#and that involves Judy leaving V and V dying eventually

[captainderyn]

*CYBERPUNK 2077 ENDING SPOILERS*

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I really cannot decide what I want to do with V’s ending in Cyberpunk for my personal canon.

Because, in game, the ending I did and chose seems to be the “best” ending. V gets to stay in her own body for however long she has left, she gets out of Night City, she doesn’t lose Judy. She’s with her found family. Johnny encourages her, in a way, to take her body back.

But idk, something about it doesn’t feel right for the way my V has evolved throughout the story. None of the endings truly click tbqh. For a few reasons that I’m going to ramble about, probably not super coherently.

*All of this is about what I think works for my V, not how it Should Be btw, below a cut for length*

(I’ll probably toss the tag “captainderyn plays cyberpunk” on these types of posts I don’t want in the main tag, if anyone wants to not see Cyberpunk content)

1. I think Judy needs to leave V.

Maybe its because that’s the ending I was first exposed to before I played the game myself. Ideally you’d think them getting to stay together would fit, as that’s usually what I go for but...it’s just not clicking.

They have a great dynamic, they get along like a house on fire. To Judy, V is fiery, has a sense of humor like a whip, is a little dumb like an excitable golden retriever, and makes her feel safe and secure for awhile. She’s so intensely V in a Night City that tries to squash anyone who dares to live that vibrantly. And, V sticks with her through the worst days of her life after what happened to Evelyn. Which is the thing.

V starts to change, as the Relic’s malfunctions get worse. She starts adopting mannerisms, ways of speaking, that aren’t entirely her. They’re Johnny. The cadence of her voice is off sometimes, she starts wearing different clothes--that ratty replica Samurai jacket Rogue found for her. She starts smoking more--the old V never would’ve touched a cigarette with a ten foot pole. And I think those subtle shifts raise alarm bells, raise some walls for Judy. Especially after the incident while diving and seeing exactly what V’s time running out looks like.

Because while Panam’s messages, who is a dear friend to V, are very ride or die, with V to the end no matter what, Judy seems to...back off a bit for lack of better word. I think so soon after losing Evelyn so traumatically, Judy is able to stomach the thought of losing V. And because of that I’m not convinced she can totally open up with V. I think there’s always an element of being held just a tad at arms length. So when shit starts to get really serious with V, as her clock is ticking down and she’s trying to get to Mikoshi...I think Judy taps out. I think that need to get out of Night City that she talks about takes over, those walls come snapping up as a protection, and she’s out. V can’t be another Evelyn to her. 

2. I cannot for the life of me figure out what I want from V. I know she’s kind of trauma-bonded to Johnny at this point, she really can’t imagine being alone in her own head after this long with the scrappy asshole stalking her thoughts. I still think she’d take her own body back, at Johnny’s insistence. But I don’t see her doing that final mission with the Crystal Palace either. I guess I just kind of see her...taking the days as they come in Night City? Living as best she can? I don’t know. Leaving Night City also feels wrong for her.

*Frustrated noises* I! Don’t ! Know! What! I! Want! To! Do!

#captainderyn plays cyberpunk #oc: V #I think I put a liittttlee too much cinematic daydreaming into ceilings #and now anything that doesnt follow the plot I made up in my head to that song doesn't feel right #and that involves Judy leaving V and V dying eventually

[nightcityheat]

ᴠ ᴀs ɴᴘᴄ ᴛᴇᴍᴘʟᴀᴛᴇ

|| "Vɪʀᴜs" ᴇᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴ

i. name

Rome Kilgrave, although he barely uses it.

ii. alias

Virus, from his first years netrunning as a teen. Surprisingly enough, it stuck.

iii. age

27, born the 10th of June 2049.

iv. gender and pronouns

cis man, he/him.

v. sexuality

Gay.

vi. skill set/class

Netrunner. Generally speaking he's also skilled in infiltration and stealth work.

vii. appearance

Black undercut, pale skin, green eyes, moles, goatee and stubble, silver piercings and geometric tattoos.

viii. aesthetic

Clothing-wise he has a dark punk aesthetic, some semi-vintage streetwear kitsch with a glamorous side and a sprinkle of goth. Green neon, some city grunge and rock fashion style.

ix. location

He has an apartment in Northside Watson, but he's easier to find chatting up with Nix at the Afterlife in the early evenings or eating lunch at Lizzie's.

