TRP: Goro, Hansel, and Sam (Cursed Thunder)

[Setting: Day 373?. The underbelly of a pirate ship.]

After he'd been passed out for a while, Goro woke up hopeful that he might've rested enough to get some magic back. He opened the eye that wasn't swollen shut and squinted around the nasty little cell he was locked in. He couldn't remember what this part of a ship was called--the bilge, or something. Sounded like another word for puke.

His head was pounding, and his fingers were stiff and throbbing, but he reached into his robe and fumbled for his amulet. Mumbled a prayer to try and Send, and felt the magic fizzle like a spark that flew out of a fire and landed in some dirt.

In other words, didn't fucking work.

"C'mon," he muttered to Mask. "Do me a favor and just tell Hansel for me. Give'm a sign."

Course that wasn't gonna work. He pushed himself up to sitting, suppressing a groan at the shooting pains in his ribs. Motherfucker, they'd really tried to break as many bones as possible. He scooted closer to the bars of his cell so he could peer out and get a view of anything that might be useful--other living beings, a set of keys hanging on a wall, a trickle of daylight that might give him a clue of what time it was.

.

Nothing. There was nobody down here but him, no light except for the single lightstone set at the base of the ladder, and no sound except water sloshing against the bulkhead. Sure as hell didn't see any keys, neither.

He whimpered and lay back down. He tried for a while to fall asleep, but it was fucking impossible, 'cause he kept jerking himself awake, which of course hurt like hell every time.

He could try blowing his whistle, but Ombre was all the way back in Glimmerton.

He could wait for Hansel to notice the color change on his bracelet, but there wasn't any telling when that would be, or if Hansel would still have a charge on his Sending bead to ask after him.

He raked through his mind for other options. Anything other than just lying here, suffering and shivering, getting farther and farther from Freeport. After a minute, he pulled out the sending stone Sam had given him. He let it clatter to the floor next to where he lay, then just stared at it for a bit, swallowing the leftover blood in his mouth.

Finally he closed his eye and pressed one fingertip against the stone.

Can you get a message to Hansel or Mishka for me? Need help. I'm real sorry, but there's no one else I can ask.

IZZY

Help where?

LINA

Ship called the Cursed Thunder. Yeah, Goro had made damn fucking sure he got that much information, at least, while they were dragging him down here. Got beat up. Out of magic. Sailed from Freeport not sure how long ago.

IZZY

The second response was as immediate as the first. All right. Hold on. Keep your head down.

Some time passed, after that, in the damp hold of the ship. It was difficult to be sure exactly how much time, with the windowless dark, and the constant repetitive sound of the ocean droning on the other side of the wood and pitch of the hull.

- - -

Sam clawed his way onto the ship, up out of the ocean. He spat some water and shook some more out of his hair and clothes like a dog, then patted himself the rest of the way dry with magic, making himself steam a little. The forecastle was empty, but the aft was lit up inside with pirates making noise, drinking and playing cards.

He grumbled, and scanned around the deck. The only lookout was in the crow's nest. Sam flung an eldritch blast up that knocked her clean out of it, intercepting her where she fell with the draining touch of necromancy. It took the sting out of getting here. He lobbed her body overboard and started creeping downstairs.

Avoiding the pirates wasn't too difficult -- they'd been at sea a while now, content with their haul and lulled by the dark and the drinking. He drained the life out of one who'd spotted him and shoved the body into a closet, and listened into the crew's thoughts passively as he crept along, figuring captives would be in one of the lower levels of the ship but keeping his ears pricked.

Fuckin' cleric, one of them was thinking, with that necro magic, fucking up Betty --.

That was Goro, for sure.

Someone said something about Goro out loud, about the fight he'd put up, laughed at him for thinking he could take a whole ship full of pirates, and Sam's eyes narrowed. He moved on.

There was a guard outside this one door, when he had wound his way down far enough. He listened for thoughts, but he couldn't find Goro -- he was either unconscious or they hadn't taken his ring. Since he'd still had the stone, he probably still had the ring, though. Sam eyed the guard; this one was bigger and tougher than the others, and fighting her would probably cause a commotion that could alert the rest of the ship. He'd rather avoid it if Goro wasn't even back there.

He ran his thumb over the etched grin on the lapis in his pocket.

- - -

Eventually, Sam sent back to Goro.

Do me a solid and take your ring off for a second so I can find you. He added, I won't pry.

LINA

Keep your head down, Sam said, and Goro dutifully did just that, too fucking tired and sore to lift it at all. Hah.

He was probably in for a few more hours of this shit. Time for Sam to get the message to Mishka and Hansel, time for them to track down the ship. Wasn't anything for Goro to do except keep trying to sleep, frustrating as it was.

He wasn't dozing, exactly, when Sam sent to him, but he was tuned out enough to be startled by the incoming message.

Took him a minute to connect the dots in his head. Couldn't figure out what his ring had to do with being found. The ring of mind-shielding, obviously--maybe Aziz could find him that way, and pass it on to Sam. Goro's fingers were swollen, and all of them hurt like hell, so taking it off was gonna be no picnic. There'd be some relief after, though, from the constriction.

He'd worked rings off swollen fingers before, and it was the same process whether you cared about hurting the person or not--in other words, whether it was the corpse of some bandit, or a person who'd come to the church for healing--you had to slowly spin it back and forth, sliding as you went. He'd never had to do it to himself, though, let alone when the fingers of his other hand were just as fucked up.

He was too impatient to take it real slow, anyway, so he just hissed and cursed a lot as he got the thing off. He considered keeping it under his tongue, but he was too fucking tired to go to the effort of holding something in his mouth without accidentally swallowing it. He tucked it into the same pocket that held his amulet--precious possessions, and all.

Probably not worth wasting his last sending to Sam letting him know he'd complied. He just fell limp again instead.

IZZY

There was no response, but after a second, the low disoriented murmur of Goro's thoughts from behind the door. True to his word, Sam didn't pry, but he could get the gist of how much pain and misery Goro was in.

He frowned. He used up another charge on his stone to Send, Hey. I'll be there in a second. Just hang in there.

Grimly, he sized up the guard, and decided to take a gentle approach rather than go in blasting. He let the thought detection slip and pressed his tongue against the backs of his teeth, focusing on a new spell. Then he slipped out of his hiding spot, walking straight for the guard like he belonged there.

She stiffened.

"Hey." Magic laced the words. "I need to talk to that shithead cleric. About what he did to Betsy. You feel me?"

It was a good act anyway, using what he'd learned from listening in, and the magic lulled her into not minding that she didn't recognize him, and he didn't even look like a pirate. She just got a glassy look in her eyes and sort of snorted, stepping aside to let him in. He gave her a smug smirk like they were in on the same joke and stepped past her, closing the door behind him.

The room was dark and damp. Sam's smirk dropped immediately. There were two unmoving shapes in different salt-corroded cells, and he could just make out that one was too dessicated and corpse-like, wrapped in wormy blankets, to be Goro, but he was just as still.

Sam went to that cell and knelt down at the lock, pulling out his picks. "Hey," he said lowly. "Hey. Goro. Can you stand?"

LINA

Goro hadn't meant for Sam to come get him. Yeesh. He guessed that was a perk of the contract, or whatever. Made him feel some mix of weird feelings--kind of guilty, and relieved, and... touched, he guess, that Sam had got to him so fast. But it was just business, so there wasn't any sense in looking at it that way.

"Um, yeah." Goro pushed himself upright again, wincing, and staggered to his feet. Was kind of a farce, with him wanting to grab the bars for balance but not being able to tolerate squeezing anything. He reeled and almost toppled over but managed to lean against the wall before he fell.

His feet were alright, at least. He'd taken a blow to the knee that would have him limping, though.

IZZY

Sam glanced up at him with a deepening frown.

The lock came undone easily, more for show than anything with an armed guard just outside and a ship full of pirates beyond it. Sam pushed the door open as he stood, slipping his picks back into his pocket. He took two steps in, closer to Goro, and took Goro's wrist and ducked his own shoulder to pull Goro close against his side, Goro's arm around his neck and his arm around Goro's ribs.

As he moved, he muttered, "Here. Let me help."

LINA

Goro groaned the whole time he was being jostled. "I don't need it. It's fine."

IZZY

Sam snorted. "Yeah, like hell." He gave Goro another, longer look and grimaced. "All right. You said you're out of magic?"

LINA

Goro grunted. Had maybe one or two simple tricks left in him. "All but."

IZZY

He nodded. "Where's your ring? Put it back on."

LINA

Goro groaned again. He guessed it might slip right onto his pinky. He used his free hand to dig carefully into his pocket and pull the ring out. Then he propped it between his lips and slid his finger through. "There."

IZZY

Sam adjusted him carefully, then whistled a couple notes and went quiet, watching the door. "The guard thinks I'm fucking you up in here. I snuck in. Maybe we can sneak out. Hey. Are your ribs hurt?"

LINA

"Uh huh." Goro grimaced. "Broke a few of 'em."

Sam was warm. Not unpleasant, truth be told, if Goro hadn't felt awkward as fuck being propped up by him. He would've been wiggling around a lot more, maybe trying to get away, if he weren't so sore. As it was, he just kinda leaned against Sam rigidly.

"I can turn invisible," he said suddenly, like he was just remembering it. Which he was.

IZZY

"Oh. Well, that's fucking useful. Can you get me or just yourself?"

LINA

"Just me. 'S a Maskarran thing. I can make a double of myself, too. Could be useful if we need a diversion." Goro tipped his head forward and spat on the floor. Not too much blood in it anymore, but his mouth still tasted metallic.

IZZY

"Hm." Sam paused to take this into account, calculating. He tilted his head a beat, like he was listening. "Later if we need it. Hold onto that in case I get tied up with something and you have to fend for yourself for a moment. I'll come back for you," he added, frowning, "just keep yourself in one piece if it happens. I'm picking you up."

With exactly that much warning, he turned and bent to heft Goro up -- not as easily as Hansel did, by far, but manhandling him up so that Goro's hipbone was against his shoulder, and he was leaning to compensate for the weight.

LINA

"Wh--what--hey." Goro's head spun from being turned upside down all the sudden. He scrabbled to grab the back of Sam's shirt, but gave up on account of his hands hurting too much, and it seemed like Sam had a good enough hold on him anyway.

IZZY

Sam shifted him a little bit. "Act unconscious." He paused. "I've got you."

LINA

Goro let out a low whine. This meant he was gonna have to kind of trust Sam, and shit, and he sure as hell wasn't feeling up for that. "What's your fuckin' plan?"

IZZY

He laid it out briefly and simply. "I walk out of here. I tell the guard I fucked you up too much and need to take you to the infirmary so you don't die. I find out where it is because she thinks about it. I take you there. I kill or lie to whoever might be there already, and we get you patched up as much as we can. Good deal?"

LINA

"Mm. Guess." Goro still wasn't fuckin' happy about it, but it wasn't like he had a better idea. He started the process of making himself go limp, and it was indeed a process--first 'cause he was fucking hurting all over, and letting his arms drop especially didn't do his ribs any favors, and second 'cause trying to get himself to relax all his muscles on the best of days wasn't a piece of cake.

Seemed like as soon as he got his elbows straight his knees would bend again, and vice versa, but eventually he arrived at what he hoped was a passing semblance of unconsciousness. He groaned again, for good measure.

IZZY

Sam shifted him again, as his balanced changed, and gave the small of his back an awkward pat that was probably supposed to be comforting.

"All right."

