DRIPPIESFM

There's a ghost of a smile flashing over his experience at the coached insult. Interesting certainly summed it up and the man almost seems personally insulted on his behalf. Fix it for you. Finally his hands still, pinching the button and fabric. It was something he'd never considered as far as his options went. The thought of a repair would mean it leaving his skin for some time, and that thought alone terrified him more than any sort of pain or discomfort.

dario, if nothing else but principled in the art of metal bending, would have let bygones be bygones, but the structure and lack of care motivated him to act. the collar leaving marks on the skin never occurred to dario, though if the dragonborn were to gift another freedom, it could have been through breaking those boundaries. but dario offered help as simply as a common man might. recoiling at the idea of a tit-for-tat, he thought, what makes you think i would charge for such a horrendous job? the dragon could emphasize a need for advertisement or a deluge of esteem, but neither were the true cause.

"yeah" ⸺ he takes a couple of steps back to give them their much needed space. he didn't want to force it down anyone's throat, not intentionally, but it was a situation of life or death. he didn't know how much longer gabs had without her fancy sprinkled coffee cups and her 35 dollar entrees. he just wanted her home, honestly. "she's been missing for a couple of days. her name is gabs ⸺ i mean" he realizes he'd never fully government named her. her name saved in his phone and in his heart was going to be babe, forever and always. "gabrielle ryu. her family is offering a reward and we really want her to come home."

"Alright, maybe I deserved that low blow," she said. "It still doesn't answer my questions, Skete." Jolene crossed her arms, her voice soft despite it all. "If you wanted, you could sleep on my couch for the next calendar year," she said. "That's the only support I'm qualified to give you. Finding a soul? What's your grand plan for accomplishing that one, Skete? My only skills are in being a human shield or serial organ donor."

"that's literally all i need from you." he presses his hands together, like the spongebob boi emoji. "i just need you to stay with me, don't die, and give it all you can." that was the plan. that was how they were going to deadpool and wolverine it. work together, maybe halfway kill each other in a honda odyssey and save the end of skeeter's world. "you can kick a lot more ass than i can, so you're going to be the muscle in your little strawberry helmet, and i'm going to try and listen to the heart of the cards with it. just have a little faith okay?"

"because it's my duty as a friend to keep others from bad mouthing you." it was a simple answer, one he was ready to explain in its full capacity. "friends don't let other friends talk bad about each other." not to say he was ready to start fights with others. skeeter was the absolute worst when it came to physical combat. in fact he was much of a dead fish when it came to the action. he wasn't quick, he wasn't a strategist and he wasn't skilled at any on singular move set. he could get his ass kicked for hours on end, talk his shit, and still have more to say. that was his super power, and if it meant talking shit about how fins was the better person than whoever had the balls to say fins was stupid... well, that's what skeeter would do. friends get their asses kicked for other friends, don't they?

a twitch of the eyebrow. dario has to run the words twice in his mind. the second time a grin spreads wide as the words are pressed against braincells and membranes. villainous titters and cackles erupt at the joke they've made. "do you?" then a bite of the lower lip tames those crows. "i could show you what kind of bike I have if you're down for a ride."

he wasn't anywhere close to finishing. the glob of ichor only fuels more of that aggression housed within those scorching dragon-like veins. the sight of that sticky sap creates a sting within for more and ezra plighted for more, and more he would get ⸺ a quick jab in the ribs pierces through bone as the copious amounts of metal rings upon his fingers connect with the cartilage and sinew. then another- on the opposite side before releasing ezra to sink in their festering puddles of black pus. "where. is. the. bike?" dario asks once more before driving the tip of their boots into the stomach of the other.

"not quite." his chuckles take on a darker note, something dissonant and likely trumpeted by the black keys of a piano. "dust, and not... mold?" his pride boasts the pompously as the cat is let out of the bag. "specifically bronchopulmonary aspergillosis...?"

the flattery obviously goes a long way... but axel tries to hide his proud little raccoon grins. there were too many teeth in his mouth⸺ it was easy to look like he was barring his teeth or snarling in indifference. tiny paws press against each other in prayer form as he continues to contemplate the idea. "so you're building an army? so long as you're not buttering me up for failure." but the more axel thinks about it the more it sounds promising. "so what kind of plan are we talking about?"

"so we're thinking naked mole rat type?" relatively easy to befriend. someone lurking in the shadows and not expecting to fight their way into the light. someone like him when he was smaller... before the world had changed him into the one of the most callous pieces of shit there was in the world.