x. idle animations

Playing candy crush on his phone, fiddling with his rings/earrings, drinking coffee, tapping his foot to music as he scrolls the net.

xi. occupation

Netrunner, occasional old-time merc.

xii. gigs

He doesn't offer gigs per se, he usually handles his own business hands-on. That being said, it's possible for V to stumble into some "tracks'' of his work on certain gigs, either shards mentioning a recurring "virus" or, with enough Intelligence, some coded files on Rome's research/hacking. Once enough of those are collected, V can reach out to him and unlock a short chain of gigs they'll be able to work on together, with Rome helping from a distance [T-bug style], rewarding V with some high quality quickhacks.

xiii. holo icon

0s and 1s text in the background, a spiked skull icon with a toxic/contagion symbol.

xiv. calls and texts

He prefers to text, even though he doesn't mind occasionally chatting on call as he works. Texting wise he doesn't much believe in punctuation, and if he's busy he can devolve into hieroglyphic-like communication.

xv. approval

He appreciates people who understand the weight of words and how to use them, people passionate about netrunning (or, at least, respectful of the craft), and, generally, responses that make use of Intelligence or Cool.

xvi. disapproval

Mistreating or bad-mouthing Moxes and sex workers in general. Pacifism for the sake of pacifism, or, just, idealism for the sake of idealism. He's a practical man.

xvii. quality time

He would bring V to a lzrpop underground hardcore rave. He's a fan of electropunk vocaloid-like industrial shit, feels like there's a whole intimism to the scene, to the mood and all.

xviii. jobs with V

He would help as long as he has an interest in it. (That interest can be V themself, as long as their relationship is developed enough.) He's a very good netrunner, both in combat and in all things involving breaching and programming. He's passionate about all the logic behind the net in general and would eagerly offer his support to any mission that deals with the subject.

xix. about Johnny

The idea of V losing their identity is one that Rome would be sensitive to, some big existential dread at the idea of dying without the fairness of even leaving their own corpse behind. He can't really see how he can help with the whole thing (even if he does have some research regarding Alt Cunningham's work in his belt), but he would want V to live his days with no regrets, make the sort of memories that make life worth it.

xx. backstory

Rome is born and raised in Watson, until he runs from home in his late teens and is taken in by the Moxes, who are the first to really introduce him to the inner workings of Night City's streetlife. He never joins them per se, only works as a sort of outside man –spying, stealing, sabotaging in exchange for board and lodging. Netrunning is his passion since before all that and under Nix's care it's eventually what he specializes in, leaving Lizzie's protection to do his own thing.

He has a small role in both Judy's mission and Nix's, but also has a main quest of his own, if V choses to get involved.

xxi. driving

He can drive, although it's unadvised to let him do so. I don't really think he has a car, to be honest, he's a metro guy. If he does it's an old, trashy model he barely uses.

xxii. radio station

He has complicated tastes and a personal playlist of what most would categorize as "pure trash" so he doesn't really listen to the radio that much. Radio Pebpak is usually what he goes with for background music if he has to choose. He doesn't mind "easy" popular hits either and can actually sing along decently to some pop stuff, in light dosages.

xxiii. romance option

Yes, he'd be a romance option. Rome has a hard time letting his walls down but he's passionate and extremely devoted to those he holds close to his heart. He's a sweet talker, loves some spice and play, but he's just as fond of private, quality time with his significant other.

xxiv. love interest

His OG love interest was Kerry, but I can't really see them meeting in a context where he doesn't have Johnny in his brain, so, not really, no.

(ocs: I assume Victorio is still his ex, but they would have broken up before he left for Atlanta.)

xxv. friends

He has friends at Lizzie's, Judy amongst them, even if they've been known to not agree on a number of subjects. He's close to Evelyn too but doesn't have Judy's ability to keep contact with her outside of the casual meets-up, and their friendship suffers from the distance. Nix is a mentor of his and Rogue occasionally indulges him with some of her time too, with how often they cross roads at the Afterlife.

