Convenient Monsters
There’s a riot happening. Riot shields bashing mutant skulls and force batons crushing limbs. The usual riot from the mutant blocks where the mutants are corralled and kept secured.
I’m standing on top of a pool and bar tower where Kei gets her fix when she’s not sorting paper, calling her contacts to keep in touch, and talking about anomalies all day like she actually enjoys it beyond her job. This place is where Kei gets her fountain of youth.
She has a sick habit of watching mutant heads painted on the pavement. I came to realize even Kei has some sort of sick thing going on other than hoping the found footage she’s watching has a ghost who’d drag her out of boredom and make her feel her adrenaline pumping.
Eta’s her bodyguard usually. But after Eta spent so much money on five high-class women who sent her to heaven, Kei has her sorting paperwork on her stead while Kei takes me around the City, watching mutants trying to cross the corral only to get their heads bashed in. Kei has minimal concern about mutants, their heads who have changed and turned into the worst abomination she can imagine. But when the mutant has humanoid features, with a clear human face, no scale or fur, then she suddenly gets this bit of mercy for them; you'd think she’s mother Mary.
Kei’s not too big on the mutants. Never did I see anyone in this city who has mercy for them and I don’t pretend I have some except for those who I consider halves. At least to the half-mutants I have a bit of empathy left.
Mutants and abominations are usually culled. You might think we lost our damn minds and had started to massacre former people, but the truth is awful and many died trying to make the same mistake of empathizing with the afflicted.
I asked Kei about it. Shaking the glass of specific bourbon she’s been dying to drink for months now and haven’t because she’s been busy making her office relevant. Get it affiliated to the 7S.
“What’s a mutant and abomination?”
Mutants are folk who got afflicted with the virus who turned them into freaks with DNA’s of the animal of their choosing. It was a popular chip sold in clinics where you get inside a capsule, and get chipped in, changing the makeup of your body similar to whatever animal you want to be.
It was the philosopher's stone of those who identified themselves as creatures instead of being an honest to god person. Creative, revolutionary, and then everything went to shit when people thought they could weaponize it. Hell, it's best to think we got tricked by a bastard who’s older than everyone.
Even before the time when the moon showed everyone the truth we are living with monsters and cryptids. Then humanity from all of its glory decided we needed more than monsters in our backyard.
And so we have folks turning into mutants. Men and women with claws and some are roleplaying as angels. Some even have found a way to fly with their wings and the rest went horribly wrong as they started turning into actual two-legged crocodiles and cats who slowly lose their minds and start thinking how they’d like to take a bite. They tried fixing the chips, hoping they can still make it work and sell them to customers, but human and animal DNA doesn’t mix well and you get deficiencies in your body giving you an impulse to do what animals do and follow animal instincts.
The Olay Riot. One of the bloodiest wakeup calls that happened in New York and Germany were the mutants went rabid. They started FEASTING on people who were on their parades and when they did it was nasty. Hundreds died and many who got bitten had rabies and all kinds of disease you can get from animals.
Tried to stop it non-lethally until one of them got bitten. That started the gunfire and it was worse in New York where the citizens applied their 2nd Amendment rights to the mutants who they barely registered as humans.
You got two-legged monsters who woke you up in the morning while you’re readying for your shitty job and now you have the excuse to massacre them thinking they aren’t human at all.
It was a genocide. New York got the highest body count while Germany sure had their time on butchering them until their police wearing chainmail, body armor rocked their world.
To think the Fourth Reich started getting votes because of the damn mutants and you’d have better chances as human if you have bunny ears and tail and cat ears and a tail. Humanity’s been engineered to ignore that and long ears while you’d find them cocking their guns at the sight of other signs of you being an abomination.
Mutants are those who still have human qualities while the abomination are those who have turned into a lizard or a goddamn weredog who sick fucks turned into their pets until they kill themselves out of shame or when they go rabid and get put down and strewn across the floor by their owners.
Took them twenty years to develop a culture of being the most victimized people in the world. You’re growing an animal head? You’d get gunned down before you can live and even scales on your forearms are called a disease. The auntie we bagged was an anomaly because she was controlling her nephews and could hide her mouse-head.
She got gutted. Entrails out of her stomach and all they had to show was her head magically got turned into a mouse almost like she was shapeshifting. When news got out the 7S got swarmed and many advocates demanded the data and Sato, with his face beaming with happiness declared that all can be solved through the proper connections and they shouldn’t forget that the Shichinin no Ken is a business first.
They didn’t leak out, our office bagged the mouse-head, but it caused a stir and we’re here in this building because Kei knew it’s the best place to watch the mutants, no, I was wrong, the abominations try to get some rights after they turned themselves into monsters.
