PRIVATE The King of Cups

[Cameron "Camshow"]

The King of Cups

​

Wearing this

Objective: Not to embarrass himself

There had been one thing about trying to take a corpo-girl out that he hadn't expected - and that was the odd pressure he'd felt about how to show up and what to wear and how she might take it all. It was all so foreign a feeling to him that it might as well have been beamed down to him from the moon as well. He was a punk kid, plain and simple. He never gave a shit what the fashion was in the corpo world or how they'd look down at him but, this was different, it was different and it pissed him off. He was racked with indecision and by the three shirts he owned. Should he go out and buy something nicer? Would that even feel right? He hated how those corpo-rags looked and felt. One time he'd "happened" across a whole crate of corpo-fashion and ended up giving every single piece away because he couldn't find a single jacket or pair of pants that didn't strangle his bollocks or make him want to throw himself out the window like a bad stock market day.

From her texts she didn't seem all that uptight but still, he couldn't kill the nagging cop in his head. So, after spending the whole night prior unable to make a decision, he resorted to calling Trojan about it. It was an hour call where forty-five minutes of it was bickering back and forth about how - no this was a fine idea and no he wasn't thinking about selling out and yes he thought she was going to be a fine person. The last fifteen-minutes was Trojan telling him that he was "acting like a bitch" and that "she obviously wants a punk, not a punk bitch" and a few other phrases that all included some variation of "grow a pair" or "just put something on".

No sooner did he hang up with Trojan and finally decide on something did Luna send him another message - one asking if she should wear anything special. Oh GOD. Why did he have to choose for both of them now? Umm, what should he say?

"Anything you like!" he began the message, taking an obscene amount of time to figure out the rest, "We'll be out and about, so something comfortable?"

Why did he phrase that like a question? Fuck, it's too late now, already sent. He sighed, cursed at himself in the mirror, then shaped up and put on his clothes. His riding pants that he wore almost everywhere, complete with patches that'd probably get him shot by her corpo father. He almost thought better of wearing them but, glowing patches toting "down with corps" and "freedom before wage slavery" might be a good way to keep her from getting zeroed whilst they were out. Even if he put her dredge, Luna had the air of corp about her. He slipped on a grey shirt with a nano pattern printed on it then his black jacket with the tie-noose logo of his band glowing green on the back.

As soon as he was fitted, he turned and looked around his shipping container apartment - and quite literally a shipping container it was. One room, a bed that folded into the wall and the electrical wires hanging loose from straps tied to the walls and ceiling. Sure he had running water, a fridge, even a small TV but...it was a fucking shipping container still. He was never going to make it in the front door of Luna's place and now...he wondered if she'd run as soon as she laid eyes on this. He sighed, but pushed the thought from his mind. He had a date to not miss.

He ran outside into the trash littered courtyard of Container Commons, the sorry excuse for an apartment complex sitting in the shadow of the new Megabuilding in Santo. He unlocked the seven chains around his bike and threw the twenty eddies to his neighbor for watching it all night - the guy worked the nightshift over at the Megabuilding Janitorial staff and watched the complex cars at night for a few eddies on his days off. It took two tries, but the motor of his bike kicked on and he was off, speeding towards the little corp mini-mall he'd been given the deets to.

He arrived at about 9:02, two minutes late, but he spared no time mounting the curb and coming to a coasting stop next to a table outside the complex. Summoning up Luna's contact on his internal agent, Cam shot her a quick message.

"I'm outside, ready when you are!"

@Luna Rothschild

 

[Luna Rothschild]

The King of Cups​

Wearing this with matching leather trousers and this underneath

Location: Westbrook Executive Mall
Objective: go on a date, explore night city
Tags: @Cameron "Camshow"

Luna had been looking forward to today with nervous anticipation, her friend had been no end of help building up her confidence to make her feel ready for this. It wasn't just the guy, he was so different to the other guys she had dated, he was older, he dressed differently, and it was very exciting, but it was also Night City. The city glowed with neon every night looking beautiful from her vantage in Westbrook, but she had heard stories that the streets were not in fact paved with gold.

Her mom knew she was going on a date, but her dad did not, and she wished to keep it that way for as long as possible. What neither of her parents knew was her itinerary, which was the more complicated manner. She was not allowed to go into the city without security so she had to make a workaround. She and Ruthie had managed to bypass her location updates so they would show her in Westbrook until the system reset at midnight and her real location would be revealed. So she had to be back by then or be in more trouble than she had likely ever been. She had made this clear to Cam that her curfew was non-negotiable.

Her leathers were brand new, and as soon as she knew he was coming on a bike she had ordered them for immediate delivery, they fit well but they were stiff and they didn't quite move how she wanted them to. But at least they would keep her safe. She had ridden pillion on bikes with friends around the estate but never out on the real streets with an actual biker, she wondered how that would feel.

