#☠ ― i don’t push the envelope ; i shred it. 「 IC ; INTERACTION 」

[octaane]

and octane? he's not exactly brand friendly. unless one's product included lethal doses of questionable uppers, propane or glorified voluntary amputations, the list goes on. but he liked things this way, never enjoyed playing by the rules of capitalist ideals advertisers chased.

even if he liked to indulge in materialism himself more often than he'd like to admit.

and yet, octane was still a FAN-FAVORITE. being popular among the crowd was enough for sponsors to pay you for flashing their logo somewhere on your equipment. unfortunately, one of the many downsides were events like THESE.

octavio is a people-person through and through. often very tone-deaf and boisterous, but he genuinely enjoyed talking to people, without realizing how off-putting he might be. he'd prefer to do it in something more practical instead of a fitted suit with sleek, stylish prosthetics designed specifically for these types of events, but usually nothing worth ruining an impractical suit over happened at these events anyway. USUALLY.

were it not for the bright color of natalie's shirt, the daredevil wouldn't have noticed her across the room, looking at him with those pleading, blue eyes of hers.

octavio suddenly stopped talking mid-conversation with one of the guests, his fickle attention focused entirely on his fellow competitor-- without excusing himself, he marched through the crowd, decisively staying on his path of desire even if he had to push people out of the way as he went.

they'd be smarter not to stand in the way of a very DETERMINED octane.

" heey, amiga, what's up? i've been missing you at the snack bar. these guys are serving up KILLER summer rolls, you'd love 'em. "

octavio's arm suddenly wrapped around natalie's shoulders, pulling her in close and already dragging her along, away from whoever octane couldn't be bothered to pay attention to had they been talking to natalie. arrogance was octavio's third middle name, so he didn't even acknowledge the other man speaking to wattson, not even the bewildered ' excuse me? ' that sounded from him in response to octane literally taking wattson away.

as kind as the gesture was in its timing-- octavio actually hadn't caught on to his friend's dire situation. through pure chance, he ended up saving her from the dryest conversation in natalie's life.

PLANNED STARTER

@octaane​

      Wattson did fairly well with sponsors as she was quite brand friendly. She had no violent or mysterious past, nor any association with drugs and alcohol. She was a beacon of intellect and most businesses marketing team could work with that. But despite Natalie seemingly being a decent fit for this kind of publicity, she, personally, did not always handle it well. Conversing with strangers could be incredibly taxing when you struggle with social cues with your friends, let alone people you just met. And one had to put on a friendly face for the sponsors as well; it was fun, but it was certainly a job.       Currently, Natalie stood in a baby blue cocktail dress, one that resembled a tutu, playing up her adorable charm. Across from her was a man in a clean suit, talking quite consistently while the engineer simply nodded. The longer it went on, the more Natalie’s smile strained, and eventually, her eyes were flicking away, looking to the crowd around the hall when she could.       Eventually, her eyes found a familiar face; Octavio. She flashed him a pleading look before she was forced to glance back to her guest with a polite smile. It was clear she was being held verbally hostage and needed someone to give her an excuse to leave the conversation.

[octaane]

random sillay starter for @simulamortem​​

it was quiet throughout the arena. too quiet.

but with octane in the ring, the silence was doomed to be broken. behind the simulacrum's head, an echoing scream was approaching, getting closer and closer.

" INCOMING! ", the daredevil announced himself as he was flying through the air-- and then came crashing down onto revenant from behind, metal feet first as they collided with his back plates.

[octaane]

BANGALORE ( @afraidofchange​​​ ) said :  “ what’s the biggest difference between a christian man and a lesbian? ”

" ¿qué? " octane perked up, and the way his head tilted already spoke a thousand words even with his full gear on his face. he looked PUZZLED, a little out of it, too-- he wanted to ask anita to repeat what she just said, thinking there's no way sargeant herself just cracked a joke the daredevil's way. but at the same time, he might SPOIL the moment in case he did ask her to, so for now he would just play along.

he chuckled, then cleared his throat and straightened his back so he could grace anita with ALL of his fickle attention. gloved hands were propped up on his hips, his shoulders relaxed and chest pushed out to appear more confident.

