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NOCTIUM IC INBOX
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TEXT ✧ AUDIO ✧ VIDEO ✧ ACTION
V ✦ CYBERPUNK 2077
RESIDENCE ✦ Chez Eurodyne, Silverhand, Strife & V
GEMBOND ✦ Sapphire
"This is V. 'pparently 'm busy right now so leave a message."
INFO ✧ PERMISSIONS ✧ KINKLIST
no subject
He looks up at the proffered hand and only hesitates briefly before reaching up to clasp, fingers wrapping around Johnny's forearm to at least make that connection a solid one. At least, as stable as either of them have strength for. ]
Gonna at least give you a couple days 'fore I complain 'bout you bein' stubborn.
[ It's a pale, underdeveloped attempt at some fond banter. Though it's probably not that hard to see what's going on underneath. The way V's eyes widen unseeingly as though he's imagining what would've happened if Johnny hadn't been such a doggedly determined stubborn asshole. Who else could have pulled this off for him? He's not sure he knows that answer, but the part of him that realizes they need to leave this decrepit, incredibly unsafe safe house has an immediate concern. ]
What happened? Where'd you find it? The relic, I mean. Did you... you find the people who jumped me?
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Couple of days? That’s a joke. How many times have I saved you now, huh? Startin’ to lose count, so I think you can’t complain about shit for at least a month.
[Johnny hanging that over someone’s head sounds exactly like something he’d do, except he doesn’t mean a word of it. He didn’t go out of his way to stick the chip back into V’s chipslot just to place an obligation around his neck like a millstone.
With V on his feet, Johnny waits and offers him a shoulder before they start moving towards the exit. He doesn’t expect the man to be all that steady after what he’s just been through; Johnny isn’t exactly a pillar of strength right now, either, but he can manage it just fine. Just maybe not at a particularly blazingly fast speed.
Gives him time to consider an answer, though. His face drifts back into seriousness, a sort of mild agitation that is only a sliver of the anger he had felt towards the gangers who did this to V.]
Did a lot of pokin’ around, had to trace your steps back to that night after you and the other V’s were done partying. Managed to find security footage of you gettin’ jumped by those bastards — saw everything that happened to you.
[His jawline hardens a tick, but he continues.]
After that? Did some asking around. Apparently their types have made trouble before, lookin’ to line their pockets. Asked Cloud if he wanted in on the action of getting the relic back once I got wind of them spendin’ one of their evenings at a local club, tryin’ to make a deal to sell it off. The rest is history. Those fuckin’ idiots… think they’re somethin’ big and scary, but didn’t take much to show them otherwise. We’ve seen it all before.
[Between Johnny and Cloud, it really was a joke. Left an impression on them, for sure.]
They won’t be botherin’ you again. Though I’d like to know how they knew about the chip at all — you tellin’ tall tales when you’ve got too much drink in your system?
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[ Not that V's actually counting, but for the most part he allows himself to sink into the comfort of back and forth. A familiar thing to draw over himself like a blanket.
There's only a few times on their way to the exit that V uses Johnny's shoulder; the amount of debris lining the floor only added to with their antics. Trip hazards are all over the place and, with heavy legs, V seems to find all of those snag points no matter how hard he's trying to focus.
As Johnny starts explaining, V's half-smile evaporates, and by the time Johnny's asking what he said about the chip, his forehead's drawn down into a frown. ]
Don't think so? I don't 'zactly remember doin' it but... I was buzzed. Sobered up pretty quick when they uh--
[ Since Johnny's seen what happened, he doesn't feel the need to describe. Explanation isn't necessary. ]
Why'd I be talkin' 'bout the relic to anybody?
[ Except... ]
Maybe we talked about it, me 'n the others. Between ourselves. Makes sense, I guess. Three of us have things in common when it comes to the relic.
[ And maybe, since of the three of them he's unable to handle more than a couple of drinks before he's affected by it, he'd seemed like the easier target. But this was all guesswork. V doesn't have a sharp recollection of everything he talked about that night. ]
Did you zero 'em?
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[He says it about as dry as the desert, vaguely unimpressed. And he doesn’t even think it makes him that big of a hypocrite (this time), either. The only time he’s ever mentioned the relic to anyone here was recently, wrought in the vaguest details during his exchange with Dorian. Before that, Nanba. Never for others to overhear just because he’s feeling chatty.
But what’s done if done. V’s question colors his words a little darker, though so matter-of-fact that there’s no doubt he’d follow through if asked:]
Nah. Left them beaten and broken and bleedin’ out. They got as good as they gave and then some — made sure of it.
Need me to go back and finish it? I’d be lying if I said it wouldn’t make me feel good to do it.
[Johnny is a lot of things, and putting a bullet in more fatal places of the trash who’d made the bad call to hurt someone he cares about? Yeah, he’s not beyond it.]
no subject
He made a mistake, and now he has to live with it.