He scowled and kicked the door open, muttering under his breath. The guard outside straightened up again -- she might have an inkling she'd been spelled, but Sam was a good fucking liar even without the magic, and she mostly looked confused and alarmed.

"Hey, hey, the fuck?" she demanded, dropping a hand to her sword.

"Little motherfucker," he grumbled. "Knocked out on me. Takin' him to the infirmary so he doesn't fucking die." He rolled his eyes and curled his lips, putting venom into it but no magic as he listened to the murmur of her thoughts

She wasn't quite buying it. He didn't look like a pirate, didn't look familiar, and she wasn't sure he was supposed to be here. It'd be easier if he just killed her, but that might cause problems.

"What, you wanna help me with him?" he challenged instead, asserting more strongly that he was supposed to be here. If he was trying to break Goro out, he'd be trying to get away from her, not inviting her along. Obviously. "Infirmary's too far away for me to want to haul his ass, believe you fuckin' me."

That did the trick. She mapped out in her head how far off the infirmary was, and scoffed as Sam shrugged under Goro's weight.

"Nah, nah, fuck that." She leaned back against the wall. "You're the one who beat the shit out of him. Fucker was already messed up."

He scowled and shot her a glare and moved on, in the direction she'd thought of, and once they were far enough away from any low, murmuring thoughts, he stopped to carefully, gently lower Goro back to his feet, keeping hold of him in case he needed the stability. He frowned at Goro, studying him, making sure that Goro could make it.

LINA

Fortunately, Sam turned out to be a hell of a liar. Goro tried not to be impressed. He knew the guy was an old conman. His fuckin' fake potions and shit.

Goro didn't want any help standing, but he took to his feet again too eagerly, and his bad knee buckled. He fell heavily against Sam, hands still pretty much useless, but Sam was prepared for it and held him up.

"Sorry," Goro mumbled, not looking Sam in the face. He put his weight on his other leg and limped backwards to put some space between them.

IZZY

Sam followed when he limped back. "Hey. Don't be fucking stubborn."

LINA

"I'm not. I'm fine."

IZZY

Sam gave him an unimpressed look.

LINA

"I've had worse."

IZZY

"Yeah? Okay." He pulled Goro's arm around his neck again, and wrapped an arm around his waist, holding him securely in such a way that he wouldn't be able to put much weight on his bad leg. "Guess I'll just fuck on off, then," he said, doing the opposite of that and carefully pulling Goro along instead. "I mean, you don't need me here. Clearly. You've got it all under control. These pirates are all right where you want them."

LINA

"Shut up," Goro said miserably, limping along beside him. "I didn't mean for you to come. You coulda just sent a message on for me."

IZZY

"The fuck I could have. Just keep on sailing back to Skyport, wait until I get there to leave a message with Joan Ripley, wait for her to be able to get in touch with Mishka, and for him and your partner to track you down ... Yeah. Sure." He rolled his eyes briefly. "You could've been anywhere by then."

LINA

"'Kay. Well." Goro sniffed. "Whatever."

IZZY

Sam went psh quietly. He paused and listened, tracking some movement around the ship, then moved on. The little medical bay was empty, and he led Goro over to the hard bench bolted into the wall, and let him down gently before going over to the the cabinet to rustle through it.

"Any cuts?" he asked. "Or just bruises?" He glanced Goro's way. "I have no fucking idea what I'm dealing with, with that robe and all. You have skin, right?"

LINA

Goro snorted softly. "Dunno. Ain't seen a mirror. How's my face?" He prodded his lip. He'd bit the hell out of the inside of it, but couldn't tell if the outside was split or just chapped. With his other hand he felt the part of his ribs that stung the most, working the fabric of his clothes around. Sticky. "Yeah, bleeding some."

IZZY

"You need a hand getting the robe off?"

LINA

Goro scowled automatically. "No. It's fine."

IZZY

Sam turned to him with a spool of thread and a hooked needle, and some bandages.

He waited for Goro to pull his robe off.

LINA

Goro held his hands out for the supplies.

IZZY

Sam squinted at him.

LINA

"I can do it."

IZZY

"With those fucking hands?"

LINA

"I probably don't need stitches. Just gonna slap a bandage on it. Easy peasy."

IZZY

"Probably," Sam repeated, flatly. "Probably don't need stitches."

LINA

"If I take a look and decide I do, I'll get your help. Promise."

IZZY

Sam snorted. "Oh, you promise. You promise you'll ask me for help. Okay. Fuckin' -- I'm fine. Sure you will." He put the spool down and stepped closer to Goro.

LINA

Goro wrapped his arms around himself protectively, not really thinking about it.

IZZY

Sam put a hand on his shoulder, making a loose fist in the fabric, and firmly said, "Come on. Don't be fucking ..." He trailed off, and hesitated, and softened his voice a bit. "Listen. It's okay."

LINA

Goro didn't look at him. Looked firmly at the floor for a minute, then around the rest of the infirmary. "Think they got any healing potions?"

IZZY

"Yeah, I saw some, but I thought, you know what, if I give those to Goro, then he won't take off his shirt," Sam deadpanned.

LINA

Goro finally looked at Sam so he could scowl at him.

IZZY

"It's true. I'm just trying to get you naked. It's all I showed up for."

LINA

Goro would've curled up tighter if his ribs hadn't been killing him. He looked away again, looked everywhere in the room except Sam, and scuffed his foot on the floor.

He chewed the inside of his cheek and started fumbling with his belt.

IZZY

Sam waited patiently, looking off to one side.

LINA

Goro managed to undo the buckle and let it fall to the side. He shrugged off the robe, shaking the sleeves off his hands, then tugged the hem of his shirt up. Shifting away from Sam, curling around himself almost instinctually.

He stuck the hem in his mouth to hold it out of the way--also doubled as something to bite on besides himself, wouldn't Hansel be happy--and glanced at the damage. An abrasion--an ugly one, big, but stitches would do fuck all. Goro glanced at the thread to make sure Sam wasn't going for it.

IZZY

Sam looked back, awkwardly at first, then frowning again and concentrating, assessing. He cut a look to Goro's face and come closer, pulling his waterskin off his belt. His hand glowed a little, orange, like a bright light coming through it and lighting up the blood vessels -- it was just his own fire magic, though, and once the water was warm, he pulled a clean cloth out of his satchel and upended the waterskin over it to wet it, and started carefully dabbing at the scrape. It hadn't bled too heavily, and the blood was largely dried or tacky at this point.

He glanced back to Goro's face, partway through, to check on him.

LINA

Goro stared determinedly at the wall, flinching occasionally from the pressure against the broken ribs.

This was dumb. He'd just heal himself after he got his magic back. Whatever.

IZZY

Once he was satisfied it was clean enough, Sam grabbed the roll of bandages and started to wrap them around Goro -- not just to protect the abrasion, but to splint the cracked ribs, too.

"Deep breath," he said.

LINA

"Fuck you," Goro said, knowing that was exactly what he was supposed to fucking do.

IZZY

Sam accepted this and just started wrapping him up, tightly.

LINA

Goro held his arms up and out of the way, both to make Sam's job easier and so he could hide his face behind them. He bit down harder on the edge of his shirt.

IZZY

Sam grimaced a bit and went as fast as he could. A little hesitantly, he started talking as he worked. "You know, I have this necromancy spell I can use to heal myself. And I don't normally have to deal with anyone else being hurt. It's been a long time since I did anything like this. You're a cleric and shit. You know how to do this shit without magic? Is it tight enough?"

LINA

"I worked in the abbey for fourteen years," Goro said around his shirt. "Learned to do all kinds of shit without magic. People only get magic if they pay." He made a face, half from pain and half from disgust. "It's tight enough." Technically too tight, since Goro hadn't bothered to breathe in first. Whatever. If he got an infection, he'd just heal himself.

IZZY

"All right. Good." He tied it off, and reached for Goro's robe, touching it with one hand and lightly touching the sleeve of Goro's shirt with the other. He cleaned the blood out of both with magic, and made both warmer, too, since it was chilly down here, then passed Goro's robe back to him.

LINA

Goro stiffened, clenching his teeth when Sam picked up his robe, and shifted uncomfortably when Sam touched his sleeve.

What, like Sam was gonna steal his clothes? Get a fucking grip, Voronin.

"Thanks," Goro mumbled, hastily taking the robe back and fumbling to get it on. Still wouldn't look at Sam. "Sorry."

IZZY

"Don't be," Sam said quietly. He looked off to the side politely.

LINA

"I mean, thanks for coming to get me, and shit." He wasn't sure it was possible for him to look or sound more pathetic at this point, all curled up and hiding in his clothes, but there it was. He guessed he probably oughta let Sam splint his hands, too. Fuckin' sucked.

IZZY

"Yeah, of course." He waited until Goro was dressed again before looking back, then took one of Goro's wrists to inspect his hand, holding him firmly. "How much can you move these fingers?"

LINA

Goro wasn't sure Sam got that he was actually grateful, but he didn't know how to make himself any clearer. He made the closest thing he could to a fist with all the swelling, making himself jump and yelp. Fucking hurt.

IZZY

"Motherfucker. Don't do that!" Sam said, incredulous. "God. All you had to do was say not much."

He wrapped both hands around Goro's and leached soothing warmth into them.

"Hold still."

LINA

Goro fidgeted, torn between urge to pull away and the instinct to push closer--drawn by that warmth, that steady grip.

Hold still, Sam said, like that was remotely possible. He tried to keep his arms and shoulders still, at least, and just wiggled his toes and rolled his ankles.

IZZY

Sam held him there for a moment, then asked, "Better? Cold would probably be better for the swelling, but I can't do cold. Demon, and all, you know?" he joked weakly.

LINA

Goro glanced at him, frowning. Confused. "What, you're just doing that to make 'em feel better?"

IZZY

"Yeah. What'd you think?"

LINA

"Um. Dunno." Goro's hands twitched. He looked away, ears getting warm. "Don't gotta do all that."

IZZY

Sam looked up from their hands with a quizzical expression, blinked at Goro, then jerked his hands away abruptly. He tried to cover it up by reaching for the roll of gauze and busying himself with tightly wrapping Goro's hand instead of holding it. He didn't say anything.

LINA

"Um." Goro deflated a little. "I mean, it felt nice. Thank you."

IZZY

"Yeah," Sam mumbled. He wrapped one hand up quickly, leaving Goro's fingers free but his knuckles compressed, like a boxer's wraps. He let go but kept his hands nearby. "Is that good?"

LINA

Goro held his hands up and experimented with wiggling his fingers. He nodded. "Thanks." He was starting to hate the sound of that word coming out of his mouth. God.

IZZY

"You have to stop saying that," Sam commented, taking his other hand to start wrapping it. "We'll be here all fucking night."

LINA

"I know, I just--I feel weird."

IZZY

"Buddy, you and me fucking both," Sam muttered, finishing up.

LINA

When his hand was free, Goro crossed his arms and hunched over. Kind of because it made his ribs feel better, but also just kind of to do it. "What now?"

IZZY

"You were limping. How's your leg?"

LINA

"It's fine." Goro bit the inside of his cheek, knowing Sam wasn't gonna accept that. "Got whacked in the kneecap. Don't think it's fractured. Just bruised real bad."

IZZY

"All right." He moved away to put the supplies back where he'd gotten them from. "Just keep holding onto me. Keep your weight off it as much as you can, don't make it worse." He closed the cabinet and came back to offer Goro his arm, so Goro could loop around his neck and he could loop around Goro's waist.

