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How can you tell?
How can you be so sure that any of this shit is real?

Yeah. Both of them.
Neither of them are the V I know from home, but the vibe is the same.
Still fam.

How about you?

Lucky guess. And if we’re all just experiencing the same non-reality, who says it isn’t as good as real? Either way, I’m sure you didn’t say hi to wax poetic.

[Also, wait, what-]

What do you mean, “both of them”?

That's part of what I wanted to talk to you about.
I'm guessin you haven't run into the one I'm living with.

Don't really get how the parallel universe/alternate reality shit works, but one grew up on the streets near my neck of the woods, and the other--a nomad. The former is still pretty sore about you being in his head and trying to kill him, and being the good choom that I am, just wanted to say to watch yourself.

If you want to reach out and try to make amends, alright, but don't be a dick. He's been through some shit, and it's still fresh.

[It sounds a little harsh after he runs his eyes over what he'd sent already, but that wasn't entirely his intention.]

And I know you're capable.
We got on alright when we first met, considering the circumstances.

[The silence runs long, at least for a man like Johnny, before a reply comes through. It’s a big thing to simply accept over text—not that he thinks Jackie’s lying—but it’s harder still to swallow the most bitter pill: that even in another reality, he’s a fucking asshole to V, someone who should be the closest person he has, and that rift was never mended.

Might not technically be him, this Johnny in another alternate universe, but it might as well be. He feels the weight of that responsibility like a man who had tried to do better, learning that he didn’t.]

So what, the other Johnny just left it hanging? Making me pick up the pieces? Guess I don’t got a choice.

Got on alright with you because V won’t let me hear the end of it if I didn’t. He tell you everything? About what happened — to you, to me and him?

[Having to think about how different Johnny might be if he played his cards different is similar to the nights he spent awake wondering if he is really him and if any of this really real. It's just fucking weird to try to accept any of that, but he's getting there.]

If you explain that things went down differently for you, maybe he won't treat you like the version of you he might think you are. This shit is confusing to think about, but I think you can sort it out.

[Jackie contemplates putting away his phone and pretending he never saw that last message, but running from reality doesn't benefit anyone.]

Yeah. Died on a job, put you in his head...and we know how the rest of it goes. [He doesn't know in any detail, no, but broad strokes? Yeah, he's got the gist of what happened.] Tell me what happened to you. [Because it seems now everyone has their own version of those events and how they did things differently. Jackie feels like everyone should be able to tell their own side of things.]

[If he appreciates the faith in him, he doesn’t say.]

What happened to me? How long you got?

[Of course, most of it can be skipped, because it seems like Jackie has the gist of it down.]

Give you the quick and dirty version: V let me take over his body during another Arasaka break-in. Managed to hook up to Mikoshi, and with the help of an old [It’s Complicated] friend, I made the decision to stay behind in the Net while V got to live out what time he had left back in reality.

After that? Well, it was living the life as part of a larger AI. Lines of code in more lines of code. Not all that glamorous, but fitting. I was technically only just an engram before, anyway.

Longer than I should have.

[It's a joke, but not particularly funny. In some ways he could see how hilarious it all was. The lot of them being dead men previously. At the moment he can manage a smile but not quite a laugh.]

You gave him his body back?
If you lead with that, he'll be more inclined to listen.
Two of you seem like you might have more in common than I thought, my bad.
Just be careful. I'm worried about him is all.
And you too.

[Jackie might have died, sure, but he'd never had to go through anything like that. Not that he can recall at any rate.]

I'm worried about V, too. Both of 'em. Don't tell either I said that.

[But it's in Johnny's nature to wave away undue concern lobbed in his direction, and he does just that.]

Why are you worried about me? I'll manage. I accepted my fate and man-turned-engram-turned-shred-of-an-AI the moment I gave back V's body. Nothing's changed, other than being in this mortal coil a second time.

I won’t say anything.

Just meant that sharing one body isn’t easy on the owner or the inhabitant, I’m guessin. You didn’t get to move on, you’ve just been immortalized against your will. Can’t feel too good.

