Alex is staring at the tengu on her desk.

  Omar didn’t want it, went green at the sight of the railgun actually. Alex finds that funny, he likes to pretend to be hard and can’t even stomach one suicide. So now she has a railgun, isn’t that lucky? That kind of firepower is expensive, and only a few select stores have them in stock.

  She’s going to give it to her father, she doesn’t really have a use for something so insanely overkill. If she got into gunfights more often than sure but as is it’s wasted on her. She just has to wait for him to get back from his contracts and all will be well.

  Her interface notifies her of an incoming call, hmmm, from Ikram. That’s rare, he doesn’t usually make calls. Prefers texting. Alex accepts.

  “Wassup grump, you dying on the streets or something?” Alex says.

  “Omar told me what happened,” Ikram grunts. “You doing alright?”

  Alex scrunches her brow in incredulity, he can’t see her but still. Important to animate your mannerisms.

  “Last I checked I wasn’t the one who blew their own head off, so yeah, I’m doing fine.”

  The line is silent for a moment, letting Alex bask in her confusion. Ikram shouldn’t be worried for her, two people died and she wasn’t one of them. That…reminds her of Ray, shame that. She had a rapport with the bitch, only local gun dealer she could find that let a cripple test their weaponry.

  Eventually, Ikram sighs. “You know that’s not what I meant Alex.”

  “What do you mean then boyo?”

  “You were almost killed,” Ikram grunts. “And you saw some shit.”

  Alex giggles at that. “C’mon, this is Arthas! Home of the fucked and the soon to be fucked. It’s cute that you care but this isn’t exactly headline news.”

  “It’s headline worthy for me, dickhead.”

  “Is that why you’re always such a grumpy grump? Can’t find shit to actually entertain you?” Alex says.

  “Whatever,” Ikram sighs. “Just wanted to check on you.”

  Then he unceremoniously cuts off the line, causing Alex to scowl. No call etiquette on that one! gonna have to teach him someday. Project for later, once she stops admiring the tengu. Because that’s what she’s doing, looking at the intricate embroidery in a gun that can kill so easily.

  She finds it funny how idiots like to have their guns decorated. Gang colors sure, but carvings and shit? Why? All it’s good for is taking a life, and it’s not as though the lives you take will appreciate fine artistry.

  Maybe Zack did though, since he was the owner.

  There should be a name for a gun that takes its owner's life. She can’t come up with any ‘cause she isn’t a connoisseur of names, but it seems like something important enough in the weapons history to be acknowledged.

  Why did he take his life anyway? Because his family was gone?

  Family is one of the few things Alex has, would she do the same if one day they all died? She doesn’t know, and feels morbidly curious about the prospect. She’d be sad for sure, but sad enough to take her own life?

  She doesn’t…get it honestly, she doesn’t want to die; doesn’t think she’ll ever want to die. But that man did it so easily, barely even hesitated. Omar just had to chat him up and bing bang boom, another dead clanker on the streets of this city.

  Convenient for the residents too, one less cyber-psycho is only a positive really.

  Right?

  She stares at the weapon of death as a ping from the door invades her train of thought. Alex blinks and connects to the camera. Sasha stands at the doorway, a little beat up by the looks of it but not extremely so. Probably here to pick up Miriam. Alex opens the door with little fanfare, returning to her musings.

  What is she supposed to make of what she saw? She just can’t get into his headspace, and that bothers her. She doesn’t like mysteries, and most motivations have a level of internal logic to them. Even if it may be twisted. She can’t find Zack’s, not at all.

  The door to her room opens with a hiss and a beaming Sasha makes her way inside with Miriam in her arms, the infant pulling at Sasha’s cheek. She hums happily as she skips over at Alex.

  “Hey bestie! Thanks so much for…” The words die in her throat as Alex turns to look at the girl.

  “What?”

  “Alex,” Sasha says. “Have you been crying?”

