Opens up

Fenix Arsenal
"That's good, that you take care of her so well."

She grins. She'll have to meet Haven at some point. She has to be something pretty special for you to be so in love with her.

"Oh, cool."

Tech that puts itself away. Why has she never thought of that before? That's brilliant.

"Yeah, that will work for me. If you get me the repair manuals for the other brands I can start studying tonight."

Obviously her wage can be adjusted as needed through the magic of retcon, and if she needs extra, it's not like she's going to stop helping people on the side either.

She didn't often see her father as the corpo exec, just as her father. Coming to terms with what he really was... what she had been on the path to becoming... had been a big part of the cognitive dissonance that kept her hiding in her bed when she got to Night City.

"I wasn't going to hang around for that wedding, so I ended up here."

She mirrors that ick face with another small laugh. You might be starting to get the idea that all the laughter, all the humor, even the adorableness, is all a defiant coping mechanism. It's a refusal to give into the darkness of a dismal world.

"I was surprised to run into Dylan again in Night City."

Her expression softens talking about him.

"The first time I met him he took out a full Spetznaz unit."

So she knows him from shooting things in the head too. She looks down at her left hand, flexing the fingers.

"Probably would have lost more than my arm if he hadn't been there."

She returns the smile. She likes you, a lot, and it's easier than she thought it would be to open up to you. But it's in a wanting to adopt you as her brother sort of way. Haven has nothing to worry about. She just misses her actual older brothers a lot.

Looking inside

drinks more while still alone

Looks in

Deadeye Gun Range
"Mmm yeah it's a bit big for me, like even with this stock at its smallest setting — what else is new, right?" She's honestly almost gotten used to it, now, but she'd still rather have something in her size.

Joining you at the table with the empty mags, pulling some items from her purse as she continued to digest your commentary.

"…but that's what makes it interesting, you know? Like yeah Brix is my dude, but he's not on stage in yoga pants going through his character, exploring the ins and outs of his vulnerability, lighting up as he finally finds a safe place to talk about new and uncertain feelings. I end up becoming the reason Brix has a problem, and he has a problem because I'm not reliant on him and he only views relationships on some boomer-coded foundation of dependence…"

A wet-nap for her hands, coming up dirtier than you'd think for the ashy residue from the powder, a pack slid over your way as well.

Mmmm, firearm carcinogens.

"…like what is that about guys, anyway? Like is an independent girl that scary, like you can't control her so therefore you just sit in permanent worry that she's gonna fly away at a moment's notice?"

Holly breathed, crumpled the paper and then swapped to a compact to touch up the concealer on her cheek. "…yea okay you're right, it'd be good to talk to Lilou regardless."

…and another breath, and for a moment it seemed like she'd answer all of what you said to her.

"…I want one in eleven-five, factory suppressor, reflex sight, Holly-sized stock, extended mag."

Docks
*rising after seeing the dyke wall closed and the pumps starting, knowing my crew in number four were handling things from this point on and walking along the dock, giving each person a well done and telling them get some rest untill finally it was just me and going back to the barrel and sitting once more, looking out at the harbour seeing yet not seeing*

waiting stiff for some company as I drink

mmm :)

Fenix Arsenal
"I do the same for mi novia. Everything she carries on a mission is a Lives-With-Echo exclusive." Sound dampening boots. Optical camo. Mag-Crossbow. Haven was always kitted to the nines when she went our mudering. For good reasons, rarely bad ones.

Echo unbuckles his back unit. Letting it fall to the ground...where the arms extend out and catch the floor. Before crawling up the wall and hanging itself up. He got a lot of mileage out of Juliette Fenix's old Araña AI program.

"Perfecto. You're hired." He blinks. "How much should I pay you?" He has no idea. The shop made good money. Damn good money. "$800 a week? 10% commissions?" The player isn't sure what the Cyber-Inflation rate is in 2082.

"I do have a license to sell Militech. It's our most popular brand. Also have Arasaka, Kang Tao, Heckler & Koch...and just about all the major North American brands."

A brief look of surprise that your father wasn't despised. His anti-corpo bias kicked in there. He makes an ick face at the idea of being sold in marriage. Especially when he's planning his own foray into nuptials here soon.

So there was a personal connection. At least a theoretical one. The fixer side of his brain considers it a plus. If you saw this mission as way to get revenge, all the better. But...he his nomad side will always shine through in the end.

"Lo siento. That sounds rough." Nomads rarely betrayed each other. But when they did, they went for the gusto.

"Dylan seems happier with you around." Change of subject. "I mostly know him from blowing things up and shooting things in the head." Even with that impression, Echo still smiles. Hell, this kid found something to like about Maul of all people. At least Dylan could tell jokes and kind of smile on occasion.

