Cinder is about to be emailed to you Rokur, I will place his background in spoiler for the others to look at (remember people OOC knowledge) warning LOOOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGGG
[ Spoiler ]
You know, I don’t even know why I bought this thing, “Try Fuchi’s new personal diary, with transducer so you can record your thoughts directly!” Sometimes I feel like I have been fooled by too many advertisements. But I might as well get my money’s worth…
Okay now for an introduction. If you are reading this then either you are robbing my place, or I am dead and some thief posted this on shadowland. I don’t mean this to sound like a dead man’s drop, but I also don’t plan to allow anyone to read it. Anyhoo I should start at the beginning. That would be my birth.
I was born in the Renraku Seattle Hospital. The one that was knocked down in ’40 to make way for the Arcology. I was born in July ’37, to Paul and Sakura Andrews… American father and Japanese mother. Mom insisted that we have Japanese first names, as we inherited our father’s last name. I was thus named Shindo. I wonder if she knew how right she was? Naming me Dark-way, considering what I have become… Anyway back to this fragging tale. In ’42 dad got a promotion and a place in the arcology. At the time I didn’t get the connection but these days I can be pretty sure that the celebration of that promotion led to the birth of my little sister Miyuki in January of ’43.
Miyuki was the light of my life in many respects. And I became the typical ‘protective big brother’ making sure she was looked out for. When we were growing up in the Arcology we were taught to be self-reliant by dad, and I was told to be a ‘man’ I was always strong, and very fast, I was also tough. These things helped when people picked on Miyuki, I always stood up for her, while I could.
It was just after my thirteenth birthday, August ’50. One morning I woke up and my Jaw hurt. It was strange, but I didn’t tell my folks. I was a ‘man’ and was supposed to look after myself. It took a week or so for the transformation to take place, and then I was no longer human. Mom still loved me, god bless her soul, but after that nothing was good enough for dad. I studied and it was not enough, I trained in the Arcology Kempo program, scoring top marks for my grade, and it wasn’t good enough. I took up pistol shooting to get rid of the stress, and every shot I fired I imagined my father’s face on the target.
After a couple of years, things hadn’t gotten much better. Dad had been passed up for a couple of promotions, with no real reason given. Mom was in the same situation, and Miyuki was getting picked on about her “pet trog”, a.k.a. me. I decided that they would be better off without me so in May ’52 I left Renraku for good. I took my trust fund account and half of dad’s jazz collection.
In my first month on the street I almost died three times, the first at a pair of Humanis goons who decided the world would be better off without me. I scored a couple of guns from that little exchange and was able to trade one of them to squatters for a couple of weeks rent and food. When I told the head squatter my name he miss-heard me. “As in Cinder-block?” he asked.
“Yeah, it must be, he looks about as tough as a cinder-block.” Said one of the others.
“I guess so.” I replied. I had found acceptance, and a street-name.
The others were a lone star raid and being caught between two fighting gangs. It was only due to luck that I made it.
After that month I found odd jobs to make money. A few “carry this bag to ‘X’.” gigs. They paid the rent, but I wanted more. I got my break in February ’53. Someone named Carmen left a message on my front door to meet her at Matchsticks. Now I knew that the Matchsticks club was member only, but even without that, the dress code would keep me out. I showed up anyway, I still don’t know why. When I told the Bouncer I was with Carmen, he showed me to a booth. There was a nice looking Human lady with a deck sitting there. “Hi Cinder, I’m Carmen.” She said using that name the squatters gave me.
“Hi, you left a message.” I replied, curious as to what this would mean.
“Yes, I am about to meet with a ‘Mr. Johnson’ and I believe the job will require an extra gun.”
“And you thought of me?”
“Well I have already had you courier chips around the place before, you seem good with your weapon.”
“Okay so what’s in it for me?”
“Well the Johnson will pay you of course, and I will add in a phone number.”
“Your number?”
“Not mine, handsome. The number belongs to Doc Lazarus, he runs a shadow clinic in the University district.”
“Fair enough. So when do we meet Mr. Johnson?”