(ocs: He has an old childhood friend in the Maelstroms, Cami, and a former-Tyger-turned-Corpo friend at Arasaka, Ryo "Five" Kasumi, that has an important role in his personal quest line.)

xxvi. enemies

He doesn't particularly like Royce ever since he took control of the Maelstrom, but it's nothing too personal. He also had some not-so-pleasant face to face with the VDBZ that, at best, concluded in a truce. In general, he tries not to make enemies.

xxvii. personal quests

** here for length

xxviii. personal quests' names

Notorious - Duran Duran [meeting at the Afterlife]

Toxicity - System of a Down [mission at the scavs' hideout]

Stupid, Sadistic and Suicidal - Mindless Self Indulgence [conversation with Arasaka]

Marry the Night - Lady Gaga [rave to find the mole; possible kiss]

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) - Eurythmics [friendship/romance scene]

xxix. unique weapons and clothing

He has a pistol with built-in silencer that deals chemical damage –called "Disease", and he wears a black glam-punk leather jacket with matching pants and boots, on top of a black netrunner suit.

xxx. loot

Lots of very high quality quickhacks, his custom weapon and his jacket, and a shard about his personal research on Alt Cunningham's work.

#cyberpunk 2077 #cyberpunk2077 #cp77 #v as npc #male v #street kid v #oc : virus

[malefiquinn]

My Cyberpunk 2077 review

I finished the game last night and I have Feelings™ about it, so here goes my review. While the heavy spoilers (ending related) will be hidden under Keep Reading, I might mention some minor ones here and there, so read at your own risk.

Let’s get the Big Thing out of the way first: yes, the game is buggy af. The good news is most of them are visual bugs, so while annoying, they don’t really matter gameplay wise. But I did have to reload an earlier save file two times to get rid of gamebreaking bugs, both messing with main story quests. It was frustrating. And nevermind the times my car got destroyed because the game suddenly realized there were two cars occupying the same space. However I did manage to finish the game and make the choices I wanted, so it wasn’t that bad either.

My biggest complain is the blantant transphobia shown in the character creator. I know Claire exists and she’s awesome and I love her, but the cc options are just not inclusive enough. What’s the point of having them if you can’t use them anyway? Linking V’s pronouns to voice types makes absolutely no sense. And not being able to remove breasts from the female body type (or put them in the male body type) rubs me the wrong way as well, though I understand that it would involve a lot more animation work. Lastly, having body type-dependant hair styles is just plain inexcusable when the devs took the time to design genitals that are just not shown past the character creator (unless V walks around naked, I suppose). So, why bother having all these ✨choices✨ when the player can’t get a good, accurate customization anyway?

And it gets worse if we talk about romances. Real people have specific tastes and that’s completely understandable, but real life has a lot more than 4 choices in total. More importantly, bisexual people are a thing? There should have been at least one female and one male bisexual romance options in game. So to make it al worse, the constraint in gay romance options is... awful. Why have 3 types of gender-related customization if you can’t use them if you want to romance someone? I’m a cishet female who plays as a cishet female first if given the option, but I’m still bothered for the queer community (which I’m still part of btw, since I’m in the ace spectrum). It feels like being trans is more of a fetish in Night City than a real trait.

Speaking of romances, I played River’s and I found it... bit of a lackluster. I don’t find him physically attractive (shaved head and no beard are not my thing) but his voice was pretty nice and I liked his personality despite being a cop. But the main downside was the way the game treats his romance. I knew I wasn’t going to get a BioWare-style romance, but V’s relationship with River was like a sidenote and once he’s romanced, there’s just no way to interact with him again. That perhaps is the same for the other romances but there’s no replayability, in a sense that there’s no way to talk to/kiss him again or replay the sex scene, for instance. It bothered me that the game forces V to say that “she’s too busy” and apologize to her boyfriend all the time, because *I* would’ve made time to visit if there was ingame acknowledgement of it. The worst bit is that I feel like River’s romance is the least polished of them all, because Panam and Judy play important roles in main quests and Kerry is pivotal to Johnny’s sidequests, while River is... just there (also more further on, regarding the ending). So the fact that he’s like the forgotten child in the romance section while being the only cishet female option is heartbreaking.

The silverlining is that, at least, the mistreated community was het females instead of gay females. Although, this is just another example of game devs thinking about male players first.

Now the good part: what I liked

The cars. I’m not a car enthusiast, I don’t enjoy driving in real life and I’m a terrible driver in games, but I fucking loved the cars in CP2077. The Caliburn was like my game baby, I had so much fun driving around and hearing the different engines for each car, and the differences in driving... it was awesome. I got and bought *all* the available cars for the sake of it, just because I liked them so much.

