She was almost numb to the smell of sewers by now, having crawled through worse and seen worse built up a great tolerance to disgusting shit.
The smell wasn't what worried her, though.
Violet was more worried about So Mi who looked to be getting worse by the damn second as they made their way towards safety, the blonde triple checking the path was safe before continuing. She didn't want to put more strain on Song than was necessary, she didn't deserve that from her.
"Just a little further, So Mi." she glanced behind her, making sure her wounded Songbird was still following even through the horror of it all.
"I'm fine, V." Song must've sensed the hidden meaning behind V's encouraging words to have answered that way, though V didn't mind. It was actually reassuring to know that Song wasn't about to drop dead behind her.
Once the two reached the end of the tunnel, the drop was not looking too good in V's eyes. It was pretty high and So Mi was still wearing heels for some reason that Violet almost didn't want to know. Kurt Hansen was an asshole.
"I'll go first and then help you down." V stated, before lowering herself from the ledge and managing to soften her fall into the mud by some miracle--that was probably the reinforced ankles that she paid so many eddies for.
She looked good from below. Even in her current state. Maybe it was her disheveled hair? Or that outfit? V didn't know. All she knew was worry about what tomorrow might bring. Worry about how So Mi's system will fare in the following days, how worse she'll get, how V couldn't do anything about it.
Even as she caught her, managing to keep her from injuring herself further, V couldn't shake the thought that the iron grip on her shoulders meant more than a fear of heights. That the cold metal fingers brushing up against V's skin through the windows on her shirt said more than So Mi led on.
"Thanks." she whispered in the cramped space between their bodies as her feet touched the muddy soil, staring into the hazel of V's eyes as if they'd reveal some secret left unsaid. Then, Song departed from V's grip, fingers lingering just long enough to tease as she turned from follower to followed. "Not far now." she reminded, not even needing to glance behind her to see if V was following or not.
V was. She couldn't not follow.
As the whispers around them grew louder, more curious and less hesitant, Violet couldn't help but grip the gun holstered at her hip, ready to shoot any unwanted bystander that decided to let curiosity win the battle of survival. Reaching the cars was fast and V couldn't help but feel disappointed when Song relayed the foolproof plan she had concocted.
"Tracking two cars is harder than one, obviously. Which is why it's better if we go like that. I'll call you when everything else is in order and I've ironed out the finer details." So Mi explained as she got into the backseat of the car, watching V as she did.
Violet understood, the blonde wasn't dumb, this was the best course of action they could take. And yet, she wished that So Mi would throw that plan out of the window and ride with her instead.
"What if I pay someone to take the other car and come with?" she couldn't let it go. She was scared something would happen to Song and she wouldn't be there to help her. Violet didn't even care about the relic if she were honest. Dead or not, Night City would continue on without a problem. She wasn't an important cog in the machine and enough people would remember her either way.
She was fine with an early end.
"Really? Just for a girl?" Johnny popped up next to So Mi in the car, his shit eating grin was hard to miss. He wouldn't let this go even when Violet bit the dust. "You're such a simp, V." he laughed, knowing it'd irk her to no end.
Hesitation was written all over Song's face as she stared at V through Johnny's hologram, her eyes piercing through glitchy, disheveled hair. Her features scrunched up for a moment before she relented with a sigh.
"You're ruining me, V" Song didn't even wait for V to ask someone to take the other car, she just grabbed her hand and pulled her in. Johnny disappeared the moment V made contact with his glitchy self of an apparition.
Maybe the plan wasn't so foolproof after all.
Feelings were, after all, the main reason most plans failed.
__##__##__!!__001101__!!__##__##__
The sun was setting, dim light pouring in through half opened shutters gave the motel room a certain feeling that was comforting despite the nerve wracking circumstances the two were facing. And while Song was supposedly changing into something more comfortable in the bathroom, Violet was trying to figure out their next steps.
Because even if the two started their journeys seperately, they'd end them together.
Or so Violet liked to think.
"She's probably hiding something from you, you know." Johnny popped up, leaning against the wall as V wrote routes and possible people they could lean on, on the back of old posters strewn about the rotting room that hadn't seen a new paint job since it had been made.