“In 30 seconds as he’s just coming through that door, now.” She tells me as she nods toward a door. Walking through that door was… my father.
I immediately put on my mirror-shades and hoped he wouldn’t recognize me. I needn’t have worried as to my father all Meta ‘runners look the same. He outlined the data steal and explained why the job had to be a physical insertion, and where in the building to find the target.
“He’s lying.” I said after the Johnson left.
“How so?” Carmen asked
“He doesn’t work for Mitsuhama, He’s Renraku.”
“But he is having us raid Renraku.”
“Internal Politics.”
“How do you know, what proof do you have?” Carmen was insistent.
“I know him because I… was the son of a Renraku employee, before I changed.”
“…And you think you know how Renraku Johnsons act?”
“Not that… his daughter is… like a sister to me.”
“Oh you know him personally.”
“Yeah. His son, goblinized at the same time as me, and we ran away at the same time. His son is dead.”
“Oh… I would like to know the story sometime.”
“Maybe, but we should treat this as what it is.”
“Risky?”
“Yeah.”
We were able to make the data steal. Apparently daddy had been embezzling from his boss, and needed the data doctored. Carmen was up to the task. And my knowledge of the Arcology itself allowed us to make it in with ease. We got out and when father came to pay us, I had a little surprise for him.
“Here’s your payment.” He said, me 25K¥ for each of us.
“Thanks Mr. Andr... I mean Mr. Johnson.” I replied, Carmen having agreed not to come to this meet.
“What?!” Father replied.
“I’m surprised you didn’t recognize me, is it the new hairstyle or the clothes?”
“Excuse me?”
“Open your eyes, Dad.”
“Shindo?”
“Yup.”
“It’s been some time.”
“You could say that.”
“What are you doing with yourself? Is this a regular thing?”
“Getting a better place to live, and I’ve just started out.”
“Better, better than home?”
“I meant better than where I slept last night, besides you know having me as your son in the Arcology screwed your career.”
“Is there any way I can change your mind?”
“Not really.”
“In that case, I will drop your new name… Cinder was it? To some of my colleagues in RAD.”
“RAD?”
“Resources adjustment, a.k.a. the Mr. Johnson Division.”
“Thanks.”
“Look after yourself.”
“I will.”
That was the last time I ever saw my father, although the occasional Renraku contract was quite a benefit. It was amazing how many times a lucrative contract would be tossed my way in mid July, just before my birthday. Finally dad had accepted me, all it took was me getting out of his life.
After that, I tool Carmen up on the offer to meet Doc Lazarus and got me a few pieces of ware, using the paycheck and my trust fund. I picked up Boosted Reflexes, a Hand-blade and a Smart-gun Link. I also asked Carmen if she could help me out with Armor and guns. She said she knew some people, but I would owe her one.
The people she introduced me to, were very good, if a little unusual. Sam was an Armourer, and a fashion Guru who showed me more mature fashions. Apparently he felt tweed and long coats suited me, and introduced me to Hound’s-tooth, by Vashon Island.
Gemma on the other hand, was a gun maker. She was an Ex Shadowrunner, an ork weapons specialist, who had quit to a quieter life of selling guns to people, both corporate and shadow. She was professional and polite, and she showed me that just because I am an ork, doesn’t mean I have to be a barbarian… I wish I could be as good a person as her.
My big score in ’54 was not from Renraku, it was from Ares. They wanted a team to take out something they called a hive. Apparently it had to do with some hostile spirits. ‘Bugs’, the K.E. guys in charge called them. We were given us an extensive selection of weaponry and all given heavy security armor. I chose a manhunter, a viper, a supermach 100 and a heavy deluxe Gyromount. I figured this much gear would make the job easy, how wrong could I be.
