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  • A Hopper's Awakening

    Chapter by barackobrahma · 03 Feb 2026
  • They say your body is a temple, but for some, it’s just a rental. Lena thought she knew the rules of the night, until a chance encounter at a bar shattered the boundaries of her own skin.
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  • A glitchy holographic rain poured down the facade of "Mandarin," a digital drizzle that shimmered over the sleek obsidian and glass of the Heights. The bar sat in the most exclusive pocket of the city, where holographic cherry blossoms drifted slowly from a ceiling that mimicked a midnight sky over Neo-Tokyo. Slender glass pillars filled with bubbling blue bioluminescence acted as room dividers, and the air smelled of expensive sandalwood and filtered ozone. It was a place for people who wanted to be seen—a high-end sanctuary for the elite.

    She didn’t usually go for the insistent types, but there was something hypnotic about the stranger at the end of the bar. He had the kind of face that seemed painted by an artist who couldn't decide on a subject: sharp, masculine bone structure softened by unnervingly delicate, feminine features. High cheekbones, a rose-bud pout, and eyes too large and luminous for a man of his build.

    "You're staring," he said. His voice was a rich, vibrating baritone that seemed to hum right through the obsidian of the bar.

    Lena didn't look away; she couldn't. "You're weird-looking," she replied, trying to sound bored, but her heart gave a traitorous thud.

    He didn't take offense. Instead, he turned his stool fully toward her, a slow, predatory grace in his movements. "Weird is just a lack of imagination, Lena."

    She bristled. "How do you know my name?"

    "The bartender called it out three minutes ago when he brought your drink. You didn't notice because you were too busy trying to decide if I was a dream or a warning." He leaned in, the scent of expensive tobacco and something else—like the air before a storm—enveloping her. "I'm a bit of both. But trust me, babe, the warning is way more fun than the dream."

    He smiled, and it was devastating—a flash of perfect teeth and a crinkle at the corners of those haunting eyes that made her feel suddenly, dangerously exposed. "Give me a chance to show you I’m the good kind of weird. The kind you don't just look at, but the kind you want to remember."

    Two hours later, the "weirdness" had followed her home.

    ***

    The air in Lena's apartment felt suddenly, impossibly heavy, as if the oxygen had been replaced by lead. They were on the brink of a shared, explosive climax, the room thick with the heat of …
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