" i dunno, sarge, one stands to pee? "

[octaane]

WATTSON ( @voltaage​ ) said :  “ i have a lot of anxiety being back with all these people. ”

a chuckle erupted from behind the hardshell mask octavio wore at pretty much all times, ultimately muffling the sound. he put an arm around natalie's shoulders, squeezing her as he motioned towards the crowd of other legends gathered just a few feet away. " aw, but they're all your pals! right, chica? "

despite the positive attitude, he couldn't blame her for being nervous after all; returning after a few weeks of being off-season even took THE octane some getting used to. usually his thrill and excitement outweighed any worries he might have, though.

seeing how his attempt at making everything seem less stressful to poor wattson wasn't bearing any fruit, he loosened his grip, and instead turned her away from looking at the pile of people, with octane still invading her space. he's never had a real sense of privacy.

" or got something on your mind? bad blood gettin' to ya? don't worry, i'm like 90% sure it's all just publicity. ¡no sería la primera vez! "

[octaane]

REVENANT ​:

The speedster appeared to very intentionally sit back, maybe in an attempt to ease his NERVES. Revenant’s staring for him didn’t waver.

Not even at the question that was posed next.

“Feel plenty of things now,” the sim argued. “WARM BLOOD running between my fingers after stabbing a skinbag through the heart.” Lifting a hand and flexing long, metal digits at the memory. “The way someone’s breath stutters in their windpipe when I crush their throat in my hand.” His optics seemed to glow BRIGHTER at just the thought.

He stared a moment longer as Octane went on, but finally looked away, though not to the TV. Rare that the simulacrum didn’t have an immediately HOSTILE reaction to any suggestion of his former, fleshier self. “… That’s different.” Revenant said plainly. Made his tone hard to read. Of course his face was even harder to read.

Hundreds of years of living a lie, of being made into a product for someone else’s benefit. Hundreds of his own DEATHS. He wasn’t the same person now, no. NO ONE WOULD BE.

He looked to the other Legend again. “You’ve got nothing to lose but all that meat WEIGHING YOU DOWN,” the sim seemed to promise. “Flesh and blood you’ll lose sooner or later anyway.” ONE WAY, OR ANOTHER.

sheesh, YIKES, okay. that was awfully specific.

octane didn't mind the blood and guts, he figured they were part of the game, part of the entertainment-- but once it came to that outside of the matches, that's where the daredevil would back down on the gore intensity. not when it came to damaging HIMSELF, mind you; if anything, losing another limb in a sick stunt would be amazing for his views, but not if he forced it. killing other people, however? OUTSIDE the ring? that's not octane's intention. it was only a matter of time until he'd realize revenant wasn't saying the things he said for show, either-- he WOULD kill. he was just held back and kept busy, for now.

he was surprised to get a relatively calm response out of the simulacrum at his... riskier question. octane was glad, though-- last thing he needed was that blade-arm of revenant pointed at his throat for even mentioning it. but even if he got lucky this time, he wasn't going to PRY, which was a surprisingly smart move for the speedster to make.

again, he thinks for a moment. with a low hum, he drums his fingers against his thigh, head tilting to the side-- TOWARD revenant. he had no problem being physically close to the other, after overcoming that initial little scare of having his maw in his face like that.

" y'know, you're RIGHT. "

a small, content smile forms on the daredevil's face as he gently knocks two fingers against the simulacrum's chestplate.

" next time i rip something off, i'll just ask for replacements AGAIN. that way the change won't be so drastic. "

yeah, this was a good idea. probably not entirely what revenant wanted to hear, but octane didn't know that. he didn't even realize the other's attempt at manipulating him-- which was a half successful attempt, mind you, without putting too much effort into it.

[octaane]

MIRAGE ( @illusionage​ ) sent : [ entwine ] 🥺🥺😵‍💫

sometimes, it was like elliott could read octavio's thoughts; he'd be able to tell he was frustrated without octavio even saying anything, let alone having an outburst or something of the like. when he thought about how well the trickster had gotten at that, it FREAKED octavio out a little bit.

that's why he didn't think about it at all.

still, it was something hard to ignore when octavio was staring at his flatscreen, angrily gripping his controller as he was trying to destress with his favorite game. he wasn't very successful though and DIED over and over again. so octavio had to press pause to recollect himself, tossing the controller aside before he slumped back against the couch he was sitting in front of, with elliott sitting huddled on top, hugging a bowl of popcorn and clearly eyeing octavio dealing with his internal struggles.

elliott must've felt bad, because when the daredevil covered his goggles with his palms and sighed, he felt another hand slowly slipping between, before its fingers curled around octavio's, giving his own hand a light squeeze. this pulled him from his thoughts to direct his attention towards elliott instead, who leaned forward a little bit, greeting his fellow legend with that charming, CONTAGIOUS smile of his.

octavio couldn't help but feel reenergized, as he returned the gentle squeeze and grinned back at elliott. he'll just push his worries aside for now, no reason to dump it all on elliott right now-- even if that might've been exactly what the trickster wanted to coax out of the daredevil in the first place.

