“All of you see Samurai at their most epic, at their toughest. Or dead.

You never see us when we wake up in the morning, stub our toe, or when we fall out of bed.”

Eager Eagle - 2056

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Pain.

Pain in EVERYTHING.

Pain in my head.

Pain in my back.

Pain in my legs.

Even a LITERAL pain in my ass.

This is what happens when you push an out of shape body for far longer it has been pushed in years after taking some alien medication that caused massive instant weight loss. All of that followed up by drinking hard.

I could see one empty bottle of whiskey already on the floor by my bed and I hoped that was the only one.

I got up with a long groan and didn’t bother looking at the clock. I knew I was running late for work, but it wasn’t going to be my job pretty fuckin’ soon. I saw a few texts asking if I was okay pop up on my phone and I sent a simple “Coming in soon.” Reply. Can’t blame them. Never was late without warning before and all of them knew I was close to the battlezone yesterday.

I did not want to do today.

~I successfully kept your address censored through the night. Some people have probably independently verified your identity, but I kept it from being spread. I also took the liberty of confiscating all the money people put up for bounties to get the information. I did ask for permission but you were drinking a bit heavily at the time.~

I rubbed my face as I stripped and got in the hot shower. It was weird having to wash a, frankly hot, body rather than something on the heavier side of “dad.”

“Thank you Byllona.” I let out a sigh and started to wash up. “And yeah, woulda given permission for you to do that if I was sober too.”

~You are welcome. You now have three million credits added to your accounts.~

I paused, rubbed my head that was already unhappy with all the shit I had put the brain inside through, then let out a long groan. “I will pretend I didn’t hear that amount for now. Remind me later that my life has changed even more.” I groaned out as I rested my head against the shower wall.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

~Would you like medication to help heal your body’s pain? Maybe a cure for your alcohol related suffering?~

“Thanks, but no. I think it will be better for my mental health to focus on the pain right now rather than everything else.”

Yep. Just think about how fucked up my body was rather than my life. Have a crisis over the whole “my life just changed” stuff later. Was it the healthiest way to deal with it? Nope. I doubt there have been many psychological studies, papers, or really anything to deal with this though.

Hard to put someone in power armor on a couch, much less ask them how they feel.

Fuuuck. Now I know why liver and stomach swaps were so popular for Samurai.

I slid out of the shower and dried myself off. I sat down on one of the bath mats and just let the lingering steam help clear my head just a little. Once I built up some more energy I got back up and trimmed my beard, did my hair, then walked out to my room. I almost put on my normal work clothes, but eh. Why bother? By the time anyone realized something was up with what I was wearing it would already be too late. What were they going to do anyway, write me up?

I poked my head out of my door and looked down both hallways. Nobody. Thank god. I did NOT want to deal with paparazzi or some mil suit with a hangover. The voice in the back of my head (the natural one not Byllona) was reminding me I could legally kill them now, but while it did sound like it would be cathartic I doubt the act would be very good for my mental state long term. Plus the gunshout would be HELL on this hangover.

Well. Made it to my car and flipped on the autodrive once more, cut and lit a cigar just like every other morning, and put on music since I knew the normal mesh personalities I listened to would be talking a ton about the new Samurai since most of what I listened to fell into the “Samurai news” or “cool historical stuff” categories. Things that yesterday I was more than a little involved in. While it probably would be ego stroking and cool to listen to people say how cool I was I decided to have just one last normal ride to work.

Soon I landed at work and opted to park in the normal spot I always parked in. Sure I could park in the fancy Samurai area right by the door, but I felt I owed it to my boss and co-workers to explain the situation to their face since me landing in said spot was going to at least make security come out and start asking questions.

I took another long, deep breath and got out regretting the fact I didn’t bother to drink water last night or this morning. I did, however, give myself a pass since I did have quite a bit on my mind. Not that my mind was going to give me a pass though.

I walked up to the door, badged in, and walked towards my cube farm. I could see people giving me weird looks since I was clearly hungover in the middle of the week and wearing casual clothes. Nobody bothered to stop me though. They all knew I belonged here and a couple even knew where I was yesterday. Probably just thought I was taking it hard.

I didn’t make it to my desk though as my supervisor and a few co workers were all standing around it. A pack of my favorite sodas and some snacks were on my desk. Damn, I was going to miss working with these guys and gals.

“Hey man, are yo-” The supervisor looked me over and whistled. “No. Go home.” He ordered. “You are almost NEVER late unless there is traffic and I have never seen you in jeans in my LIFE. Plus your face looks like..” He shuddered. “Just go home man. You need the rest. Come back after a bit. I bet it had to be rough being right there at the site of an incursion.”

I took a deep breath and leaned against a cube wall. “Yeah… about that.”