LINA

Goro grumbled, hesitating, but got up and accepted Sam's arm. "You don't mind?"

IZZY

"I don't mind." He frowned a bit as he adjusted his hold, like he was confused by the question.

LINA

"'Kay." Keep holding onto me, he'd said, but secretly Goro wasn't leaning as much weight on him as he could.

IZZY

Sam tugged on him, knowing he was heavier than that. "Come on. Don't be fucking ..." He trailed off, paused for a beat, then winced a little. "Listen, man, you feel weird, I feel weird, it's all fuckin' weird, but don't walk around on a fucked up leg more than you have to. Come on. It's honestly fine. Let me help."

LINA

Goro grumbled again. He eased a little more of his weight onto Sam, shifted a little closer. Then he seemed to reach a point where he couldn't do it halfway anymore, and just had to go all the way. He still felt like curling up and hiding, he just did it against Sam, instead of away from him.

Sam's hair smelled like seawater. Goro briefly turned his face against Sam's shoulder, then made himself stop. Kind of awkwardly rested his head against him for a moment, decided that was too much, too, and held it upright again. He clenched his teeth. Had to fucking keep it together.

IZZY

Sam adjusted to his weight easily, kind of looking away, then glancing at him uncertainly. "Good?"

LINA

"Yup," Goro grunted, trying to sound like he was bored and unhurt.

IZZY

"All right." He took a breath and started towards the door. Since Goro had asked about his plan, before, he said, "We're going to go to the captain's quarters, and I'll have a nice, pleasant conversation with him about how he forgot something important in Freeport." He paused just before stepping out, listening for thoughts. "He'll turn the ship around, and it'll literally be smooth sailing all the way back to your Hansel. Sound good?"

LINA

"Um. Wait. What? Why's he gonna listen to you?"

IZZY

"Magic."

LINA

"Oh. You got that... that bard shit, huh? That thing Roddy can do. Or is it domination?"

IZZY

"Bard shit? No. Compulsion type stuff, yeah." He smiled a bit, faintly, pausing in the hallway to listen. "Next level snake oil selling."

LINA

"Pfff." Goro tightened his grip around Sam's waist. "Hope you know what you're fuckin' doing."

IZZY

"I know what I'm fucking doing," Sam said confidently.

He led Goro down a couple hallways, up a couple sets of stairs, avoiding all of the crew by listening for voices and thoughts alike and ducking into empty rooms periodically. It was a sizable ship with a sizable crew, but they were mostly grouped together in a few rooms, and there weren't so many just wandering around.

There were, however, two loose ends: the lookout who Sam had killed -- someone would probably realize she was gone at some point -- and the guard down below, who expected him to show back up with Goro at some point. He kept listening to her thoughts for as long as he could, but she didn't get suspicious before they moved out of range. That didn't mean she wasn't trailing them just out of range, now. He kept his metaphorical ears pricked.

It was the lookout that sunk them, though.

When they still had a deck or two to go, a bell started ringing up above them, clanging loudly, and someone started shouting, which turned quickly into more shouting, and the alarmed thoughts that Sam could detect murmured about Carolina being missing and scorch marks on the crow's nest.

"Oh, son of a bitch," Sam muttered, and pulled Goro into the nearest empty room -- someone's quarters, with clothes tossed over the back of a chair and a rumpled bed.

LINA

"You left a body somewhere?" Goro guessed.

IZZY

"Hey. What am I, a fucking amateur? I threw it off the ship."

LINA

Goro grimaced, which didn't do any favors for his swollen eye. "Well, what now, then? We gonna swim for it? Hey, how'd you get here, anyway?"

IZZY

"Uh, swam for it," he admitted. "Partially." He blew air out through his lips and glanced around the room, taking stock of it. "All right. You -- stay here. Hide out under the bed, maybe. I'll take care of it."

LINA

"What? You fucking swam here?" Goro tightened his arm around Sam when he heard the words stay here.

IZZY

"Ehh." He waved it off, then snapped his fingers to pull his quarterstaff out of the air and into his hand. "Partially."

LINA

"The fuck," Goro muttered. He still made no move to let go of Sam.

IZZY

"Hey." Sam didn't let go of him or push him away, but did jostle him a bit.

LINA

"What?"

IZZY

"Let go. If you go out there with me, you're going to get more hurt," he warned.

LINA

"That's alright," Goro said. "I can help."

IZZY

He made a disgruntled sound. "I have rope. I could tie you to that fucking chair and make you stay."

LINA

"I bet I could get out of it."

IZZY

"Psshh." He cocked his head, listening to the commotion outside. "Fine. Whatever. You stay fucking close, then, all right?"

LINA

Goro grinned, victorious. "Yup."

IZZY

"How exactly is it you're planning to help, anyway?" Sam grumbled.

LINA

Goro held his arm out and triggered his springblade.

IZZY

Sam stared at him. He stared at the springblade, then stared at Goro's face. Silently, he held his staff out, braced along his arm, and demonstrated how much further of a reach it had.

LINA

"You wanna tie this to the end of it, huh?"

IZZY

"Motherfucker. No." He used his staff to push Goro's arm back down. "I want you to stay right fucking here, and the only way you use that thing is if someone is literally about to shoot me in the back of the head. Clear? You stay --" he gestured his range again -- "inside the staff."

LINA

"Alright. Got it."

IZZY

"I hate this," Sam muttered. "For the record."

LINA

Goro paused. "I know," he said quietly.

IZZY

"Well -- then fucking sit down, and stay safe," Sam said, incredulous.

LINA

Goro shook his head, but he stepped away from Sam, hopping a little to balance. "Gonna help."

IZZY

"Hey. You fucking get back here," Sam threatened, pulling Goro back against him firmly.

LINA

"Oof." Goro scowled. "Why? I'm trying to make it easier for you."

IZZY

"Then stay close."

LINA

"Fine."

IZZY

Sam huffed. "They're getting closer," he muttered. "Checking rooms."

He shook of the thought detection spell, and when he opened his eyes again, they were a pure, inky black.

LINA

Goro went cold all over. For a moment, he just held perfectly still.

Then, he screamed. He flailed, scrambling to get away from Sam, and tried to jam his blade into Sam's gut. It just slid across his shirt, not piercing through the fabric.

IZZY

Sam jumped, looking towards Goro and his shiny void eyes widening with surprise. He didn't let go -- he held tighter, actually.

"Hey, hey. What the fuck? Calm down."

LINA

Goro screamed a few more times. He kept struggling to get free, too weak and injured to make much headway. He clapped a hand over his mouth, the bandage keeping him from making as tight a seal as he wanted.

Black, wriggling larvae slipping into his mouth. The memory felt so fucking real, he couldn't even tell if--if--

IZZY

Sam kept staring at him, alarmed. "Goro. Goro, hey --."

There were boots slamming just outside the door. He cut a look at it, then back to Goro trying desperately to get away from him, and made a quick decision -- he let go and shoved Goro toward the back of the room, as far away from the door as possible, planting himself between the door.

He barked, "Stay behind me," over his shoulder just before the pirates honed in on the source of the screaming.

The first one in was a burly fucker with an axe. Sam fixed him with a stare, and he faltered to the side and bend double, heaving. The one right next to him -- who had some unpleasant wounds that were clearly Goro's previous work -- got a of solid crack to the side of the head with the staff, and went down in a pile, unconscious. The third took another crack, but it didn't take her down -- she lashed out at Sam with her cutlass, but missed.

LINA

Goro stumbled and fell to the ground, shaking, whimpering around his hand.

He was really... fucking... confused.

Sam's voice. Just Sam's, not Diva's horrible, honeyed voice. And Sam... didn't try to hold him down or anything. Just started fighting the pirates.

Goro glanced around inside the cabin. Weren't any seeds.

He didn't know what the fuck was going on his head, but he was kind of worried he'd imagined the black eyes.

That was its own source of concern, but it seemed less pressing at the moment than everything else going on. Goro squeezed his eyes shut and breathed rapidly through his nose, trying to get his thoughts straight. Then he opened them, still whimpering uncontrollably, still keeping his mouth covered with his left hand, and climbed clumsily to his feet. He stumbled forward, switchblade aimed for the pirate who was taking a swing at Sam.

IZZY

Sam saw Goro out of the corner of his eye and started, "Hey! I said --," but when he reached out, Goro's robes slipped out of his hand.

His springblade sunk into the pirate with the cutlass, at least, and she struggled but went down. Sam pushed forward, putting himself between Goro and the others again. He shot a furious look at Goro, trying to make him back off, then fixed his black gaze on another pirate -- this one wavered and then dropped unconscious on the spot. There was one left, and Sam cracked his staff into her temple and dispatched her, too.

More would be coming.

LINA

Goro backed away, limping until he hit a wall, and collapsed to the ground. He kept staring at Sam.

Nah. Nah, he hadn't imagined it.

IZZY

"Either come here or stay the fuck back!" Sam said, holding his hand out.

LINA

"Your eyes," Goro croaked, then hid his own eyes, burying his face in his arms.

IZZY

Sam glanced at the door. He hissed through his teeth, then shook his head and dropped the spell. His eyes went back to normal, human eyes, a muddy sort of hazel color. He crossed over to Goro and dropped down to kneel in front of him, tapping him on the shoulder. "Here. Okay? Better? Look at me."

LINA

Goro pushed backward into the wall, whimpering again, covering his mouth. He didn't look.

IZZY

"Goddammit," he muttered. "Okay." He glanced over his shoulder. "Stay here, you understand? Stay right fucking here."

LINA

At that, Goro finally peeked. Normal Sam eyes. "Why'd they... why'd they do that?"

IZZY

"It's a fucking spell, man. I don't know."

He glanced back again, and leaned to get a better view and lobbed an eldritch blast out the door. Someone down the hall yelped.

LINA

Goro flinched at the blast. "Go," he said, and hid his face in his arms again. "Go. I'll stay here."

IZZY

Sam narrowed his eyes a little. He mulled it over. "All right," he said reluctantly. "I won't be far."

LINA

Goro nodded.

IZZY

He hesitantly patted Goro on the shoulder, then push himself up, spinning his staff into place and stepping outside. He closed the door behind him.

There were assorted screams and thuds, and the smell of smoke and sulfur and rot seeped under the door.

Several minutes later, there was a sharp rap on the door, and Sam's voice called through: "It's me."

LINA

Goro scooted further back, pressing himself against the wall like he wasn't already as far back as he could get. Adrenaline had worn off, and his whole body was screaming in pain. But his heart was racing again, not sure what exactly was gonna come through that door.

A couple tears leaked out of his eyes. "'Kay."

IZZY

It creaked open and Sam stepped in. His hair was more fucked up than before, and he had a couple of bloody slashes on his arms and across one side. He used his staff as a walking stick for a bit, then kicked the door closed behind him and dropped down to sit his his back against it, dismissing his staff.

"Fuckers," he muttered, plucking at the bloody fabric sticking to his side.

LINA

"They all dead?" Goro sniffed.

IZZY

"Nah. There's still some left." He made an annoyed sound at his shoulder as he rolled it and winced. "They're regrouping."

LINA

"How many?" Goro shifted forward onto his knees, starting to crawl before remembering that was gonna hurt. He winced and moved his weight onto one hip.

IZZY

Sam shrugged the other shoulder.

LINA

Goro scooted himself closer painstakingly, cursing under his breath the whole time. When he was in arm's reach of Sam, he held his arm out. "Here. Where you hurt worst?"