"Shut it, Johnny." V grumbled aloud, too focused on wracking her brain for idea to attempt to speak to him in her mind.
"'m just sayin', chick's got her brain fried by the president. She's probably not telling you everything and you're here like a fucking dog, worrying about her well-being." he scoffed, attempting to peel the cracked paint from the walls as if he were tangible.
V rolled her eyes at his usual way of pissing her off with no end in sight. She was tired of his bullshit but as much as she didn't want to admit it, Johnny was right. He was like one of those shitty childhood friends that she wouldn't get rid of because even if he was an undeniable asshole, she was used to his pissy self.
"I know." Violet sighed, placing the pen down and glancing towards the bathroom door, hearing the shower and knowing So Mi wouldn't be out any time soon. "Her cure always sounded too good to be true. But, even if she didn't have a cure, I'd probably still help her." something Johnny would've never done when he was still alive.
"That's your problem. You're too much of a people pleaser to realize you're being used, V." he shot back, his hologram appearing in front of the bathroom door, pacing around as he glitched every so often. "You only get hurt this way."
"Almost sounds like you care about me." Violet smirked, shaking her head at Johnny's displeasure over the observation and returning to plan making, a smile splayed on her lips.
Then the door opened and the remnants of steam spilled out, Song made her way over to Violet with a smile of her own. The clothes she now wore were a little too big on her but it didn't exactly matter, did it? Apparently she showers fast. Something V wouldn't have thought to be the case when So Mi entered the bathroom in that muddy, sewage water soaked state. Her wet hair even covered by a damp towel as it was didn't stop drops of water from landing on the plans Violet had made while So Mi was cleaning herself up.
"Sorry!" Song chuckled, moving back a bit to wipe the remnants of water from her face and the expanse of chrome that spanned her entire back and back of the arms. Though V knew that they were made in such a way to not be hurt by water of all things. "I almost forgot how nice showers were." a soft sigh of relief escaped her lips as she said those words, drying her hair off as best as possible before sitting down next to V on the creaky bed.
"You're not sorry in the slightest." Violet replied with an amused hum, sparing the quickest glance towards the other woman.
So Mi was not even hiding her smirk from her.
Ever since Violet met Song in person, the woman leaned on her every chance she got. A brush of the fingers here, bumping shoulders there, sharing champagne--Songbird knew how to make Violet swoon even if she didn't exactly intend it. Maybe it was the fact that she hadn't been touched by someone without ulterior motives, or maybe it was the fact that she hadn't been touched at all.
Not in the way humans require, anyway.
This time was no different, she was leaning on Violet without any remorse, chin resting on the blonde's shoulder as she scanned the plans with a hum. Violet couldn't help but gasp at the unexpected touch before leaning back into So Mi's front, balancing the sudden shift in weight.
"That's a lot of routes to the NCX. Also, contacts? Are we sure we can rely on them?" that was a fair line of questioning and V couldn't argue with the validity of Song's argument. Then again, it was better to have back up plans.
"Well, they're not a main plan kind of bunch. More like if the plan goes sideways..." V explained, crossing a few routes off and scribbling some other names on the contact list she'd made before crossing them off too. "Although it is super risky. Fuck, this isn't good."
"The FIA could track us through holo." Song added to V's doubts, letting her fingers wander, cold metal sliding under a clean shirt, giving Violet's shoulders a gentle squeeze. A massage.
"Track you." V objected with a frown before relenting at Song's raise of the brow and sighing. "Track us." she conceded.
"Exactly. You're a fugitive too."
Then, metal fingers wandered up planes of real skin--something Song was lacking most of. Maybe it was jealousy, the way her fingers squeezed around V's neck - not enough to choke but enough to grip in a possesive way. It didn't take long before So Mi stopped entirely, her hands retracting from V's neck, leaving red marks of pressure before she shifted, leaning her side against V's back with a deep breath.
