HELLBENT & HEAVENSENT!

Her smile reads a warm thank you, and she holds the cigarette between her fingers and held firm in her lips, ready to lean in for the lighter -- presumptuous, perhaps, but she's nothing but bold. Once it's lit, a small inhale follows, and the first puff is taken, slow and relaxed.

With a light chuckle, she pulls the cigarette away from her lips and blows the smoke up and away from her company. "You ever been to Vault 21?" It's a sales pitch right from the beginning, delivered with casual charm. "Ain't got all the same bells 'n whistles as the other casinos on the Strip, but it's quaint. Got a charm of its own. Reckon I just like to take a li'l piece of home with me anywhere I go."

"Just closing up shop." He answers finally. Baldur's Gate would survive without elixirs and tonics for a few hours extra. If anyone really needed anything, the Simulacrum could let them know.

Helm take him, he was tempting fate, wasn't he?

He's not wrong, and she knows it; there's no attempt to hide her mischievous grin. It's followed by a dutiful salute and a skip towards the door. She does as instructed, bringing in the sign and turning the placard hung in the window as well. It's the physical action that makes her realize that this isn't a girlish daydream, but something actually happening to her.

The giddiness that flutters her heartbeat returns. She stands at the door, holding it open for the customers now trickling out with a wave, pleasantries exchanged and 'good evenings' bidden to each of them, and she hardly has to put a face on to exude her usual sunniness.

They all leave, and when they do Six shuts the door behind her. The shop seems larger than ever, quiet and ever expansive in the way they are now alone. Her smile softens as she catches Rolan's eye again, honest in its sheepishness, as if the nerves are getting to her also.

"I can't remember the last time I was invited to dinner," it's the truth. It's in her best interest to act as unflappable as she always is, but it's different than the usual banter when Cal and Lia are around. Her smile grows, lopsided ever so slightly , "I'm thankful it's you."

          𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗬 𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗜𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗢𝗙𝗧𝗘𝗡 𝙏𝙒𝙊 𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙉𝙂𝙎 that don't occupy his mindset. every day is a matter of earning eddies and another business success at survival, most of which sits in interest under his rusting network of checks and balances. a hangnail pulls too hard and deep, where raiden feels the grease of blood caught up between his fingers as consequence. he's indifferent, other than folding his hands now and hoping to wipe it away while she talks. “ good question. ” cybernetic eyes flicker past with the stretched bandwidth of regret ( maybe now he has doubts about coming here, though it's more towards putting his personal life in the crosshairs of conversation than her ). he's talking corpo junk right in front of six, who is arguably the only generous one he's ever met in this lifetime.

     the domino effect eventually slows and raiden tries to recover himself ▬ instead of giving in to what the psychosis takes in terms of memory, his character softens. a smile twitches in formation, almost half forced at first like rigor mortis - though he remembers how human expression works and eases into something more natural. “ does right now count? ” it sounds, well, genuine. to him, this visit was meant to be a small getaway from the daily burden of everything else… moving past that one burnt bridge, it still could be. he lets more spiked coffee singe down his throat with a much larger swig this time ( in hopes of the alcohol loosening his tongue, absolutely ). the icebreaker is an additional lifesaver.

Right now. That softens her. Shoulders droop slightly and her sharp gaze softens to ease from trying to peer too deep. "Then I better pull out all the hosting stops," she teases, but she had planned to already anyway. Her answer is similar, though she won't ever say that out loud. It's the sad fact that work away from their respective offices being the only way they can justify leisure time is so pathetic she could choke. It's only a bad look on her, though; selfishly, it soothes her to use helping him take a break that he more than deserves.

If she's pathetic, at least she's trying to be good, too. He's granted a moment of reprieve as she takes a sip of her own wine, eyes focused on the deep red that almost looks purple.

          𝗦𝗛𝗘'𝗦 𝗕𝗨𝗬𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗢 𝗜𝗧. 𝗩 𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗦 𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗥𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗥𝗔𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗦, right before it dies out in a wince when she realizes: shit hurts again. “ sounds like you got quite the roster. ” the miniscule pip of blood from a cut in her upper lip is drowned out by the cesspool of noise above and all around them, echoing ceaselessly from the tunnel nearby, even. the heart switches to a different tune in current when someone is this close to her directly. there's no physical walls between them at the moment, not the ones she usually puts up ▬ only mental walls. a whole lot of them.

     ava feels a second wave of oncoming satisfaction with glowing pride. it might have been a stretch, but she takes the guessgames on alcohol compatibility with people very seriously. there's love with a glass and finding which hand it fits. “ i take it you don't get a lotta people who read that right? ” a simper resounds in her tone, only reserved for people who are friends, or those she treats like one. of course, that's when the question runs a small hairline fracture in her well kept attitude. being from the streets, it's hard to just go and spill. people snitch, though they're less likely to go to the badges than a gang ( her track record with the ncpd has never been the greatest, with a botched grand theft auto and some other incidents around the board ). “ to be honest? maybe it's best you don't know all the details, doc. might make you an accessory. ” she emphasizes the might as a precautionary, though her tongue slips. “ maybe after a few shots, i'll tell ya. just need you to swear your right hand you'll abide by privacy laws, or whatever counts off the clock. ”

     the merc goes quiet, then. she has something stupid to say.