  -

  Baba didn’t take well to the news of Alex being so close to death, which isn’t much of a surprise. Her grandparents had to calm him down, didn’t stop him from punching a hole through the fridge but they tried. Must be frustrating for Gidou Rakim, all the shit that needs to be cooled is probably gonna rot before the new fridge comes in.

  It doesn’t really matter in the end, Baba will calm down. She got him a railgun afterall! Should be enough to placate. Besides, he knows this city, that’s just how it works. Didn’t even suggest stopping her solo-walks. Probably knew she would be intensely against being trapped here with nothing but the VirtuBoy and her digital art.

  Not the worst fate, but fuck would she raise hell if she were subjected to it. Sure she may be a waif but she can make a mess if she really tries. She’s had her moments, they’re best left unspoken.

  So instead of making a mess she’s venting by doing some fucking bowling! Now, she’s weak as fuck, how does she bowl? Simple, with a nice pound of improvisation!

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Alex lies on her stomach, lining up the ball with an expert eye. Once she’s confident she pushes the five kilo ball down the alley, watching it with eager anticipation as it rolls and rolls. Eventually it reaches its target, an inevitable wave crashing into the innocent pins of wood.

  They all fall through the back of the alley.

  “Strike!” Alex says as she rolls onto her back and waves her arms in the air.

  Sasha snickers. “I can see that you’ve been practicing, or has your luck gotten a booster?”

  “All skill baby! I’m a fucking pro. Quick, get me another ball so I can do it again.”

  Sasha rolls her eyes with a small smile and goes to do just that, grabbing a slightly lighter ball and placing it in front of Alex. Alex excitedly flips back onto her stomach and watches as the pins are replaced with a new set. She goes through her intricate process with professional pride, sending the bowling ball down the alley once again-

  Only for it to careen off to the side and into the left gutter.

  “HA!” Sasha starts cackling. “Skill my left cheek! The fuck was that supposed to be? You were all concentrated for that?”

  “Fuck off bitchface, we all have our moments,” Alex grouches.

  “That wasn’t a moment, that was a whole ass scene.”

  Alex shakes her fist in indignation and Sasha has to clutch her stomach from all her laughing. She tries to push herself up but forgets that she has exactly no muscle and flops on the ground. This only adds to Sasha’s hysteria, falling down on the couch as Miriam slaps her knees to join in the merriment from her cradle. Curses! Foiled by genetics once again.

  “Yeah laugh it up, when I get off this very comfy floor you’ll rue the day you crossed me!”

  “The fuck-” a wheeze “-who the fuck uses ‘rue’? You going back two centuries or some shit?”

  “Hey, they had taste.”

  “In what?”

  “Cars, you see pictures of that shit? Fucking wicked.”

  Sasha chuckles as her eyes dilate, interfacing with the local net. Searching through the library of available data. It varies per locality, some places have information in shit that others don’t. There’s an initiative to try and centralize information and disperse it to the localities but it hasn’t seen much success.

  “Damn, that’s actually pretty cool. Why don’t we make our cars like that? Has style.”

  “Maybe we could make a custom in the honor of our ancestors,” Alex says as she accomplishes a maneuver to slowly get up off the ground. “I’m sure they’re rolling in their graves with our modern style.”

  “They’re lucky to have graves to roll in,” Sasha snorts.

  “Touché”

  -

  Alex is into plenty of shit.

  She’s a certified badass in the VR world, at least for shit that doesn’t need much physical movement. An FD is way too expensive for her blood, so she has to settle for the VirtuBoy instead. Still, there’s plenty of cerebral games to sink your time into so it’s not like she’s lacking for entertainment. Her favorites are 3D puzzles, shit is absolutely fantastic. Too bad each one goes for fifty creds, else she’d probably waste all her time on them.

  There’s also the chat rooms, which she is on and off with. She has a few online friends in her locality but the only one she actually met in person was Sasha. The anonymity is nice though, they don’t have to know she’s physically incapable so she doesn’t have to worry about their judgement.