So the comment is just met with a sheepish kind of nod, eventually, and then a sharp shake of his head at the question. ]
No.
[ V's also a lot of things, and most of the time he tries his best to opt for the least damage if he can help it. Some things need a certain response, sure, and he's got no regret for putting iron in people who don't seem to have a lick of remorse in them for doing shit that V knows is evil. Woodman was an example of that.
His answer's not for the sake of those gangers, though. No, this is real personal. ]
Plan on payin' 'em a visit myself.
no subject
There is the issue, though, of V needing some time to recover. And the fact that he just barely managed to save him, and now the kid’s already talking about throwing himself into trouble face-first again?]
A visit yourself, by yourself?
[V never really worked alone back in Night City before Mikoshi; he had a rebel rockerboy living in his head, at his side through thick and thin. He doesn’t see why that needs to change now.]
You cut me outta the fun, I’m gonna be pissed. Personal for me, too, you know. [He stayed his hand last time out of respect for simply not knowing what V would want to do with them. Now? Now’s another story.]
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[ The state he's in now isn't exactly the form he'd hope to be in, but as soon as he's gotten his energy back he's not going to delay things too long. Generally he's not terrible at rising above, at chalking things up to some kind of lesson to learn from. But this, like Johnny said, is personal. Not because he got his ass handed to him, or because he'd suffered, but because of all the collateral damage.
And that collateral damage is like a stacking multiplier. V'd have hunted the gangers down if just one person he cared about got hurt. The way things stand? He's hurt almost everybody he cares about. He won't know what exactly he's going to do to those gangers until he's in the moment, but whatever it is he's going to make it hurt. ]
Just uh... need a day or so.
[ Probably more. Thing is, as much as he wants to go after these thugs, he's got other things to work on first. Apologies to make. People to check in on. That's always going to come first.
The exit of the warehouse is exactly as somebody might expect; a boarded up frame where a couple of doors used to exist. But one of the boards has been angled just enough to allow a triangle entryway. Stopping down to duck through that's not going to feel fun, but neither would trying to get out from the upper level by scaling down a wall or just flat out jumping. ]
How'd ya get here? [ It pains him to say it, but: ] don't think I can drive.
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So there’s no retort from the rockerboy as they duck beneath an arm of plywood through the door, and he doesn’t reply until they’ve met the outside air. This isn’t a great part of town, but it’s still a relief to inhale a nighttime that hasn’t gone stale from dust and years of a building’s neglect.]
Dropped off. City’s got its own cab system, even if I got stuck with the slowest driver on this whole damn planet.
[One might imagine how that went. Johnny impatient, yelling at the guy to drive well above the speed limit because he’s got important work to do. He isn’t exactly a paragon of patrons.]
Gonna have to invest in a real set of wheels soon so I don’t feel like a teenager havin’ to ask mom and dad for a ride. [He scoffs, looking at V.] Unless you wanna walk all the way there, I figure we’d go back the way I came.
You can nap on the way over.
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So it's almost sheepish the way he glances at Johnny - what kind of merc feels bad for stealing somebody's car? This one. The only saving grace is that the car was parked, nobody else around, and nobody got hurt when he relieved it from wherever its owner had left it. ]
Uh, might've jacked that one. [ He nods at the emerald green car sat half poking out of an alley running the side of the warehouse, traditional style by their own standards. ] By now it's prob'ly not a good idea to drive it back.
Cab's fine.
[ The sheepish gaze turns into something a little different, and he's just considering how soft the suggestion of a nap really is. He can even imagine it, sleeping in the back of a space he doesn't know but, if Johnny's around, maybe he doesn't need to worry. ]
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But V's in... precarious shape. Not really recovered, probably still raw from it all. He can see that sheepish look, can feel his brain turning over the idea of taking a cab as though it were running through Johnny's own mind. And he lets it go -- the man deserves some leeway, for things to go how he wants them to, for once.
Quirking a brow while he fishes for his communication device in a jacket pocket, hoping to call some mode of transportation to this shitty block-]
What's that look for then, huh?
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[ The humor is marred just a little by the way V's hand is pressed to his lower back, wince tugging the half-smile away from his features, like it's aching. Fuck, he feels old now. He'd ask Johnny if this is what he usually feels like - y'know, considering he's ancient - but the joking around's taken a back seat for now.
Quietly glad that it looks like Johnny's opting for the cab option he glances around briefly, checks their surroundings, before closing his eyes and stretching his neck as much as he dares. Everything feels like it wants to cramp up, but mostly he's just starting to feel the consequences of falling from the upper floor and landing on his back. ]
Feels like everythin' I missed out on the past couple weeks is hittin' me all at the same time. Didn't miss ya at all but now I can feel it.