as he blinked.

Looking at her, shocked to silence but a smile softly spreading there. "I... yeah. Fuck 'em." Murmured softly before he leaned in, nuzzling her and their lips meeting gently. Another kiss, but this one was less aggressive and hungry.

It was... loving. Silly perhaps since they barely knew each other, but he felt it to be true regardless.

"Do you want to go grab a bite of food? I know a nice enough cantina outside town."

@Margo Bennett
 
They watched the stars for a bit longer, shared a few kisses. It felt strange, somehow. Colt was both utterly new -- exciting, enthralling -- and yet she was comfortable with him in a way that she would never have anticipated at the start of the night. Margo wasn't the type to trust easily, much less to kiss strangers, but Colt -- paradoxically, perhaps -- wasn't a stranger, somehow. He was Colt. The sound of it in her mind made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

Then he asked about food, and she could have proposed.

"Yeah," she said. Margo stood and brushed her rear end of any sand or other detritus she might have picked up while she was sitting there. She offered her hand to Colt to help him up. "What is the food situation out here? Seems like everything's synthetic in the city. Lucky to get a real vegetable, and meat? Don't even hope."

They began the trek back towards the motorcycle, retracing their steps. "I heard the Nomads don't really go in for all the safety regs but that could well be propaganda. Educate me?"

@Colt Sigvardsen
 
Colt let her help him up and he smiled. "You know, you are perfect even with a little sand and dirt on you." Teasing her lightly as he offered his elbow to her again before they began to make the trek back to his bike.

"It depends." He said without even thinking about lying. "There is a lot of poverty outside the cities. In those places... it can get dire. But we are pretty close to Night City. The cantina is a popular way station for Nomads going back and forth between the city and the country side." His hip bumped into hers as they settled in front of the bike. "They actually have a lot of fresh products, a few years back another Nomad clan smuggled out a bio-engineer who was being head-hunted by Arasaka. In return for being rescued, he set-up a small farm underground."

Burgers with actual fresh salad and such. It was a dream.

"So prepare for real cucumbers and lettuce." He'd help her up to the bike and then settled in himself. This time around? He made sure they were flipped. She would sit in front and his arms would go around her to the steering bars.

"Cozy?" Murmured in her ear as he kicked the bike into gear.

"The regs are definitely not taken into account... but usually that's for the best."

Then the bike burst out onto the road again.

@Margo Bennett
 
"You going to be able to see with my hair flapping around in front of you?" Margo quipped, but nonetheless settled into position. She leaned over a little, lowering her profile, the action -- inadvertently or otherwise -- pushing back to him. The promise of real cucumbers and lettuce, and not just algae chemically treated to taste vaguely like the stuff, sustained her as the bike roared to life and, soon, they were racing along the highway.

Soon enough they had eased to a stop in front of the cantina. She waited for Colt to get off the bike, then followed suit, pausing to pull a knee to her chest, one after the other, showcasing her fine balance. She followed Colt into the cantina, feeling very much like a fish out of water. The place was cleaner than the average Night City joint, she had to confess. The sight of multicolored plastic bags waiting their turn to decay over the next thousand years, ever-present in Nighty City, didn't seem to be the case here.

"What time is it, anyway?" she asked him as she took the menu from the waitress, giving it a slow once-over before flipping to the other side. "I don't know whether to order breakfast or dinner."

 
@Margo Bennett

"Well, if we die, we will at least make a good scene out of it." Teasing her in her ear before refocusing on the road. That was true enough, driving a bike was risky, it was far more risky than driving a car.

The statistics didn't lie.

But that was part of the appeal to Colt. Living right on the bleeding edge where you could live or die based off of stuff barely in your control. It made him feel alive. Every breath he took felt won and conquered. Made it all the better. He did his best not to be distracted by Margo in his arms... and somehow they managed to get to the cantina in one piece. "See, told you we would be fine."

Teasing her lightly as he laced his fingers into hers and pulled her with him inside.

Him first. That way they wouldn't raise their eyebrows at someone who was clearly out of place.

"Oh, it's like-" He glanced at his wrist pad and nodded. "Yeah, two AM. Pretty damn late, so breakfast?" They picked a booth, in a way where they could sit right next to each other, because Colt felt like he couldn't go on without at least part of his body connecting to hers.

"Your family used to you being gone a long time at night? Or is this gonna be a shock to them if they find out."
 
Margo ordered a cup of coffee, a veggie scramble and some toast, then settled into the booth, leaning against Colt's sturdy shoulder. His question made her giggle, and she answered: "Colt, I am a grown up. I have my own apartment. My parents don't watch my every move. Luckily I grew up before the big trend was kidnapping corpo babies, so my parents never had me chipped. I mean, I've got Trauma Team, but that's -- a little different."

She looked over at him, took a sip of her coffee.

"You mentioned -- about your father," Margo ventured, cradling the coffee between her hands. "But, is your mother still...?"