The story. I love games that get me invested and this one was definitely one of those. Falling for Jackie when I knew he was not gonna be around for long was an expected, but still perfectly excecuted punch to the gut. And Johnny’s guidance and company was something I was hyped about, but still played out even better than I though it would. So to my next point, Keanu Reeves. I was thrilled to play a game with Keanu in it and it blew my mind. Those reviews that pinpoint Keanu’s acting as the weak link in the game are fucking wrong, how else you expect to see (and hear) an angry, resentful man permanently stuck in time? Even worse, when he knows the people he hated the most managed to kill him? I wasn’t happy when I learned Johnny was not a romance option but after meeting him, I’m glad that’s the case. He’s the perfect antihero-turned-best-friend for V, if you can stand him.

Stealth and hacking. Most of the time I choose the option to play stealthy and this time it wasn’t just that, it was the option to use futuristic technology at the same time. I LOVED it. Quickhacking enemies instead of shooting them is so much fun. Enemy detection is a bit wonky at times but still, I enjoyed it much better than if it had been a plain shooter. And those guns with homing shots are so cool that I wanted to play them over sniper rifles, my usual go tos.

The characters. I got invested in V’s relationships, even if the romantic aspect wasn’t as great as it could’ve been. Friendship with Kerry and Panam, clousure for Judy and Rogue, mourning Jackie, being part of River’s family, so many the fixers in existance... and Johnny, my bff Johnny. Even Alt, with her somewhat little role, was great. I was promised a compelling story and deep characters, and I did get both.

The soundtrack. Overall it’s pretty great, but my favorite songs are those related to Samurai. And it’s not even because of my love for Johnny, I really do enjoy them for their musical content. Unironically my all time favorite is Johnny’s as well, Never Fade Away. I won’t exit a car or open the menu when that song is playing.

The easter eggs. From GlaDOS and Silence of the Lambs in the Delamain quests to the Matix-esque pills of the main storyline, to Hideo Kojima and the BB in a lab, “Harvest like a Reaper” and the many “You’re breathtaking!” references (Kerry’s take was my favorite), the game presents A LOT of pop culture nods and I’m here for it. Having real life content creators around for several levels of cameos was a nice touch as well.

So without mentioning the heavy spoilers (aka ending), in my opinion, Cyberpunk 2077 deserves a 9/10. Bugs are fixable and the story and characters carry the game on it’s own because they’re just too good. The main story is kinda short and I believe Johnny’s sidequests should be part of the main story, but I get why they are not mandatory if you want to roleplay a full on dislike towards the rockerboy. But still, there are some things related to gender and romance that are complete misfires. I hope that some of those will be fixed via patches (the character creator bits), but the lack of more romance options or at least bisexual NPCs obviously won’t be fixed and that’s what keeps CP2077 away from a perfect score in my book.

Now, regarding the endings:

The one thing that truly bothered me was that the Rogue one had no real goodbyes for V. She goes into a suicide mission in space and everyone’s post-credit messages complain she just disappeared without a trace? I get she’s dying and all, but, for fuck’s sake leave a message explaining it if you cared so much about them. The game *makes* you care about the characters but doesn’t give you an option to honor that love at the end.

Also, again, romances. I played both Rogue and Panam’s endings so I know there’s no way to have a happy ending with River, which is bittersweet and probably for the best that it happens with him since his romance seems to be the least engaging, but again that makes me feel cheated. Not that they parted ways in the Nomad ending (that was sad, but sad endings are not bad), but that there is no happy-ish ending romance wise for a cishet female. People who romanced Panam obviously stay together with her and those who romanced Judy do too from what I’ve read (and no idea about Kerry’s romance), but not getting that option if you choose to be female and go for a het romance takes away from the game. Sadly. Also my last interaction with River in Rogue’s ending was fucking terrible, I liked how poetic that ending was for Rogue and Johnny until I got to the rest of my V’s life.

(But I still headcanon that River eventually joined V with the Aldecaldos in my canon ending, aka the Nomads’, despite what he said. Since his post-credit message implies he might visit her and stuff.)