There was a ping and Cam's face appeared next to a message on her mental HUD. ~~Hey, I'll be right out.~~ she replied before grabbing her bag and helmet. "Please be careful Lu, I'm excited for you and everything but yeah, make sure you check in like we said, ping my private channel so your folks don't scope you."

Luna reached over and kissed her friend on the cheek with a loving expression. "I promise." she said before standing up and taking a spin. "How do I look?"

She waved her hand in a so-so expression "Ehhhh... I still would though." Ruth laughed "You better go before he changes his mind."

Luna picked up her stuff and walked out to where Cam was waiting, downing the last of her Latte and tossing it in the trash. That was her only complaint, it was too early for a weekend. She soon forgot this when she saw Cam and she picked up the speed to go and see him. She made no hesitation to reach up and kiss him on the cheek before putting her helmet on. The bike was not what she had imagined. Her dad's bike was a great big silver thing that was engineered to within an inch of someone's life. This was not, but it had got him here. "Where are we going first?" she asked sweetly as she attached the clip under her chin. Finally, in daylight, she noted the slogans on his trousers and they made her smirk, made sense for the punk and after listening to one of his sets on the web she confirmed that his music was quite similar to the two retiree musicians on her street. She just didn't have the heart to tell him that she thought it sounded awful.

 

[Cameron "Camshow"]

The King of Cups

​

Wearing this

Objective: Not to embarrass himself

Cam would never claim to be proud of it, but there were a great many thoughts that ran through his mind when he first saw Luna - not least of which was how good she looked when she wasn't all corpo'd up. Not that she had looked bad at the club, she had been gorgeous of course, but in the riding leathers she could have almost passed for someone you'd see on the streets. Of course everything looked a little too preem to have been worn in any real scrap and she held herself far too carefree to have ever needed to really watch her back...but damn did she make the look work.

He forced the next few thoughts out of his mind with thoughts of toxic sludge and naked grandmas and flashed her a smirk. Then his mind rebooted again, shaken up by yet another kiss. It was only on the cheek, but it had caught him off-guard just as much now as it did at the club. He'd kissed and been kissed a lot in his time, but every time it had been this early it was an inevitable one-night in the dressing room and then never seeing the other person again. These kisses weren't like those, they weren't as promiscuous and still not that passionate. It was like this strange middle ground he wasn't use to.

Was this what an actual date felt like or were corpos just like this?

"Well, well - it's good to see you again too" he mused aloud, keeping himself from chuckling as she pulled a helmet on. He couldn't remember the last time he'd actually worn one of those things, "I must say, I like this look on you - getchya a few more holes in them pants and patch 'em right and you'll be a proper riot girl. A very beautiful one at that!"

He pat the motocycle seat, "hop on and I'll show ya! Hopefully you didn't fill up on little pastries and lattes, our first stop is Tom's up in Watson. Greasy and fake, but it's the true Night City experience."

Whenever she got on, he'd rev the engine. The motorcycle growled pathetically - especially compared to whatever super machine's she was probably use to - and the metal grinding on the tail end probably sounded like a death trap. "Best hold on, yeah?" then they were off, bouncing over the curb and rocketing into the flow of traffic.

@Luna Rothschild

 

[Luna Rothschild]

The King of Cups​

Wearing this with matching leather trousers and this underneath

Location: Westbrook Executive Mall
Objective: go on a date, explore night city
Tags: @Cameron "Camshow"

"I must say, I like this look on you

"Thanks, is it always this stiff when it's new?" She laughed, thinking she might have been better off wearing it in first, but it was too late for that now. She noticed that Cam wasn't wearing a helmet, it wasn't that shocking as she had seen plenty of guys doing that from the back of the car but she still felt it was wrong. "We should buy you a helmet" she joked as she lifted her leg over onto the bike using his shoulder for support. Her slender arms slipped nicely around his waist and she held on tightly for the ride.

Watson? She had never been there, she knew Daddy had a couple of medical facilities in that district but other than that there was nothing there for her so why would she? The bike surged forwards and as the pair of them were waved out of the security gate her heart began to race with how rebellious this all felt. Luna gave a little wave to the security guard the way she always did and cursed herself because she needed to not be recognised leaving the estate. It would be fine, who was to know that it was her blonde hair sticking out from her brand-new motorcycle helmet? She did already own a helmet from riding with Daddy, but it would have been too suspicious to take it from his garage for today.

The bike weaved around and buzzed through traffic, her heart was racing but she was grateful for the short rides she had taken either friend when they had lectured her about things like not leaning out of the corners so she hoped she wasn't being a shitty passenger. There were a few moments where Cam might feel the squeeze of her arms extra keenly at certain more dramatic moves but otherwise, she was doing OK.

