I promised to elaborate what's up with Ivarr, my V, Dum and things in general, so here's a long and honestly kinda personal text below.
He's like a brother I never had. A brother from some unholy mother.
In my canon V and Ivarr would probably never make any connection since she, being head in the corpo clouds, never visited TTNTNZ or any other respectful MLSTRM establishment (why would she need a company of fucked up chrome addicted marginals?), and then I had to choose the bigger evil aka Royce to make sure DD and other boys survive. - My street-kid-V saw Brick and even tried to resque him, but he didn't make it through the Militech assault on All Foods. - My corpo-V never met Brick at all since she didn't bother to contact Meredith, just paid for the bot and deltad the fuck out the building trying to get her shit together after a quick chit-chat with a certain 7-eyed borg. Anyway, making an assumption those two had a chance to meet, I see Ivarr as a big brother figure for my V, a mentor and a guide to the occult side of the Maelstrom. At some point she started taking heavy drugs (which her borg-dealer kindly provided) trying to numb the pain after Jackie's death and then Johnny's departure with Alt. Suffering from PTSD, slowly losing your mind is scary shit, and her attempts to fill the gaping pitch-black void that her existence has become led her to seeking any sort of comfort and guidance she could get. She started visiting TTNTNZ every now and then, its brain-damaging sounds and throbbing red lights felt like home. Every metal soul in the building knew she's actually here for their second in command, not just booze and noise, but noone - except him - knew what was going on and what emotional disaster she's dealing with. Drowning her sorrows at the bar became a custom as well, and this is where she finally met Ivarr. He surely was there all the time, but she never noticed what lurks in the shadows, being too occupied with the creeping delirium. He already knew who she is, what she's capable of, and - more importantly - that she's trusted, so he showed her the insides of Maelstrom, all the dark hidden secrets and hell pits, all its rituals, horrors and blasphemies, all the blood and gore. She managed to fit in a new life balancing on the verge of sanity and become a sort of unholy Snow White among the 7 chrome dwarves. To everyone's macabre delight Royce respectfully acknowledged her as a tough bitch after the blood bath she unleashed at Arasaka Tower and she took her place in the hierarchy as an unofficial DD's right hand (more like a gray cardinal tho), a netrunner and, unexpectedly, a part-time "Sister of Charity", helping the newcomers to get through the initiation rituals in one piece and not to fall into psychosis as she almost did once. Their weird relations with Dum Dum grew stronger and deeper over the time - from dealer/client, to occasional fuckbuddies, to finally lovers and then biz partners, when Rogue handed over the reins of the Afterlife to V. The pet name Vicious that DD once gave her stayed and became official. She was a part of the family now.
❤️ @dreamskug ❤️
