The needle in the vein of the establishment
- Eddies
- 130
* Thwack *
The old, cracked synthleather collided with his jaw,
* thud *
His ass hit the mats, he could taste a bit of blood in his mouth. How anyone enjoyed this he couldn't quite get. Maybe it helped having metal arms. He looked up at the smirking victorious Angel, looking as though she didn't always put him on his behind when they boxed. She was so much smaller than him, and yet those arms made her punch like a grown man. She was a fighter, in many ways. Her knowledge of Night City's beloved sport was something that had brought people to her shop in the first place. That, and the safe haven it provided for Heywood boys and their appetite for illegal car mods. It had been almost two years that the Valentino's had been coming to her place with their hot rods and their boxing gloves. Jimmy had just been a tag along then, now he was a frequent sight, especially in the off hours when it was just the two friends hanging out.
"You're gonna knock a tooth out one of these days." he jested, though he rubbed his jaw in a genuinely pained manner. He stood and peeled the boxing gloves off, dropping them back onto the mat for the next sucker who'd fall for the "frail little girl" act and get his nose broken. As he unraveled his hand wraps he looked at her, the sweat dripping down around those big brown eyes.
She had become... something more than a friend, in the last little while. As far as Jimmy knew, though, it was just a situation. It always was. Heywood lifestyle didn't allow for much more, death always on the move, his abeula used to say. She had been the most recent that it had caught up with, and Adelaide's ability to seemingly shrug it off as it tried to claim her at every turn, for her whole life, was something that Jimmy had come to admire. Of course, on the flip side, Jimmy kicked himself for getting involved with a walking dead woman. It was hard enough to keep his Valentino chooms alive even when they weren't seemingly fated to die like Angel was.
Yet, the two had become entwined, maybe through their shared trauma, and certainly through their shared use of drugs to numb it away. Her pain was more physical, Jimmy's was... well he liked to call it spiritual, but it was his emotions he ran from. And like Heywood orphans did, they found community together. She wasn't a Valentino, but she was treated like one all the same when the gangers came to work on their cars and get her advice. When the two were bored, or spaced out enough, well... it had turned into a situation alright.
"So... uh, you been working lately?" He asked nervously. They were well beyond small-talk, so he wondered if she would pick up what he was putting down, but he couldn't just ask her outright. He could just admit that the other night, as he snuck out of her room back to his megabuilding, that he'd seen what she'd accidently left open on her computer. A message, about a gig, hitting corps. He thought he'd recognized the sender: Daiya. If she was who he though she was, he'd seen her around, and heard even worse, though he'd never spoken to her. He thought at first it was bad news, especially if she'd fallen in with edgerunners to pay her medical bills. But then it had gotten him thinking, about how her new friends could very well be the kind of people he was looking for, now that he'd sort of parted ways with the 'Tinos. Part of him wanted to make sure she was okay, yet part of him desperately wanted to know more, and he had no fucking clue how to broach the subject...
@Angel
The old, cracked synthleather collided with his jaw,
* thud *
His ass hit the mats, he could taste a bit of blood in his mouth. How anyone enjoyed this he couldn't quite get. Maybe it helped having metal arms. He looked up at the smirking victorious Angel, looking as though she didn't always put him on his behind when they boxed. She was so much smaller than him, and yet those arms made her punch like a grown man. She was a fighter, in many ways. Her knowledge of Night City's beloved sport was something that had brought people to her shop in the first place. That, and the safe haven it provided for Heywood boys and their appetite for illegal car mods. It had been almost two years that the Valentino's had been coming to her place with their hot rods and their boxing gloves. Jimmy had just been a tag along then, now he was a frequent sight, especially in the off hours when it was just the two friends hanging out.
"You're gonna knock a tooth out one of these days." he jested, though he rubbed his jaw in a genuinely pained manner. He stood and peeled the boxing gloves off, dropping them back onto the mat for the next sucker who'd fall for the "frail little girl" act and get his nose broken. As he unraveled his hand wraps he looked at her, the sweat dripping down around those big brown eyes.
She had become... something more than a friend, in the last little while. As far as Jimmy knew, though, it was just a situation. It always was. Heywood lifestyle didn't allow for much more, death always on the move, his abeula used to say. She had been the most recent that it had caught up with, and Adelaide's ability to seemingly shrug it off as it tried to claim her at every turn, for her whole life, was something that Jimmy had come to admire. Of course, on the flip side, Jimmy kicked himself for getting involved with a walking dead woman. It was hard enough to keep his Valentino chooms alive even when they weren't seemingly fated to die like Angel was.
Yet, the two had become entwined, maybe through their shared trauma, and certainly through their shared use of drugs to numb it away. Her pain was more physical, Jimmy's was... well he liked to call it spiritual, but it was his emotions he ran from. And like Heywood orphans did, they found community together. She wasn't a Valentino, but she was treated like one all the same when the gangers came to work on their cars and get her advice. When the two were bored, or spaced out enough, well... it had turned into a situation alright.
"So... uh, you been working lately?" He asked nervously. They were well beyond small-talk, so he wondered if she would pick up what he was putting down, but he couldn't just ask her outright. He could just admit that the other night, as he snuck out of her room back to his megabuilding, that he'd seen what she'd accidently left open on her computer. A message, about a gig, hitting corps. He thought he'd recognized the sender: Daiya. If she was who he though she was, he'd seen her around, and heard even worse, though he'd never spoken to her. He thought at first it was bad news, especially if she'd fallen in with edgerunners to pay her medical bills. But then it had gotten him thinking, about how her new friends could very well be the kind of people he was looking for, now that he'd sort of parted ways with the 'Tinos. Part of him wanted to make sure she was okay, yet part of him desperately wanted to know more, and he had no fucking clue how to broach the subject...
@Angel
