Warning: Alcohol, mentions of abuse, and slight mature themes are present in this chapter.
Sorry for the delay, guys! I was visiting a friend overseas (in Korea, ironically) and so I didn't have very much time to write. Expect an update for The Soldier and the Rabbit sometime next week along with an update for this one.
There were only two things in the world that could get Hana Song to wake up before ten o' clock in the morning. One was a second Omnic Crisis. The other was the prospect that Genji was visiting her apartment.
The place was a mess, to say the least. Empty bottles of soda were stacked in a pyramid-like formation all around her desk, which was covered in empty bags of chips. Towering piles of instant ramen bowls located in all four corners of the living room brushed the ceiling. Her bean bag and computer took up a lot of the apartment, making navigating the room awkward and difficult.
But Hana couldn't concern herself with something petty like her pigsty of an apartment, not when there was a much bigger danger present. One that made her stomach feel like it was in free-fall.
Her mother was not home.
Usually, this was a cause for celebration. All-day gaming and streaming, without her mother trying to verbally abuse her? That was enough for Hana to be in a good mood practically all day. But no- today was the day that Overwatch had to meet her 'guardians', meaning it was the literal one day that Hana had been counting on her mother to be home.
She picked at one of her chair's armrests, which had turned slowly into tattered fluff from the destructive habit.
Hana's mother had always been a confusing figure in her life. She was an enigma; a mystery with erratic behavioral patterns and mood swings that Hana simply couldn't understand, much less predict. There were many times when Hana wanted to slap her for being so shamelessly exploitable.
There were also times when the woman would return home sobbing and dead drunk, and Hana would be seized with the sudden, strange desire to hug her.
Even the staunchest drinkers usually took a breather some point in the week, and for Nara Song, that day was Friday. That is to say, the day that Amari-nim had appointed as the 'meeting day'.
Would Hana's mother be an insufferable, cranky mess suffering from a hangover during the meeting? Yeah, well, at the very least, she wouldn't be a sobbing, insufferable, manic-depressant mess suffering from a hangover. Hana knew- and it was like knowing the date of one's death- that today, Nara would be coming home late, if at all, very drunk.
The feeling of being on a rollercoaster ride from yesterday had changed. She was riding the same rollercoaster, but now it was like she knew part of the track was missing. It's the feeling of impending doom, she thought to herself sourly.
As Hana paced around the room, she thought her heart would explode from her chest. She chomped on a piece of bubble gum, as she often did when she was nervous- the more upset she was, the more bubble gum she chewed. What would she do when the cyborg man showed up to find her apartment empty?
I'll say that Mother had an emergency appointment or something, Hana thought quickly. And that he should show up again next Friday.
It was a bit of a long shot, but Hana saw no better alternative.
You don't need her. Be brave.
As she was popping a fourth piece of gum into her mouth, the door went clang. Not knock knock. Just, 'clang'. Immediately, Hana knew that it was the metal-knuckled Genji that was at the door.
She almost tripped over an empty bottle of soju as she skittered to the door. Kicking the bottle to the side, Hana grabbed the door handle and opened it wide, exhaling a high-pitched "Yes?"
The cyborg couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice. "Agent Song?" The greeting came out sort of like a question. Hana quickly gathered herself, dusting the lint off of her jeans.
"Sorry, the place is a bit of a mess," said Hana hurriedly. "Didn't have time to- I mean, what am I saying? Come on in." She felt her cheeks going pink; why was she such a mess? "Sorry, I, just…" She gave up trying to explain midsentence, and stepped away from the door.
Genji came inside cautiously, as if the poorly lit apartment were radioactive, or perhaps secretly littered with mines. He delicately picked his way over to the bean bag, sidestepping several empty bottles of soju. Hana thought she would die of shame as he turned, slowly, to drink the sight of the place in, and jumped when he asked, "May I sit down?"
That's my bed, actually. "Of course!" she squeaked.
Hana sat down in her swiveling chair as Genji lowered himself gingerly into the bean bag. On a better day, the sight of seeing the clearly militant cyborg awkwardly placed on top of Hana's floral-patterned bean bag would've made Hana laugh.
But she didn't laugh. So, for a while, there was nothing but tense silence.
Hana opened a bag of chips- El Dorados. Her favorite. "Um, do you want some?" she offered.
"I no longer partake in the consumption of food," said Genji vaguely. "So, unfortunately, I must refuse."
More silence. Hana wasn't an idiot- she knew that Genji had lots of questions, the main one being, where the fuck is your mom? A question she couldn't bring herself to answer.
What was she supposed to say? Hana hadn't talked to anyone face-to-face in years, excluding her mother, who hardly counted. She had never mastered the art of small tank. The tangible pressure in the air was driving her insane. Her fingers curled, causing a little crinkling sound to emanate from the bag of El Dorados.
You do talk to people. All the time, really, the little voice said. Just pretend you're on a stream.
Hana rocked back and forth on her chair for a bit, before managing, "I should've cleaned this place up, yeah?" She watched Genji, hoping, praying for a positive reaction.
