Page 8 of Fatality

CHAPTER 2

Riven

Alone On Your Planet - The Haunt

Evening settles over my loft as neon lights spill through the towering windows, casting shifting colors across the exposed brick and concrete.

The soft music Charlie chose hums in the background, blending with the distant pulse of Kairo-9.

The three of us are sprawled in different spots.

Sitting on the floor with my back against the couch, I sip my wine while Charlie is stretched across it, her head resting in Jules' lap.

“My last client was crying over an earlobe piercing. People are really getting sensitive.” Jules says, stretching before sinking back into my couch.

I chuckle, shaking my head.

“Don't even get me started. I had a man, a grown ass man,” I insist “crying over the line work of a heart. I didn't even fill it in.”

I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“People are sensitive because everything's painless now. They are used to the nano bots stitching their wounds back together stitching in a matter of minutes.”

“I know, Riv.” Jules nods solemnly “But it's our world. We were born into.”

I shrug and take another sip.

“And if you’d stopped reading books about how Kairo was before the technology,” Charlie gestures around us vaguely “you'd probably appreciate things more," She adds with a shrug. “Just sayin', Riv.”

I grunt and sigh.

They're both right, but I can't help it.

I like thinking about how the world used to be, no holograms, no drones, no robots—just simpler and more authentic.

A world where people weren't obsessed with making everything faster, easier, cleaner, where pain actually existed.

“Yeah, yeah... whatever.” I wave them off. “That's why I opened the studio, I wanted to give people something real.”

“People don't come to the studio just because of the atmosphere you created,” Jules says. “They come because they leave with something permanent that was made by you or me. Because Charlie gives them genuine warmth. Because we're human, not machines.”

“I know.” I drag the word out and rub my face. “Thank you for working with me, I wouldn’t have made it without you two.”

“Are you kidding me?” Charlie props herself up on one elbow, lowering her voice dramatically. “Who wouldn't want to work for you?”

“Shut up.” Jules flicks Charlie's forehead with a chuckle. “Besides the paycheck, we've known you for eleven years. We'd be pretty terrible friends if we weren't here.”

A small smile tugs at my lips as warmth settles in my chest, it feels good to have had them by my side for so many years.

I push myself to my feet, smoothing my clothes.

“Enough of this emotional shit,” I grin. “Want to go out? My treat.”

Charlie practically launches herself at me. I grunt and stumble back a few steps before somehow managing to keep us both upright.

“Yes! A drink! A drink!” she shouts.

“Get the fuck off me,” I threaten, dead serious despite the hint of amusement in my voice. “Or I swear I’ll make sure your makeup looks like you pulled your head out of someone's ass.”