NOCTIUM IC INBOX

[disrupts]

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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

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[disrupts]

Here? 'bout as many times as I've saved yours.

[ 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?

[engrams]

Might wanna be more careful regardin’ the when and where the three of you decide to talk about intrusive, experimental tech that overwrites the mind and spirit.

[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.]

[disrupts]

[ There's a certain kind of irritation that flares up despite everything. As soon as it does though it's neatly extinguished. V can't exactly be irritated at Johnny for saying it, not about this. It was a gonk thing to do, and given the fact he was drunk as fuck at the time, he has no idea if he had any kind of volume control at all.

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.

[engrams]

[Somehow, that’s not all that surprising to hear, and Johnny has no real problem with the concept as a whole. You reap what you sow, as the saying goes, and those gangers were about to reap a cyber-enhanced merc with a score to settle.

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.]

[disrupts]

Not gonna cut you outta anythin'.

[ 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.

[engrams]

[A day or so fits squarely into the rest regimen that Johnny’s taken it upon himself to prescribe V in his head. A day or so, and then he doesn’t mind if the merc goes out with a grudge, looking for the guys that did this to him — as long as he gets a piece of the action, too, of course.

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.

[disrupts]

[ The problem with paranoia and trust issues is that sharing a confined space with anybody for any period of time becomes a non-starter. Getting a cab? V wouldn't have been able to do that before this, not when he'd been so sure that people were out to get him. It makes sense now why he'd been feeling that way, but before... he didn't have the ability to grasp on to what actually happened.

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. ]

[engrams]

[Eyes flick over to that emerald green ride poking out from an alleyway, and Johnny gets it in his mind that hell, why not drive it back? And maybe in other circumstances, he would've argued the point; would've gotten in there and drove the thing back, good idea or not, without having to rely on someone else to do it for him.

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?

[disrupts]

Nothin'. Just wonderin' if you're gonna tuck me in 'n sing me a lullaby if I nap.

[ 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.