Shadow of the Waxwing Slain, Ch. 17
Family
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I’m back to Shadow of the Waxwing Slain, my Bladerunner RPG solo campaign.
Check out the Table of Contents for previous chapters and other stuff I’ve played and written.
Previously, on Shadow of the Waxwing Slain, Dee and Fletcher are investigating a criminal gambling ring called The Golden Shards. They checked out a video recording of an illegal replicant fighting event held at Happy Jack’s Casino. Fletcher attempted to purchase a cover identity on the black market but came up empty. Dee found out when the next fight is being held and was given a way in.
Chapter 17: Family
Shift 3: Night
Location: Happy Jack’s Casino
Dee moved through the casino, passing card games, slot machines and other games of chance. Patrons, humans with eager eyes and sweaty palms, trying to make meaning out of their lives through random chance.
From her perspective, many weren’t successful.
There would be an illegal replicant fight here tomorrow night.
She pretended to enjoy the games of chance, while watching for anything out of the ordinary.
Observation: d10 + d8 = 9,3 → One Success
Clue: 1d100 = 40 → Connection to Event/Incident
Clue Format: 1d100 = Physical documentation: Papers, documents, IDs, brochures, pamphlets, etc.
It took time. Sitting at a game of cards, slowly losing money, listening to the dealer and the other card players chit-chatting, moving on to the slot machines, pulling the lever, over and over, watching and waiting and listening.
It paid off. She over heard a couple of well-dressed men discussing the upcoming fight, she leaned against the wall, looking the other way and listening.
“Wait, you wrote it down? Are you an idiot? Get rid of it!” One said to the other.
The other hastily crumpled something up in his hand and dropped it in a trash receptacle as they walked by.
Dee waited a moment before following and pulling the paper out, nonchalantly. Spreading it out, it had a few words written on it. Tomorrow’s date. ‘Happy Jacks, back door’, and then another word, ‘Illumination’. The same code word Levka had told her that would get her in.
Dee went out to her Spinner, took a picture of the paper and uploaded it to the LAPD Mainframe.
She got a call from Fletcher on her KIA and took it.
“You get a cover identity?” She asked.
“We’ll have to go through the proper channels for that, unfortunately.”
“I doubt Holden will love our plan.”
“He’ll listen. You find anything?”
“There’s talk at the casino about the upcoming fight tomorrow, found a note with location, date and the code word,” Dee said.
“Good job. I’ll handle the cover if you want to rest up. Going to need you at the top of your game.”
“Understood. Let me know how it goes with Holden. I’ll talk to Quell after, make sure Wallace Corp stays off our backs.”
“Be careful, like I said before, might be some powerful people involved with this, people Wallace might try to protect.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Shift 4: Morning
Location: LAPD - RDU - Holden’s Office
“Let me get this straight,” Holden asked, standing up, facing the back wall, cup of coffee in his hand.
Fletcher sat with his own coffee, sipping.
Holden turned and faced him, frowning. “You want to pretend to be an owner of an N-9, your partner, Dee, bringing her to an underground, illegal, replicant fight? Do you know how dangerous that would be? Dee is on board with this?”
“It was her idea.”
Holden grunted. “Doesn’t surprise me, I suppose.”
“Look,” Fletcher said, leaning forward. “This way, we get in there, we see what’s happening, whose involved, we get it shut down. Boom. Everyone involved. One fell swoop. We already know when and where, and the code word. We go in, scope the place out, call in the cavalry.”
Connections: d10 + d8 = 5,6 → One Success
Spend 1 Promotion point
Holden grunted again. “Fine, but don’t make me regret this. Talk to Vice.” He sat down and grabbed the phone. “I’ll let them know you’re coming.”
“Thanks, chief,” Fletcher said, standing up and leaving. He walked through the LAPD, nodding to fellow officers, exchanging chit-chat with those he knew, on the way to the Vice offices.
Inside were a few desks and only a handful of officers. One was a woman dressed in revealing clothes looking at a Esper Box on her desk. Another was a man dressed in what looked like rags. Vice were undercover, even other officers only knew their cover names.
“Hey, Echo, long time no see,” the rags-wearing man called out, gesturing him over.
“Trent, barely recognized you in all that.”
“Well, you never stop by here anymore. Holden called and said to help you out.”
Fletcher took a seat next to Trenton. He laid out what he needed.