As for the rest of the ending... CP2077 clearly states that life isn’t happy and that there’re no happy endings for people who live in NC, so I like that no ending is completely happy since you are bound to die anyway, but. But. It’s somewhat disheartening that the overall arc can be resumed to “all that you did served for nothing, you’re still dying so your efforts were absolutely useless.” I really don’t see how to improve it without defaulting to a happy, sunshine-esque ending that fixes everything, so I don’t know. It still wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear at the end, so... I liked it but didn’t, at the same time. Ha.

And lastly, I hoped for endgame playability and there is none, you have to revert to an earlier save to keep playing. I get why it wasn’t done, to give a definitive end to V’s story in NC, but anyway. What I really liked about this choice was that no matter the ending, V becomes no one again. They will be forgotten by most people after a while either because they leave with the nomads or because they ‘disappear’, aka die in a blaze of glory in that casino in space. Or well, sell their soul to Arasaka or commit suicide on the rooftop.

So overall, I loved this game and critics are somewhat too harsh. But I agree there are some terrible design choices and a long way of bugfixing to get to the specific masterpiece that we were hoping for.

#cyberpunk 2077 #personal #ivy 'v' kerrigan #since she's in the pic #my v

[robotslenderman]

Still only partway through CP77.

Spoilers for the Death’s Head questline.

Warning: this involves my V ignoring canon, having a mental breakdown and expressing it by attacking poor, poor fucking Judy.

So like

My V was a complete fucking mess after the Heist and what happened there. Her best friend (and crush) was dead, she almost died, and she had a fucking terrorist in her head who could TOUCH HERRRR and had hijacked her body and hurt her, and she was going to die in a month and slowly lose control of her body to someone who wanted to hurt her.

She. Was fucking. Terrified. Even when Johnny offered an olive branch she didn’t trust him at all (something Judy would come to relate to, although my V hasn’t yet noticed the parallel).

So when Judy refused to give her any information on Evelyn?

V, who was absolutely scared for her life and having a mental breakdown after the death of her best friend, went to visit Judy.

With a baseball bat.

And used it.

I know this doesn’t make it better at all, but V did hold back a bit -- didn’t hit the head, pulled her punches on the body and spine, and mostly went for the legs. If any permanent damage was done, it wouldn’t be to Judy’s brain, it wouldn’t be to her hands or arms. Better she disabled Judy’s ability to walk if she went too far than fucking lobotomising her or fucking up her hands.

How fucking considerate of her, I know. V basically wanted to scare the shit out of her, made her think that other people were hunting down Evelyn (”if you don’t give me this information, I’ll just fucking kill you. I don’t need you. I can wait for someone else to find her first and drop in on them. So you better talk because otherwise you’re not getting out of here alive”), and made a big song and dance about how the only reason V wasn’t going to fucking annihilate Judy on the spot was because Jackie would never forgive her for turning into a complete monster.

Anyway. Poor Judy quickly blurted out the information about Clouds once she realised V was not fucking around. V threatened her again, then got the fuck out. And obviously hasn’t been back to Lizzie’s since.

When she calmed down she wrote Judy an apology letter. (I told my friend this. She was like “your V is fucking psycho.” Yeah.) She was like “look, I know an apology doesn’t mean jack fucking shit after what I did to you, but... idk man. send me what you owe the ripperdoc and I’ll square my debt to you.”

Yeah V, because contacting someone you fucking traumatised is a BRILLIANT FUCKING IDEA, I bet Judy wouldn’t be afraid AT ALL to send you a bill!

(Naturally, Judy didn’t reply and just sent some of the Mox. V gave them everything she could spare and told them to come back in a week for the rest. They roughed her up. She fought back enough to defend herself and eventually toss them out, but didn’t attack them because she knew that wouldn’t help Judy.)

Needless to say, when she ran into Judy at Fingers’ place Judy was NOT at all happy to see her and didn’t want to work with her at all. V basically gave her all the details she uncovered at Clouds -- by now she was actually pretty damn worried about Evelyn and she’d started coming to terms with the fact she was going to die, so she was far more concerned about finding Evelyn than getting anything from her, and was terrified Evelyn was dead.

But obviously Judy was still Mega Freaked Out and traumatised and wasn’t going to work with her. V didn’t offer, either. V didn’t try to scare Judy, but she was also a bit tetchy because Judy obviously didn’t want her looking for Evelyn still, and so V probably scared her a little still because V was like “look, I’m going to find her whether you like it or not, get out of my way. She is in big fucking trouble and I don’t have time for this.”

