Fandom: Neuromancer | Sprawl Trilogy - William Gibson
Pairings/Characters: Gen; Sally Shears | Molly Millions & Yanaka Kumiko
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 1,225
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply (but a characterâs dark backstory is hinted at.)
Creator Tags: Cyberpunk, razor girl, Friendship, Mentors, Mentor & Protégé, Yakuza, Missing Scene, Female Friendship, Backstory, Fanon
Creator Links: (AO3)
LizzyChrome; (BlueSky):
lizzychrome; (DeviantArt)
lizzychrome; (Facebook)
LizzyChrome; (Instagram)
lizzy_chromeTheme: Female Relationships, Backstory, Female Friendship, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Older Characters, Worldbuilding
Summary: How do Molly's claws and lenses actually work? Kumiko pries. (Missing scene from "Mona Lisa Overdrive.")Authorâs Notes: If you havne't read MLO yet, I won't spoil anything. I'll just set the scene, without giving anyway any important story elements: Molly is now middle-aged, goes by "Sally Shears," and is working as a body guard for a Japanese girl named Kumiko.
I do not own "Mona Lisa Overdrive."
This oldie was written probably over ten years ago. I originally posted it to Fanfiction.net, then took it down, feeling it was pointless. But in light of the new "Neuromancer" show coming out, I want to preserve this little ficlet, to see how my fanon explanation for how Molly's claws work compares to what (if anything) the show gives us regarding that explanation. After a quick re-read, I decided that no edit was needed. What you see here is what I originally posted ten or eleven years ago. Reccer's Notes: This vignette expands upon an exchange in
Mona Lisa Overdrive between aging cyborg mercenary Sally Shears (AKA Molly Millions, Cat Mother, Steppinâ Razor, Rose Kolodny, and Misty Steeleâthis ladyâs got more names than a Wuxia hero) and her charge Yanaka Kumiko; Sally confides measured bits of her backstory to the crushstruck Kumiko, including stripping to bare a torso-long scar (from a near-fatal cagefighting injury, kept âto remind her of being stupid.â)
Itâs a precious moment of trust, an elusive commodity in both womenâs lives; LizzyChrome expands upon this to let Sally hold forth on how her prosthetics workâa question that Gibson chose to bury under Rule of Cool, and thatâs challenged two generationsâ worth of illustrators and cosplayers.
With the upcoming
Neuromancer series on Apple+TV, Molly finally leaves the roster of visually iconic SFF characters not yet defined in the popular imagination by a screen adaptation (1). The Molly in my head admittedly didnât resemble Briana Middleton, but I look forward to seeing her interpretation of the role (as well as how faithful to the spirit of the book the script gets to be, now that Hollywood has gotten their hands on
(A) a Beloved Propertyâą,
(B) whose cyberpunk dystopia has been coming uncomfortably true in a number of respectsâthanks in no small part to megacorporations like Apple.)
(1) Gully Foyle from
The Stars My Destination and Elric of Melniboné also come to mind.
Fanwork Links: Shears, by
LizzyChrome.