To her surprise, he answered, chill as always. "Your living space is fine the way it is." He lifted his prosthetic arm to point at the wall, where the Great Pyramid of Soda Cans stood. "To think that you possess the architectural knowledge required to build something so immense…" His robotic voice was filled with mirth.
That was a joke, Hana realized, and a little smile crept onto her face.
Just pretend you're on a stream, the voice urged.
"Well, I've had lots of time," said Hana, kicking back. "And practice, for that matter. A crippling addiction to soda grants one the power to build many things." She winked, a move that felt so damned unnatural that she had to fight the urge to cringe. Thankfully, Genji didn't seem to react the same way.
It's something that DVA would do, yeah?
"My mother is away a lot, so I have too much time on my hands." The lie slipped out so easily, so casually; it was almost disturbing. What was going on with her? "Actually, she left for an emergency meeting today, so I'm not sure when she'll be back." Please just leave.
To her disappointment, Genji did not seem discouraged. "I do not have anything of particular importance on my schedule. I have time to wait." He crossed his legs and settled back, tossing out a "How is your mother?"
"She's, uh, doing fine." Unfortunately. Quickly, Hana changed the subject from one touchy subject to another. "There's something that's been on my mind…"
Every logical part of Hana's mind was screaming no, no, no, don't ask him, you just met him, he's practically a stranger, but the little voice in her head was egging her on- yes, yes, go on, ask him.
Maybe it was the heat of the moment. Perhaps it was just she had to say something, anything, to fill that dreadful silence. Before she could stop herself, DVA found herself asking, "Did you become a cyborg because you wanted to? I mean, I heard about the super-soldier program in Overwatch… and I was just wondering if it was the same sort of dea-"
Genji shut DVA down hard and fast: "Only a fool would undergo such changes voluntarily." His reconstructed voice had gone sharp; sharper than Hana had ever heard it go before. "No one should even consider it."
Hana froze up. What was I thinking?
"I- I didn't mean-"
Loud noises. Hana went still, ceasing the rocking of her chair. The sound of footsteps… heavy, stumbling footsteps of more than one person. Hana went from very hot to very cold as she heard deep, raucous laughter from behind the door- joined by a pitchy, high one. The rattle of keys, someone fumbling for the doorknob-
Oh, please, no. God, no, please-
In through the door burst a tall man, broad in his shoulders and arms, dressed in a greasy red dress shirt. The tattoo of a dragon coiled around the man's arm, stained the color of blood. The dragon curled around Korean characters reading '쌍 칼'- Ssang Kal, or 'Twin Knives.' Tension filled the room, heavy on Hana's shoulders. She was vaguely aware of Genji rising to the left of her, obviously sensing a threat.
But to Hana, the fact that a prominent member of a prominent gang had just stormed her apartment sporting his criminal allegiance on his arm wasn't what bothered her. It was the terrible, soul-crushing realization that the giggling, drunken woman hanging off of that arm was her mother that made Hana want to just… disappear.
"Get out of the, the, housssse, Hana dear," slurred Mrs. Song with a foolish grin on her ruddy face, clutching at the gangster's arm. Two high red spots burned on the woman's cheeks. She didn't even bother look at Hana. "Mr. Seon is here."
Mr. Seon, a man that thought his relative attractiveness and position as a kkangpae basically meant that he was a god, glared at Genji, his piercingly dark eyes almost accusing. He completely ignored Hana. "What… what is an Omnic doing at your house, Nara?"
Hana flinched. Korea was an Omnic-manufacturing powerhouse- the country's technologic capabilities in regards to robotics had been extraordinary from the very beginning. Numerous Omniums populated the country's cities. The Omnic-to-human ration was high, to say that least.
And almost all of those numerous Omnics had gone haywire during the Crisis.
Ever since that time of death and destruction, Korea's feelings towards Omnics had overall become somewhat ambivalent. The average citizen remained too politically correct to really denounce the Omnics, and the new generation, having not grown up during the Crisis, found nothing wrong with their robotic counterparts. After all, the day-to-day lives of most of Korea's civilians required a lot of Omnic interaction.
Of course, the true feelings of some never really did change, though they only really emerged when… they became too drunk, per say.
As Mr. Seon swayed in his spot, bloodshot eyes fixed on Genji, Hana waited for Genji to ask her what her mother was doing with a mobster, eyes squeezed shut to block out the terrible sight. It's better to just get it over with… She wiped her sweaty palms off on her jeans.
"Ms. Song." Hana flinched. Genji's voice was so tense.
"Who are these people?"
Who are these people?
He didn't even think that Hana was related to her mother. Part of her wanted to crawl under a rug and never come out, while another part of her was strangely relieved- I don't resemble my mother at all, then.
Hana swallowed the knot in her throat, not daring to look at Genji. So instead, she looked at her sock-covered feet, hiding behind a dark curtain of hair.
"That's… my mother," she mumbled, face on fire.