IZZY

"Eh?" Sam squinted at him.

LINA

"Where's it the worst? That is your blood, right?"

IZZY

Sam just stared at him for a second, then incredulously asked, "Do you fucking have healing spells left?"

LINA

"Tiny, tiny bit."

IZZY

He kept just staring, then snorted, and it turned into a laugh. "Are you fucking serious? You let us both fucking suffer back in the infirmary when you could've just healed yourself? I don't want your goddamn magic. Motherfucker. Heal yourself, dumbass."

LINA

"No. It'd barely make a dent in this." He gestured vaguely at himself, and sniffed again. "I was saving it for a real emergency, alright? Now I can use it to make sure you stay on your feet longer."

IZZY

"Yeah, this --" Sam gestured to himself -- "isn't a fucking emergency."

LINA

"Yeah, but." Another sniff. "If I ain't going out there with you, I can't help when you're there."

IZZY

Sam looked at him for a moment. His voice softened. "Hey. What happened? Are you all right?"

LINA

"No." Goro scowled and looked away. "Your fuckin' eyes."

IZZY

"What about them?"

LINA

"Diva." Goro squeezed his eyes shut and turned further away. "Or, Gluttony. Whatever the fuck. She... when she possessed people, their eyes turned all black."

IZZY

"Oh," Sam said. He was quiet. "I'm sorry. I ... I didn't know that."

LINA

"Mm." Goro shook his head and flapped a hand around. Trying to dismiss the apology. He couldn't get any words out. When he tried to open his mouth, he just started crying instead.

Ah, crying was hell on broken ribs.

IZZY

"Ah. Ah, fuck. Uh." Sam grimaced a little. He glanced around the room like someone might be there to help him, and when they weren't, he scooted a little closer to Goro, and bumped Goro's knee with his to see how that went over.

LINA

Goro moved like he was gonna curl up with his knees against his chest, but turned out that was too much work, too painful. He cried harder, hiccuping, and dabbed his sleeve against his face.

IZZY

Sam made an uncomfortable ehhh sound. He glanced at the door, then edged closer to Goro again and carefully tried to hug him.

LINA

Goro groaned and shook his head, and tried to scoot away. "Don't bother. Don't fuckin' bother."

IZZY

"Okay. Okay." He backed off quickly.

LINA

"Just go. Go fuckin'... get 'em before they regroup, or whatever."

IZZY

"I needed a breather," he muttered.

LINA

"Then let me heal you."

IZZY

"I don't need you to heal me." He scowled. "I can heal myself. I'm fine. God."

LINA

"N'kay." Great, great, so there was fucking nothing Goro could do. Yeah, whatever, everyone could heal themselves these days, seemed like. Fuckin' dime a dozen, healing spells. ""Kay."

Goro scooted away, planning to make for the meager shelter he'd had pressed against the wall. He sucked in a big, hitching breath, and it hurt so fucking bad he just gave up moving, letting out a soft wail and lowering himself to curl up on the floor. He tried weakly to cover his head. He wanted to disappear into his robes. He wanted to bite down on something hard. He wanted to scream and writhe around until it didn't hurt so much to be him.

But he was too fucking tired. He just lay there, sniffling. Couldn't stop thinking about how pathetic he must look to Sam. How pathetic he must be to Sam. Too much of a fucking dumbass to use his healing spells properly. Beat up, crying, and useless. Naive enough to have thought they could be friends. Scared shitless by some fucking black eyes.

He didn't want to be here like this, with Sam. Didn't want to be known to Sam. He wanted to wipe Sam's mind clean of him. He wanted to be with Hansel, holding him and petting his hair and crooning about how handsome and good he was. (If Hansel was the only one who thought so, he was probably wrong. But Goro just liked Hansel better than everyone else, so he guessed Hansel's opinion was more important.) He wanted to be with Amari, warm and steady, never yielding no matter how loud Goro yelled or how hard he threw things.

.

He just wanted to be with someone who loved him, no matter what. Not someone he liked and who didn't like him back. I don't like anyone, Sam had said. Well, that was one way him and Goro were different. Goro liked so many people. And somehow, it got fucking tiring.

He didn't have his bag with him, and the chime of sleep wouldn't work on him anyway, but he fantasized about it. If he were human, it'd do the trick, what with how hurt he already was. Maybe he could ask Sam to give him one good whack over the head. Just fucking go unconscious until this all was over.

Who was he fucking kidding, though? He'd never been able to pull off the lay-down-and-die thing. Never could.

He struggled to an upright position, hugging his ribs. Messily he wiped one sleeve over his face and sniffed. "I got--I got a cantrip. When you're ready to go out again." He swallowed. "Sacred Flame. Do a little damage. The--the dagger seemed easier before, but, it's got--got a good range. I can stay back."

IZZY

Sam looked away while Goro was crumpled on the floor. He sat there and dragged his fingernails along the wooden boards of the floor and acted like he wasn't there at all, face carefully blank.

He didn't look back over until Goro spoke again, and didn't respond for a moment. He kept scratching at the floor with one hand.

"All right," he said quietly. "I'd rather keep you closer, though. Does that work for you?"

LINA

Goro nodded. For a moment he stared at the way Sam was scratching the floor, then he looked away, getting the odd feeling it was something he wasn't supposed to see.

He cleared his throat. "Ready when you are."

IZZY

Sam beckoned him closer.

LINA

Goro limped closer, eyes on the ground. He held his arm out, figuring Sam wasn't gonna let him get away with walking unassisted.

IZZY

Sam pulled him closer and sort of hugged him under the guise of supporting him.

LINA

Goro tucked himself against Sam's side and squeezed his good eye shut. He was gonna have to look where they were going in a minute, obviously, but for now, he wanted to just focus on nothing but the warmth and sturdiness Sam offered.

IZZY

Sam patted his shoulder awkwardly. He summoned his staff back to his hand and pushed himself up, pulling Goro along by the waist. "We're ... going to be all right," he said hesitantly. "I'm getting you back to your partner. Hang in there, all right?"

LINA

Goro felt puzzled, for a second, that Sam was kind of acting nice to him.

Well, he guessed maybe it wasn't kind of; that was just what was happening. Sam felt bad for him, maybe, or was just the kind of guy who didn't wanna be a dick to someone who was having a hard time. Goro guessed it wasn't that weird.

Just... not what he was expecting. Given how he'd laid there crying about how Sam probably thought he was pathetic.

It bolstered him a little. Just knowing he was being held up by someone who didn't want him to suffer.

Goro nodded. "'M good."

IZZY

Sam nodded back. He looked at Goro for a moment, considering. "Hey. Is it a problem for you if I make it dark? Magically dark, I mean. Really dark."

LINA

Goro frowned, considering. "Can't hit people with a sacred flame if I can't see 'em."

IZZY

"They can't hit us," he pointed out.

LINA

"What... what am I supposed to do, though. If I can't see and can't hit things."

IZZY

Sam opened his mouth, then closed it, and thought for a second. "You know how to tell directions on a clock? Like --" he pointed to the right, then straight ahead -- "three o clock, twelve o clock?"

LINA

"Yeah." Thieves did it all the time. Usually in cant, though.

IZZY

"If I call out directions, you can hit shit."

LINA

"Ehhh." Goro cringed a little. "I guess so."

IZZY

"I won't do it if it's a problem for you."

LINA

"Nah, nah, it's fine." He didn't want to be any more of a pain than he already was. "I'll do it. I'll deal."

IZZY

Sam looked suspicious, but said, "All right."

He held Goro flush against him and muttered in an alien language, and the room -- everything -- went pitch black. He pulled Goro gently along towards the direction the door had been in.

LINA

Goro had experienced magical darkness before, but it gave him a chill every time.

"I wanna learn to do that," he said under his breath.

IZZY

Sam's voice was quiet, and came from very nearby; he seemed closer in the dark. "It doesn't do you much good if you can't see through it."

He pulled Goro through the black nothingness. It traveled with them, though it was hard to tell how far they were moving without anything to orient by.

LINA

"Can you not? Even though you were the one who cast it?" Goro kept squinting, futilely trying to see. Just couldn't convince his brain it was impossible.

IZZY

"Nah, I can." He stopped walking and was quiet. There were only distant sounds, and he started moving again. "Hey, big step, there's a body in front of you. Anyway, I don't think most people who cast darkness can just see through it. I can because it's warlock shit."

LINA

Goro kicked the body before he stepped over it, mainly to verify its location, but also kinda just to do it.

Warlock shit. Almost wanted to ask if Sam thought Aziz would give Goro that one trick, in exchange for something.

Bad road to go down, though.

"I bet if Mask gave me it, I'd be able to see," he said quietly.

IZZY

"Yeah, maybe." He said it a bit absently. "I mean, I'm sure he could. Gods, right?"

LINA

"Maybe. I never heard of a cleric who could do it, though." Goro realized as he'd been talking that he'd settled against Sam more comfortably again. Practically cozying up to him. Eh.

IZZY

"Not all warlocks can. It's just something he gave to me." He paused, and lowered his voice. "Step up. Five stairs. Keep your head low, I think they're just up ahead."

LINA

Goro shut his mouth and stepped up carefully, counting each of the steps. He stayed curled against Sam and ducked his head.

Kinda reminded him of sticking close to Hansel in a fight. It was weird.

IZZY

There was a shout, the fwip of arrows being released, and Sam tensed beside Goro. A sort of sizzling sound and the strong, brief scent of sulfur, very nearby -- then the scent of rapid rot, necrotic magic.

"Four o' clock," Sam hissed.

LINA

Goro twisted to his right, throwing his arm out to bring down the flame. He saw it--wasn't expecting to see anything, but it was magical, so of course it would penetrate the darkness--and he saw it hit its mark, lighting up the unsuspecting pirate behind them, who flailed and screamed.

The twisting didn't do his ribs any fucking favors, though. He let out a gasp and stumbled. Thought he was going to fall, but Sam kept him upright.

IZZY

Sam's grip on him tightened. There was another sharp, brief stench of sulfur, then the heat and whoosh of nearby flame -- eight bursts of it. Sizzling and yelping.

"You good?" Sam asked, low and close to Goro's ear.

LINA

"Mhm." Goro regained his balance and straightened up, still leaning close.

IZZY

Sam pulled him to the side. A whiff of sulfur, and a wet sort of shnk sound, and Sam grunted, faltered, and pulled Goro on, changing directions.

"I need you to buy me a minute," he said, a bit strained.

LINA

"What? What? What is it?" Goro started patting Sam with his free hand, searching for an injury.

IZZY

He found the shaft of an arrow, and as he touched it, Sam jerked and swore. "Hey! Knock it off."

A door slammed, and the darkness flickered and dissipated. Sam had pulled his sleeve down over the hand his ring was on, concealing it, and the arrow was sunk well into his gut -- below his ribs, off to the side. Sam had pulled him into what appeared to be a navigation room, with maps and sea charts pinned to the walls and brassy instruments scattered around one spread out on a table. His back was braced against the door and he was heavily favoring his shot side.

LINA

"Ooh, jeez. Yikes." Goro leaned close enough to inspect the entry wound. He glanced up at Sam. "You want me to do this the fast way, I'm guessing?"

IZZY

"Psssh." He waved it off. "It's fine. I've had worse." He slid down the door a bit unsteadily to sit, wincing. "I just need a minute to call in reinforcements."

LINA

"The fuck's that mean?"

IZZY

He waved that off, too, muttering in the same alien language. It didn't sound like something a human mouth and tongue should be able to speak.

