[the kiss and rio's behavior makes him snort, genuine fond amusement trickling through his chest and into pal's.] I don't trust your record with toys, given the haunted doll situation. How excellent I managed to return before you had Rio chewing on something cursed.

[rio trills softly, sleepy now after her incredibly stressful day of being pampered by pal. viktor's purple hand runs over her back, and when pal asks he doesn't hesitate to lift it for pal to take.

there's absolutely no concern in him that pal would find it unpleasant, the man was a catch who only ever seemed fascinated by whatever made up viktor at the moment. he is concerned about the story behind it, though in a resigned way. the hand itself is an odd mix of seemingly organic material and bits of brass like metal, slivers of light like veins. colder than skin, and some new magic rune looking shit carved into his normal skin farther up.

this is definitely what a scientist does and is not unhinged, so it's fine.] It feels similar, though it does not respond to stimuli in a manner that is easy to put to words. Stronger, certainly, resistant to damage. I haven't had the chance to experiment much on the matter. [he resists mentioning something casually dire like he'll amputate it if it shows signs of spreading, because there's enough bullshit to work through right now.]