Docks
*watching from the end of the pier as the ship rounds the corner into drydock four and giving a sigh of relief and watching as the two large rowboats packed with sailors row out of the drydock and and turning for a moment, seeing a upright barrel and taking a seat, exhaustion starting to set in*

romance

Deadeye Gun Range
"No, it doesn't. It's pretty noticeable.
... It feels good in my hands, so I'm kind of digging that."

He watches you test the weapon a bit more, and Alejandro's arms across his chest, and a sort of sidelong glance to some of the staring occupants help along with getting them to mind their business.

He chuckles. "What do you mean what do I mean? .. one relationship is a full time thing for most people ... working to make multiple relationships work all at once? .. just seems more.."

You probably can't even convince him otherwise at this point either. He nods when you say you get shut down. Damn, brix ...

he winces when your shots go off mark, which apparently his comment was as well.

"Lo siento. It just sounded as if .. well, nevermind.
I get it then."

He'll give you a few moments to recompose yourself and improve upon the veer of the spray until you empty it and then stare back at him. The question gets a sort of thoughtful expression a moment ..

"I mean.. honestly probably what I suggested, which is talking to him. But with her own Lilou-esque additions. She might suggest like .. figuring out what attracts you to each .. and working out what's important to you in each person. There's value in your relationships,
¿Entender? Whatever you're getting out of relationships or potential relationships, make sure it's worth the squeeze."

Make sure the juice is worth the squeeze, he means.

sips my drink while chatting with the bartender

WOW

Fenix Arsenal
"Can't argue that."

She files away the information on the optics for later. She might need to get her hands on some of those. They sound incredibly useful.

"Divide and conquer. Makes perfect sense to me."

She nods at that. Data is useless without a brain to make sense of the information and put the pieces together.

She grins a little at the mention of Dylan.

"And goodness knows I'd be invested in making sure all his gear worked properly."

If she does her job right there, then it's more likely he comes back alive, right?

She nods, thinking it over.

"That... would be awesome. I can repair just about anything Militech, and I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to learn others with that base to work from."

She watches the bots. They really are fascinating as they go about their work, and they let her focus on something besides her own discomfort with revealing any of her past.

"Heh, my father was the reasonable one. My mother tried to sell me off in a business marriage to a guy unashamed of buying girls from Soviet traffickers."

She snorts at that, a quiet laugh lacking in mirth.

"So yeah. I knew of Kurtz in passing growing up. I'm not sure he's not the one who tipped off my kidnappers in order to sabotage and undermine my dad when I was sixteen, but I can't prove anything."

She should have been safe and protected in Europe with her friends, but she still got taken for a very specific, non-monetary ransom. That narrows down the field of people who could have been behind it significantly.

"Then again, most of the people in that world are pretty cutthroat, so..."

She trails off with another shrug.

Deadeye Gun Range
"This does not have the kick that you'd expect it to…" Holly both spoke and digested what you had to say all at the same time. That you absorbed her considerations with a 'probably' while watching her test the weapon out. "…I mean it's noticeably heavier, so that's probably got a lot to do with it…"

She resumed her position to put a few more rounds, counting up to 10 in total before she flipped the selector and dumped the last fifteen in full auto.

The other ranger-goers all stopped and looked over for a moment before one by one, they all decided to continue to mind their own fucking business.

Holly flinched and swatted away a bit of steel-tailed brass that bounced up against her shoulder, needling her with its heat like a pinch of a mosquito.

"…what do you mean, exhausting? I mean that's… that's the lifestyle, you know?" Or maybe you didn't. She legitimately didn't know many people who were polyamorous — even Doctor Sammy really only seemed to hold one serious relationship even if they did mess around a bit, and… well Brix kinda described her as a sexual anarchist, instead. "No I try, I just get shut down, I…"

The next grouping suddenly veered wildly off-target at the next remark, and she pulled her finger off of the trigger. "…I'm not dropping him, AJ. What the hell? It's just, like, an accent to the life, like to say oh hey this guy gratifies me in a new and interesting way that comes from a background and set of needs that isn't…"

The pace of her words both sped up and then cut off abruptly as she decided to concentrate on the second mag, her head tucked in and properly cheek-welded as she braced and put down a narrow overlap of shots at the 40-yard range. Semi-auto, but rapid.

Weapon empty, she locked the bolt open and dropped the mag, leaving it on its side as she got up and stepped back towards you at the loading table, her stare dubious.

"You think I should? Gimme a guess as to what you think she would tell me…"

Docks
*It had been a long night but the ship was finally unloaded and finally everything was set to move the ship to the drydock. I was proud of these men, the only complaints heard was from the pumps and the wood on the dock*

chats with the bartender some as things stay slow

bromance

l/p