Margo wasn't sure quite how to phrase it; she tried to be delicate. "And -- siblings? You know about mine, it's only fair."

@Colt Sigvardsen
 
He laughed in response... her giggle was beautiful... just like the rest of her.

Ugh he was getting sappy already. That was horrible.

"Hey, I don't know how it works with the corporates." Teasing her lightly. "Maybe your father and mother keeps you in a locked room all day until it is time for the next event." Then a soft shrug. "I am glad that's not the case." His eyes meeting hers. "You going to show me your apartment?"

Colt happily sipped from his own coffee, enjoying the caffeine.

Sometimes it was the only thing keeping him going after a long day.

Nodding. "Yeah, my mom is still with us. Kicking ass... sometimes I think she will be here long after we are all gone. Very stubborn lady." Colt said with a soft laugh before shaking his head. "Nah, no siblings, direct blood anyway. I was raised alongside a whole coterie of kids from the Clan though. So I have many brothers and sisters. Just a bit different than how you have brothers, you know?"

He sipped again.

"My ma never remarried after him. They always had talked about getting a new kid, but... once that happened, she only focused on the clan at large." watching her over the rim of his coffee. "What are your brothers like?"

Who was I going to murder tonight?

@Margo Bennett
 
The steam from the coffee warmed Margarita's nose as she cradled it beneath her chin. She considered his question, a wry smirk crossing her lips. "My apartment? It's nothing like seeing the stars out in the desert -- small, cramped, megabuilding flat. But suits me as a place to sleep when I don't want to trek to my parents' flat." Stifling a yawn; it had been a long and eventful day and while she wasn't bored or sleepy, exactly, she did feel a bit worn out. "Play your cards right and I could show it to you. It does have certain charms."

She glanced sidelong at him, dark eyes narrowing a little in thought. Would he be comfortable in the city? Or would they be forever meeting in the squalid little dust-blown towns in the outskirts of NC? She had heard tell of the state of cleanliness at places like the Sunset Motel, and she knew that however strong a connection she felt to Colt, there were some things she had to cross the line at. Cockroaches and bloodstained mattresses were among them.

"My brothers?" she echoed, looking back down into her coffee briefly. "They are arrogant, master-of-the-universe types who were born on third base and think they hit a triple-play. They have adapted the Night City ethos of style over substance quite handily." A beat. "But also wonderful. There's nothing they wouldn't do for me, or for the family." She glanced over at him quickly. That probably didn't mean wonderful to Colt, given the circumstances. "They're awfully overprotective. Have been since I was a kid. They never seem to remember that when they grew up, I grew up, too."

@Colt Sigvardsen
 
@Margo Bennett

"I will do my best... but you should know, I usually play with a stacked deck." Teasing her a little and it wasn't clear if he was being entirely serious or not. The expression suggested it was a joke, but then again... best way to win was to make sure you couldn't lose.

Then a soft kiss on her cheek.

"No pressure though... we can take this..." Whatever this was. "...as slow as you'd like." Putting the caf down the food came around for them next. It was steaming hot and ready to be consumed. Colt did so happily, leaning back into her shoulder while listening to her discuss her brothers. It seemed they were mostly... the same sort of men that Corpos loved and the same sort of men that left devastation behind them without even thinking about it.

Tough one.

"Well, I am glad they have kept you safe." Smiling as his fingers gently brushed her knee under the booth. "Otherwise we wouldn't have met tonight."
 
Margo observed her food as it was placed in front of her, and she studied it carefully for a few moments before she picked up her fork and began to pick at it. To live in Night City was to be bombarded constantly with warnings about organic food, about anything that wasn't processed. It smelled good, but she wondered for a moment whether she was going to regret it. She glanced over at Colt and then took a deep breath. "Well, my Trauma Team plan is paid up, so... here goes."

She took a bite of the omelet.

The texture of real eggs -- vice fake protein 'eggs' -- was mindblowing. The melty cheese, the sharp tartness of the peppers and tomatoes making a symphony of savour in her mouth. Margo made a faintly embarrassing noise of pleasure and covered her mouth with her napkin. "My God," she breathed after wiping her lips. "If this kills me, then I think the taste of that would be worth it."

She cut off a corner from the omelet and offered it to Colt. As they tucked into their breakfast, she went on: "We keep each other safe," she told him, catching his eye with a meaningful look. "You understand, I think," she added quietly. Not necessarily true; Margo wasn't violent, had no means to physically protect her brothers. But her role in their family wasn't a physical protector. She was more of a go-between, a peacemaker, a communicator that poured oil on troubled waters when there was friction between her parents and her brothers.

She was not going to betray them lightly. And yet, even she -- corpo heiress -- was not immune to doubts about what the corporations were doing. Her own family's corp was no different. What a fine line she would walk.

@Colt Sigvardsen
 
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