LINA

Goro grimaced. "Listen, you think I'm gonna let you go running around out there with a fuckin' arrow in your gut, you got another thing coming."

IZZY

He just kept muttering, wincing again when he took a breath.

LINA

Goro lowered down to the floor next to him. He triggered the springblade, ready to fucking cut as soon as Sam was finished with whatever the fuck he was doing.

IZZY

The room started to get warmer, and after a moment, the candle on the table guttered, then flared bigger and brighter -- dangerously so -- before the flame leapt to the floor in a large, semi-humanoid shape that knelt on one knee and angled its roiling face towards Sam.

He edged to the side a few inches, closer to Goro. A little wearily, he said, "Don't set the ship on fire. Just the people."

The elemental gave a crackling growl, then pounced towards them, diving through the gap under the door and just leaving behind smoke and scorch marks. Alarmed shouts and more firey hissing and roaring sounds followed.

Sam oof'd and leaned his head back against the door.

LINA

"Eesh," Goro said. He reached for the arrow shaft, then remembered his hands were a little less dextrous than he was used to. "This might be, uh. Not as quick as I made it sound."

IZZY

Sam cracked an eye at him. "Yeah? I'll tell my secretary to clear my evening."

He reached up to pound the door three times over his shoulder, and the screaming outside got more frantic.

LINA

"God," Goro muttered. The fuckin' fuck. Fuckin' fire guy and shit. He decided he just wasn't gonna think about it too closely.

He steadied the arrow shaft in one hand. Couldn't use a firm, gentle grip the way he usually liked; just kinda had to make a wall for it to butt up against. The cutting part wasn't gonna be pretty, either. Goro could usually do it either quick and brutal, or slow and careful, but in either case he was precise, and that wouldn't be true this time. He'd do his best.

He lined the tip of his blade up with the wound. "One, two, three," he said, and thrust in, then wagged the blade up and down once to create a long enough incision. He bit down on the nock of the arrow and used his teeth to help his stiff hand pull the thing out.

IZZY

Sam ground his teeth and grumbled at the slice, drumming his fingers on the floor. He stayed still, otherwise, and muttered, "You don't have to heal me. I can do it myself."

LINA

It actually wasn't bleeding that much, even with the arrow pulled out. Aw, yeah. Goro fuckin' Voronin. Clean work even with his fucking hands in bandages. "Yeah. Yeah, it don't look that bad."

IZZY

"Told you. I've had worse."

LINA

"Yeah. Ain't we all."

IZZY

"Pfff, not all, but me and you, yeah, clearly." He started pushing himself back up, still leaning on the door.

LINA

"How's about your fire buddy out there? He live a rough life?" Goro started to get up, then faltered. God, he was fucking tired.

IZZY

"Ah, who fucking knows. We don't share a language." Sam bent to loop his arm around Goro and help pull him up. "Hey. Almost done, all right?"

LINA

"'Kay. 'Kay." Goro nodded, panting, and managed to climb up. He swayed before leaning on Sam for balance.

IZZY

Sam dismissed his staff so he could hold onto Goro more securely, with both arms. He listened through the door and was quiet.

LINA

Goro listened, too. "You just gonna let that thing finish 'em off?" he whispered.

IZZY

"It's what he does," Sam said. "Backup."

LINA

"Mm." Goro rested his eyes while they waited.

IZZY

Sam shifted to lean his weight against the door, settling in for the moment.

After a little while, he started slowly, hesitantly rubbing Goro's back.

LINA

Goro cracked his good eye open, frowning slightly. The fuck was going on.

Maybe it was Sam trying to be nice again. Goro fought off about a thousand twitches and fidgets, afraid it would send the wrong message.

IZZY

"Should I stop? Doing this?" Sam blurted, stopping before Goro could answer and pulling his hand away -- still holding Goro up.

LINA

"Uh?" Goro peered up at him, blinking. "If... if you want."

IZZY

"No, I mean. You. What do you want? You got all fucking tense."

LINA

"Nuh uh. I mean. I just get tense a lot."

IZZY

After a beat, Sam said, "All right," and went back to rubbing Goro's back.

LINA

Goro thought about adding something like You don't gotta if you don't want to, though, but he didn't say anything.

He kind of wanted to ask why Sam was doing it, but he didn't say that, either. It wasn't like he minded. Or maybe he did. It made him feel weird; he just couldn't tell if it was bad weird or okay weird. It was just... Sam didn't love him, and rubbing someone's back seemed like a loving thing to do. Maybe.

At least, every time Goro had rubbed someone's back, it was someone he loved. Unless he was doing it for medical reasons, or some shit. Well, there was this one in between--there'd been a little kid at the abbey once, real sick, and there was nothing anyone could do for him. Wasn't even about money, or Amari would've stepped in. He was just beyond help. Too sick. And Goro remembered sitting by his cot, rubbing his back 'til he stopped crying and fell asleep.

Yeesh, though. Wasn't like Goro was dying.

He let out a little sigh.

IZZY

"I should probably intervene before Sparky out there actually kills everyone," Sam mused, not stopping. "Someone still has to sail this thing back to Freeport."

LINA

"Oh yeah," Goro said. "I mean. You kinda need more than one person to sail a ship this size, don't'cha?"

IZZY

"No idea," Sam admitted. "Probably, though."

LINA

"So yeah. Better go stop him."

IZZY

"Yeah," Sam agreed. He turned his head to the side and whistled sharply.

After a second, the crackling and sizzling and screaming died down.

"Now we have to go out there."

LINA

"You gonna do that shit with the darkness again?"

IZZY

"I can. It worked out well enough."

LINA

"Fine," Goro grumbled.

IZZY

"I don't have to," he offered.

LINA

Goro grumbled once more. "Whatever works best for you. I'm kinda at your mercy here, case you didn't notice."

IZZY

"Eh?" Sam stopped rubbing Goro's back.

LINA

"Ain't like I'm getting out of here on my own. You get to call the shots."

IZZY

"All right, well, the first part of that is true," Sam said.

LINA

"Ugh, just..." Goro got the weird feeling he was having that old you gotta tell me what you want argument with Hansel. "Doesn't matter! Just do your shit. I'll follow along."

IZZY

Sam considered that for a moment, then said, "No."

LINA

"Eh?"

IZZY

"No. I don't know what you're doing, but I'm still trying the friends thing," he said. "Can't confirm, but me dragging you around and doing whatever the fuck I want doesn't sound like friend shit. Right?"

LINA

Fuckin'... fuckin'--what the fuck. What the fuck? They didn't have time for this shit. "Are you gonna go stop that thing from killing the whole crew, or not?"

IZZY

"He's already gone. I dismissed him. We've got all the time in the world."

LINA

"Ugh."

IZZY

After a moment, Sam asked, "You know I didn't show up because of the contract, right?"

LINA

"Didn't show up what?"

IZZY

"Here. Now. This. The shit that's currently happening. I didn't commandeer the ship I was taking back to Skyport and then swim the rest of the way to this piece of shit pirate ship because it was my job. I could have just gotten to Skyport and left a message for Mishka with Joan, like I said. I'm here because I give a shit and I didn't want you to get fucked up."

He said it a bit defensively, like he expected Goro to argue.

LINA

"What?" Goro said, incredulous. "Why the fuck?"

IZZY

"What the fuck do you mean, why the fuck?" Sam said, just as incredulous.

LINA

Goro started squirming. "Um. Maybe we should--just--uh..."

IZZY

Sam let him go, keeping an arm positioned for Goro to lean on if needed. He frowned. "What."

LINA

"Go out there. Get killin'." Goro mimed shooting a tiny crossbow--best as he could with his mangled hands--and made a little pew sound.

IZZY

"No. Answer my question."

LINA

"What question?"

IZZY

"What do you mean, why the fuck?" he repeated, irritated.

LINA

Goro limped backward a couple steps, scowling. "I dunno. What, you wanna fuckin' be friends now?"

IZZY

"That's what I fucking said."

LINA

Goro hugged his arm to his chest, curling in on himself. He kept scowling.

IZZY

Sam glared a bit and scoffed. "All right, well --."

Before he could finish that thought, the door he was still leaning back against smashed in -- completely off its hinges, slamming him to the floor, where he was pinned under the splintering door by a massive boar. He swore and struggled to get up, but the beast was too heavy.

It fixed its piggy eyes on Goro and charged at him.

LINA

Goro dove out of the way, crashing against the nearest wall and sliding to the floor.

"What the motherfucking fuck," he yelled at the pig.

IZZY

Sam tried to shove his way up again, but the boar stormed right over him, charging at Goro and bellowing.

LINA

"Stop," Goro yelled, but it sure didn't. He tried to roll out of the way, but it trampled him down and gored him, one of its tusks piercing his gut.

He screamed, eyes rolling back in his head. Fuck, fuck, fuck it hurt. He triggered his springblade and stabbed blindly. Felt the blade sink into something soft. He couldn't move, though. The thing had him pinned. Just what his ribcage needed. Motherfucker.

IZZY

Sam finally clawed his way upright and lurched towards the boar. Splinters clung to him, and he was bleeding heavily from the previous arrow wound, as well as from his other existing injuries -- being trampled had done him no favors. He was baring his teeth, and they were pink with blood from a lip split by contact with the floor.

He grabbed the boar's hind haunch, and a shadow slithered along his arm and hand and made contact with the beast.

It squealed as the rotten scent of necromantic magic filled the air, and it almost seemed to deflate or desiccate rapidly -- then its form went blurry and it shifted back into a pirate, who struggled to try to crawl away, but was still held firm by his ankle. Sam dragged the pirate closer, hand over hand in his clothes -- he was already injured, himself, and whimpered as he tried fruitlessly to get away.

Sam had him by a fist in his collar, and got directly in his face. "You're a druid," he growled. "I hope you know some fucking healing spells."

The pirate nodded furiously, stammering, "I can heal you, I can heal you --," but Sam cut him off with a rough jostle.

"Him, dumbshit," he snapped. "Don't heal me, heal him."

He jerked his head at Goro and dragged himself and the pirate closer, the pirate still nodding along. Sam grabbed Goro's wrist -- half of his hand -- and the pirate reached out with shaking hands to heal where his boar tusk had rammed into Goro. It didn't repair even half the damage he'd done.

LINA

Goro hadn't even tried to get up once he was freed. Sure, normally he was bad at the lay-down-and-die thing, but fuck, he really thought he might do just that.

He was feeling faint, and it was getting hard to breathe. When the druid healed him, he felt enough of a change to know that it was, in fact, a real healing spell, but that was about it. He closed his eyes.

IZZY

Sam squeezed his hand, shifting to hold it better. "Is that all you fucking have?" he snapped at the pirate, who cringed.

"Yes! It is, I'm sorry, that's all --."

Sam let go of his collar to grab his throat proper, shadow tendrils wrapping around the pirate's neck. He gripped until the blood had drained away and the pirate had gone limp, eyes going vacant, then shoved him away with a growl. He rearranged himself, then, to pull Goro closer and check his pulse in his neck.

"Hey, hey," he said softly. "Goro. You with me?"

LINA

Goro groaned low. "Nah. 'M dead."

IZZY

"That's a shame," Sam said. "Your boyfriend's going to be pissed at me."

LINA

"Mhm." Goro opened one eye, then let it drift closed again. "His daughter can raise dead."

He'd thought about saying that, for a split second when the boar's tusk went into him. Because he'd gotten kind of worried, then.