Violet's hand came up to lightly rub the spot Songbird gripped, attempting to get rid of the lingering pressure on her airway, staring at the plans that sat on the bed in front of her before deciding to neglect them entirely and turn around to face Song, making sure to disturb her as little as possible.
"Should I even ask?"
"No." she whispered, staring at the wall as she did.
"Song." the blonde reached out, threading her fingers through damp hair. What V hadn't expected was for Song to sieze up, eyes shooting up to meet V's.
Organic with barely any modifications, flesh that Song didn't have anymore, flesh that she sacrificed because of what? The Blackwall? Myers? Songbird. What a fucking codename.
But then, those same hands she envied combed through her hair, gentle and loving as they pushed it out of her face--pulling her in closer, Violet smiling at her as if she was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen in her life.
And the envy didn't fade, but it didn't fester either. She smiled back, huffing out something akin to a laugh before leaning into the touch, lessening the distance. The moment was quiet because V didn't need words to help people.
She just did.
Maybe the kiss on the corner of So Mi's mouth was too much. Even as soft and sweet as it was, V pulled away as if it wasn't her who initiated it. Embarassed by her own idiocy to just do that without actual thought behind it.
Song reached up to trace the spot that had just been lovingly pampered by eager lips that were owned by the woman in front of her who forgot to think before doing certain things. "Was that--"
Violet laughed nervously, letting go of Song's hair and shimmying away from her, averting her gaze in shame. "I just, uhm... I didn't mean to do that! Just uh, slipped?" how was V such a reputable merc? Even she didn't fucking know because what the fuck was that?!
Was she a fucking imbecile? What the fuck! Hell, she could hear Johnny laughing his ass off behind her and it wasn't fucking helping.
Song scoffed in response and reached out, pulling the blonde back in, into a real kiss this time. Lips that yearned for eachother met and soft sounds of relief exchanged pleasantries. Violet just melted, the dance of desperation met with an endless smile.
Song's hands, needy and wanting, grabbed at the only clean shirt V owned at the moment, latching onto the soft fabric and pulling her down on top of her own body. Chrome grinding up against thin blankets that bunched up into crevices between wires and metal, as the two of them let their bodies work and their insticts lead.
Violet wished this could be everyday, that she'd get to feel Song's hands slide beneath her shirt--cold chrome meeting flushed skin and making her shiver--hear the soft breaths of relief, the hums of pleasure, the feel of her lips as she smiled against Violet's own. She wanted this to be her normal, her life, her everything.
But it wouldn't be.
It was a dance that'll only last one night if they even were that lucky. Maybe a peck here and there after the sun rises, but they'd never get this chance again. They had to make the most of it, here and now.
Night City only knew how to take, never give. It stole and killed without remorse and moments of true passion like these never lasted more than the city considered necessary. And even here, in this shitty motel, two people could enjoy each other without the looming threat of danger breathing down their back.
For just one night, they were safe and open for the other. Allowing themselves to feel what they hadn't in years.
And as tongues slipped past the seams of equally eager lips, the sun dipped completely below the horizon and darkness overtook the room.
And then, Violet pulled for air, something she required desperately even as her mind objected to the idea of letting go of Song for ever one second. Foreheads rested against one another and heavy breaths of air intertwined in the bare space between lips that brushed up against eachother at any and every slight shift of position.
"Fuck, you're like candy." V murmured in the dark. Only sounds that could be heard were the passing of cars outside, their breaths, the slight creaking of the bed, and the almost silent buzzing of Song's chrome.
"Candy doesn't last long and people like us don't get happy endings." the woman below answered in a whisper, breathless just like the blonde, arms slipping around V's neck.
"Not together we don't." Violet replied with a resigned smile. She knew that they'd never get what she wanted--a simple life. No. That wasn't for them. Night City was too cruel for that to happen. "And... I think I'm okay with that."
A breath. "Maybe we don't get a love story with a happily ever after. Or even a love story at all." she agreed, "But, I like this and I want to enioy it to the fullest before it's gone."
"Ditto." the smile was returned as their lips met once more. That was the most either were going to get in the terms of a confession, because that's all that life allowed.
And they were used to it.