Night City Aliens: The Wandering Planet

Ch 5: Domestic Tensions

Everything started out simply enough. Jackie began his week by finding more sheets for V's cot. The last thing he needed was Mama finding them sharing a bed. Then he set about teaching V as much English as he could. Problem was he didn't have the slightest idea how to do this. His first plan was to teach V common words like "door", "water", and "eddies". V was good at memorizing everything the first time, but quickly grew bored. When Jackie couldn't get her to understand "friend", he figured a new strategy was needed.

It was at this point that V decided to take charge and started asking about numbers. She placed a spoon on the table and held up a finger. When Jackie didn't understand, she placed down another spoon and held up two fingers. Then she placed a third and held up three fingers. Jackie caught on and started teaching her everything he could. Within the hour, V had a basic understanding of the decimal system. After two hours, she had learned everything Jackie could offer on math.

Learning the alphabet proved to be more of a challenge. The problem wasn't that V couldn't memorize the letters, but she struggled to understand how they went together. English had a bunch of weird rules that could confuse even fluent speakers. It also didn't help that V kept reverting back to her native language, switching to strange symbols if she lost concentration. With V's increasing frustration and Jackie running low on paper, they decided it was time for a lunch break.

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"Peet zaz," V said, leaning back in the booth.

"Pizza. It's Italian," Jackie corrected. He divided the locus pepperoni pizza into six triangles and handed a slice to V.

Jackie never liked hanging round the house all day and decided to take V to the local pizza joint. Or at least somewhat local. There were three Luigi's Cafes located throughout Night City, and most people agreed that the best one was in Wellsprings, near the Heywood docks. It's a somewhat long walk from The Glen, but nothing outrageous.

"Pizza good," V said, swallowing her first bite.

"Glad you like it, chica." Jackie made quick work of his slice before grabbing another. "How you liking Night City?"

"Hm?"

"Night City," Jackie repeated. He pulled out his phone and looked up a map. "All of this is Night City." He zoomed in before scrolling over to the edge. "We are here. Luigi's Café. And over here... is home."

"Night City," V mumbled to herself. She started scrolling around the map, trying to get a grasp of just how massive the independent city state was.

"Pretty big, hu?"

"Big," V repeated. She passed the phone back to Jackie and took a second slice of pizza.

The two sat in content silence, enjoying their meal. They were about to take their leave when another group of Jackie's friends approached them.

"Diego! Amigo!" Jackie pulled one of the guys into a hug.

"It's been too long, Jackie," Diego said. "This the girl Verónica was talking about?"

"Oh, yea. V. This is Diego, David, and Isabel. They're in the Valentinos with me."

"Hey," V said, not paying much attention.

"You'll have to forgive her," Jackie said. "She's not all that social, and her translator is busted."

"It's no problem, choom," Diego dismissed. "If you're not busy, you can join us on a quick job. Padre said something about you getting bored." Diego elbowed Jackie, trying to further persuade the man.

"Depends. What's the job?"

"Just a shakedown," Isabel piped up. "Franklin Becker, owns the convenience store on Slade Street? He decided to skip out on his dues."