IZZY

"That's handy. Hey." He kept his voice quiet, but firm. "I'm going to pull your robe off. Bandage you up. Keep your blood in you. Don't move around too much, all right?"

LINA

"'M never moving again," Goro agreed.

IZZY

"Sounds good," Sam told him. He moved slowly and carefully, fumbling one-handed with Goro's belt, then gently pulling the robe away from the wound. The edges had been healed by the druid, somewhat -- it wasn't as ragged as it would have been. He studied it for a moment, then said, "I'm going to clean this with alcohol and give you stitches. You need something to bite down on?"

LINA

Goro stuck the tips of his fingers in his mouth and bit them.

IZZY

Sam was quiet for a second.

"That's definitely not what I meant."

LINA

"Nn." Goro reached automatically to tug his shirt down, but it wasn't up. It was just torn open. Sucked.

IZZY

"Okay, then," Sam said. He let go of Goro's hand to rummage through his satchel, coming out with a flask, and set it to one side before picking up Goro's belt, folding it in half, and pushing it at Goro's mouth. "This shit is strong. I don't want you biting off your fucking fingers."

LINA

Goro grumbled, taking the belt. "Okay, Hansel." He shoved it in his mouth and bit.

IZZY

"I'm not your fuckin' ..." He gave a pssh and muttered, "I thought Aziz was Hansel."

He pulled some more supplies out of his bag.

LINA

"There's plenty'a Hansels to go around," Goro said, mouth full of belt. "Just gotta be big and warm, and not want people biting themselves."

IZZY

"Yeah, that sounds like probably a lot of people," Sam agreed, added, "You ready?" and poured extremely powerful, pungent vodka over the tusk wound without waiting for Goro to answer.

LINA

Goro jerked and cringed when the alcohol hit him, but he didn't make a sound.

After a second, he asked, "Is Aziz warm?"

IZZY

Sam shifted closer and started threading a hooked needle. "Yeah," he said quietly, after a beat.

LINA

Goro cracked his eye open and fixed on the needle. He held one hand out. "Gimme. I'll do it."

IZZY

"Not with those fucking hands, you're not."

LINA

"Yeah huh."

IZZY

He said, "No," put a hand on Goro's chest to hold him still, and started stitching -- slow, careful, methodical.

LINA

Goro groaned loudly and batted his hand at Sam's face.

IZZY

"Hey." Sam squinted at the assault and kept working.

LINA

"You're bad at this," Goro slurred, not even really paying close enough attention to tell if he was.

IZZY

"No, I'm not."

LINA

Goro groaned again. "You done yet?"

IZZY

"You're a terrible fucking patient."

LINA

"Yeah, so lemme do it myself."

IZZY

"No."

LINA

"Hansel's gonna hear about this."

IZZY

"I am shaking in my fucking boots," Sam deadpanned.

LINA

"You're violating the contract. You're harming me."

IZZY

"Take it up with Aziz."

LINA

"Oh, I will. You're gonna be in tro... ugh." Goro gave up. It hurt too fucking bad. He was gonna puke if he kept talking.

IZZY

Sam patted his shoulder, and carefully pulled the stitches tight -- not so tight they'd snap. Once he'd tied the thread off, he produced some gauze from his bag. "Hey. Come here. Get your arms around my neck." He moved to help, if needed. "I can't hold you up and wrap this around you at the same time."

LINA

Goro didn't react. He kept his eyes closed, breathing shallow.

IZZY

"Come on," Sam urged. "Come here." He pulled Goro's arm into place, shifting to stay stable. "Grab your wrist. If you can put in your own damn stitches, you can do this."

LINA

"I can't do anything," Goro mumbled.

IZZY

"Yeah? You either can't do anything or you can do everything, huh." He let Goro's arms loose, then started wrapping the belt around Goro's wrists, holding one forearm gently.

LINA

"Psh. Yeah, you're a Hansel, alright."

IZZY

"Everyone isn't Hansel," Sam said. Once Goro's wrists were together, he ducked his head to pull them over it, so that Goro was held in place without having to do anything. He started winding the bandage tightly around the injury.

LINA

Hm. Damn. This was kinda hot. Goro was a simple fucking man, and he liked it when big warm guys tied his wrists together. That was that.

Sam didn't seem like he was into that kind of thing, though, from what Goro remembered. Goro cracked his eye open again to look at his face while he worked.

IZZY

He was intent on what he was doing, frowning a little. He glanced up to meet Goro's eyes briefly before getting back to it.

LINA

Goro cracked half a smile. "You're really off the market, huh? Not into fucking?"

IZZY

Sam stopped and looked at him. "What?"

LINA

"Alright, alright, I getcha." Goro closed his eye again and shook his head. "I won't bring it up again."

IZZY

"No, seriously. Fucking what?"

LINA

"I like it when big, warm guys tie my wrists together, is all."

IZZY

"Pfff." Sam went red and got back to work. "Pfffff."

LINA

"You're a handsome fella, Sam. Might be why people try'n hit on you. I bet you got the whole scruffy thing going on to throw people off, but nah--nah, still good looking. People like scruffy. You know what people don't like, though, is weeping sores. Maybe you could glamor yourself to have some of that. Or boils and shit."

IZZY

"Shut up," he muttered.

LINA

"Sorry."

IZZY

He scoffed and grumbled a bit, still flushed.

LINA

Goro decided to just keep his fucking mouth shut, from now on. Wasn't as hard as it would be usually, 'cause he was fucking tired. Laying down to die. Yeah. That was the plan.

IZZY

Sam finished up and tied the bandage off. He pulled Goro's robe back around him, still not looking up.

LINA

Goro stayed limp as a ragdoll, eyes closed.

IZZY

"C'mon," Sam mumbled. "Can you walk?"

LINA

Reluctantly, Goro nodded.

IZZY

"Okay. Here." He shifted to loop his arm around Goro again, careful and awkward around the bandages. He hissed through his teeth as he helped lever Goro up, though, cringing to one side and faltering a little.

LINA

When Sam asked if he could walk, Goro just kind of assumed. Forgot about the whole almost-being-dead thing. He staggered, and collapsed, and his falling weight was enough to bring Sam down with him.

"Motherfucker," Goro said, breaking his self-imposed silence. "You're hurt worse than you said." Ah, there was the whole being squished under a door thing. Before Sam could respond, and faster than he could object, Goro grabbed his arm and poured the last of his magic into healing him--no specific wound in mind, since Sam wasn't gonna be forthcoming. Just a general pick-me-up.

IZZY

Sam groaned. "Was that the last of your magic?"

LINA

"Maybe."

IZZY

"You should have fucking saved it." He snapped his quarterstaff into his hand and used it to drag himself up, dragging Goro, too, more careful about his balance this time. "Fucking boar," he muttered. "Fucking druids."

LINA

"Sam," Goro said weakly.

IZZY

"Yeah?"

LINA

"Just leave me here."

IZZY

"Don't be fucking stupid."

LINA

"I'm not. You don't need my fucking help, do you?"

IZZY

He scoffed and started pulling Goro towards the door.

LINA

"Stop. Let me go!"

IZZY

"No," he snapped. "We're getting up to the top fucking deck. I'm finding the captain. If there are any healers left alive, I'm finding them. And you're fucking coming with me, so I can keep an eye on you, and so once we get up there, I can put you in a comfortable bed, and you can get some rest. I'll wake you up once we're in Freeport and get you to Hansel and Mishka. I'll fucking carry you there if I have to," he threatened.

LINA

"God fucking damn it," Goro muttered, and started hobbling along as best he could. Which really wasn't much at all. More of just a show of moving his feet while Sam held him up.

IZZY

"That's better," Sam muttered.

LINA

"Do you hate me yet?" Goro muttered back.

IZZY

"Yeah. Fuck you. You're the worst." It was completely thornless.

LINA

"Told you."

IZZY

"I'll fucking tell your Hansel that you're being shitty about yourself again."

LINA

"So? What's he gonna do about it?"

IZZY

"Fucking hug you, probably."

LINA

"Oh, no. I'm so scared."

IZZY

"Yeah, I bet."

LINA

Goro needed to stop fucking talking. God. He could never remember his plans to shut up for more than a few seconds at a time. He took the front of his robe and dragged it up, stuffing it in his mouth like a gag.

IZZY

Sam didn't react. The smell of ocean air was getting stronger, and they turned a corner to see the stairs that led up to the top deck. Sam led them on through the galley, towards it, and shifted his grip on Goro to be more secure and help him up. With a pained grunt, he forced himself to stand straighter, and they took the stairs.

A white flag was flying by the aft castle. Sam gave a mildly satisfied snort at the sight of it, and of the meager, injured crew clumped behind it with fearful eyes, their captain white-knuckling the spear it hung off of.

"Freeport," Sam barked.

The captain nodded. "Freeport." He looked side to side at his crew, who dispersed quickly to follow orders.

"My friend needs a healer," Sam said, still advancing.

The captain swallowed. "We don't ... there's none left."

"Then I'm taking your quarters. Bring me any healing potions you have left."

The captain nodded again, and hastily scurried out of the way as Sam ignored him and pushed past him, into the aft castle, where his quarters were visible through an open door. Sam kicked it closed behind him and locked it, then directed Goro over to the nice, large, soft bed. He gently lowered Goro down onto it.

LINA

My friend. Pfff. Please. Goro didn't need this weird pity shit. He kept himself gagged with his robe, and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Sam as Sam laid him on the bed.

IZZY

Sam finally glanced at the way he was biting his robe. "What's that all about."

LINA

"Reminds me not to talk," Goro said, muffled.

IZZY

He looked weary. "Okay. Sure."

The ship bucked under them, cutting across the waves as it changed its heading. There was a timid knock at the door, and a voice called, "We ... we scrounged up a couple o' potions."

Sam shuffled over to the door and drew himself upright again before opening it, fixing the crewman with a dead-eyed look, and snatching the potions before slamming the door back closed and locking it again. Then he slumped and shuffled back to the bed to sit towards the foot.

LINA

Goro took the robe out of his mouth just for this. "You take 'em."

IZZY

"No," he said flatly.

LINA

As expected. But you always started low when you haggled. "One for you, one for me?"

IZZY

Sam held one out to him without looking. "Hey. Mishka said -- Hansel makes these potions for him. They taste like fucking grilled cheese sandwiches or some bullshit. Does he make those for you, too?"

He popped the cork off the other bottle.

LINA

Hah. It worked.

"Yeah." Goro bit the cork out of his and spat it across the room. He downed the potion. "Mine usually taste like chocolate cake, though. Or blackberry pancakes."

IZZY

"That's nice," Sam said quietly. He tipped his head back to chug his potion and made an eugh noise at the taste -- bitter and medicinal.

LINA

"Mm." Goro felt the potion getting to work. It eased up the sharp pain in his gut. "If you could have your potions taste like anything, what would you pick?"

IZZY

"Mm." He fiddled with the empty bottle, looking distant in thought. "There used to be this vendor in Skyport. Shit, I can't remember the name, it was a long time ago. But it was, uh -- it was between this bar, where my friend worked, and our house. If he had enough cash from his shift, or if there weren't enough leftover scraps to actually feed us, he'd stop there and get kebabs sometimes. They weren't good, but they were cheap, and hot, and ... eh. You know."

LINA

Goro was quiet for a moment, wondering if he might've known the place. A kebab stand between a bar and a house. Too vague, really.

He nodded, though. "Yeah. I sure do fuckin' know."

IZZY

Sam kept fiddling with the bottle, quietly, his staff tucked into his elbow, then sighed and used it to push himself up again. He started wandering around the captain's quarters, poking around, pocketing valuables.