The job was for five ‘hives’ 15K¥ per hive. That was a total of 75K¥. It looked like easy money. Then the spirits attacked. There was a hell of a lot of them. The half bugs died easily but the full deal were bullet proof, or almost. They died in hand to hand but that was painful… and frightening. I made it, through no fault of my own. A young KE guy named Joshua pulled my ass out of the fire in hive 3, he was a-fragging-mazing. I owed him several drinks after that, so I took him to Underworld 93. He seemed to enjoy it
Most of my runs are blurs in my mind but a few stick out. There was the hunt for the people responsible for the Belleview massacre of ’55 I was injured so badly as a result of that, that I had to heal up for 6 weeks in Lazarus’ clinic. The Lone star reward however bought me a few upgrades so I wouldn’t be so weak next time. Muscle toner, Dermal sheath and Kevlar bones meant that next time my stupidity was less likely to get me killed. I also got enhanced articulation at the time, so maybe I would be less clumsy next time.
Last year, I got my “big score through Renraku again. A hostile extraction of an entire research team. I figured we were hosed as soon as I met the rigger, after all what’s a fragging quadriplegic doing on a fragging run. Turns out I was wrong, again. The rigger was a mad dwarf called CeeDeeCee. He was able to provide us with a pair of remote vans that let us get the team and get away, along with some backup drones that were as tough as Steel Lynxes. His own design he called them the SC series, I fully intend to continue working with that guy. The score was enough that I could afford more ware and some upgrades. This Synaptic accelerator really rocks, it hasn’t made the twitchiness worse, but I respond so much quicker in a fight. Thanks Dad.
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Man this was a messed up run. It started with Carla mother-fragging Brooks, Head of security for Dunkelzahn of all people. She called it “A simple run, with minimal complications”. Our face immediately jacked up the price by 25% through a rapid haggle. I gotta learn how to do that.
The job sounded simple at first. We had to plant surveillance bug on opponent’s car. Nice and straightforward. We were even given a good fixer for the job to supply us with gear. This gig was good, too good.
First sideways piece was the size of the fragging device. This piece of drek was the size of a good bomb, but was electronic gear, with more redundancies than that slich of an Arcology. Anyhoo our tech points this out and the fixer says that the device we have is the one we have to use so… In the end we plant it when he’s on the way to the conference. Well it was harder than we thought; the Decker/tech almost got brain fried by the matrix run to find out which limo it was, thus not getting the data. The rigger’s attempt to cause an accident that would slow the cars enough for me to toss the device into place (aren’t magnets wonderful) was another frag up. In the end our face had to make out with two Secret Service agents to give our adept and me time to sneak in and place the damned thing… even then the Secret Service Rigger almost caught me. Then the whole world dissolves.
I wake up in a drekking hospital bed, go figure. Apparently the whole run was an exercise in VR shadowrun pre-testing. It was a Sim-sense “dry run”. Now don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of dry runs, but I gotta figure the size of the box meant in the real run it will be a bomb.
I like to think Dunkelzahn is a nice dragon, but this makes me wonder… either the big “D”, or someone on his staff, is a very sore loser. Dry runs are cool, but do I want to work for the dragon again? Should I even get that fake sin and vote for him?
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Dunkelzahn won the election. I hope he is the good dragon I used to believe him to be
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The BASTARDS!!!!!!! Those fragging slitches at Vision Quest. It had to be them, that was the whole dry run thing. They wanted to frag their own boss. I can’t prove it though, so I guess only you and I will know, Diary.
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Carmen showed me the will; she even got me on shadowland briefly to read it. We are going to look for toxics.
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Carmen found a pair of toxics holed up in glow city. She, Myself, CeeDeeCee and a troll Pseudo Decker called Johnny Moronic are going to take the fraggers down.
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Well we got them; apparently even toxic power is no match for large amounts of gel rounds. We got three live ones instead of two. Draco foundation looks them over tomorrow.
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Draco coughed up the Nuyen! I don’t fragging believe it! My squeeze left me over keeping toxics in my pad for two days and her not being allowed over for that time. My pad, slitch! I do what I want with it. Well three quarters of a mil and no GF, I am getting a new car, new furniture, and some new ware. EVERYTHING in me is getting tuned up and I think I will get ear mods and some more bio mods, maybe a datajack…
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Well diary I am thinking this from the Clinic bed, the painkillers mean I don’t feel the nano-bots healing me from the surgery, but I must try out my new toys.
