Kerry's been speaking to her for the past five minutes and V is honestly trying her best to pay attention to what he's saying but it's admittedly very hard to do so when the dead man in her head is sulking around in the foreground like a toddler.
"Fuck. V, come on, are you even listenin' to me right now?" Kerry finally addresses her level of distraction, making her cringe a little into the seat she's occupying across from him.
"I know, I'm tryin', I swear-"
"This is important shit I'm communicatin' to you here, V. Think I'm spillin' the detes on this album to any of the other gonk ass mercs runnin' around this city? No. 'Course I'm fuckin' not. You got somethin' better going on right now?"
"Cleared my entire fuckin' schedule for you, Eurodyne, so don't give me that shit. If your stupid dead choom would just let me concentrate..."
"Johnny? Well, what's he sayin'?" Kerry's sat up straighter now, out of the slouch he'd previously adopted.
"He's..." V doesn't know quite how to phrase it, especially now that both Kerry and Johnny are watching her expectantly. "Actin' out, I guess. Like a fuckin' child."
No, I'm fuckin' not. Johnny glitches to leaning over her, eyes narrowed behind his aviators.
"What, like a kiddie fit? Ha! Know exactly what you mean - fucker used to throw one every other gig back during the Samurai days - couldn't find any pills, couldn't find any pussy..."
Well, pussy's sure as hell not the problem now, is it, V? Johnny's not just leaning but leering now, non-corporeal head angled to try and block out Kerry from her line of sight. Could be pills, though. Feed that back to Kerry, would ya? Give him all the gory details of our morning fuck-fest, really make the guy blush.
V sighs because, really, what else can she do? Johnny's gotten himself worked up over something and she doesn't know what the fuck it could be. She waves him away and Kerry's eyes follow the motion with something close to fascination.
"Share with the class at least, if you're gonna sit there all slack-jawed and ignore everythin' I'm sayin' to ya. The fuck's the old bastard spewing that's got you lookin' so stern like that?"
Go on, V. Do it. Tell him it's not the pussy.
"Johnny would like me to tell you that he's sorry for being such a pain in the fuckin' ass all the time." V adopts the customer service voice she'd used for the hotel roleplay with Panam. Kerry arches a brow, mouth blown wide into an amused grin.
Real fuckin' mature, that. Nice. Only thing is there's no way Kerry actually believes you and he's too fuckin' nosey to drop it.
Kerry, to his credit, is just sat there watching her look at Johnny.
"Okay, fine. Silverhand's got piss poor communication skills and I'm the idiot payin' the price for it. He also wanted me to pass on somethin' vulgar about pussy 'n pills but for some reason I'm not in the mood to do Johnny any favours today, so..." V shrugs, trying to loosen some of the tension that's built up in her shoulders as she does so.
"You ever tried just... askin' 'im?" Kerry suggests lightly, scratching at the back of his neck. V stares at the rocker across from her dumbly, waiting for an elaboration that doesn't come. "I'm serious. Try it, see if my sage wisdom gets you anywhere."
V turns her attention to Johnny, quirking an eyebrow to silently enquire. He stares back at her for a moment as if in contemplation, cigarette going unsmoked in hand as he thinks.
Not a fan of the output plan, that's all. V frowns, uncomprehending for a second before it clicks - the memory being presented to her by Johnny in their shared mind - Kerry casually mentioning that he'll explain V's presence away by saying she's his new output. The memory as he shows it to her is tinged with some emotion she can't quite put her finger on but to her best estimation, V would say it feels possessive, slightly jealous.
Seriously, Johnny? She responds, not unkindly. V can understand better than she would have had they been two separate people but due to the ability they share of literally seeing things through each other's perspectives she supposes she's more able to sympathise with the bastard. You got yourself all worked up over that?
Didn't get myself worked up over shit. So, what - I'm the first guy in the world to not want his output bein' toted around town as someone else's? Bullshit. Doesn't matter that it's Kerry, I don't fuckin' like it. Happy? That enough communication for you, V?