She really wished he had a helmet on though so they could talk more easily. She tried to tell him she had only had one latte and that she was ready for breakfast, but what he heard over the wind and the engine could have been anything.

Eventually, they turned up at the diner, at least she assumed they did, It said Tom's Diner in glowing letters on the roof so that was a good hint. She was grateful to feel the motor between her legs go still and she could get off, walking a little funny for a few steps. She reached up and began to take her helmet off and shook her head to let her hair relax. Some of it was up in braids to save space and keep it out of the way but it still mostly ran down her back as usual. "That was fun. I'll tell you when I can feel my legs again.

So... people really eat here?" she joked, she was naive, she wasn't stupid. She took it all in though, the city was noisy like she imagined, but it smelled worse. There was something slightly acidic in the air that mixed with a nearby dumpster. But at least what she could mostly smell was breakfast and her mouth was watering.

 

[Cameron "Camshow"]

The King of Cups

​

Wearing this

Objective: Not to embarrass himself

"Nah, don't need a helmet! Got me a skull lining a few years back, you know, like them boxers got?" he knocked on his own head for emphasis right before speeding off into the traffic. He wasn't very chromed-up, a lot less than Troj was, but he'd opted for a skull lining from a local ripper after he'd gotten into a fist fight at once of his shows and got hit so hard he couldn't hear right for weeks. Ever since his escapade in the vents though, he'd wished he'd went into black market debt for a good pair of cyber-eyes instead - but you live and you learn he supposed.

He hadn't thought about the comms bit until the first time he felt Luna's slender arms pull at his abdomen, minutes into their drive. He thought about calling her up on her internal agent, teasing about how adorable her tad bit of anxiety was, but thought better of it. He needed time to think about what exactly he wanted to say when they got to Tom's, besides, he didn't want them to run out of conversation too quick. When they were ready to set off to the second stop on their tour, he'd call her then and they could talk all the way to the Santo races.

Luna likely wouldn't notice, but he took the long way around - passing back through Corpo Center and up into Waston through the bridge north of it. Taking the way up through Japan town and into the projects put them right into the psycho slums and right past The Red Room Club. The last thing he wanted to do was get her head popped by some borged out psycho or dragged into some backroom of the nazi-club. He didn't mind the extra time of feeling her warm against his back though.

What he did mind were the streaks and patches of neon he saw as he pulled up beneath the shadow of the Mega Building H10. Luna may have felt him tense a little as he parked in a small street space across the street, but he didn't say anything. He didn't want to scare her - but his eyes were focused on the men and women outside the diner. There were four of them, their neon clothes and hair popping vibrantly against the drab gunmetal grey and shit-brown of their surroundings. They stood around an equal amount of motorcycles that were painted in splashes of neon red, green and blue. Each had a roaring tiger emblazoned somewhere on the metal.

When he heard Luna speak, he peeled his eyes away from the gang and gave her his goofy, reassuring smile. "Well I don't mind carrying you, got a strong back from carrying Troj and the band all the time anyway" he joked, bumping against her playfully, "and course they do! Now, I'm sure you snack on sushi on the ush' up there in Corpotown, but you'd be missing out!"

Casually, he slipped his hand into hers as they approached the curb and waited for the flashing crosswalk to turn green. The wafting smell of synth-egg and SCOP bacon overtook the acidic smell of smog and backed up megabuilding sewage, but he wasn't paying it any mind. His eyes were still on The Claws and, carefully so as Luna wouldn't see, pretended to scratch his leg - but in reality felt around the lip of his boot.

Good, his iron was still there. He wasn't a good shot with it because he'd never actually shot it - he couldn't afford to. It was just one of those 3D printed one-shotters you could pick up from any Vend-it on the street, but it was always better to have something than nothing in Night City. No sooner had he stood straight again than did the crosswalk turn green. Gently he guided her across and that's when The Claws took notice.

Cam tried not to make a big deal of it, but he gently tugged on Luna's hand and tried to pass her off to his other side - putting himself between her and the gangoons.

"You'll have to pick the place next time we tag about - if you think your spots would have me and my ripped pants" he chuckled, trying his best to not scare her as the closed in to the gangers.

"ナイス・ライド・キッズ - バイクのことじゃないよ // Nice ride kid - and I don't mean the bike" one of the gangoons, a man whose skin was biosculpted into a mash of human skin and purple tiger stripes, called out in Japanese. Cam didn't have cyber eyes, but he had a translator chip, and as the man spoke a silent voice in the back of his head made sense of what was otherwise gibberish to him. Cam scowled as the man's eyes, two deep blue pits with no pupils, undressed Luna as the two walked.

"Keep your play-doh eyes to yourself, you daft cunt. Yeah?" Cam tugged on Luna's hand, trying to press her a bit closer to him.