Trenton took some notes. “I’ll see what I can do. Should have something in a few hours.”
Shift 4: Morning
Location: Dee’s Apartment, LAPD Housing
Weather: Muggy heatwave
Downtime: d8 = 2 → Nothing of consequence happens.
Dee sat in her apartment, watching Remedy swim in her glass bowl.
“It’s time, Rem. You need to tell me what’s going on.”
Rem walked over from the kitchen into view, sitting across from Dee, looking at the fish. ‘Do you know what it’s like? To be a consciousness in another body? To have no physical presence? No way to affect the world around you?”
“No, I don’t,” Dee said. “Why don’t you tell me?”
“It’s torture,” Rem said. “I don’t understand how…I exist. How we both exist…like this. A glitch in our programming, perhaps. I’ve looked into various human disorders, schizophrenia, multi-personality disorder but none of them really fit what we are. And besides…” He trailed off.
“We aren’t human.”
“More human than human, right? So we shouldn’t have a disorder. Maybe it’s a glitch in the programming.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Dee said. “You exist, I exist. We exist.”
“But it’s your body,” Rem said.
Dee nodded.
He stood up and started walking around. “I couldn’t…stay in the background forever. I needed to move, to affect the physical world in some way, to act, not just to observe. I needed that.”
“Why not talk to me, Rem?” Dee asked. “Instead of going behind my back? Sneaking around when I’m sleeping?”
Rem sighed, looking out the window at the bright, muggy morning. “I didn’t think you’d understand. I was scared of what you would do. I thought I had it under control, that I could keep it hidden. It was stupid, I get it.”
Dee sighed and leaned back, crossing her arms. “What do you do, when you…take over?”
Rem glanced at her. “I just go out. Onto the streets. I watch and listen to the people. I smell and touch and see as much as I can. I eat food and drink beer. I just…live. You know?”
Dee stood, went to the kitchen and took out a bottle from the freezer, pouring a couple glasses. She drank one and took the other to the table. “You’re always telling me not to slip up and this is the shit you pull? You’re telling me not to get close to others, not to feel too much, but you go out gallivanting in the city while I’m sleeping, taking my body along for a joyride?”
Rem clenched his fists. “It’s not a joyride. You know I feel everything you do? I just don’t want you to lose it. Lose everything. If you…If we mess up too badly, it’s the end, for both of us. I don’t want to die. Not just when we’ve started living.”
“Neither do I,” Dee said. She drank the contents of the other glass. “Do it, Rem. Take over.”
Rem’s mouth dropped. “What? Now?”
Dee nodded. “Do it, but promise me, you let me stick around, in the background.”
Location: Sector 5 - Central District - Bibi’s Bar
Rem walked into the sophisticated entrance of Bibi’s Bar, a slick white building with moving neon images on the outside displaying the various services you could purchase within.
‘A Doxie brothel? Do you come here often?’ Dee asked.
‘First time, but I’ve wanted to,’ Rem replied, in his mind. ‘Your experience with Levka made me feel…’
‘Jealous,’ Dee said.
Rem didn’t answer.
Inside was a luxurious bar room. A long polished faux-dark wood bar along the right wall with multiple bartenders behind mixing drinks, couches and coffee tables along the other walls, and tall tables with chairs in the middle.
There was a stage in the corner with chairs and instruments set up but nobody playing.
Everything was faux-wood, polished mixed with gleaming gold trim. There were only a couple patrons, this early in the day, talking to servers who wore clothes that were revealing, yet tasteful.
“Can I help you?” A host said, shirtless with a black vest. He was tall, with broad shoulders, ebony skin and a chiseled face.
“Just a drink at the bar, for now,” Rem replied.
The host smiled and nodded.
Rem walked over to the bar and sat down. He ordered a dry martini.
The bartender, a woman with long, red hair placed it in front of him on a tiny napkin. “What else would you like?” She asked, smiling.
“Just the drink, thanks,” He said, putting some chinyen on the counter.
‘You’re not here just to drink,’ Dee said. ‘Get on with it.’
‘You’re not in charge right now, alright?‘ Rem replied. ‘This is really annoying.’
Dee laughed in his mind. ‘Now you know what it feels like.’
‘How does it feel for you?’ He asked, taking a sip of his drink.
‘Different,’ Dee said. ‘But not terrible. It’s nice to not have the…responsibility…of being in control. I can just…be here.’