" what're you smiling about, amigo? think it's so funny to watch me DIE over 'n over again? "

[octaane]

continued from here   |   MIRAGE ( @holographic-confidence )

a throaty cackle escaped octavio as he continued to hold the stim to his arm, waiting as its contents pushed into his system, his veins giving off a brief, green glow before he pulled the syringe off and tossed it into the nearest trash can ( ajay told him multiple times he can't keep littering places with his empty stims, mostly as a danger to people who could step on them and get hurt by the glass splinters ). this was the PARADISE LOUNGE-- even octane knew he probably shouldn't leave his stuff lying around in his friend's bar.

" it ain't so bad! but i'm used to it, so. "

what he should be saying is that he's an addict and has special dialysers filtering his blood so he could handle the effects of his stim a lot better than anybody else who would want to take it recreationally. but will he say it like that? hell no. he'd love to share the RUSH it gave him with someone he cares about. as a friend, of course.

octavio was quick to pull another syringe from his pocket, as he approached mirage and grabbed his arm. he hesitated, looking at the other through his goggles. not that he was worried or anything-- mirage would be fine, he's sure of it. he just doesn't want him to CHICKEN OUT last minute.

" you're fine. it's an upper-- won't just deflate your muscles like that, chico! "

he chuckles again, before his gaze went back to look at the other's arm. he felt for a vein with his pointer finger, pushing around on tanned, scarred skin until he found one suitable enough. then, without hesitation, the pushed the needle into his fellow legend's arm, and the glowing, green liquid inside started seeping into the other's vein by itself.

octavio could just let go of elliott's arm, but he decided to hold onto him and the stim just a little bit longer, in case he'd have a weird, over-the-top reaction.

" how do ya feel, amigo? "

[octaane]

continued  from  here   |   MIRAGE ( @illusionage​ )

octane wasn't the type for fancy gatherings of any kind. never had been.

when the ches and silvas hosted some gala event for something little octavio didn't care about, he'd be the first to get into some form of trouble-- and drag ajay along with him. he'd be distracting or just plainly rude and misbehaved, and up until the point where he pretty much cut ( most ) ties with his father, he'd been LUCKY. guests either considered him endearing, had the patience of a saint or his father pulled him back by the ear, snapping at him quietly to stay in his lane. eduardo had been lucky too, because nobody actually saw how he treated octavio when he slipped up. but that's another can of worms the daredevil would never voluntarily get into unless confronted.

for now, he just wanted to HIDE. just for a moment, to not have the limelight on HIMSELF for now while he was dressed like that. he felt like canned tuna, unable to properly move in the suit that fit him too well with fabric that felt like the opposite of STRETCHY. even if he'd at least made sure his metal legs weren't covered up, he still had to wear the pair that looked more sleek ( and was LESS aerodynamic, much to his dismay ) for events like these. his actual in-game running legs made too much noise, didn't look flawless enough with some metal chipped off in some areas.

all in all, no matter how much octavio tried to make wearing this more comfortable for himself, he hardly succeeded. but it was nice to see elliott look at him like that, like he didn't have the heir of the silva pharmaceuticals empire in front of himself, but just octavio instead.

" gracias. ",

the daredevil responded, even if the word come out as pretty dry. he went up to mirage, looking him over with a tilt of his head. he couldn't help the smile on his face, either; elliott's own was INFECTIOUS.

" you don't look bad yourself, but i'm pretty sure you already know that. ",

octane added with a low chuckle following as he pretended to wipe something off of elliott's vest; but he honestly looked pretty perfect, there really wasn't anything octavio could fix.

" you ready to head out there, amigo? "

[octaane]

MIRAGE :

     “ wh - making you want to win less? “ mirage glances around him, as if purposefully avoiding octane’s eyesight. he opens his mouth, closes it, opens it again - closes it again. he likes to think that he’s a good teammate, someone mobile with a clever trick hidden underneath his sleeve. sure, some of the legends have learned how to tell a decoy apart from the real thing, but he’s constantly working away at them, and - well. there’s been several instances where he gets a bamboozle in, and he’s proud of it. he’s a decent shot, too, so… he’s not that bad of a teammate! sheesh.

     yeah, he’s just gonna… write it off as octane having a bad mood because of the entire… losing his eye, not because mirage is a bad teammate. ideally that’s why he’s saying that. not the other way around. hopefully. yeah, big on the hopefully.

     mirage watches him go, not necessarily stumbling but a distinct clumsiness to the way he walks. figuring out how to do things, and half of him thinks that he should probably help him. again, he needs him on his a-game, so… octane’d appreciate that, right?

