Cyberpunk 2077: V

Chapter 21: Back and Forth

A chill shivered down V's spine at the sound of the woman's voice. She turned to see who she presumed was Evelyn Parker, the one with the blue hair and silver dress, rise from her stool and languidly slip into the seat next to V. Her thigh high latex boots made small noises as she adjusted herself to lean slightly on the bar top. A faint scent of perfume washed over V then, an expensive one. It was smoky and sultry, with a kind of ylang-ylang afternote. There was a regal flexibility to all of the woman's movements that reminded V of the cat she saw in Vik's alley.

She was really pretty.

From the corner of her eye, V saw Mateo the bartender straighten and step back. Evelyn didn't speak until he'd finished depositing two glasses of whiskey in front of them.

"I'm Evelyn Parker," the woman finally said. Her eyes quickly flitted up and down V's form before settling on her face. "I knew it was you as soon as you walked in."

V gave Evelyn a professional nod, then eyed the whiskey. She wasn't blind to the fact that the bottle Mateo poured from was her favorite brand, Aoi Honoo. It was a Japanese whiskey with a spicy smell that reminded her a lot of Freddy for some reason. V watched Evelyn reach for her glass, so she followed suit, noticing that Evelyn had some aesthetic chrome on her fingers; all the tips were metallic gold.

"Aoi Honoo? Hm...only whiskey I drink," V said with a conversational yet knowing tone. "Now how would you know that?"

Evelyn's lips twitched.

"I like to know everything about the people I work with," she said sweetly before lifting her glass to her lips. Her eyebrow arched coyly. "Either that, or it was a lucky guess."

V didn't think it was a lucky guess. She didn't like that it wasn't. She didn't like people knowing things about her. But, she had to admit that tracking down what whiskey she preferred wouldn't be that hard. One only had to be observant. The question was how observant Evelyn Parker was.

"Well, you know my name and my whiskey; feels silly to introduce myself since it feels like ya know me already, but I'll do it anyway." V held out her hand. "Name's V."

Evelyn looked down at V's hand, then regally held out her own; almost in the way dames in those old mob movies would hold out their hands and the guys would kiss them. V decided to play along and lifted Evelyn's hand to her lips, where she kissed the air above her knuckles.

"M'lady," V said with a flourish.

Evelyn looked surprised at that, finally. V one upped her. Then she softly covered her mouth with her hand and giggled.

Definitely one of V's more interesting client meetings so far, but she pressed on.

"So, why we meetin' here, Evelyn? Any particular reason?" V asked. Her eyes took in Evelyn's outfit, noting the quality of the revealing dress and the colorful jacket she was wearing. "Actually, doesn't seem much like your thing, this place."

She heard Mateo snort with agreement from her right suddenly and murmur, "Mmmhmm..."

Evelyn gave him a look, then turned back to V.

"I'll take that as a compliment," she said, meeting V's eyes. V smiled at her.

"You should."

Evelyn paused a beat, then picked up her glass and downed what was left in it before standing from the bar.

"C'mon, know a place we can talk where ears won't prick up to listen." She turned and nodded to Mateo. "We'll be in the lounge, Mateo. Anyone asks, we're not here."

V finished off her own whiskey, feeling the burn migrate through her chest to her fingertips, before rising to follow Evelyn. They made their way to a pair of silver doors at the back of the large room, which automatically opened as they approached. Behind the sticker covered doors was a dingy hallway lit only by hot pink neon lights. Evelyn turned left, then stepped up to a black door with a keypad on the side. She waved her hand and the door lock clicked before sliding open, revealing what was obviously a VIP lounge. Not the most luxurious one V had ever seen, but it was decent. Black synth-leather couches sat along the wall, encircling a middle podium and table combo littered with bottles. The cherry on top was the life-size hologram that projected out of the table, featuring a naked woman with comically large nipple piercings dancing seductively.