LINA

"You really wanna be friends?" Goro asked after a minute.

IZZY

Sam mumbled something without looking back at him.

LINA

"What?"

IZZY

"Iuno," he muttered. He started pawing through the captain's clothes, still not looking back. He found a clean gray shirt without rips from boar tusks and other damage in it, and brought it over to offer it to Goro.

LINA

Goro looked at it like it was covered in bugs. "Eh?"

IZZY

"Your shirt's fucked," Sam said. "You were trying to cover up, before. So."

LINA

"Oh." Goro looked down at his torso with mild curiosity. "Um. Nah, it's fine. Just... habit."

IZZY

"You sure?"

LINA

Goro nodded. "I like--I like my own clothes better."

IZZY

"Okay." He sat on the foot of the bed again, dismissed his staff, and started tearing the shirt into strips.

LINA

"I mean, you don't gotta do that. Still a perfectly good shirt."

IZZY

"Mf." He shook his head, and once the shirt was in pieces, started pulling his own shirt off, wincing a bit.

LINA

Goro straightened up, half sitting. "Oh. You need bandaging."

IZZY

He grunted again and started wrapping up one of the slices on his arm.

LINA

"Here. Let me." Goro sat up the rest of the way and scooted closer.

IZZY

He didn't stop what he was doing, but didn't object, either.

LINA

"Here," Goro said again. He batted Sam's hand away and took over the strip of shirt. Wasn't enough, so Goro grabbed another one, tying it on to the end of the first. The potion had helped some with the stiffness in his fingers. They still ached like a motherfucker, but it was easier for him to do shit, at least.

He finished wrapping Sam's arm, adding more strips as he went, pulling knots tight over the wounds. He moved on to his other arm, then started examining his torso, scoffing in disapproval at the big purple and blue bruises. "Shoulda taken both potions."

IZZY

"You almost fucking died," Sam reminded him, letting Goro wrangle him without complaint.

LINA

"So?" Goro used up the last fabric strip. "Go get another shirt."

IZZY

He scoffed a little. "You talk to Hansel like that?" he asked, pushing himself up to limp over to the drawers and grab a couple more shirts.

LINA

"Like what?" Goro held his hand out to take the shirts as soon as Sam sat back down.

IZZY

He handed them over and sat down with another mmf. "Fucking bossy as shit."

LINA

"Psh." Goro started tearing up one of the shirts. "Yeah."

IZZY

Sam scoffed again, laughing a bit, and doubled over to lean on his knees with a groan.

LINA

Goro shook his head. He nudged the second shirt. "I'll use this one to splint you, once I got the cuts covered. Yeesh."

Shirts didn't make for great bandages, but Goro'd made do with worse. He covered up the worst of Sam's wounds, then folded the second shirt a few times to make a long strip. He probed the bruising on Sam's ribs and made note of where he made him jerk, so he could map out the fractures. He looped the shirt around him. "Deep breath."

IZZY

He took a deep breath.

LINA

Goro tried not to grin. He pulled the shirt snug across the fractures and tied it off. "There," he said, and dragged himself back to the pillow, where he collapsed.

IZZY

Sam looked groggy. He blinked a couple times, then roused himself and started pulling his shirt back on. "Thanks. You didn't have to do that. I had it covered."

LINA

Goro ignored him. He closed his eyes.

IZZY

Sam scooted up to stretch out beside Goro.

LINA

Goro scooted over a little to make room for him. He turned his face toward the wall.

IZZY

Sam stayed where he was.

LINA

Goro crossed his arms.

IZZY

Sam rubbed at his face and left his hand there, over his eyes.

The ship rocked steadily under them.

LINA

Goro turned his head around to look at Sam, then looked away again.

"The hell do you want?"

IZZY

"What?"

LINA

"What do you want? Do you wanna be friends with me, or you want me to leave you alone?"

IZZY

He was quiet a moment. "Are they mutually exclusive?"

LINA

Goro made a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob. He put a hand over his face. "Yes."

IZZY

He considered this. "That doesn't seem right. Surely I can want to be friends with you and still want you to leave me alone sometimes. That has to be a thing."

LINA

"Well, fuckin'... yeah. I didn't say sometimes, though. I meant, like, in general."

IZZY

"Oh. Well, you should be more fucking specific," he said defensively.

LINA

Goro didn't say anything.

IZZY

After a beat, Sam quietly said, "I am trying to be friends with you. I don't know why it's hard. I'm not fucking good at it. All right?"

LINA

"I know why it's hard," Goro snapped.

IZZY

Sam flinched.

LINA

"Hansel says--" Goro's voice broke, and he swallowed. He lifted both his arms up to hide his face. "Hansel says..."

Gah. Sam didn't fucking care what Hansel said.

IZZY

Sam shifted away from Goro and looked to the opposite wall glumly.

LINA

Goro rolled the other way and curled up. His wrist was close to his face already, so he bit down on his bracelet. He chewed it fiercely for a while, shoulders shaking with the effort of holding himself together.

IZZY

"We'll be back in Freeport before long," Sam said softly, after a moment. He rolled onto his side, with his back to Goro, giving a small pained grunt and dragging a pillow down to brace it against his ribs. "You can see him soon."

LINA

"I'm fine without him," Goro said defensively. "Made it thirty-two years without him."

How, though? How?

He went back to chewing.

IZZY

Sam closed his eyes and mumbled, "Who fucking wants to, though."

LINA

Goro paused for a second. It wasn't too profound, or anything; seemed kinda obvious. But it reminded him of how people got on his case for eating boring food. You could always live another day on nothing but bread, but everyone wanted him to have pie with whipped cream.

Hansel was always saying he wanted Goro to enjoy himself. That there was more to life than just surviving.

Goro felt one of his near-painful surges of affection for Hansel. "Yeah. Yeah. Not me."

He thought about telling Sam about valerian tincture. Didn't think he wanted to talk any more just yet, though. He lay quietly for a few minutes, thinking.

He felt guilty for snapping at Sam and rolling away. Sam had just tried to be honest with him. Wasn't his fault Goro didn't like what he said.

"Um," he began. Took him a moment to get to the rest. "This... this is too hard for me. 'Cause, uh. I know I'm not easy to like. I know what people fucking think of me. And it's not like I fuckin' blame 'em, right? But my stupid ass, I keep trying to get to know people, anyway." He swallowed. "I like talking to people, and trying to help them, and stuff. Sometimes, works out really well. I got a family now. That all happened in the last year. Good stuff can happen. I got proof of that."

.

He bit down on one of the beads in the bracelet, sinking his canine into the wood.

"But lotsa times... nah, doesn't work. I just freak people out, or piss 'em off." Amari told him he did that last part on purpose, to cut to the chase, see what people really thought of him. He didn't think she was wrong. But if anything, it just proved his point.

"Lots of times, I can just brush it off. They were assholes, I wouldn't wanna know 'em anyway. But if it's someone I think is really... cool and interesting, like you? Then it's really hard." Goro made another half-laugh, half sob sound, putting a hand over his face. "God. I sound like a fucking dumbass. A dumb little kid."

There, he'd been honest. Didn't feel any better for it. He felt like throwing up.

IZZY

Sam was quiet for a moment.

"Oh," he said. He paused again. "That's a lot. Of things to say."

LINA

"The fuck's that supposed to mean?"

IZZY

"I mean." He shifted onto his back again to look up at the ceiling, and started counting off his points on his fingers, starting with the thumb. "I mean, I don't think you sound like a fucking dumbass. For one. Any time ... almost any time I've tried to be friends with someone, it's gone fucking bad and wrong somehow, and yeah, look at me -- clearly I've also just decided, fuck'em. I mean that I get it. It's easier to decide that. It hurts less.

"And -- yeah, you did piss me off, and freak me out. I don't know if that's your fault, though. Everyone pisses me off and freaks me out. That's why I fucking ... don't talk to them." He hesitated. "Aziz said I should try to give people the benefit of the doubt. And I think you're ... trying. Or you were. I don't know. Are you still? What do you mean, it's too hard for you? Should I stop, and fuck off? Do you want me to leave you alone?"

He sounded wary, and confused, and disappointed.

LINA

Goro started nibbling his bracelet again. "Iuno."

He did, kind of. He'd had more he was gonna say, but...

IZZY

After a beat, Sam quietly said, "Okay," and rolled back over.

LINA

"Why do you even care?" Goro asked. He didn't wait for an answer. "What, you're just gonna fucking take me 'cause I'm the first person to try in a while? 'Cause Aziz said so?"

IZZY

"You're not the first person to try in a while," Sam muttered.

LINA

"Then why bother with me?"

IZZY

He shrugged, which Goro couldn't see, so he reluctantly said, "You're interesting. You're sharp. And you're like me. I don't know."

LINA

Goro frowned to himself and kept gnawing on the bracelet. He guessed it was a start.

"Hansel said--" What Hansel said mattered, damn it. Hansel meant everything to him. "Hansel said maybe there's people who aren't worth my time. I'm not saying you're not. I dunno if you are. But I think--"

He had to pause to catch his breath. This was real fucking hard, admitting that he deserved something. Still didn't feel quite right, like a shirt that didn't fit, or something. But he imagined Hansel sitting nearby, nodding along with what he said.

"I think if I'm gonna try and be friends with someone, they should treat me in a way that makes me feel better about myself. Not worse. That's all."

IZZY

"Okay," Sam said again, sounding puzzled.

LINA

"So--I--you've been real nice to me tonight. And I guess that makes me wanna keep trying. But if it's just 'cause I'm hurt, or whatever, and once I'm on my own two feet again you're gonna turn around and look at me like I'm a nasty dog that won't stop following you around, then no. Fuck you."

IZZY

"What?" he said incredulously, then muttered some assorted the fuck do you mean, what're you talking about under his breath, and hissed through his teeth and shoved himself up out of the bed to shamble over to the other side of the room, holding his ribs and still muttering.

LINA

Goro lowered the bracelet and rolled onto his back, frowning at Sam.

IZZY

He dropped down in the furthest corner, facing the wall with his legs crossed, crossed his arms around himself, and leaned his forehead into the corner, grumbling to himself incoherently.

LINA

"The hell you doing?"

IZZY

"Fucking off and leaving you alone," he grumbled. "Apparently I can't even fucking look at you without doing it wrong, so fuck me."

LINA

Goro rested his head and stared at the ceiling, puzzled.

"Hey. You like Mishka, right?"

IZZY

He grunted in a vaguely affirmative way.

LINA

"Why?"

IZZY

He grunted again, which was not helpful, then after a beat, more softly, said, "I don't know. He's fucking nice to me. Makes me laugh."

LINA

"You never had anyone else do that? All the people who tried to be friends with you?"

IZZY

Sam just made a frustrated sound.

LINA

"Ain't I nice to you?" Goro asked, genuinely not sure. Nice was fucking hard.

IZZY

"Sometimes," he muttered.

LINA

"Not enough?"

IZZY

"No. Plenty. I didn't say that I didn't fucking like you."

LINA

Goro lifted his head, scowling. "Yes you did."

IZZY

"No, I fucking didn't!"

LINA

Goro dropped his head again and pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. "Wait."

IZZY

Sam, who was not in the process of doing anything, continued not doing anything.

LINA

"So you... like me?"

IZZY

"What? Yes. What the fuck? I just fucking said --." He devolved into muttering again.