Judy followed her into Fingers’ room and watched her deal with Fingers. V was actually pretty calm when dealing with Fingers, then realised how fucked up it was that she beat up Judy but not this asshole, so she beat up Fingers too.

Nice, V. Way not to freak out Judy even more.

But obviously, Judy didn’t want to work with V like she did in canon. So V got the snuff film by herself. Unfortunately, she needed an editor, so this was the point where she reached out to Judy again. Sent her a text message that basically said, “This film could help me find Evelyn. Give me a time when you won’t be in and I’ll use your stuff to get into edit mode and track them down.”

V’s dumbass logic: “she probably doesn’t want to see me but I need this information, so I’ll just tell her to keep away from me.”

Judy’s response was “oh my god, even if you could do this without someone on the outside what the hell makes you think I’d let you on my tech unsupervised?!”

(V: “Oh. Right.”) “Do you want me to find Evelyn or not?”

“That’s not what I meant! Come in, but I’m operating the computer and I’m putting Mox in there with us, so don’t you dare try to intimidate me.”

“... Yeah that’s a much better idea. I just knew you wouldn’t want to be alone with me.”

“Can’t imagine why.”

(V, thinking a joke might put her at ease a bit, not realising it just makes her look like a psychopath anyway.) “It’s okay, I’ll leave the baseball bat at home.”

(Judy is not at all amused.)

So the questline continues the way it does in-game, except with a very jumpy Judy. It’s when they find Evelyn that Judy is freaked out enough to be distracted from V. V carries out Evelyn, speaking to her softly.

At this point V had totally come to terms with the fact she was going to die. And Evelyn was a complete fucking mess, and Evelyn was not going to talk even if V wanted her to. So my V didn’t even bother with that, just helped Judy get Evelyn the hell out of there.

Once Evelyn was settled in Judy’s apartment (it’s only later that Judy realises “oh shit, now V knows where I live”) Judy and V’s conversation went almost exactly as it did in canon, with the exception of the more trusting/loyal responses Judy gives you, which Judy simply omitted. V also elaborated on some of the stuff in her letter -- that V was dying because of the relic slowly overwriting her presonality, and she’d hunted down Evelyn because Evelyn could give her a lead to go on to reverse the process. But V still didn’t make any attempts to talk with Evelyn. V knew she was going to die. She wasn’t going to compound Evelyn’s trauma even more. When Judy expressed concern that other people were hunting Evelyn, V was like “oh, shit, no, actually, I was bluffing.”

“...”

“I wasn’t going to kill you. I just wanted to make you think I was. I don’t know of anyone actually trying to hunt her down, and I didn’t run into anyone at all while chasing up this information on her. So either she’s in the clear and nobody wants her, or they’re being damn subtle about it. Either way, since she’s in this condition she’ll be staying inside and lying low, so that’ll help her shake off any tail she might have.”

V gave Judy some more money, though not the full amount because she’s still scraping the eddies together -- told Judy she’d make sure she was fully reimbursed before she went. Told Judy if she or Evelyn needed anything more, call her.

...

By then, after seeing her with Evelyn, Judy is not sure about my V.

After the baseball bat incident, Judy thought that my V was an unhinged violent lunatic. I mean, V was an unhinged violent lunatic -- but she’d thought my V was that by default. But obviously my V showed Evelyn a lot of empathy and concern -- genuine empathy and concern, not V trying to go “LOOK HOW NICE I AM” to Judy. She knew V wasn’t trying to show false empathy to butter up Judy because V got pissed at her in Fingers’ office for getting in the way of her trying to find Evelyn to make sure Evelyn was okay. That is, pissed at her for that specific occasion of Judy getting in the way -- V was definitely not checking on Evelyn’s wellbeing when she visited Judy with the baseball bat, but Judy tried to discourage V from going after Evelyn again at Fingers’ office and V’s response was pretty much “oh fuck OFF, she’s in a really bad situation and needs help.”

So Judy was like, okay, there’s two possible judgements you can make about V:

V is one of those people who seems absolutely lovely until she gets in a bad mood, which is even more fucking terrifying because that makes her unpredictable.

V legitimately was in the middle of a mental breakdown and Judy just happened to be really fucking unlucky in that she was the convenient target. V had said this in her letter but obviously Judy was like “What the FUCK did you really send me an APOLOGY LETTER for almost BEATING ME TO DEATH” and hadn’t really taken it seriously, but now she’s starting to think V might have actually told the truth.