Rem understood. It was good to be in charge but also…the looks from the humans on the street, the tension in your muscles as you made sure to appear nondescript, non-threatening. The edge of knowing you’re watched and if you made a mistake, it all could be over…He took another sip, looking at the servers around.
One caught his eye and winked.
He smiled.
Shift 5: Afternoon
Location: Sector 5 - Hotel Room
Fletcher took a few hours off while waiting for Vice to come through, grabbing a pizza and heading home.
Downtime: d8 = 4: Key Relationship via Vidphone. They want something…
Oracle: “Defeat” “Peace”
He got a call on his Vidphone and saw it was Lara. Her face popped up on the video screen.
“Hey Lara, is everything alright?”
“I just wanted…to talk to you. Wasn’t sure you’d be home.”
He took a slice of pizza from the box and started eating. “Did you just get out of school?”
She nodded.
“How was your day?”
She shrugged. “Boring.”
“Does your mom know you’re calling me?”
“Yeahhhhh, she said I could.” She smirked. “I think she assumed you wouldn’t be there.”
Fletcher shrugged and smiled. “Probably true. Normally, I wouldn’t be but on a new case and needed sustenance.”
“Is pizza…sustenance?” She asked, looking confused.
“Sure it is.”
“How’s Dee? Is she still protecting you?”
“She’s good and yes, she’s still keeping me safe.”
Lara started to whisper. “I don’t think mom likes her.”
“You might be right about that…” Fletcher whispered back.
“Why?”
Fletcher put his slice down. “Well, kiddo, you know, Dee is a replicant and some people…they just don’t like replicants.”
“But why?”
Fletcher shook his head. “Replicants are different from humans, like you and me. And some people, like your mom, don’t like that. They feel uncomfortable around them. That’s all. She doesn’t dislike Dee, she just doesn’t know her. You know?”
Lara just looked back at him.
“It will make more sense when you’re older,” he lied and shrugged. “People are…complicated.”
Lara looked away. “That’s mom, I gotta go. Bye dad.”
“Love you,” he said but she’d already hung up. He sighed, turning back to his pizza and the hotel room around him. Used towels hung on the back of chairs, dirty laundry on the floor, old take-out boxes on various surfaces.
He grabbed a half-empty bottle of clear liquid, poured it into a dirty styrofoam cup and took a drink.
Then he had another.
Here’s me trying a new thing, where I put the post-chapter notes into a Comment. Is this a gimmicky tactic to encourage engagement? Mayyyyybe. But I do also like letting the chapter/fiction/play hang by itself as its own thing without the “out-of-character” notes intruding. Anyways, let’s get on with it.
Experience Update: Dee gains 2 Promotion Points (Finding a clue, Uploading evidence), while Fletcher gains one (Finding a clue). They both gain 2 Humanity Points (Connected to someone on a personal level, Interacted with their Key Relationship).
Not a ton of dice rolling or excitement in this chapter, but lots of character development. I have to say I struggled at the beginning, trying to come up with ideas for what to do. I’ve found what works for me in moments like these is just to start writing, start moving the story forward without judging it. Write first, ask questions later. I can always go back and change things if events don’t feel right, but you can’t do much with a blank page.
I expect we’ll get to the big event in the next chapter, so we’ll see how that goes!
You might be wondering how Fletcher and Lara’s conversation had to do with the oracle ‘defeat’ ‘peace’ and… guess what? It doesn’t. It doesn’t have anything to do with it. I couldn’t make heads or tail of it so I just went with what was in my gut. You don’t always have to follow what an oracle tells you. It’s there for inspiration, take it or leave it. I could have rolled again but instead I had an idea and went with that.
While I’m here, I want to share that I’m playing a simple hack n slash-type OSR game in my Substack Notes, link here: https://substack.com/@playingwithmyself/note/c-44345533?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=1n8czw
It will be updated daily.
Just so you know, I’m not loving the format of my substack right now, so don’t be alarmed if things change a bit. I hope to have it more settled and set up in a way that makes more sense by the new year, and giving Paid Subscribers a bit more input and influence in regards to the games I play and solo tools I use as well as direct influence on future in-game decisions that affect the story and characters. Still trying to figure it out as I don’t want to gatekeep actual solo-gaming content but do want to give readers value for their payment.
As always, thanks for reading!