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GM: Just a scene, no GM
Players: Johnny, Junko
Synopsis: A random meet in the Pitfighting arena. Johnny offering 'advice' to the cat girl Junko
Date: Febuary 13 2070
Johnny is currently lounging at a table near the edge of the pit. The fights are long over, the lights are low, but Johnny's still here. He's got a drink in one hand, the ice long ago melted, and a datapad in the other.
Junko enters the place with a kind of awe. Like someone returnign to a place of a past long ot maybe not so long gone. She has a look around and offers a nod to the about only other customer present. Her kitten face then turns to a table a bit in the darker corners.
He knows she's there. She knows he knows she's there. But he doesn't look at her. Doesn't engage her. After a moment of feeling her eyes on him, he turns his features slowly to look at her. One eyebrow raises. "Those who refute their basic humanity, rarely deserve it being granted by those around them. Tell me, child." A pause as his eyes lock on hers. "Why are you more than an animal?"
Junko snorts a bit hearing those words as she approaches the man. A slight stubborn look on her face. "You think I had a choice in matterrss?", she asks with some pain in her eyes. "I am a child of despairr and a victim of grreed. If that makess me less human, then tell me why?", she replies.
He watches her. "Your condition is reversable. Your humanity, your connection with those around you, is reattainable. Do you desire it, or do you find yourself content in your misery?"
Junko shakes her head, "It maybe rreversseable in theorry, but therre iss morre scarrss than jusst lookss on me. And ssome of them make it impossible forr me to trrusst a cyberrmongerring Doctorr anymorre.", she says with a sigh. "Ssome make me Neko morre than I want and yourr rreaction prrovess that hiding my ssight iss exactly what I deemed it would be…wisse. You no know a bit about me but alrready crruzify me forr having a differrent look than any otherr gnome or dwarf."
He shrugs. "No. I do not crucify you." he says, sipping his drink, never taking his gaze from her, like a wolf watching a meal. "I am curious. I value my humanity, my link to the world around me, more than anything else. The recent… phenomina.. of genetic maniupulation to -stand apart- from the herd, to sever the link to the tribe… it's… very interesting. But I will note that your answer has all the hallmarks of someone who says they don't want what has happened, but is unwilling to change it. Cybermongering doctors? My reaction proving? You are, withotu a doubt, a freak. A -curiosity-. And that is not a rudeness, it's an objective fact, miss."
Junko nods, "Yess, I am freak. Morre than can be sseen. Iss it my fault? No. Can I change it? No. I haff no money, I haff no connectionss. I am a strrangerr in a strrange town. I only haff a few ffriends but mosst arre poor themselvess. And then I got my prride. I do not want be a beggerr. That make ssensse? I do not know. I only live my life ass good ass can." She herself watches the man oposite to her.
Johnny raises an eyebrow. "I am…" he says then quietly. "A geneticist. I can reverse what has been done to you. If it is what you want. Yuou would be just like any other member of your metatype. It would not be cheap, and I would be owed a debt… but it would be done and you could move to a more… productive lifestyle."
Junko looks at the man, "What you call morre prroductive?", she asks. "I cannot go into the tank again … it sscarress me jusst to think about it.", she replies and truly her entire body is shaking like it's rattled. "I am perrhapps a frreak, but forr now I feel unable to change it. Haff you everr had what you people call a phobia? I am deadly affrraid of the manipulationss a doctorr can do and the pain I associate with it…My heart and mind would love to take the chance offerred, but my soul sshrinkss away frrom the mentioning of that alone."
He shrugs. "Your fear masters you, forces you in to a path that will lead only to fear. To pain." He stands up then, towering over the smaller woman. "You look as a prey animal. A cat, a hunter only of things so much smaller than itself that they cannot hope to win. Hunted by those things larger than it. This will be your roll in life until you die, or overcome your fear. As it is, you are denied honest work, and to -memorable- for dishonest work. You will subsist on the kindness of others. A stray. Pitied." he shrugs, pulling out a business card.
"When you tire of pity and wish to regain your pride…"
Junko growls, "I am farr frrom pityable. But if all that countss forr you iss lookss, sso be it.", she replies seemingly steaming in suppressed fury as if being angry about something she knew would happen rather than the words she heard. She still takes the card and slips it into a pocket of her vest.
He bends down to look directly in to her face… "The eyes may be the windows to the soul, but our faces, our bodies, are the temple to house it. If your body is not -you-… then change it. As I said: You cannot get a respectable, honorable job… and no resonable, smart criminal will hire you because you are too easy to remember. A gnomish cat girl with a lisp. Even in a city of millions… there is only one of you. Pity. This is your food. Your shelter. What work you have will be -pity-. What gifts you receive, -pity-. What comfort you take.. -pity-. Accept your lot, or overcome your fear, little cat."
He straightens up then and smiles. "It was a pleasure."
Junko blinks to those words, "Sso you think I eitherr want to sstay Neko orr change?", she asks puzzled and very thoughtfull all of a sudden, her eyes going wide as she does a step back.
Johnny looks down at the girl as he turns away. "Welcome to the party."
Junko frowns in a kind of pain as she seems to whisper soft words under her breath as if talking to herself.
The leaving man seemingly forgotten in internal struggle.
Johnny turns on his heel, an angular motion, and makes for the door. He whistles gayly as he does so, a jaunty little tune the cat may not recognize… 'if I only had a brain' from the Wizard of Oz.
Junko is left in turmoil of emotions and in her case even personalities, she walks like a dreamwalker to sit down at the shadowy table she had in mind before. The internal arguments going on.
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