The Claw only chuckled, not moving from his lean against the wall of Tom's Diner. Cam didn't think he was scared, just wasn't looking for a real fight today. "帰り際にケツを振ってやれよ、外人 // Make sure she shakes her ass on the way out, gaijin"

The rest of the Claws laughed, but they didn't do anything physically aggressive. Cam whispered a silent thanks for that and escorted Luna inside the diner. It wasn't hustling, but it wasn't dead inside either. The bartop was all filled up, but there was a booth at the center of the place opened so he led her to it. "Don't mind those assholes, just trying to look tough is all"

@Luna Rothschild

 

[Luna Rothschild]

The King of Cups​

Wearing this with matching leather trousers and this underneath

Location: Tom's Diner
Objective: go on a date, explore night city
Tags: @Cameron "Camshow"

"Nah, don't need a helmet! Got me a skull lining a few years back, you know, like them, boxers got?"

"Oh awesome, so if you come off you get to wander around with an immaculate skull but no face, girls love that look!" She laughed but her laugh was cut short by another change in his demeanour as the guys on the corner seemed to clock them and begin shouting over to them. She squeezed Cam's hand tightly and followed his lead moving over to the other side but watching beyond him to see what they were up to. They looked horrible, with tattoos and cut to look like monsters, Luna had her licenced pistol under her jacket at the small of her back like her parents advised but beyond knowing which end the bullets came out she was hardly likely to be much hope if those thugs got violent.

When Cam swore at them she flinched a little and squeezed his hand again, only relieved when they finally got into the relative safety of the diner. She couldn't help but glance over towards the door repeatedly. "They won't come in here will they?" she asked nervously to Cam, sliding into the booth. "I didn't like that." Her voice was softer and timider and her eyes looked at him.

She was torn, she felt sort of comfortable with Cam, but in such an unusual environment she didn't know exactly what to do. She had to ask "Is shouting back the right thing to do? What if it made things worse?"

"Nah, you have to show you aren't afraid to go fisticuffs or they'll just keep at it. It's an art form though, don't want to bother someone right into making you a chalk angel"

"Chalk angel?... oh… Ok, I got you."

She supposed that made sense, it sounded a lot like the way her Dad was when he talked about business, letting them know even if they win It's going to feel like a loss and they might just back down without a fight. Luna would need to put that out of her mind if she wanted to go back to enjoying her date. She scanned through the menu, first looking for anything advertised as fresh or non-synthetic. It was a big ask and she was clearly out of luck, she eventually settled on a small fried breakfast and orange juice. They could make a little small talk while they waited for the order to be brought over but Luna found herself distracted when two of the claws entered and took a booth nearby.

それで今朝は何を食べます, 外需// "What are we having this morning then gaiju?" they looked over at the table with a smile.

トラブルには興味ない、ただ食べたいだけだ。 // "We aren't interested in any trouble yeah, just want to eat."

まあまあ、彼女には口がありました。もしかしたら私たちのやり方が間違っていたのかもしれない、夜の小さな会社のプリンセスの代金を払っているのは彼女なのかもしれない。// "Well well, she got a mouth. Maybe we had it wrong and she's the one been paying for the night, little corpo princess."

The man waved his fork dismissively and laughed loudly, making no offensive or aggressive gestures and seemingly happy to enjoy his breakfast with his gang mate for now. Luna picked at her breakfast, it wasn't bad, It wasn't good either but she did enjoy it. It would be very clear to Cam though that she would be relieved when they could move on to the next. She took a moment to send a couple of messages to Ruth but wanted to make sure she focused properly on getting to know Cam. "How often do you come to places like this? There is a diner in Westbrook, but it's not like this at all." After a little time the claws seemed to have forgotten about them and were just chatting in Japanese to each other and occasionally making a nuisance of themselves to the waitress who if anything seemed fairly used to that kind of nonsense. "This food is nice, so much flavour considering."

 

[Cameron "Camshow"]

The King of Cups

​

Wearing this

Objective: Not to embarrass himself

Cam felt good, he couldn't lie. It felt good to be able to protect someone, even if it was just from some motor mouth gangoon looking to pick a fight at a diner. That feeling was short lived, for no sooner had they taken their seats and opened their menus than did two of the Claws from outside stroll in and just happen to take the booth right beside their own. He was already thinking of creative ways to use a synth-tomato-paste bottle as a projectile weapon when the Claw turned around and opened his mouth with a question that may have almost been mistaken for polite conversation, if it wasn't blatantly obvious he was an asshole. Before Cam could even spit something vile back, however, Luna chimed in.

