Night City was a dangerous place, often referred to as 'The City of Dreams' ; it was more likely for one to die dreaming than it was for their dreams to ever be realized. Lucy knew this, she had come to Night City specifically because she knew it was dangerous, that it'd be easier to hide. What she hadn't accounted for was the constant feeling of being watched. Whenever she left Kiwi's apartment, her temporary home, the feeling of being watched followed her. Whether she was on a job with Maine's gang, or if she was buying groceries from the 24/7 mart down the street. She constantly felt like she was under watch.
It was scary, especially when she considered that the eyes on her might be Arasaka, that they'd finally found her, that they were only waiting for a chance to whisk her off the streets and back into the chair, to run until she died.
These fears continued to build until something happened that allowed her to believe it wasn't Arasaka on her trail.
It first happened when she'd finally settled in her new apartment. One night with nothing on her mind, someone knocked on her door. In a place like Night City, opening the door without checking who it was would be akin to handing someone a gun and telling them to shoot. So she pulled up the security feed, only for the hall outside her door to be completely empty. Well, almost empty. Her security feed hadn't caught anything, one moment nothing at all, the next a roll of paper was just there on the floor. Wrapped up by a rubber band, it just sat there. It had been a poster of the moon, with a tacky astronaut and text saying 'YOUR NEW LIFE AWAITS'. Nothing stood out about it, there wasn't any letter on the back, no names, not even any fingerprints were left.
It was suspicious, it was random. More than that, Lucy hadn't told anyone in Night City her dream was to go to the moon. Not even Kiwi, the closest person to her, knew. Logic would say she should throw it out, burn it and find a new apartment. Instead she pinned it to the wall next to her bedroom. It was a good reminder of her dream, it let her hope.
Months came and went, with nothing new, no more surprise gifts at least, though the feeling of being watched never truly went away. A feeling that she eventually forgot about entirely. She eventually forgot about the event entirely, taking it to be a stroke of good luck; that someone had simply dropped the poster and forgotten about it. At least she had thought so until it happened again.
Lucy had just gotten back to her apartment after a long day spent netrunning. Kiwi had wanted backup cracking the ICE on some Scavenger den, they had apparently had a netrunner of their own, though that problem had quickly resolved. Resolved as in Maine had punted their head off while they were distracted by Kiwi.
Regardless, she had had a long day and was tired, nothing sounded better than just knocking out on her bed. She had taken no more than three steps, with the door to her apartment sliding shut on the second, when someone knocked on her door. Two knocks, so close together it was as if someone had knocked on the door with both hands. Grimacing Lucy turned to stare at the door, taking a moment to consider if it was worth the effort to check. A moment later she decided it was and with a quick check on the security feed she found; absolutely no one at the door. Instead there was a small box, a surprisingly elaborate design for something in Night City: a depiction of the moon, and stars glittering in the background. Opening the door to scoop up the box, she brought it inside and set it down on the table, taking a seat to stare at the box. Scanning the box didn't reveal much, just a brain dance chip held in a small plastic case on the inside, though gently lifting the lid revealed a dark blue chip that glittered in the darkness of her apartment.
Hot, was the first thing that came to mind after putting on her wreath. Not so hot as to burn, but a comfortable heat that enveloped her. The second thing that came to mind was 'Oh, this is the moon.' Blinking furiously, her brain struggled to keep up with what she was seeing, tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. Because right there in the sky of this BD, was the Earth, large and so, so far away. Taking a step forward, offhandedly noting that her steps left no mark, she couldn't resist the laughter that bubbled from her throat.
Lucy spent the rest of the night in that moon BD.
This pattern would continue for many months and years thereafter, sometimes only once a month, but sometimes her mysterious benefactor would leave as many gifts in a week as there were days.
Lucy had been fiddling with a necklace, one in the shape of a half moon, one she had received less than a week before, when she finally put together what was happening. "I think I have a stalker." The words came out offhandedly, almost as though she were talking about the weather. Words that were swiftly followed by choking, spitting, and general disbelief from those around her.
Rebecca was the first to recover from the coughing fit "HAAHH? WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Wide eyed and mouth hanging her disbelief would almost be funny if Lucy had been thinking about anything but her newly realized stalker. The others around her were of a similar mind, all in disbelief, all asking her to repeat her words.
"Like I said, I'm pretty sure I have a stalker." What was so hard to understand about that? It wasn't like she was telling them about her horrid past. Though I'm not sure if I'll ever tell them about that. It had been tempting, there had been times she had felt safe, that she could trust them with her past. But Kiwi's word 'Never trust a soul in Night City' had always choked the words out in her throat.
"Why d'ya think that?" Maine had pulled his glasses down, to frown at me seemingly concerned. To his side Dorio had placed her cup down to lean forward to listen.
"Well, it always feels like I'm being watched, and I've been receiving gifts for a few years now from someone. So unless any of you have been sending me gifts almost every month for the last 3 years, it's probably a stalker." Pausing to check on their reactions, it's a bit relieving to know that none of them are creepy enough to go about it like this. Even Pilar, the absolute creep, seems completely surprised.
"Honestly, I'm not even that bothered. Most of the gifts are preem, and the ones that aren't are still pretty useful." Whoever the stalker was, they had my tastes down to a 'T'.
Shortly after the party came to a close and besides Rebecca and Dorio escorting me home, concernedly leaving me at my door, nothing else happened. Besides a bit of grumbling and escorting throughout the next few weeks nothing had changed, and in a month's time everything had fallen back to normal. In the end there wasn't much any of us could do, she hadn't ever seen the guy, and he hadn't been reckless enough to leave any traces.