[ John Irving had very patently, right off the bat, refused to deliver any suspicious packages given to him by suspicious parties to what he could only assume would be a proportionally suspicious location -- no doubt it's most likely something like drugs, or weapons, or maybe even a severed body part of some kind -- and would have likely mostly put the incident out of mind not long after if not for another LIER, a stranger, delivering him a package. Which--

Well, he debates a while on whether or not to actually open it, but finally curiosity gets the best of him, and he discovers within the box half a dozen containers of some kind of multi-colored sparkly powder -- which, okay, could be drugs, but he's enchanted enough by how the light catches on it to not simply drop the whole box in the snow and flee the scene -- and what looks to be a small bottle of cologne. Irving can't resist spritzing his wrists just to get the scent of it, then a little more just for the sheer indulgence of putting on cologne again for the first time in months; it tingles on his skin slightly, though not in a bad way, producing a sort of warm, simmering excitement which spark up in his chest and then travels lower, that he simply takes for the usual confidence a luxurious gift might inspire.

... After all, what else could it be? ]

[ The snow, over all, doesn't bother Irving, which may seem odd, but considering that he's come into Duplicity from being stranded in the Arctic for the past three years, he's found the weather here to be so much more pleasant in comparison to the point of being nearly... balmy, though not literally, of course: he's got on a scarf, gloves, and a cardigan jacket (the scarf and coat acquired here at this very winter market), but it still isn't really the sort of layering most people would be donning after a snowstorm.

If he's at all cold though he still isn't showing it, wandering around the outdoor market's various different stalls -- though avoiding any of the explicitly lewder ones, all of which he reacts to with the same alarmed, judgemental body language of putting a hand over his mouth -- and appearing to find the craft, soaps and lotions, candles, art, and food booths of particular interest. After the coat and scarf, he doesn't have money left for anything other than a bit of food, but all of the food looks decadent and delicious, so that's fine: Irving gets a hot chocolate, a sugar cookie, and a marshmallow snowman, the latter of which he nibbles on as he continues to walk and look around. ]

[ Or hit me with something else! Feel free to PM or hmu on plurk or discord ( kafkaesque#9039 ) if you'd like to discuss anything further.

Open to both m/f and m/m, but just note that it's complicated: Irving is a fairly devout (and occasionally preachy, mostly just when he's angry though rather than by default) Christian man and can be fairly rife with repression, internalized (but therefore also potentially externalized) homophobia, and compulsory heterosexuality. In short, gay but will definitely still be pursuing women for sexual encounters as his default. Will have a permissions post/opt-out up eventually, of course, but just in case anyone needs an explicit warning for this now!

I can't app him in until March at earliest but, as an FYI, since I also have him on the December TDM as well, I'm more than happy to carry over any CR from those threads into this TDM as well (aka, using the events from last TDM still as "canon" for this one too) for people who tagged him there that would like to do another thread, since in either case some handwaving wrt the timing of it all will be necessary for any threads kept as game canon by the time I can app. ❤️

Canon-point (for now) is mid-episode 7 while mutiny's still building up at Terror Camp, after the new lieutenant promotion but before he ██████████. ]