    “ your legs are - “ oooookay. maybe some of the blood got to his head? but sure, he won’t question it. after so long of being on the end of lifeline’s care, he’s learned better than to doubt the doctor. or in this case, the patient. ( it’s not necessarily the same thing, but it works in his head. ) “ okay! got it. got it. “

     he moves to octane’s side, notably keeping on the side with his functioning eye. he fires a decoy off to the left once they move out of the building just to ensure that nothing… y’know. surprises them. then, he clears his throat. “ do you, uh - need anything more? shield cells and stuff? just to… be prepared. ammo? “

once outside, octane takes in a deep breath; the air smells like ashes and gunpowder, with the distant sounds of shots being fired echoing between the walls of the slightly too perfect, tall buildings surrounding them. it was bright-- a little too bright, maybe. but what else would you expect from a city in the sky?

he peers over at mirage with a side-eye, before looking forward again. the speedster stops to jog on the spot, as he listened to what mirage had to say. he almost groaned when he heard that worried undertone in mirage's voice again-- but held himself back.

instead, he put on a smile-- even if the tricksters wouldn't be able to see it, octane knows some people could hear it when other people were smiling when they talked, and in a way, octane tried to keep his own spirits as high as possible.

" i'm fine, amigo! shields're all powered up and i've got enough shots. "

at… least he hoped the latter was the case. just to be sure, octane checked a bag on his belt again to see if he really did have enough ammo. it looked like he was fine for now, but he couldn't really tell.

eh, if things went south, he still had his knife.

with a shrug, octane pulled his hand back up again to reassume its original position when he jogged. he only stopped briefly to stretch his arms and legs, before jogging on the spot again.

octane nodded towards the direction to their right; if they followed the street, they'd be headed to olympus' estates.

" we should check out here. think the ring's gonna close in on there. ¡adelante! "

he gave elliott an encouraging pat on his arm, before octane turned on his heel and already jogged off. he wasn't sprinting as he usually would, as he still had to adjust to his new sight. the daredevil seemed strangely careful now in comparison to his normal behavior.

[octaane]

VERA ( @streetknown​ )   |   cont.

surprisingly enough, octavio wasn't a HUGE fan of lethal violence towards others. himself, as long as it was self-inflicted and the cameras were rolling? no big deal to the stuntman. but be out actively to hurt someone else, let alone kill them, that was something he'd never get used to on night city's STREETS, he imagines.

huffing out a breath of air, he brings up his hands to feel for his optics; his HUD already told him there was major damage that needed attention, but octavio just didn't know WHERE it was. that is, until he realized he was able to pry almost half of his optics off of his skin with a thumb alone, revealing flesh and blood below, followed by a searing pain in the sockes where his eyes used to be. the daredevil hissed in a sharp breath, then pressed that metal part of his optics back onto his face. okay, maybe this was worse than expected.

through what little he could see through the emergency messages on his hud, he reached for vera's arm, squeezing it. there was a slight panic in his body language, but he still seemed unnaturally calm for someone in his situation.

" v-- i need a ripper. REAL BAD. "

[octaane]

OCTANE ( @blewmylegsoff​ ) said :  “ are you... me? “

" woah! CRAZY coincidence, amigo! "

after looking at his duplicate from head to toe, octane put his hands on his hips, chest pushed out. he LIKED what he saw.

" you ain't me from the past-- right? this ain’t like those cheesy christmas movies? "

[octaane]

MIRAGE ( @illusionage​ ) said :   “ i can’t talk about it. ”

octavio opens his mouth... and then it immediately falls shut again. he has no idea how to go about this. he's the last person anybody should go to to talk about their feelings-- well, not like MIRAGE went to him in the first place. it was a pretty unfortunate chain of events; octavio didn't notice any of the hints elliott was dropping, pushed further, asked TOO MANY QUESTIONS... and now they're here. awkwardly sitting together in the dropship on their way to talos.

the stuntman's gaze wanders to the ground, empty, glowing goggles fixating the floor of the ship. he wasn't sure what to say... wasn't even sure whether he should say ANYTHING after mirage blocked him off like that. at least he got the hint now, more or less; it made him hesitate, but his curiosity got the better of him once again, and he wouldn’t stop prying after all.

" why not? ",

octavio still asks, completely unaware of the seriousness of the situation, of elliott's very own words.