A second lie he couldn't tell was how shocked he was that she had the heart to say anything to the gangoons. I mean, she was a corpo after all and a pretty sheltered one at that. The third lie he couldn't tell came rolling in around the same time his brain caught up to the fact that her words sounded like gibberish until that silent voice in the back of his head made sense of them. By the time Luna could turn her full attention back to him, he was looking at her slack jawed and probably looked something like a dullard witnessing intelligent conversation for the first time.

He got distracted by the waitress, ordered an easy meal of eggs and SCOP Sausage-substitute with whatever they had that passed for coffee. By the time they ordered, Luna had made a brisk pace past what had just happened - and Cam did the best he could to wipe the stupid look off his face, then did his best to answer the question without sounding stupid.

"Oh - uh - yeah, you know, I come here now and again. Long ride to get here all the way from Santo, especially with Red Chrome and The Claws always lookin' to make a fuss of everything up here" he chomped on a bite of his egg, smiled when she gave what felt like a pity compliment to Tom's cooking, then changed the subject, "so um, you speak Japanese, yeah? You have a language chip slotted or do you just like, know Japanese? I'm just wondering cause, you know, I knew you were gorgeous and smart from talking to ya at the club - but now I'm giving it a think that you might be way smarter than me."

He smiled his best goofy smile to accompany his laugh, "which is cool, but I gotta start reading a lot more to hold that genius level conversation" he continued to laugh playfully, munching a little too happily on his egg and scop.

@Luna Rothschild

 

[Luna Rothschild]

The King of Cups​

Wearing this with matching leather trousers and this underneath

Location: Tom's Diner
Objective: go on a date, explore night city
Tags: @Cameron "Camshow"

She continued to eat as he chatted away about their relative intellects. "Yeah, a lot of Daddy's business is with the Japanese and he says people call always tell when you are chipping so he made me take Japanese at school." She shrugged and smiled "But I like it so it's all ok." She was happy with her life, being made to take Japanese had been fun and she loved the language, particularly the written script, it was so different to the usual letters she used.

She lifted a piece of her sausage on her fork and observed it looking wistfully at it while he considered his words. She blushed as she called him gorgeous and flicked her eyes to him before letting out a little laugh. "I'm nothing special, Daddy would want a refund if I hadn't learned a thing or two at school. You call me smarter, but you just used two terms I have literally no idea what they are. So maybe when we sit down for our intellectual conversation I will bring my books and you can bring... Red chrome?" She laughed again and placed the 'meat' into her mouth to chew. There were creaks of leather as people moved uncomfortably at the name of the gang and a couple of people glanced over at the oblivious blonde with ready eyes.

A waitress took this moment to come over and freshen their caffeine supply. As she leaned over Cam she spoke quietly "Listen, I don't know if your girlfriend is trying to pick a fight or she's just plain dumb, but she needs to shut her fucking mouth." She filled both their mugs before quickly moving to the claws and doing the same.

"See, I guess I'm plain dumb?" She gave a slightly nervous smile then reached under the table and grabbed at the hand he wasn't using to eat so she could squeeze it, she was feeling very uncomfortable right now and needed him to make her feel looked after.

"Is Santo where you live then?" she asked as she placed her fork down, there was a little food left but her appetite was losing the battle against her nerves.

 

[Cameron "Camshow"]

The King of Cups

​

Wearing this

Objective: Not to embarrass himself

He cringed. He cringed hard - but he hid it well behind a dopey smile. He liked this girl, liked her a lot, but Jesus-H-Christ did she not a have a single clue - not a single one - about what the streets were like. Still, even despite her obvious sheltered rich-girl behavior, it didn't call for the absolute tom-bitchery of the waitress. Just like it had been outside, Cam turned from dopey smile to gritted teeth - his head whipping back and away from the woman.

"The fuck?! Calm the fuck down why don't ya? Them Nazi's aren't bloody-fuckin'-Mary, aren't gonna pop-up with a burning swastika just cause you said their name three times into the fuckin' coffee!" he stood when he felt Luna's squeeze and heard her meek words. That got his blood boiling and he shunted the waitress out of the way with a shoulder - not hard enough to do any damage, but enough to get her to back off while he threw himself down beside Luna. "Fuck about somewhere else then, yeah?" he flipped the waitress the bird, his opposite arm wrapping around Luna's shoulders and giving her a protective squeeze.

Usually he was on the side of the service workers, but that woman was being a right cunt. "You aren't dumb, you've just been sheltered away from all this" he said, tucking close to her. He could hear the Tyger Claws laughing in the booth behind them, assumed it was at Luna's expense, and did his best to ignore them, "things out here...they're different. People don't have walls and guards to protect them from thugs. Hell most of them are thugs and gangoons because they couldn't afford to eat otherwise. They have to be scared - and the cops and the corp-

He stopped himself and looked to her, his eyes suddenly...sad.