Kei’s enjoying her drink. She has roses on her cheeks when she’s enjoying things and she becomes a bit cheerier despite this city not giving her any reason to be happy other than the paycheck and semi-thriving business.
“Happy?”
I ask. She nodded her head and then leaned on the terrace while using her glasses to watch the carnage below. Everyone has some sort of ill-thing they find interesting in this day and age and Kei finally showed me hers.
Eta copes by bedding cute and pretty girls. Marvin, just like any spellblade, is almost obsessed with spells and if he wasn’t a decent human being; would have sold his baby for a book. Sato, as far as I know, enjoys watching thieves get their desert while Mai likes the kind of violence you find on the ring. Even Paul, who I thought was decent liked watching his ware being used on actual subjects to test the sharpness and even volunteers some ‘samples’ for the testing on prisoners who are far too gone to deserve a hanging or an electric chair.
Now I know Kei likes seeing mutants getting pummeled like this and found footage.
“What about you, Akun?”
“Barely do it now, but you know how some pieces of shit just don't deserve to take another breath? Yeah, I have no qualms about punishing some people.”
“I get that. I think it’s probably the tamest.”
“Maybe. I’m just a boring bastard I guess. So, why are we here again?”
“Mostly for the drink and secondly about the damn mutants there.”
“Got a lot of hate from them.”
“I was in France when they marched. I lost an uncle to them and I’ve really stopped thinking about how I want to shoot their heads off.”
“They are former humans, you know? Have some pity.”
“I do. Right now to me they are walking monsters who abandoned their skin for scale and fur. I don’t see you looking like you care.”
“And old friends told me I have mastered the art of having a comatose face.”
When I said that Kei raises a brow in surprise.
“Oh, you’re actually aware of your comatose face, Akun.”
“Someone taught me how to do my best business demeanor, Kei.”
“And how to dress too?”
“Hey, I respect the person too much not to follow his old fashion ways. Sure, I can wear fashionable gear, but it’s simply the style I had been taught.”
You have a city full of salarymen and white collar workers who are like a pack of ants walking down the street. You join them and no one will notice you among them. It’s the best place to walk since you’re practically invisible as long as you hunch your back and act extra dead inside for appearance’s sake.
“Now I’m curious who taught you.”
“He’s at the bottom of the sea. Doubt anyone will ever reach his chrome and titanium plated skeleton.”
Kei emptied her drink and winked at the bartender for another. The bartenders and waiters were running back and forth while serving the rest who came to enjoy the entertainment of watching poor idiots who got swayed by their wanting to be different.
Sad thing about it is they are multiplying. At first it was just the artificial idiots and now the second generation who are born that way are begging and screaming for freedom and raising hell.
Mutants at least some have the strength of animals. But animal-strength is honestly inferior to augmented procedures and real firepower. They might go the spell-casting way and try learning spells and do rituals since I hear demons and devils are fond of the desperate and hopeless knocking on their skull-made doors.
There are always bleeding hearts out there. People who heard a story about the oppressed and are gunning for their rights and how they should be treated. They are a minority at the moment and the world's too unkind to think about adding more laws and rights to the scales of justice.
You look at the statistics and you’ll learn how the number one threat to people are the mutants, the monsters, the cryptids, and the anomalies.
The mutants are an easy target. They are the convenient monsters you can run news on while the rest of the forces are busy running runs on actual monsters and threats.
The Dreadlord plague in the lanes were considered as nothing more than another small incursion despite hundreds and possibly thousands of lives being lost.
Monsters are a tired subject. No one wants to hear it. You might be curious about cryptids and anomalies, but they are too hidden; you'll just lose interest if you didn’t know better.
But mutants? They have coverage. They provide sob stories and drama and discussion because a talking lizard on the screen who isn’t hostile, eloquent and knows gets more views than the same old undead plague. Sure, the Dreadlord consuming an anomaly got out, but have you seen Mr. Pejana, the representative of the scale-folks practically begging the world to let them have a good life and let them live?
But what happened to Mr. Pejana’s pleas?
It all ended into a riot where the government in charge had the excuse to fix the mistakes of the idiots who approved the animal-turning chips.
But all they got is folks from all over the district renting seats and tables to watch the mutants fight the augmented cops pummeling them on the ground. All they need now is the moron who’ll pull the trigger and turn this peaceful riot into a bloodbath.
And Change doesn’t disappoint.
“Oof, that's a bolt-action rifle right there.”
“You sure you want to stay near this place?”
“It’s alright. Maybe some of them can fly or leap high, but I doubt they’ll make it past the security. Anyway, we’re on a break, Assistant. Can you just sit the fuck down and drink your whiskey?”
That, I can do.
