Chapter 24 - Obsidian, Cuddles & The Mind III

Japantown,

Cypher ditched the motorbike and grabbed a taxi instead. Meeting Gloria was something he planned spontaneously. Since he had already decided to work with Vik, he wanted to get some cyberware to work on with his newfound tech knowledge and the Sonic Screwdriver. It would help him understand the tech of this world better while making good eddies.

Beyond just finding Gloria pretty gorgeous as a woman, he had reasons to work with her. Finding new people he could trust in Night City was nearly impossible. The best thing to do was to use his existing knowledge to get on the good side of people he knew were at least decent.

Gloria, although barely known to him, he hoped she wasn't a shitty person to backstab him. At the end of the day, she loved her son dearly and was doing it all for him. As long as there was money to be made, he guessed things would be okay.

Oh, and she was hot.

Fuck, I need a girlfriend.

With a careful sigh, he snuck back into his Japantown apartment. No shock, the dead bodies were already removed from outside his door, most likely taken away by local gangs to be sold to Scavs or something. They weren't Tyger Claws, after all.

He still didn't take any chances. He grabbed all his items, the DL-18 blasters he had hidden, all the other things he was working on, and then wiped all the data from his offline computer terminal.

Finally, he locked his apartment and left in the same taxi. Not for Lake Farm, however. It was too late, and that place was too far away. Instead, he went to Judy's apartment in Kabuki to crash for the night.

It was a little past four in the morning, and he was tired. He used the passcode she'd told him and entered.

He just threw his luggage near the couch and changed into some comfortable joggers and a t-shirt. Then he brushed his teeth and applied some moisturizer because fuck, he needed it to fix his messed-up face and dark circles.

Shhhh!

Right as he lay down on the couch, he heard the apartment's main door open. He'd thought Judy was already home, sleeping in her room. But then she walked in, looking like a wreck. She didn't even look at him, her eyes smudged with streaks of ruined mascara.

She cried? Why?

"What happened?" He jumped from the couch to follow her. But she entered her bedroom and shut the door behind him, locking it.

Cypher stood out there for a few seconds, trying to decide if he should really leave her alone. But she was his friend, a very close one at that. And honestly, he wasn't as close to anyone else in that world as much as Judy.

So, he took out his Sonic Screwdriver and easily unlocked the door. It was dark, all the lights were turned off except for some thin light strips. He found her in bed, a blanket thrown over herself, covering her head to toe.

"Judy, you good? What happened?"

"Leave me alone!"

He awkwardly stood there, scratching his head. He had no experience in dealing with such situations. "Uh… Can I get you something? Water? Food?"

Bam!

He received a pillow right to his face, her feral growl audible, mixed with sniffles.

"Just get the hell out! I don't wanna talk to anyone right now."

"Well…" He sighed and dropped to the floor next to her bed. "Yeah, you kinda need someone to talk to. Come on, Jude, what is it? I suck at this friend stuff, you know, you're basically all I got. Somebody mess with you at Lizzie's? Say the word, and I will put a bullet in them. Just tell me who."

"Maiko!" Judy's angry, emotional shout came from under the blanket. "Think you can flatline her?"

"Sure, I'll go grab my gun."

"..."

Judy stirred right then, promptly throwing the blanket off her face to look. To stop him.

Cypher was still there, standing with his arms crossed, his eyes serious. At least he'd gotten her to show her face, and damn, she was a mess. Eyes red, smudged dark. "You two got in a fight?"

"We broke up."

He frowned, finding shame, anger, worry, and emotional vulnerability written on her face. She was never good at handling stress and emotions, he reckoned. Not to mention, she was still pretty young, in her early twenties. He remembered being a dumbass in his early twenties.

"Why? I just saw you guys together a few days ago."

"She was using me!" Judy shouted, voice cracking as she yanked the blanket back over her face to hide the tears. "Soon as I wasn't working at Clouds anymore, I was useless to her. I… I could feel us slipping. Ever since that promotion, she never had time. Two days ago, the security wouldn't even let me into her office. The same security she runs!

"She knew I was there, scanned me on the cams, and still refused to see me. All she wants is more power, keep climbing higher, stack more eddies and influence. She's changed so much... I didn't notice. How the hell didn't I notice?"

"..."

I suck at this.

Cypher had no clue how to support someone emotionally. He'd been mostly alone in his first life, slaving for a company that didn't give a fuck about his mental health. In the second life, it was best left unsaid.

But he tried his best and sat down by the bed again, patting her on the shoulder over the quilt. "Look, I don't know what kinda person Maiko really is. But I know you, Judy. You still try to find something decent in everybody in this fucked-up city. And honestly, I can't knock you for that. I'm the same way. Most of my life though, all I ran into was straight trash, people trying to screw me over every chance they got.

"But you know who never did that? You. In this shithole town, you're one of the only good ones left. Maiko blew it. She picked the pile of crap over the safe play. And Judy, don't you go blaming yourself for any of it. We live in a world where you can put in cyberoptics if you're blind. In a world like that, if Maiko still decides to stay blind, that's on her. Not you."

What the fuck am I even saying?

Cypher sighed and waited for her to say something. At least she wasn't sniffling anymore. Then, once he was certain she wouldn't talk anymore, he stepped away.

"Go get some sleep. If you need anything, I'm right outside. You ain't alone in this city. And hey, this ain't about you saving my ass or whatever. You're my friend. Like, my best friend, choombatta, as they say. Never really had friends before, so I don't know what makes one 'best' over regular. Shit, I'm just rambling now. Night, Jude."

A little awkward and cringing out by himself, he headed to the door.

"Stay."

But Judy's calm, soft voice stopped him. He turned back, confused about what she meant by that. He reckoned she wanted to talk to him more.

"Alright, I'll sit." He went back to the side of her bed to sit down on the floor.

But then Judy turned on the bed towards the wall and shifted away, making some space behind her. "Lie down here."

"..."

Cypher gulped. He wanted to refuse because fuck, his cock was a beast of its own, always high on a dozen doses of viagra naturally. He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. But should he argue with her in that emotional state?

His brain did some caveman-level calculations, and he ended up lying on the bed right behind her. It was already a small, single-person bed to begin with.

He lay down flat, Judy's scent keeping him alert. And sure enough, the little Cypher had already woken up to salute the world. But he kept his brain in control, took deep breaths, and did some silent meditation.

"Hold me."

"..."

Isn't she into girls?

He waited so long that Judy herself scooted backwards to him. So, he turned to spoon her from behind and…

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

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