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I know it has been awhile since I thought into you diary but the year has been kind of dull up until now. Dad came through again. Big anti Fuchi run. Combo extraction and wet-work. Extract the three guys the Johnson wants, geek the other twelve in such a way that Fuchi thinks all 15 dead. It was sweet work, expertly done. Our demo tech, a guy called Red-Fist, set the bomb just right, he even agreed to teach me how to set and use explosives.
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Fragging Halloweeners, they blew up my Westwind! I will gut twenty of them for that.
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It is done.
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Dad’s friend came through again. Secure courier run of data chips to a new facility away from the arcology. Apparently it ad something to do with the Otaku. Anyhoo 50K is most of the way to me getting my Westwind back,
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Christmas soon, should send the family Anonymous gifts.
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The arcology is shut down! Something is wrong. I have to rescue my folks!
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CeeDeeCee has agreed to come with me to look, also he heard of a Johnson paying for just what we are doing anyway. Funding is always good. Meeting with the Johnson for afternoon drinks today.
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The Johnson is former Renraku turned Fuchi, I mean Novatech, and wants to rescue his ex GF. Go figure. Anyway I explained that the cash wasn’t as important to me as also having a look for my sister. He agreed, and we all pooled resources and got a couple of other runners in on this a fixer that Mr. Johnson knew, named Louie Diamond-fist (named for a Dikoted cyber hand) this fixer also got us a few toys to improve our chances. I hope this works out, you aren’t coming with me, diary, as it is too dangerous to take a recording of my past crimes with me.
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That was a fragged up week. I don’t know which part feels the worst. We got in okay, thanks to some friends of Tak. We got into the Arcology nice and sweet. Once inside, however… This place is really messed up. People outside seem to think it’s Novatech or Fuchi or maybe the Azzies. Nope it’s an AI. Artificial fragging intelligence. Calls itself Deus, apparently an old way of saying a god, at least according to CeeDeeCee.
It has some freaky drones at its disposal, The nastiest have to be the rodent things that people inside Called Medusae. Stronger than me, armored to the hilt and some with ablative over that. I am so glad that CeeDeeCee had decided to test his experimental AV rounds. They worked a treat. I saved them for the drones, in my manhunter. When it shot I would just draw and drill. Usually I used my H&K though, as it was more useful against the humans that had been ‘dronified’ by this nutter AI. After a day or so of searching, CeeDeeCee was loving it. “Super tough AI and you STILL can’t beat my drone designs.” He hadn’t lost a single one of His SC drones and only had used one ‘Kaze’ drone. Then Coyne saw something “Stella!” he called out. Dumb fragging move, I stepped up to kill the two blue eyed guards that were dragging a couple of girls and a woman down the hall. My shots were true and the guards fell. I walked up to the girls to see if they were ok, then I heard it “Shindo?” one of them asked.
“Miyuki?” I asked, hoping against hope.
“Brother, you’re back, I thought you were gone for good…”
“Well how could I stay away when my baby sister needed my help.”
“Thank you.” She hugged me, a similar reunion was happening with Coyne and his, now no longer ex, girlfriend.
“Any time, but we gotta get you out of this place.”
“I doubt you can do that.” The third girl said.
“Who are you and why do you think I will not be able to leave, I broke in after all.”
“My name is… Peregrine, and I am part of the arcology resistance. Getting in is easier than leaving. You should speak to our leader, David Eurich.”
“Like hell, I came to rescue Miyuki from this and I won’t stop for a sightseeing tour! Now you can acce…” I started to yell
“Cinder, I’ve worked with Eurich before, we should meet him.” Sunstreaker interrupted me.
“You sure Sunstreaker?”
“Yeah, he will be able to help us leave if we choose to then.”
“Your call Coyne.”
“If it improves Stella’s and my chance of survival then by all means.”
“Lead on, Peregrine.” I say in mock defeat.