He sighed, "cause no one is gonna help them out, not without charging them everything they have. Getting fussed at by some Claws outside a diner is the least of it. Red Chrome? They're real bad news. The type of people who'd gun you down just for looking a certain way, being a certain way or...for who your mums and dads was." he looked to Luna as he trailed off, then glanced around the diner, "figure most everyone here knows someone who been zeroed by one of them, or worse."

He was silent for a few beats just then, unsure if it had been right to say all of that but - what else was he to do? This was where he came from. This was reality for 99% of everyone who still breathed air in Night City. If she wanted to be around him, she had to learn one way or the other.

If she said nothing more, he'd smile and slip as close to her as she'd allow. He didn't want to bring the mood down more than it already had been.

"But yeah, I live in Santo" he circled back around to her question, "no Red Chromers down there, but a lot of 6th Street Boys who like their stars and bars a bit too much - they are alright on the whole though. It's some of them who run the race we're going to later."

@Luna Rothschild

 

[Luna Rothschild]

The King of Cups​

Wearing this with matching leather trousers and this underneath

Location: Tom's Diner
Objective: go on a date, explore night city
Tags: @Cameron "Camshow"

Luna looked embarrassed when Cam was forced to stand up for her, calling out the waitress for her manners. She guessed he was right, a staffer who spoke out of turn like that at home would be sacked on the spot but it still felt like an unpleasant spot to be in and she wished the ground would swallow her up for a moment.

"...a burning what?... fuck." the Rothschild girl said with an appalled look on her face.

He slid back in next to her and her reflex was to recoil, simply because his demeanour had been so harsh and all the words he said about the gangs had frightened her but she forced herself to relax and she sidled up a little closer before slipping her arm under his and onto his hand. It wasn't his fault, he was defending her in a world she clearly wasn't ready for, and she didn't appreciate that even if her heart was racing. The waitress had called her his girlfriend, it was cute, it was wrong, and it might never be true if they didn't find more common ground beyond the fierce physical attraction she had for him, but it was still cute.

She grinned as he mentioned home. "A race?" she asked curiously more quietly now, just for him. "What kind of race? Daddy has taken me races before but I'm guessing these aren't million-dollar Arabian thoroughbreds?" She giggled and leaned over to gently peck him on the cheek. "Thank you for sticking up for me."

Just as she seemed she might be turning romantic on him, her lips on his cheeks and her arm around his she changed her pace and got ready to stand up. "Come on then, I'm full and I think it's probably time we head to the next spot tour don't you think?" They had been here a little while, they had eaten and she was a teenager, she knew a fuck off look when she saw it from several of the other people around them.

They could both leave now but Luna, attempting to carry herself again as the pleasant and light-minded person she was. She stopped briefly at the table of the claws before leaving.

私のような女の子が何を言うか気にしないのはわかっていますが、あなたのインクは狂っています || "I know you don't give a shit what a girl like me says, but your ink is insane!" Her inflexion would clearly tell anyone that it was a compliment, and she meant it. If they were trying to look tough it was certainly working, and she hoped even a dark-hearted gangster would take that sliver of pleasure from respect for his art form.

"Come on then, where next?"

 

[Cameron "Camshow"]

The King of Cups

​

Wearing this

Objective: Not to embarrass himself

Cam smile, a flush of purple running to his cheeks when she laid a gentle kiss on one side. He could feel the discomfort in her voice and had felt the gentle pause when he'd first slid next to her - he was afraid this whole thing was going to be too much for her. He wasn't sure how to fix that. Could he fix it? She was being nice enough, but this was...the world. The real world. Not whatever fake corpoganda she'd been fed her whole life and maybe that corpoganda would be too strong in the end.

He didn't think so. Maybe he couldn't think so. Perhaps he had to believe he could show her a whole new side of the world and that she'd understand.

"I'll be real, I don't think I know what an Arabian 'Thorbread' is - but I think you'll still get a kick out of it" he moved with her as she stood up and made a gentle attempt to interlace his fingers with hers as they exited the booth and made for the exit. He hadn't planned on so much as looking at The Claws as they left, so her sudden shifting toward their table caught him completely off-guard.

Luna complimented one of the men's tattoos and the confused, dumbfounded look he gave her about summed up what Cam himself was feeling. There was a long pause as The Claw searched his mind for some kind of answer. "ありがとう // Uh, thanks?" was what eventually rolled out of his mouth as he shared a raised brow with his fellow gangoon, then looked to Cam with the same perplexed gaze.

Cam didn't know what else to do - he was just as confused as the ganger probably was. So he smiled, "yeah, what she said! Cheers mate!" then he let her guide both of them out of the diner and back into the smog filled streets of Night City.

"Come on then, where next?"