Did you know, when I spent 50 years in soul jail, it didn't feel like time was passing at all? Like there was no sense of it. That was probably a blessing in disguise. It wasn't until I was crammed into V's head that it felt like it existed again. And in that time, I got to live a little.

Secondhand, of course. But V was nice enough to let me try to tie up a few loose ends. Made me realize that I had a few things about myself that I needed to change, in whatever time I had left.

So all this? Living on an alien planet with a fresh new body? Feels like a third chance instead of a second one; a freebie. I can't complain for getting to really live again, even if I've been through shit to get here. Don't have that right.

[There's a long moment before Jackie even responds. He reads the message, and then reads it again.

For as much of an asshole as Silverhand makes himself out to be (and the tabloids make him out to be), he doesn't seem quite as shitty as his first impression. Maybe Jackie's getting soft but he can really understand that feeling of getting another shot at life. Could be why he's so hesitant to tell him to fuck off. They're in similar situations. Although one of them didn't try to blow up Arasaka Tower--not that he wouldn't try for the right price.]

You know, you're not so bad, cabrón.

[Well, that's not what he expected. And a part of Johnny's outward demeanor, the kind that gives off those devil-may-care vibes, cringes at the sudden sentiment.]

That's 'cause you don't know me all that well yet. There's still time to change your mind.

[But you know what? A stamp of approval from V's best choom is kind of validating. Comforting, like one dead guy ascertaining that the other dead guy isn't so big of a fuck-up.]

Need to grab a drink soon, what do you say to that?

Edited 2021-03-02 20:38 (UTC)

I'll get there eventually, but can't promise my mind'll change.

[Can't be more unlikable than a handful of shitty people he's known in his life, but he'll let that go and let time tell on that one.]

Hell yeah. I'm always up for a drink. Not much else I've figured out about this place yet.

Pretend I'm penciling you into my busy schedule right now.

A few rounds of tequila, and then we can start talking about you instead of me. I'm not the only one come back from the dead [or will? does this place count as a sort of afterlife, even if the timelines are fucked?] who might need to discuss it.

I'll just come find you in a few and we can hang. We both know there's fuck all to do.

Don't know about you, but I'm keeping busy kicking my legs up on this table.

[As one does.]

But I guess I'll be here if you swing by.

[Jackie knows where Johnny's at, so he does swing by some time later, knocking at the door even though there's a doorbell there to use. There's something satisfying about drumming his knuckles on a hard surface that won't make them bleed that's weirdly satisfying. Hell, it's been a long time since his knuckles have bled for any reason, maybe this place is making him soft.]

Let me in. I have drinks.

[They weren't technically housewarming gifts since he planned to help Johnny finish each of the two bottles he brought along. Based on V's stories, the guy could put away liquor. Jackie, not as much despite his size, but maybe he'd at least be able to keep up long enough for Johnny not to give a fuck how much he was or wasn't drinking.]

[Johnny's answering the door without preamble, though his demeanor resembles a cat that's begrudgingly been stirred from a comfortable spot; just all that casual flippancy, waving Jackie in and sauntering back into the townhouse as soon as he sees him.]

Yeah? What kind?

[He asks, as if it'd matter. As if Johnny wouldn't down it like water, anyway.

At any rate, there isn't exactly a bar in their house, but there is a kitchen adjoining the main living area, and that's as good as anything since it provides them glasses, a counter, and a kitchette table to kick one's feet up on. Johnny'll lead Jackie in there, only glancing once over his shoulder to assess the other guy. It's been a while. He looks about as good as before -- or even better, since neither of them are choking on toxic fumes.]

No idea.

[Jackie takes one of the bottles out of the bag to hold it up to Johnny for inspection. It's the closest to good whiskey he could find. The other bottle though? A decent enough tequila substitute. Maybe the chemistry of fermentation works different here?]

Earth liquor knock offs. When you've had enough you can't really tell the difference anyway.

[That's something he's familiar with first hand. With less time dedicated to work, Jackie spends an embarrassing amount of time in clubs or pubs. Most times he's just drinking to pass the time or at the very least dull the perception of time passing. The rest of the time he just watches other people live, feeling too guilty to do so himself.