Judy is hoping it’s the latter but she’s not holding her breath, and also you have to remember that even if it was a mental breakdown... it showed her exactly what V was like when she was having a mental breakdown, and therefore meant V was perfectly fucking capable of doing it again.

(Meanwhile V was thinking “If she knows I was having a mental breakdown then she knows she doesn’t have to be scared of me doing it again.” No, V. You’re wrong.)

Judy is less spooked after seeing V in action with Evelyn, but she’s still very wary of her. But after V helped her with Evelyn, Judy told her not to worry about the rest of the eddies and just accepted what V gave her then and there. V almost pushed it, but realised Judy probably didn’t want to feel indebted to someone who beat her up with a baseball bat, so she dropped it.

V later sent Judy a weighted blanket for Evelyn to sleep under. “I’ve got one, it helps when I’m stressed. It won’t make her any better, but it might give her a little comfort.”

So right now, V and Judy have an uneasy truce. V keeps her distance from Judy unless she has to, except to occasionally ask after Evelyn, and Judy keeps her distance right back.

V is, however, not sucking up to Judy or grovelling to her. All she wanted was to let Judy know she didn’t have to be scared of her (although again, Judy is perfectly fucking aware that even if it was an actual mental breakdown then yes Judy should be scared of V having another one), that Judy didn’t have to worry about V going back to have another go at her.

V’s not going to make a huge deal about what a horrible person she was. She’s... well. Even if she thought it would help, she’s got a month to live unless the omega blockers give her more time. She’s not going to wear a hair shirt over this. She gave Judy some funds for the ripper doc, she’s apologised (even if an apology feels awfully pathetic), and she’s kept away from her.

Now she’s going to go back to chasing up leads, because Evelyn is in no condition to help. Because Judy released her, she’s been able to pay off her debt to Vik, and now she’s scraping up funds to pay Rogue for help and trying to talk Hakemura out of that fucking parade because that idiot keeps trying to get himself killed and she has to stand by to haul his ass out of the fire.

#Dusty plays #CP77 #violence cw #poor fucking Judy #my V's relationship with Judy parallels her relationship with Johnny #on account of the whole scaring-the-shit-out-of-Judy thing #like how Johnny did with her #optimistically #she's also getting along better with Johnny now #although she doesn't see the parallels AT ALL #I'm sure Johnny'll point it out later #just like how Judy is wary but relaxing with V #V is wary but relaxing with Johnny #Valentina

[nightcityheat]

CP2077 OC ask game from here ♡ part 1/4; part 2/4; part 4/4

part 3/4 RELATIONSHIPS. 

is your friend a social butterfly or more of a loner?

A loner, definitely, but he gets strongly attached to his inner circle, even if he's somehow shit at showing it.

who are their closest chooms in NC?

Jackie was its own thing. Not a friendship he would have chosen, necessarily, for they didn't see eye to eye to a lot of things, and as the Heist approached and the tensions rose it became more and more obvious. That being said he cared for the man more that he could put into words. Sometimes he felt, like, this undying devotion. It wasn't a friendship that anyone could ever match, for better or for worse. His relationship with Judy was way simpler in a lot of ways, and once it clicked he felt like it would never waver, never change. She's his best friend, she's texts about music and art at 5 am, she's feeling similar and so sweetly different at the same time. Since the dive he still sort of feel like the echo of her memories never left him, like he was there, like they shared it. Panam is a sister. She's in his blood, she's promises and the feeling of falling asleep together under the same stars.

do they have anyone they would consider family?

Misty, for sure. Vik, for the same reasons. Once, Mama Wells, but without Jackie it's all too different. 

what is/was their relationship like with their parents?

He has only vague memories of his father, and he prefers not to linger on them and risking to, like, start making stuff up. His mother left to make a career in music when he was a kid, and, after a couple of years of her taking less and less time to write to her son, she stopped altogether. It's little after that he ran from home. Judy and Kerry offer to help him track her, years and years later, and, despite his reluctance, he does accept to try.

do they have siblings?

None that he's aware of.

how would you describe their relationship with their family?

He wouldn't describe it, cause he buried his past behind him, and is very reluctant about anything that could dig it back up. He doesn't want people looking at shadows of what he is or was and define him based on them.

who is their biggest enemy?