He decided not to mention what just happened, she was obviously happy with whatever that interaction was so why risk upsetting her. "Thinking a Japanese class at this rate" he joked, pulling her gently to the crosswalk. The other two Tyger Claws weren't outside anymore and Cam was happy to see that his bike was no worse than when he'd left it. When they'd finally crossed the street, Cam helped Luna onto the back and then dialed her number with a blink and a thought before climbing on himself.

"We have quite a drive ahead of us to Santo, which means I have a lot of time to thrill you with my great conversation and charms" he mused jokingly as the bike motor roared to life and they two of them rocketed back into traffic, "so tell me true, when I met you at that club, you didn't seem to sure of yourself - you really finding yourself at bars all that often?"

@Luna Rothschild

 

[Luna Rothschild]

The King of Cups​

Wearing this with matching leather trousers and this underneath

Location: Tom's Diner
Objective: go on a date, explore night city
Tags: @Cameron "Camshow"

Oh right... the bike. She reminded herself amusingly as she saw their perilous mode of transport waiting for them. She had let him slip his hand into hers as he led her towards it and made sure to give him a little squeeze of affection. For how far out of her comfort zone she was flying, she was enjoying herself and his company was nice. She lifted her leg, the food she had consumed had certainly not made the brand new leather any looser, that much as certain, but she didn't mind his hand on her waist to help her aboard before she put her lid back on and wrapped her arms around him.

This time she was a little more comfortable on the bike as it was her second ride with him, but she still squeezed tight at the more dicey corners. She was pleased to seal him dial-in and accepted it.

" So tell me true, when I met you at that club, you didn't seem to sure of yourself - you really finding yourself at bars all that often?"

She laughed and thought a moment, she couldn't lie forever and what was a couple of years anyway? "It was that obvious, was it?

OK, I'll tell you honestly seeing as you'll probably find out anyway if we share bioscans. I'm not entirely familiar with the club scene... because I'm not entirreellyy twenty-one." She laughed and blushed inside her helmet wishing she could bury her head further into his shoulder. "I'm only eighteen, but that girl you met, Ruth, she got ilus fake bios for the club." She shrugged, he was fairly certain he wasn't going to toss he in a ditch for her deception, she got the impression that his world involved a little more than lying about your age to be allowed into a club. She would however pay attention in case the bike quickly changed direction back to Westbrook for an early drop-off.

The bike buzzed on and she watched as the sights of the city flashed past, noticing a few of her company's emblems on various buildings and vehicles. "So.... are we cool still? she asked, desiring clarity sooner rather than trying to work it out later, she had enough on her plate with all the new sights and sounds she was experiencing. She did wonder about Santos, was he taking her to his, or to this race he mentioned?

 

[Cameron "Camshow"]

The King of Cups

​

Wearing this

Objective: Not to embarrass himself

There was a brief moment of intense fear when the words not entirely twenty-one left Luna's synapses and traveled into his mind. He panicked, fiery images of Luna riding away from the club on the night they met, "just turned 16!" printed across the back of the limousine. He was just on the verge of pulling over and leaving his breakfast on the sidewalk when she admitted that she was eighteen. The rock in his stomach disappeared and he chuckled nervously, thanking whatever cosmic entity that he hadn't been flirting with some corpo child this entire time. He didn't pull over nor did he change course, because he wasn't mad, but he remained quiet for a little longer than usual.

"So...are we cool still?" her voice almost squeaked and he could hear the nerves in her voice. He wasn't mad about the lying, not really, but her even younger age did throw him aback. It only took a second for him to decide that he still liked her, despite.

"Hell, you aren't the first girl to lie for a beer" he laughed, reminiscing on an old memory from a dusty pub back in London - the first time he'd lied about his age for a drink, "you go to the right pub, you don't have to worry about getting fake bios. I gotta show you the good spots."

He pushed the throttle harder as they came to the bridge between The Glen and Santo, the wind blowing past them as he weaved through traffic - blowing past slow drivers or cars he got a bad feeling about. "So aside lying to strangers to get a free drink" he joked with a smile, "what do corpo girls like you get up to for fun? It's not all pickleball and tea at 'Saka tower is it?"
@Luna Rothschild

 

[Luna Rothschild]

The King of Cups​

Wearing this with matching leather trousers and this underneath

Location: Tom's Diner
Objective: go on a date, explore night city
Tags: @Cameron "Camshow"

Luna felt a wave of relief as he didn't reject her on account of her lieing, she held on tightly and smiled happily to herself. The bike ride was going fast and his speed was much more erratic than her dad liked to ride but she was getting used to it.

"Pickleball? Not so much. I am learning to fly at the moment, mostly gliders. Daddy has let me take the controls of the jet a couple of times over the see but I'm a long way off getting qualified on that. How about you?" she laughed, her hobbies were very different to his most likely. The connection to Cam briefly went on hold as she answered another incoming connection.