Convenient Monsters
There’s a riot happening. Riot shields bashing mutant skulls and force batons crushing limbs. The usual riot from the mutant blocks where the mutants are corralled and kept secured.
I’m standing on top of a pool and bar tower where Kei gets her fix when she’s not sorting paper, calling her contacts to keep in touch, and talking about anomalies all day like she actually enjoys it beyond her job. This place is where Kei gets her fountain of youth.
She has a sick habit of watching mutant heads painted on the pavement. I came to realize even Kei has some sort of sick thing going on other than hoping the found footage she’s watching has a ghost who’d drag her out of boredom and make her feel her adrenaline pumping.
Eta’s her bodyguard usually. But after Eta spent so much money on five high-class women who sent her to heaven, Kei has her sorting paperwork on her stead while Kei takes me around the City, watching mutants trying to cross the corral only to get their heads bashed in. Kei has minimal concern about mutants, their heads who have changed and turned into the worst abomination she can imagine. But when the mutant has humanoid features, with a clear human face, no scale or fur, then she suddenly gets this bit of mercy for them; you'd think she’s mother Mary.
Kei’s not too big on the mutants. Never did I see anyone in this city who has mercy for them and I don’t pretend I have some except for those who I consider halves. At least to the half-mutants I have a bit of empathy left.
Mutants and abominations are usually culled. You might think we lost our damn minds and had started to massacre former people, but the truth is awful and many died trying to make the same mistake of empathizing with the afflicted.
I asked Kei about it. Shaking the glass of specific bourbon she’s been dying to drink for months now and haven’t because she’s been busy making her office relevant. Get it affiliated to the 7S.
“What’s a mutant and abomination?”
Mutants are folk who got afflicted with the virus who turned them into freaks with DNA’s of the animal of their choosing. It was a popular chip sold in clinics where you get inside a capsule, and get chipped in, changing the makeup of your body similar to whatever animal you want to be.
It was the philosopher's stone of those who identified themselves as creatures instead of being an honest to god person. Creative, revolutionary, and then everything went to shit when people thought they could weaponize it. Hell, it's best to think we got tricked by a bastard who’s older than everyone.
Even before the time when the moon showed everyone the truth we are living with monsters and cryptids. Then humanity from all of its glory decided we needed more than monsters in our backyard.
And so we have folks turning into mutants. Men and women with claws and some are roleplaying as angels. Some even have found a way to fly with their wings and the rest went horribly wrong as they started turning into actual two-legged crocodiles and cats who slowly lose their minds and start thinking how they’d like to take a bite. They tried fixing the chips, hoping they can still make it work and sell them to customers, but human and animal DNA doesn’t mix well and you get deficiencies in your body giving you an impulse to do what animals do and follow animal instincts.
The Olay Riot. One of the bloodiest wakeup calls that happened in New York and Germany were the mutants went rabid. They started FEASTING on people who were on their parades and when they did it was nasty. Hundreds died and many who got bitten had rabies and all kinds of disease you can get from animals.
Tried to stop it non-lethally until one of them got bitten. That started the gunfire and it was worse in New York where the citizens applied their 2nd Amendment rights to the mutants who they barely registered as humans.
You got two-legged monsters who woke you up in the morning while you’re readying for your shitty job and now you have the excuse to massacre them thinking they aren’t human at all.
It was a genocide. New York got the highest body count while Germany sure had their time on butchering them until their police wearing chainmail, body armor rocked their world.
To think the Fourth Reich started getting votes because of the damn mutants and you’d have better chances as human if you have bunny ears and tail and cat ears and a tail. Humanity’s been engineered to ignore that and long ears while you’d find them cocking their guns at the sight of other signs of you being an abomination.
Mutants are those who still have human qualities while the abomination are those who have turned into a lizard or a goddamn weredog who sick fucks turned into their pets until they kill themselves out of shame or when they go rabid and get put down and strewn across the floor by their owners.
Took them twenty years to develop a culture of being the most victimized people in the world. You’re growing an animal head? You’d get gunned down before you can live and even scales on your forearms are called a disease. The auntie we bagged was an anomaly because she was controlling her nephews and could hide her mouse-head.
She got gutted. Entrails out of her stomach and all they had to show was her head magically got turned into a mouse almost like she was shapeshifting. When news got out the 7S got swarmed and many advocates demanded the data and Sato, with his face beaming with happiness declared that all can be solved through the proper connections and they shouldn’t forget that the Shichinin no Ken is a business first.
They didn’t leak out, our office bagged the mouse-head, but it caused a stir and we’re here in this building because Kei knew it’s the best place to watch the mutants, no, I was wrong, the abominations try to get some rights after they turned themselves into monsters.