" it's your MA. she's fine, right? thought you liked talking about her is all. "

[octaane]

KERRY EURODYNE :

“yes, i’m sure. i don’t wanna watch a video of you hurtin’ yourself. i lied about watchin’ the one with your legs anyway.”

kerry rounds around to the living room and lowers himself in his favored spot. on the coffee table a can of nicola blue sits open, and kerry scoops it back up again and takes a short sip from it. octavio’s disregard for himself and his own safety is frustrating. kerry doesn’t know how many times he’s tried to sit octavio down and talk to him about it, try to nudge him towards… a little more caution, a little less carelessness. kerry doesn’t think octavio has ever stopped to think about the impact he has on others.

he worries he’ll end up doing worse than hurting himself some day. 

“and me not wantin’ to watch the video means i don’t wanna hear it, either.” kerry adds at the third loop around.

octavio invites himself to flop down on the couch on the other side of the coffee table, legs streched away from his body as he made himself comfortable. his foot would bounce up and down for a while, the gentle whirring of his metallic joints filling the room as he kept replaying that video.

he didn't really process what kerry said until a minute later or so; and that's when octavio stopped the video and looked up. his optics fixated kerry, his mouth open but turned into a slight FROWN. so he never actually saw his holovids and the stunts he pulled off?

" oh, really? ",

the daredevil asked hesitantly, as his fingers start picking at the damaged phone case in his hands. he tried to not let the hurt show-- but it was HARD. after all, these ridiculously dangerous online and live stunts he pulled were octavio's great passion.

he didn't think kerry cared so little for it, and he couldn't UNDERSTAND why.

[octaane]

RIPTIDE ( @therippingtides​ ) said :   " thanks to all the hanging out we do, now my friends think we're dating or something. i don't know if that makes me want to hang out less or hang out more. "

octavio chuckled, his shoulders jolting with each breath of laughter he exhaled that barely escaped his restrictive mask. he reached out a hand to give ray a light shove, not enough to push him but definitely enough for him to have to regain his balance a little bit-- as if the speedster tried to make him snap out of something.

" you think too much, compadre! that brain of yours ALWAYS workin' so hard? ",

he joked, but now that he was closer to ray than before, he used that same arm that shoved the other to nudge him with his elbow, octavio's head tilting forward far enough so his eyes would be more noticable through his goggles.

" 'nd besides, WHO CARES? no me importaría. "

[octaane]

MEDKAT ( @medkxt​ ) sent :   [ rest ] uwu

often enough, the rides from the campus provided by the syndicate to the games’ participants to the different arenas all across the outlands were incredibly long. it's why everyone had their own little section on the dropship, a space where they could kill some time until the announcer's voice would echo throughout the ship and tell the legends where they'd be landing soon.

for once, octane wasn't in his own little room, however-- otherwise he wouldn't be in this PREDICAMENT he'd gotten himself into now. after deciding to chill on the sofa in the common area and tap around on his phone, medkat soon joined and they struck up a conversation. it was just casual smalltalk, nothing deep, so it came to no surprise to the speedster to see katherine so sleepy and bored after a while.

still only paying attention to her halfway, while his eyes were still mostly fixated on his phone, octane patted his lap as a gesture for her to come lie down for a bit.

" c'mon, chica. if you need a power nap before the match, go for it. just watch the joints, yeah? ",

octane offered, his tone turning into a light chuckle at the end of his sentence. medkat obviously didn't need to be told twice, as she already curled up by the daredevil's side and nestled her head on top of his thigh. from the corner of his eyes, he looked down at her, and the small smile on the daredevil's lips grew.

satisfied with his generous offer, he leaned back into the backrest of the sofa to go back to scrolling through his phone. it only took him a couple of seconds to realize he wouldn’t be able to MOVE anymore, now that he had someone snuggled up against him. he froze, then looked up from his phone, mouthing a quiet ‘ mierda ‘ behind his mask in defeat. but in all honesty? he couldn’t be TOO MAD about this.

[octaane]

MEDKAT ( @medkxt​ ) said :   “ damn, I think there’s something wrong with my delivery app. i‘m pressing ‘best places to eat out’ and it keeps recommending me your location. weird. ”

" ¿de verdad? SUPER weird, dude. lemme see. "

naive as octavio was, he leaned over, standing on his tiptoes as he tried to look at katherine's phone. that she was hitting on him completely went over the daredevil's head.

" i've got some chinese takeout leftovers if that's what'cha want. i mean, your app's tellin' you my place is AWESOME already, so? "