Jackie takes in the sight of Johnny that doesn't seem thrilled to see him. To his credit, he doesn't seem the type to be thrilled about anything. As he looks around the townhouse he takes a moment to settle on what he wants to say. Whatever it is doesn't get said straight away and Jackie sits down instead.]

So, how you been?

[Johnny’s not exactly displeased to see him—in fact, he’s probably more preferable company than most he’s run into in passing around here—but he isn’t he kind to be open, amiable, and enthusiastic without at least one or two drinks in him. Being excitable is often reserved for one of two scenarios, anyway: fucking with Arasaka, or yelling into a mic on-stage about fucking with corpos like Arasaka.

That said, he’s playing host… well enough. Even manages to fetch them some glasses, clinking in his hand as he pulls them out from the cupboards above the counter. They clack down on the hard surface of the small kitchen table after Johnny crosses closer to Jackie, sliding one over in his direction.

His chair creaks a little as he sits down.]

Really gotta get a bigger space. You look like you’re seated at the kids’ table during Thanksgiving dinner.

[Because Jackie’s a huge dude. His lips quirk and Johnny angles forward, elbows leaning hard onto table. He reaches over and slides one of the bottles closer to him for better inspection.]

Doin’ about as well as you’d expect. This whole having-a-body thing should be harder to adjust to again, but it’s like riding a bike. Already got my training wheels off and everything.

[His eyes follow Johnny as he moves around the apartment. Even if it's just to get glasses for their drinks, there's that lingering thought in his mind that this man is a terrorist that killed hundreds of people. Rationally, he's aware he poses no threat to the guy and has no Arasaka connections to endanger him, but doesn't it take an unhinged personality to commit crimes like that?

Wouldn't be his first rodeo dealing with someone dangerous, though, so he keeps his cool, settling back agains the couch despite the creaking. Most furniture wasn't built for someone his size, or someone who sat like they had no qualms taking up the entirety of the seat on his own.]

Sounds like everything's been working out for you. Or at least you're getting there. [Jackie leans forward to take up the bottle that Johnny doesn't have in his hands, pouring that into his own glass before taking the other one from the rocker to pour for him as well. Manners and all.]

What do we drink to?

[Now, then. Johnny might debate the terrorist title if it was thrown right into his face, but for all intents and purposes, it’s true. Johnny’s a livewire and his passion wasn’t always dealt with in the healthiest or safest of ways, and the accident at the Tower is the biggest, most tragic proof of that.

For now, though, “unhinged” is all a matter of perspective. He certainly wouldn’t call himself that; in fact, he’d consider himself one of the very few people in Night City that bothers at all to use his head.]

How ‘bout to a second lease at life? Or third.

[In Johnny’s case, if this place counted. A filled glass raises eventually to make a toast to that, and the drink goes down like fire. Johnny tries his damnedest not to make a face.]

Shit. This alien stuff still takes some gettin’ used to. [The glass comes down with a thud.] Anyway, as for things "working out", that just depends on your definition. Still just a dead man waking, no matter how you slice it.

[Maybe Jackie feels the same way.]

[It hits Jackie in that moment how lucky he is to have even gotten a first lease on life that he can almost take this second one for granted for even a moment. Shit, if he's going to have this opportunity to go out in a blaze of glory again, he's going to savor every moment of it.

So yeah, he'll drink to that. After toasting he swallows down about half the contents of that glass and rubs at his face with one hand, shaking his head slowly.]

Ho-ly shit. They don't fuck around. [It's almost like the stuff was made to most effectively intoxicate a person and not necessarily provide a whole lot of enjoyment to the experience. Or, more likely, he's just got to rebuild his tolerance.]

Mm, I get it, amigo. I feel guilty about it most of the time. There's always someone who deserves it more, you know? [T-bug comes to mind first.] Maybe it's some kinda blessing, though, so squandering it would just be gonk.

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10000 years later...

please...take your time... i'm not exactly boomerang central over here lmao

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