Kei’s enjoying her drink. She has roses on her cheeks when she’s enjoying things and she becomes a bit cheerier despite this city not giving her any reason to be happy other than the paycheck and semi-thriving business.
“Happy?”
I ask. She nodded her head and then leaned on the terrace while using her glasses to watch the carnage below. Everyone has some sort of ill-thing they find interesting in this day and age and Kei finally showed me hers.
Eta copes by bedding cute and pretty girls. Marvin, just like any spellblade, is almost obsessed with spells and if he wasn’t a decent human being; would have sold his baby for a book. Sato, as far as I know, enjoys watching thieves get their desert while Mai likes the kind of violence you find on the ring. Even Paul, who I thought was decent liked watching his ware being used on actual subjects to test the sharpness and even volunteers some ‘samples’ for the testing on prisoners who are far too gone to deserve a hanging or an electric chair.
Now I know Kei likes seeing mutants getting pummeled like this and found footage.
“What about you, Akun?”
“Barely do it now, but you know how some pieces of shit just don't deserve to take another breath? Yeah, I have no qualms about punishing some people.”
“I get that. I think it’s probably the tamest.”
“Maybe. I’m just a boring bastard I guess. So, why are we here again?”
“Mostly for the drink and secondly about the damn mutants there.”
“Got a lot of hate from them.”
“I was in France when they marched. I lost an uncle to them and I’ve really stopped thinking about how I want to shoot their heads off.”
“They are former humans, you know? Have some pity.”
“I do. Right now to me they are walking monsters who abandoned their skin for scale and fur. I don’t see you looking like you care.”
“And old friends told me I have mastered the art of having a comatose face.”
When I said that Kei raises a brow in surprise.
“Oh, you’re actually aware of your comatose face, Akun.”
“Someone taught me how to do my best business demeanor, Kei.”
“And how to dress too?”
“Hey, I respect the person too much not to follow his old fashion ways. Sure, I can wear fashionable gear, but it’s simply the style I had been taught.”
You have a city full of salarymen and white collar workers who are like a pack of ants walking down the street. You join them and no one will notice you among them. It’s the best place to walk since you’re practically invisible as long as you hunch your back and act extra dead inside for appearance’s sake.
“Now I’m curious who taught you.”
“He’s at the bottom of the sea. Doubt anyone will ever reach his chrome and titanium plated skeleton.”
Kei emptied her drink and winked at the bartender for another. The bartenders and waiters were running back and forth while serving the rest who came to enjoy the entertainment of watching poor idiots who got swayed by their wanting to be different.
Sad thing about it is they are multiplying. At first it was just the artificial idiots and now the second generation who are born that way are begging and screaming for freedom and raising hell.
Mutants at least some have the strength of animals. But animal-strength is honestly inferior to augmented procedures and real firepower. They might go the spell-casting way and try learning spells and do rituals since I hear demons and devils are fond of the desperate and hopeless knocking on their skull-made doors.
There are always bleeding hearts out there. People who heard a story about the oppressed and are gunning for their rights and how they should be treated. They are a minority at the moment and the world's too unkind to think about adding more laws and rights to the scales of justice.
You look at the statistics and you’ll learn how the number one threat to people are the mutants, the monsters, the cryptids, and the anomalies.
The mutants are an easy target. They are the convenient monsters you can run news on while the rest of the forces are busy running runs on actual monsters and threats.
The Dreadlord plague in the lanes were considered as nothing more than another small incursion despite hundreds and possibly thousands of lives being lost.
Monsters are a tired subject. No one wants to hear it. You might be curious about cryptids and anomalies, but they are too hidden; you'll just lose interest if you didn’t know better.
But mutants? They have coverage. They provide sob stories and drama and discussion because a talking lizard on the screen who isn’t hostile, eloquent and knows gets more views than the same old undead plague. Sure, the Dreadlord consuming an anomaly got out, but have you seen Mr. Pejana, the representative of the scale-folks practically begging the world to let them have a good life and let them live?
But what happened to Mr. Pejana’s pleas?
It all ended into a riot where the government in charge had the excuse to fix the mistakes of the idiots who approved the animal-turning chips.
But all they got is folks from all over the district renting seats and tables to watch the mutants fight the augmented cops pummeling them on the ground. All they need now is the moron who’ll pull the trigger and turn this peaceful riot into a bloodbath.
And Change doesn’t disappoint.
“Oof, that's a bolt-action rifle right there.”
“You sure you want to stay near this place?”
“It’s alright. Maybe some of them can fly or leap high, but I doubt they’ll make it past the security. Anyway, we’re on a break, Assistant. Can you just sit the fuck down and drink your whiskey?”
That, I can do.