Output? They'd never had an actual conversation about their relationship but V supposes that it's not exactly necessary to do so when you're aware of someone's every thought and feeling. Still, it's the first time either of them have broached the subject at all and V had never in her wildest dreams imagined that Johnny, out of the two of them, would be the first to put a label on whatever the thing between them was.
She doesn't really know what to say, watching Johnny pace slowly back and forwards in front of her with the same cigarette in his hand. She's trying to gift him the privacy of his own thoughts but it's difficult when he's so obviously dealing with the realisation of what he's just said. V glances over at Kerry, who's sparked up a smoke of his own, though from the smell of it he ain't smoking no tobacco. He meets her eye, uncharacteristically quiet in favour of letting things play out in another medium of communication. V knows full well he's going to expect a complete debrief afterwards, 'all the gory details', as Johnny had put it.
Johnny's still pacing, imaginary cigarette now down to the stub. He tosses it to the ground, not bothering to stamp it out when the danger of it burning Kerry's mansion to the foundations isn't real.
Hey, not gonna hold you to anythin', alright? She offers an olive branch, watching his face closely as he listens. If you wanna go there, I... that's... what I want too, Johnny. But, look - this is a really fucked up situation we're in, so I get it if you don't wanna complicate things - I mean... shit's already pretty complicated, but if... I just want you to know that if that was a slip of the tongue just now, you're off the hook for this one.
Johnny stares at her for a moment, 'ganic hand fidgeting with his metal one.
'Course it's what I want. You ever known me to say shit I don't mean, ever? You can tell Kerry too, if you need some sort of proof that I'm serious.
V watches him for a moment, trying to gauge the authenticity behinds his words, but finds nothing in his thoughts or feelings to suggest otherwise. She takes a breath, nodding a little to herself before she turns back to address Kerry.
"Johnny doe'n't like the output plan." She announces.
Kerry stares back at her, uncomprehending for a second before realisation dawns. "Oh, fuckin' really now? That so?" A predatory grin starts to spread across his features. "And why exactly is Johnny not a fan of the output plan?"
V glances at Johnny before continuing, as if to double-check that it's alright to do so, but finds him stood off to the side, focused on glaring at Kerry rather than looking in her direction. "Because, uh..." How the fuck does she say this without sounding like a maniac? "I'm his output?" It ends up sounding more like a question than a statement and both Johnny and Kerry turn to raise an eyebrow as she says it.
Tell it like it is, V. He'll drag this shit out as much as he can otherwise. Johnny advises, new cigarette ready to go as he goes through the motions of lighting it.
"Pardon me, but I didn't quite catch that - come again? You're who's what?" Kerry prompts, true to Johnny's prediction.
"We're together, alright? We fuck all the time, whenever and wherever we can - that's right - we wanted to fuck so bad in the first place that we went and figured out a way to do it! I think I might fuckin' love him and because we're linked mindy, body and soul I know he feels the same about me! You happy now, Kerry? I look like a fuckin' moron because you're a nosey little bitch! I can't believe I'm still fuckin' going with this!"
There's a brief lull where nobody says anything but everybody stares at V.
Well, fuck. Johnny remarks, smartly.
"Well... fuck." Kerry echoes, unwittingly. "Look, I didn't... I didn't know it was as fuckin' serious as all that, choom. I'm sorry. Wouldn't'a gone in on you as much if I knew it was serious shit, you know?" He looks a tad uncomfortable now, but not enough to stop smoking his joint. Instead, he just passes it to her, evidently figuring she could use it right now.
V takes a drag on it, hoping she can somehow communicate her gratefulness in the silence that follows. "I know, Ker. It's alright - 'm not upset, not really - it's hard to be reasonable all the time when you've got another person inside your fuckin' head." She takes another longer drag before handing Kerry's joint back.
Johnny raises his cigarette like he's raising a glass to say 'cheers to that' and V returns the gesture with her actual glass, knocking it back afterwards to take the edge off of the evening. Johnny glitches from her periphery to perch on the arm of the couch she's sat on, and leans over to press a kiss to her temple that feels like a pleasant buzz of electricity more than anything substantial - but all the same she loves it - can feel the shared warmth that builds in both of their chests as they look at each other.
They both know what it is, but neither are quite ready to face it.
AN: aka local hologram is jealous again