Pulse is fine - correlates with coming down from adrenaline. Lucid enough to continue conversation. Aside from the physical, tech diagnostics run clear. Dot hums, pleased with the results, "No, but then again, I hide it rather well." It's only martinis, always martinis, because the charade never stops. A drink that serves both the masculine and feminine, something to be taken as seriously as any cyberware in the cutthroat politics of corporate hell. Guard never down, because they can't hurt someone they don't know.

That being said, V makes a very fair point, but that only serves to make Dorothy curious. Benny always said her survival sense was lacking, but he was the sort of opportunist who failed to think things through effectively. In her own opinion, at least. She steels her expression, as if the dodging of her question has Dorothy detach from their conversation. It's a deadpan expression that serves her next sentence.

"Someone who's really hungry." Delivered with nothing but grave seriousness, deadpanned and direct, only revealing it to be her teasing back when she pauses her studying of the merc to catch her eye, and then Dorothy smiles. She breaks eye contact to reach into her purse for a small leather -- real leather -- case. A small first aid kit, because she's always prepared. They can't surprise you if you're always ready.

the burdened:

“  being alive is exhausting.  ”

“  i ruin everything i touch.  ”

“  no one ever helped me when i needed it.  so,  i just.  try to do my best to keep others from feeling that kind of loneliness.  ”

“  i feel like the pain is all i am anymore. ”

“  i wish i remembered anything other than loneliness.  ”

“  i’m not a particularly good person.  but sometimes i wish someone would think i am.  ”

“  i’m just always the one who gets left behind.  ”

“  i never seem to belong anywhere.  or to anyone.  ”  

“  i’m alone.  and it’s my own fault.  but it doesn’t make it hurt any less.  ”

“  i don’t know how to just live.  i constantly feel like i’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.  ”

“  i always expect people to hurt me.  because they usually do. ”

“  i don’t know how to let go of my trauma.  i don’t know what i am without it.   ”

“  it’s better if i’m alone.  i can’t hurt anyone if there’s no one close enough to get hit by the debris of my fuck ups.  ”

“  there are just too many people depending on me.  i can’t rest.  i can’t let them down.  ”

“  i don’t have anything or anyone left anymore.  ”

“  i’m not strong.  or brave.  i survive ‘cause there’s not really any other choice. ”

“  i tried to give up before.  but the universe just didn’t let me.  ”

“  i just want to be done.  i’m tired.  i’m so,  so fucking tired.  ”

“  i know it’s selfish.  but i wish someone would just take care of me.  ”

“  every time i start to feel like things are getting quieter and i can feel safe,  something bad always happens.  ”

“  i tend to love people more than they love me.  and it’s okay.  i don’t mind but…it can be lonely.  ”

“  i just don’t feel like my life makes any difference to anyone.  i’m just here.  ”

the comforter: 

“  hey,  look at me.  i’m listening.  you can tell me anything. ”

“   how can i help you feel less alone?  ”

“  i’m here and i’m not leaving or letting you change the subject.  now talk to me. ”

“  i know you feel like you’re alone and i’m not going to invalidate that.  but i can tell you that i’m here.  and i know there are people who want to care and help if you’ll let them.  ”

“  whatever it is you’re struggling with,  i want to help and it’s not going to make me look at you any different.  ”

“   i like having you around.  and not because of what you can do for me or give to me—  i like you.  i value you as a person.  ”

“   i just need you to know that you’ve never been ‘nobody’ to me.  you’ve never been nothing.  ”

“   you’re important to me.   you hear me?  you’re important.  and that’s never gonna change.   ”

“  i’m not going anywhere until you get some sleep.  ”

“  i want to take care of you.  please,  let me.  ”

“  no one is meant to be all alone.  that’s not how humans are built.  you don’t need to do all this on your own.   ”

“  you don’t deserve the bad things that happen to you.  you never did.  ”

“  i can’t promise you aren’t going to have any more hardship.  but i can promise i’m gonna be right here to get your through it. ”

“  you make a difference in my life.  i’m not just saying that.  it wouldn’t be the same without you here and i don’t want to find out what it’d be like to not have you around. ”

“  next time it gets this bad,  you call me okay?  now you just sit there and i’m gonna make you some tea and soup and we’re gonna talk this out. ”

“   is it getting bad again?  ”