--Hey sweetie, just checking in how's it going?--
--All good, had breakfast and almost got jumped by some gangsters. Told him i'm 18 and he didnt flip. He lives in Santos, on the bike there now--
--Thats good. Back to his then? Damn Lu, ?--
--lmao, fuck off, he's gonna have to do more than buy me breakfast--
--hey, I've seen his bio, he you do you. Checked he's clean yet at least?--
--not yet, hold on--

Luna was still giggling to herself when the connection to Cam returned, "Sorry that was Ruth.". The other girl raised an important point, she had her arms wrapped around this gorgeous older guy and she hadn't even thought about swapping yet. OK, maybe she had thought about it while they chatted and flirted online. She set her bioscan to run a quick check to get her details ready to share. She didn't know really where he came from but sharing health scans was just a given amongst her part of community. If you had any intention of becoming physical with them you proved you were clean, that was just how things were done. There was even a boyfriend profile option on her account that would let the lucky man stay up to date on any health concerns that might put him at risk. Cam wasnt getting full boyfriend access, but she really hoped he would share back his basic scan.

"OK, don't think this means you are on a promise or anything, but wanna trade scans? Get it out the way just in case?"

On his neural link a message will pop up.

Luna would like to exchange GUM medical scans, do you accept?
your data will only be shared with Luna R.

Spoiler: Yes

Spoiler: no

She winced as she hit send and he would probably be able to tell she was tensing. Please don't be a red flag she hoped privately to herself.

 

[Cameron "Camshow"]

The King of Cups

​

Wearing this

Objective: Not to embarrass himself

"Uhh..." was the stupid thing he decided to groan after Luna's question and the subsequent notification that rendered itself through his neural link. He probably could have managed something more cool if visions of sugar plums and discarded purple pants hadn't been dancing in his head. Then came a sudden panic. He didn't have anything did he? When was the last time he ran a bioscan? He used to keep it on all the time, but when you play in dive bars you get sick of the damn thing going off whenever you sip from a questionable glass or take a piss in a urinal caked in some unspeakable substance.

He was certain he wasn't carrying AIDS-II or some dire-herpes or another. That didn't mean he was totally clean though. So, in a hurried state of sudden fear, he summoned awake the bioscanner and did a quick check. When the results came back he sighed relief. Wait, when did I have an infe- OH. Right.

He had forgotten about her. He had known that particular groupie wasn't exactly clean when he'd done the deed. But he also knew she had a contraceptive implant and was very attractive. He vaguely remembered a few months of some kind of pills, but whatever it was must have cleared up cause he was clean as a whistle now. He sort of wished he could snip that part out but, oh well, hopefully she just saw that as experience.

"...course! Here ya go!" he hit accept and her card flashed before his eyes as did his to her.

​

He wasn't surprised by anything on her readout, so much so that he barely glanced at it. He was more concerned on how his own results would sway her. He tried to act casual though. They were getting close to the place where Matty and his 6th street boys held the weekly drag races, so he tried to use that to his advantage. "We are getting close now, you're gonna love it. You ever think about being a racer, Japenese tutor?" he laughed, "or is it straight to the corpo ladder?"

As he spoke they exited off the bridge and took a corner into a residential neighborhood not far from his home. Gone completely now were the lights of downtown, blocked by tall smoke stackes and apartments tagged with blue skulls and the red white and blue.

@Luna Rothschild

 

[Luna Rothschild]

The King of Cups​

Wearing this with matching leather trousers and this underneath

Location: Tom's Diner
Objective: go on a date, explore night city
Tags: @Cameron "Camshow"

The blonde allowed herself a little girlish squeak inside her helmet when he accepted and reciprocated her request, she quickly checked it out and smiled to herself. Someone hadn't been as careful as he could apparently, but it was done so she could file that for later and focus on what he was saying now.

"A race? Never considered that at all. I've got a car but I don't drive very much." She had a cute hot hatchback with a very expensive and fast sports package, but generally if she was going anywhere other than around her home estate, she was usually driven. "I'll probably do something in daddy's company if I get a job, I've done a few modelling things and spokesman stuff but I don't think that counts as a proper job." Her father's exact words had been "I am not busting my ass so my daughter has to work for a living" but she wasn't naive enough to boast about the fact that working for her was entirely optional and even discouraged.

The scenery around them was changing, they were now away from the centre of the city and they might as well be in a different world. She was nervous again, so far from her comfort zone. She could call home and be picked up in short order but she wanted this, she thought. "What do you think your friends will think you you bringing home a corpo girl?" she laughed to break her worry. She had seen enough of his music by this point to know that corpos were the enemy. But now this just worried her even more, what if they turned on her. "They won't get shitty with me right?"