  When she’s not doing any of her other shit, she dives into the world art. Pretty good at it too if you were to ask her, not professional grade but close enough. Too bad artists are usually corporate slaves in Arthas, so she isn’t really planning to make a career out of it. It’s fun to do on the side though, occasionally she’ll even get commissions from one of the gangoons in The Road and those are always fun to complete.

  The most fun are making emojis for Glitch servers. Quick, easy, and she sees their use often enough. She’s in a bunch of servers, so she gets enough opportunities to keep herself entertained.

  Chibi art of people she knows is also fucking hilarious. She’s made plenty for her Baba, and seeing him so cute gets her rolling on the floor. Obviously, she’s shown him her work plenty of times. The intention was to tease but he’s immune to embarrassment, praising her instead of the reactions she was hoping for.

  It’s fine, she’ll take the admiration as compensation instead of entertainment.

  Anime semi-realistic portraits is also something she’s been getting good at recently. Anime in general is rare because of how far the data has to travel so they only have the big hitters and a few prolific entries from smaller studios. She enjoys it well enough, the comedy ones are hilarious with how over the top they are but there are a few mature series that bring a tear to her eye.

  Right now she’s going through the process of recreating her gidou and tita in a kind of cozy style on a park bench. Ellipse park specifically, it’s the biggest one in her locality and they’ve gone a few times for walks.

  She’s drawing them in a way where their hands won’t show because that shit is unnecessarily difficult. She’ll get the proportions right someday, but that day is not today.

  Alex hums a tune while drawing on her DigiPad when her door hisses open, she looks over to see tita Jania walking over with a concerned look in her eye. Alex just beams at her which seem to make her more concerned somehow.

  Weird.

  “Wassup tita?” Alex says. “Is it dinner already?”

  “No habibty, your gidou is still on his crusade. I just came to check up on you. See if you're doing alright,” tita Jania says.

  “I’m great! Why wouldn’t I be?”

  Jania just stares at her and sighs. “You don’t have to pretend you know? You saw some fucked up shit, it okay to not be okay.”

  “C’mon tita! I’m hurt that you think I’m so soft,” Alex clutches at her heart for dramatic effect.

  “You’re not soft, you’re young. There’s a difference.”

  “Sure, sure. Wanna see what I’m working on?”

  Jania narrows her eyes at the girl. “I can recognize a deflection so blatant, but I’ll let it slide. This time. Now hand it over.”

  Alex eagerly puts her stylus down on the bed and extends her DigiPad over to Jania. The old centurion takes it in her metal grasp and looks over the work curiously, raising a brow once it graces her eyes.

  “A dress, really? You know I’m not into that shit right?” tita Jania says as she looks up at Alex.

  “But you’d look so good in one!” Alex pouts. “Just look at your magnificence! It’s difficult to draw because of how blinding it is.”

  “Doesn’t change the fact that it’s not my style, I’m not going for the dear old maiden look.”

  “You’ll see the light someday,” Alex nods to herself.

  “All I see is that you still suck ass at shading. That and you aren’t even trying to draw the hands.”

  “But it’s so hard!”

  “And we only get better with practice. Keep avoiding it and it’ll be hard forever.”

  “Fine,” Alex grouches.

  Jania lets out a soft laugh, going back to looking over Alex’s art. Tita has exactly zero filters for critique, unlike her gidou and baba; so Alex can be sure that the woman won’t just flatter her to death. Critique is important for improvement after all!

  Jania finishes her overview and hands the DigiPad back to Alex. “It’s not bad, could use some smoothing out but good overall. I like your colours, gives a vibrant pop. The facial proportions are meh but I’ve just accepted that as your style by this point.”

  “What specifically needs to be smoother?” Alex prods.

  “Well, if you look at the shoulders…”

  Index:

  FD: Full-dive

  Gidou: Grandpa

  Tita: Grandma

  Habibty: My bro/sweetheart (female)

  Habibi: My bro/sweetheart (male)