#query: ic.

[lupusdci-blog]

"I do believe you Americans call it wrestling."

         ❝  YOU want to wrestle me? You sure about that, Mister Gray?  ❞     ( // @crackedportrait )

[mindsmade]

That's a mighty stache you got there, Aphanarû.

@prvtocol

         There’s a smile embedded in that cautious frown.  ❛  And to whom do I owe my gratitude for the compliment?  ❜

[mindsmade]

When Perry opens her door, Damien is down on one knee - a big jar filled with something pale yellow and a big bright bow around the lid. ❝ Bee Mine ? ❞ A grin and the biggest, greenest eyes staring up at her. ❝ It's honey, if you weren't sure. I tried to find something sweeter than you but this was as close as I got. ❞ He stood now, "I wanted to make sure you hive a good Valentine's Day."

@exxxquisites / @deathtake

         She might’ve slammed the door shut if he hadn’t lifted the jar for her to see. Though no stranger to proposals ( or to the rejections thereof ), she’d have hated for things to go sideways quite like that between her and Damien, let alone this early on. The potential for this to become something worth staying around for is sure there — and the jar of honey wins him some points towards that end.

            Perry rolls her eyes at the saccharine nature of his undoubtedly practised phrase as she reaches out to take the jar off his hands.  ❛  Thank you – and I’ll forgive you for that awful pun for the sake of not ruining Valentine’s Day for you.  ❜  Whilst she’s well over it, she sees no point in forcing her stance onto him. He’s young; eager to live through the clichés of infatuation.

            After eyeing the bowed gift for another moment, her gaze shoots back to him. A quick nod towards her hallway beckons him inside.

         ❛  Now, I’ve got something a little more hands-on in mind for you this Valentine’s Day.  ❜

[mindsmade]

"I've got a big ol' crush on you. It's soooo gay." Scott @ Liam, maybe he's drunk, maybe he's loopy, maybe he's just completely normal

@cryptiique

      He hasn’t even changed into his comfier, borderline-pajama-like gear yet, and already he’s met with Scott’s endearing but drunken babbling. The residual heat of Eos clings to the exterior of his coat as he shrugs it off. Liam looks over at Ryder hanging on the couch like he’s ready to melt into it as he hangs his coat on the back of the chair behind his workbench.  ❛  I see you’ve started without me. How much have I got to drink to catch up with you? ‘Cause I’m down to lean into all that affection, Ryder.  ❜ ​

[mindsmade]

Doc meets Kane's eyes. He just stares for a long moment before moving and very briefly rubbing against his leg before wandering off, as if it never happened.

@deathtake

         Kane really wishes he wouldn’t.  ❛  You’re cute when you’re quiet — and stayin’ at a distance.  ❜

[mindsmade]

scott reaches his hand out to liam. 'bro, can you do me a favor and hold this for me?'

@cryptiique

     He takes what's extended his way without looking. It's not until he feels the warmth of whatever he'd grabbed hold of that he take a look. His gaze inevitably shoots up to Scott's face with a certain gravitas.   ❛  Bro. You know you don't even need to ask.  ❜

[mindsmade]

you mean with me? i’m the wrong turn you took? / also peebs at Liam !!

@stardustvein /  meme ( selectively accepting )

      The question startles. With his mouth agape and his sentence left unfinished, whatever unfiltered thought he next expected to vent dissolves. It’s always like this with him, isn’t it? It starts small, like a minor gripe he wants to complain about, before he goes off on a tangent and all the crap hidden under layers of projection and jokes comes out. It never should’ve been Peebee to have to listen to him go off like that though. Or maybe it should, had he been better at not sounding like an arse. That’s what a relationship’s meant to be about, right? Trust and support ––– but something here feels unbalanced.

    ❛  Wh— ?  ❜  he stammers, blinking rapidly like he’s only now realising where he is and who he’s with, and that he’d actually said the things he’d said. Part shitty phrasing, part shitty thought. This might implicitly by the hundredth time he’s been told being fed up’s no excuse to be a prick.

        Wrong turn — no, it wasn’t her. As he comes to, Liam quickly shakes his head, slides off the kitchen counter on which he’d been sitting and takes Peebee by the shoulders.  ❛  That’s not it.  ❜  Expecting her to roll her shoulders to get rid of his touch ( because that’s what he’d do ), he pulls his hands off her.  ❛  I meant, I don’t know ... everything. Leaving the Milky Way, maybe, or the things I did here to justify that decision.  ❜  Like trying to copy the Angaran agricultural data once official channels proved fruitless; like bartering Nexus data and having to drag Ryder into a rescue op.

         Suddenly, his faith in that new beginning he and Ryder’d talked about  when they were new here feels paper thin. It’s the first time he notices it being this ... flimsy. That won’t do, obviously. He didn’t come here to regret, so as always, he reverts to thinking in possibilities; in what can be done and what is good rather than the opposite. In doing so, within that split second of thinking, he finds the opposite of Peebee’s phrase is true. His face instantly shifts from worried to — well, a little less worried. He still fears her reaction, but he figures the best way to prevent catastrophe is to just be blunt about it.

         Bracing himself against the counter again, he lowers his head some.  ❛  You’re, like, the furthest thing from a wrong turn. You’re the best turn I could’ve taken. This,  ❜  he gestures between the two of them,  ❛  is the best thing that could’ve come out of whatever wrong turns I might’ve taken for real.  ❜

[mindsmade]

you know, you always have a place here. / let’s pretend I’ve already added river and throw this at V bby

@stardustvein /  meme ( selectively accepting )

      V’s not immune to kindness — far from it, in fact. He thrives on the little scraps of it he can find in this city, so folded into River’s words, he finds some measure of happiness. Between the shit Night City’s added to his life and the mess he himself makes of it in kind, River’s increasingly showing himself to be a rare gem. There’s no underestimating the value of his words as such, leading to an appreciative smile from V first and foremost.

       The weight of his words becomes clearer the more thoroughly he considers them against the backdrop of his own circumstances though. His life’s falling to pieces ( spectacularly, some might say ) and V himself along with it. Who knows what’ll be left of him in a few months or even mere weeks’ time, if anything. There might be nothing left of the guy River’s opening his arms for. That realisation serves well as a nudge towards opening the door to his heart at least some, just a crack, if nothing else.

       A sigh leaves him before long, followed by a breathy chuckle. His head shakes and his gaze drops for a moment.  ❛  Heh. Thanks.  ❜  He puts off looking the other in the eye; that’d result in a wider opening of that aforementioned door he’s not sure he can risk.  ❛  That, uh ...  ❜  Stalling still, he looks off towards the projections shot up at the sky from the city. It looks a lot better from way out here ––– and maybe it isn’t all as bad as he’s begun to think it. He met friends there, against all odds, among which River sure is listed.

        His gaze shoots up after a silence, his smile persistent, if not a touch sad. The chances of V ever taking him up on it are slim, but the gesture’s appreciated all the same — maybe all the more so because it reminds him of that nomadic mentality he misses so much in the city.  ❛  That means a lot.  ❜