He still has panic attacks about crawling out of trash after being shot in the head, body seizing, starving for survival, pure panic and fear and the knowledge there was a hole in his skull, the phantom feeling of his brain leveling out of his ears. The fact that he didn't kill Dexter DeShawn himself will always haunt him. Killing Smasher in Johnny's sake had a bit of melancholy to it for the same reason. It felt a bit like denying Johnny his right.

tell a short story about your character with their best choom.

It's about Judy and V making the not-so-sober decision of getting a tattoo together, Judy finding out about the "Johnny + V" tattoo, either or both almost flatlining out of sheer, hysterical laughing, and then Judy getting a biohazard/toxic symbol tattooed on her ankle and V a rose on his hip.

do they have a love interest? if so, who?

The one and only, Kerry Eurodyne.

are they in a committed relationship or do they date around?

He didn't (doesn't) really had the luxury of fooling around, with the whole dying thing, but even then, after the surprise of finding Kerry, the.. small, precious, unexpected luck it was... He couldn't really look for anything that would compare. Didn't care to try.

has your character ever been in love? if so, with who?

He's had a boyfriend or two, in the years, and sure felt like he loved them. Now he loves Kerry, and if he's the last he ever will love, well, he's fine with that.

do they believe in soulmates?

He knows that with Johnny it was like finding his soulmate and knowing it was the worst possible time for it. It wasn't romantic or sexual, fuck, it wasn’t even civil most of the time. But for all the taking of souls Alt did, he knew this was it. He still wear the dog tags.

do they believe in love at first sight?

Not really. It sounds more like a thing one would declare in retrospect, and it feels too much like rewriting the past with a pink lense. Love is what it is, and it is to be enjoyed in the present moment.

describe their ideal date.

With a splash of danger.

would your character ever get married?

He doesn't really care about weddings in general, but he wouldn't mind being someone's husband. Has a nice ring to it. The whole "forever" bit is a bit ridiculous, but after facing death so much he sorts of feels the appeal, now. Still, wouldn't get married knowing he only has some months to live.

what was your characters first impression of their partner(s)?

It was a bit awkward, Johnny leaving him hanging around his former best friend in a bathrobe, while obviously not being that interested in the "V" part of their consciousness. The first time they really talked without the phantom of Johnny between then was with the Us Cracks gigs, and the mood felt immediately different, and V felt suddenly more at easy letting his eyes linger over the beautiful gold of Kerry's implants, over the lines at the corner of his eyes when he would smirk. It felt different with the fire of Kerry's personality suddenly hitting him straight to chest with its warmth. Flattering, even sweet. Like meeting an old teenage crush that you thought had forgotten all about you.

are they open about their relationship or low key? how would other people feel about them together?

He's pretty low key. Part of it is just how he is. He's private, he tends to compartmentalize, to deflect. What more with how the ticking in his head makes it feel like he simply doesn't have the luxury to make a big deal out of things. Another part is him assuming it's what's best for Kerry, seeing he is a public figure and all. That being said he doesn't hide it, simply doesn't broadcast it a lot. Judy is the first person he actually told, instead of having just people assuming or witnessing something between the two of them, and it was a bit of a mess, so Judy's feelings about Kerry were just as messy by consequence. It got better with time, especially as they both helped V track his mother again and got the chance to meet under other circumstances than just "V's input and V's best friend". Johnny thought it was both ironic and good for them both, but also made a point to never get too involved, for both V and Kerry's sake. Out of his own form of respect. Misty thought they were cute, Vik had no real opinion, but did low key offered to give a shovel talk if it was needed. Panam mostly made fun of him, but good-heartedly.

share a headcanon about your character and their partner(s).

V likes that he can talk to Kerry about Johnny freely. They both have very different baggage regarding him, but both had to walk past it and learned to accept it for what it was, both good and bad stuff. V needs someone to talk to that knew Johnny, but at the same time that wouldn't consider him a stranger walking in memories not his. On a more romantic side, V would like, admitting he fixes the dying thing first, to eventually modify the cosmetic implants on his arm to match the tattoos on Kerry's.

share three songs you associate with your character and their partner(s).

Evil in the Night - Adam Lambert Hey Pretty - Poe Leave out all the Rest - Linking Park

#cyberpunk 2077 #cyberpunk2077 #my v #oc : virus #male V #CP2077 OC ask game