David Eurich actually suggested we leave and get Peregrine out with us, he asked Peregrine to carry out vital data on this Deus thing to shadowland. Makes sense I suppose. Get the word out and all. The way out was harder than in though. Firstly Sunstreaker decides to stay with the resistance, leaving us down a gun. Blitzkrieg, CeeDeeCee, Coyne, and myself, have to guard 3 ladies to the outside world. This time the enemy throw about twice as much stuff at us. CeeDeeCee lost half his “SC” drones by the time we got to a car park. Then it attacked. It was like a Medusa but twice the size and with three tails. It leaps for Miyuki but I am quicker pulling her aside and out of the way. Blitzkrieg moves in with his Katana focus but is batted aside by a tail I was about to shoot it when two regular size ones come out at me, drilling them with my last two AV rounds I turn and watch helpless as it attacks CeeDeeCee. He fights back using his drone-chair, but the Medusa is stronger. It leaps back on him s he tries to roll away, and knocks him into the car barricade. I still hear what he said then.
“Hey Deus! Can you hear me? How does it feel to know your best drone ass is about to be kicked by a CRIPPLE!!!” he then opened up the cyber shotgun port on his right drone arm and fired two AV shotgun shells into the things CPU. It shudders once, twice, and a third time… then it explodes.
CeeDeeCee survived the blast, but his chair didn’t, he was lying there, helpless. I picked him up, feeling sick at the thought that I should have been able to help. Coyne noticed that a truck was unlocked, and rigger capable. CeeDeeCee was jacked into it and we heard over the speakers, “Ladies, Blitzkrieg, and Coyne in the back, Cinder, you’re in the front with me.” He then charged what was left of the barricade. Driving us through both Deus’ blockade and the UCAS one. The UCAS was too busy shooting the ‘Blue Samurai’ coming after us to be able to stop us so we made it out
“Sorry about the lost wheelchair, CeeDeeCee.” I apologized.
“Forget about it, I got a spare, and the spare is superior.” He dismissed the loss.
“Yeah but you made a loss.”
“I dunno, as I see it I got a lot of new data, and new design ideas, along with this truck and the better of the two cars in it”
“Cars.”
“Yeah you can have the Westwind in here, I’ll keep the Saab with the rigger modifications. Deal?”
How could I say no?
I still feel that some of the problems were caused by me forgetting things at the wrong time, I’ll see Lazarus for something to fix that.
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Diary, I am a sick fuck. Miyuki and I got back to my place and when she hugged me, my body responded. I’m just glad the armor hid it. I will have to get her a place of her own. I can’t let my darkness taint her. Coyne said he could probably get her a job with Novatech. That is probably the best.
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Figures that Mnemonic enhancers made from MY DNA don’t work properly, they aid recall, but for some dumb reason don’t help learning. Except with languages, my English, Japanese and Sperethiel have improved.
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Coyne got Miyuki that job, and she made me promise I would visit. I really shouldn’t, but I will. I am so weak.
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This last job was interesting, worth taking you out of mothballs. Coyne must have dropped my name, because this came from Novatech. Just had to retrieve some data from a corp formerly part of Fuchi. The run was easy at first. Security dragging its ass, and we slipped in no probs. The shit hit the fan when Shiawase team hit the facility after the same thing we were. And one of them got the new girl, Caroline, in the gut. Her squat was not conducive to healing, so she has ended up at my place. She’s cute though… I better stop recording my diary and get back to making her a cup of something
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Well Caroline and I are officially Dating. I took her out to dinner and we ended up at Dante’s Inferno, then back to my place. I really like this girl. She isn’t like the others.
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Caroline and I broke up today. It wasn’t like usual though, she didn’t lie to me, or come up with some stupid bulldrek reason. I think I can actually still be her friend… Might invite her round in a couple of weeks.
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I don’t get it, but Caroline and I have become pretty good friends, she lives a couple of apartments below mine now and we are closer than when we were sleeping together. I will never understand women.
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Heard that Deus died. I am happy for David, Sunstreaker and Peregrine. I hope they are doing okay.
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Sorry I haven’t been able to use you more often Diary but I have been worked off my feet, That’s it I am taking the rest of ’62 off to relax, spend time with friends, spend the large amount of cred I have lying around, and get in some training.
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hahaha
, so perhaps try another e-mail account.
*sends in the char sheet after all* I still need to work on the background and reputation, and might wind up adding in some merits and flaws, but you can see what I'm working with.