text | @kon

[shadowban]

out of curiosity: would you pay to cuddle or nap with a furry animal, if you had the option? if you didn't have to do any cleanup and you're assured they won't have rabies or anything like that.

i've met enough people who seem to want physical comfort of this type, so i thought i might ask.

[ this is a sincere enquiry, please respect his post! ]

Comments

[mikoshi]

[ Well, well, well. It'll be more like cooking for three—he doubts Johnny will want to get this domestic. But there's no denying cooking his own food will save money in the long run. Buying up ingredients, this is a privilege reserved for the rich in Night City, where everything comes premade and prepackaged out of a vending machine. And if the ready-to-eat food already tastes this fucking good, imagine how good it'll taste from scratch.

Nomad's pride too. He likes making his own shit. Likes tinkering. Putting together a car versus a dish—how much different can it be? ] Deal. You and your friend teach me, I'll make food for us all.

Friend. Buddy. [ Family too, with more rapport. ] Sounds like we're chooms now.

[shadowban]

choom. am i expected to call you that, too?

[ it'll probably sound closer to chumu or tsumu if megumi says it, but... why not? learning new words is a good way to exercise the mind. that decides it in megumi's mind: he'll help v-san (and he's fairly sure it's him now) learn to cook. no better way to learn than by teaching, after all. ]

do you have an idea what you want to start with, chumu-san?

[mikoshi]

Only if you want to. Senpai's fine.

[ Chumu-san. Something oddly adorable about the term getting localized. ] Don't need to use keigo with me. Get that's ingrained in the culture here, but I don't like feelin' high-and-mighty. [ They're all outsiders here. All nomads. Maybe it'll change down the road, but for now being called -san feels so damn weird. ] Sandos. Tamago and strawberry are clearing me out. Should probably learn how to bake the shokupan too.

[shadowban]

[ eggs, strawberry, milk bread. not a very complicated menu; he could probably sneak some vegetables in too. a cucumber slice here and there, maybe some spinach or lettuce. ]

i think you're too old for senpai, v-san. it is you, isn't it? i didn't want to assume, but i'm pretty confident it's you.

the honorifics are out of respect; i have no problem with being informal to assholes, too. please accept it for my sake.

[ megumi is sixteen and talks like he's forty, sometimes. ]

[mikoshi]

Yeah, it's me. [ Shit, usernames don't come signed to every comment? Hm. ] Alright, alright. Know when I'm beaten. [ Easier to just go with the flow. He's not changing a culture from being what it is. Not on this, at least. For the most part this particular instance of keigo is benign. He's the one who needs to get over it. ] Never had so many peeps be so respectful from the gate. Usually I gotta fight for it.

[shadowban]

[ he wasn't going to assume, in case there were someone else inclined to call others choom. ]

that doesn't sound like a good place to live, v-san. common decency shouldn't be something we have to fight for.

was it always like that, where you're from?

[mikoshi]

It's not. But it's the fucked up world we've inherited. Gotta make do with what you got.

It wasn't. But the corporations ruined the world and people got complacent. Who fucking cares if the animals are gone, the fields are barren and the water's polluted? Get rich or die tryin'. Fuck and kill your way to the top for the privilege of ignoring it.

Even destroyed this Tokyo is better than Night City. I don't think the Tokyo back home would be this green. Why I never bothered going — same shit, different continent.

[shadowban]

[ it's the fucked up world we've inherited. isn't that the truth, and not just for megumi's home as it would seem. ]

there is so much more to life worth living for than just gaining more money and power. on that we agree. but corporations can still be brought down, just like any other institution. they're made of men.

men can be killed.

[ this got dark for a second. ]

we could go different places here, if you want? i've travelled around japan quite a bit too, so if you want to check out the other cities we have access to, i could probably help navigate around the districts.

[mikoshi]

Tell me about it. [ Hadn't finished scraping Adam Smasher off his knuckles when more opponents presented themselves. People can be killed—but a part of him, that gentle boy raised in an ungentle place, wishes it wasn't so. Imagine all the things they could accomplish if they stopped fighting for five seconds and worked together instead.

Pollyanna notions about world peace. Capitalism has to fall first. ]

I was actually more interested in the roads between them. Grew up hearing about the legendary mountain passes — touge. Always wanted to race on them.

Gunma's probably the closest.