LINA

Goro pushed up onto one elbow, just about yelling now. "You fucking sat across from me in that booth at the inn and told me you didn't like anyone, and you didn't fucking mention me as an exception."

IZZY

"Well, I'm fucking trying!" Sam yelled back, without moving. "I can't change my fucking mind?"

LINA

Goro laid back down. Son of a bitch. This was real fucking weird.

He was quiet for a minute. Then he said, softly, "You really like me?"

IZZY

"Fucking unfortunately," he muttered.

LINA

"Like, really?"

IZZY

"What the fuck do you want?" Sam snapped.

LINA

"I wanna know if you really like me," Goro said meekly.

IZZY

"I said I did!"

LINA

"Yeah, but. Sometimes people just say shit."

IZZY

Sam groaned.

LINA

Goro started chewing his bracelet again.

IZZY

Sam stayed hunched and curled up in his corner.

LINA

Goro curled up and rolled back toward the wall.

IZZY

Sam made a quiet snuffling sound. After a moment, there was the faint smell of smoke.

LINA

Goro's good eye flew open and he sat up, rolling himself over. He worried the ship might be on fire, but nope.

"Sam?"

IZZY

Sam didn't respond. His arms were still wrapped tightly around himself, and his back was still turned. He was clearly trying to be quiet.

LINA

"Sam." Goro sat up all the way and climbed off the bed. He limped closer, stopping just outside an arm's length away. "Buddy. What's going on?"

IZZY

He made an mmf sound.

LINA

Goro took a step closer. He reached out tentatively, the heat giving him pause. He touched his fingers briefly to Sam's shoulder, like he was checking a hot stove.

IZZY

He was warm, like he had a high fever. He flinched at the touch and mumbled, "What."

LINA

"You're, uh. You're smoking."

IZZY

He grunted again. "Yeah."

LINA

"You gonna catch on fire?"

IZZY

He sniffed once and swallowed. "No."

LINA

Goro hesitated, then lowered himself slowly onto the floor, wincing as he avoided his bad knee. He put his hand on Sam's shoulder again, settling it there this time, waiting to see what he'd do.

IZZY

He didn't shake Goro off, but shifted in place like he was uncomfortable. "It's fine," he said through his teeth. "I'm not going to burn anything down."

LINA

Goro ignored him. He scooted closer and rested his other hand on Sam's back.

IZZY

He shifted again, more this time, and finally looked at Goro with clear distrust. "What are you doing?"

LINA

"Um." Goro blinked in surprise at Sam looking at him, and fought the urge to pull away. Instead of trying to explain, he just demonstrated. He moved his hand slowly at first, then more confidently. Rubbing it in big circles on Sam's back.

IZZY

Sam kept looking at him, scrutinizing him suspiciously. He swallowed again, and smoked a little less.

LINA

Goro kept rubbing his back. He scooted closer, close enough to rest his head on Sam's shoulder. Then he moved in to do exactly that, going slow as hell, watching Sam the whole time to see if he'd object.

IZZY

Sam watched him back, wary, and didn't object.

He sniffed again, and relaxed a little more -- his arms still wrapped around himself, but not as tightly.

LINA

Goro relaxed more, too, when he felt Sam relax. He settled against him carefully, mindful of their fucked-up ribs. Kept rubbing Sam's back.

IZZY

The smoke dissipated. After a little bit, Sam weakly said, "I don't ... fucking understand any interaction we've ever fucking had."

LINA

"Nah? Well, uh. This one's me trying to make you feel better."

IZZY

He made another mmf sound and mumbled, "Okay."

LINA

"Is it working?"

IZZY

He nodded.

LINA

Goro let out a little relieved breath. "D'you wanna... um... come back to the bed, maybe?" 'Cause Goro sure as hell wanted to go back there.

IZZY

"Do you want me to?"

LINA

"Yeah."

IZZY

He hesitated, and slowly asked, "Why."

LINA

"'Cause it's more comfortable there."

IZZY

"Then you can ..." He stopped himself and tried again. "I don't ..." He scrubbed a hand over his face in frustration. "All right. Okay."

LINA

Goro scooted away enough that he could climb to his feet. He staggered a little, but still offered Sam a hand up.

IZZY

Sam didn't take it, pulling himself up and holding his ribs with the other hand. "Don't fucking hurt yourself worse," he grumbled.

LINA

"Psh, you neither, pal." Goro paused a second, then made his way back to the bed, watching to make sure Sam followed.

IZZY

He did, shuffling along uncertainly.

LINA

Goro climbed onto the bed and scooted to the far side. He held his arms open like he expected Sam to hop into them.

IZZY

Sam stared at him, lost. "What."

LINA

Goro pulled his arms in, curling them against his chest.

IZZY

Sam kept staring at him for a moment, then slumped into the bed and edged closer to Goro, still looking at him warily.

LINA

Goro stared back, holding perfectly still.

IZZY

Sam spread his arms slightly, mimicking what Goro had done. "What's this supposed to mean."

LINA

"Um. Thought we were gonna... like, cuddle."

IZZY

He squinted.

LINA

Goro scooted a little further toward the edge.

IZZY

Sam made a disappointed mm sound and reached for Goro's hand, still looking confused.

LINA

Goro reached back, meeting his hand halfway. "Uh. You want me to keep rubbing your back?"

IZZY

"I don't know. Maybe." He shook his head and glanced down at their hands, then blurted out, "I don't -- are we good? I don't ... understand. I thought you were -- just done with me."

LINA

"Um. No? I just... I thought you didn't like me."

IZZY

"But I showed up," he protested weakly. "I've been here. Helping, and shit. Trying to ... I don't know. I know I was shitty before, because that's what I'm fucking like, but I'm trying to ... prove ... shit."

LINA

Goro listened quietly, and his face fell a little. He wasn't quite sure what he was feeling. Sympathy, or... guilty for not getting it sooner, or...

God, Sam was so much like him. Fucking sucked.

Goro scooted in closer, letting go of Sam's hand to put an arm around his waist.

IZZY

Sam hesitantly did the same. He edged back to lean against the headboard.

LINA

Goro went in a little too eagerly then, wanting to hug; then pulled back, remembering Sam's cracked ribs. "Ah. Sorry." He tried it again, more carefully.

IZZY

He twitched and tensed at first, but relaxed when Goro pulled back and tried again, mumbling, "S'fine."

LINA

Goro settled against Sam's chest, both arms wrapped around him, and closed his eyes.

IZZY

Sam just sat there for a bit, his arm around Goro, blinking at the wall, slightly dazed.

Then he slouched down to get more comfortable, wincing a little until he found a good position, and settled his other arm around Goro.

LINA

The warm weight of Sam's arm was so nice. Goro was fucking wiped already, and it made him feel drowsy. He relaxed even deeper, and his breathing slowed.

He started to drift off, then jerked, yelping in surprise when he realized the person he was lying against wasn't familiar.

"Ah, ah, sorry." His heart was racing, and he flushed. "I, uh. I do that a lot, when I start to fall asleep. Sorry."

IZZY

Sam jerked, more when Goro yelped and said something than when he jerked himself. "What? What. Do what."

LINA

"Um." Goro rubbed his eye with the heel of his hand. "I... jump, like that. Get startled." He swallowed. "Sleeping on the streets, and all." Though apparently, Sam still fucking did that? Goro wasn't clear.

IZZY

"Oh. Yeah, no." The alarm faded from Sam's voice. "That's fine. Don't worry about it."

LINA

Goro was quiet for a moment, then added, "This one time I was sharing a bed with a guy--didn't really know him, just found the same bed. And he stabbed me while I was sleeping. Almost killed me."

He said it like that was the reason. Like he'd been a sound sleeper before that. 'Cause he was worried now he sounded like a coward for being fucked up just from sleeping on the street, when Sam still did that all the time. (Maybe? Maybe.)

He'd just been afraid of people stealing shit from him, before that. Not hurting him for no reason.

IZZY

"Motherfucker," Sam commented mildly.

LINA

"Dunno what happened to him," Goro said. "I didn't try to fight him, or anything. I just ran."

IZZY

Sam didn't say anything for a moment. "I met my friend Corinne when I was still pretty young. So we looked out for each other. I got lucky that way, at least."

LINA

Goro didn't know what to say to that. Maybe it was luck. One long stretch of it. Goro'd had people who looked out for him from time to time, but they always died or disappeared or just found a better gang.

And then, Sam had lost Corinne. That seemed like it'd hurt worse, losing someone after a long time, instead of a few weeks.

"How'd... how'd she die?"

IZZY

"There was a fire," Sam said quietly.

LINA

"Oh," Goro said, just as quietly.

IZZY

Sam didn't say anything. He absently ran his fingers up and down on Goro's shoulder.

LINA

Goro shivered pleasantly. He shifted to snuggle closer, like he wasn't already laying on Sam's chest.

IZZY

Sam stopped, startled. "Uh. Is that ... good."

LINA

"Mhm."

IZZY

He started doing it again.

LINA

Goro was getting drowsy again. He wasn't sure he wanted to fall asleep, though. Might be weird.

Sam, though. He bet Sam missed Aziz.

"You can go to sleep if you want," Goro offered. "So you can see him."

IZZY

"Mm." He shook his head. "I have to keep alert. People don't like it when you kill their crew and steal their ship."

LINA

"Let me," Goro said. "I bet I got better hearing than you, anyway."

IZZY

"You need to rest. You almost fucking died," Sam reminded him. "Fucking druid."

LINA

"Yeah, but. I'm not gonna be able to fall asleep anyway. 'Cause of the--" He pretended to jerk again, then regretted it, since it felt like hell on his ribs. Dumbass.

IZZY

He considered this, and a little hesitantly, asked, "Hansel helps you sleep?"

LINA

Goro wiggled a little under Sam's arm. "Yeah."

IZZY

"Can I?"

LINA

"Um. How?" Goro got the weirdest image of Sam pulling out a mask like Mishka's and popping it on, turning himself into Hansel.

IZZY

"I don't know, that's what I'm asking. I mean. I assume there's shit he does that you wouldn't want me to do," he said awkwardly. "But. If there's something I can do."

LINA

"Um. I dunno. He..." Was Hansel. "He just makes me feel safe. It... took a while, even with him. I mean, I slept. I always slept, in my life, obviously. Just--badly, and sometimes skipping a few nights, but. Anyway, same with him, the first couple months. Was hard to get used to someone else in my bed. But it just... got easier, and then I started sleeping deeper, and I didn't even know what the hell was going on there at first, 'cause I'd never had a good night's sleep. But once I got to know him real well, I just felt safe. I never felt safe before."

Goro realized he'd been talking for a long time, and he turned sheepish. "Probably more than you wanted to know."

IZZY

"Sounds nice," Sam said softly, and cleared his throat after a beat. "Sorry I can't help, then. Uh. You'll wake me up if something happens, right? If I do fall asleep. Don't try to take care of it by yourself."

LINA

"Promise." Goro held his hand up, sticking his pinky out.

IZZY

Sam gave a little pfff and hooked his pinky around Goro's. "All right."

LINA

"Anything I can do to help you sleep? Other than." Goro lifted his head and scowled at him. "That thing the other night."

IZZY

He looked a little sheepish. "I'll be fine."

LINA

"Psh." Goro laid his head back down. "Maybe just... me being here'll help. Some people, I heard it does. Having someone to lie down with."

IZZY

"Yeah," he said lowly. "It does. Used to. With Corinne."

He already sounded sleepy.

LINA

"Well," Goro said, more softly, "good."

He reached up and started to gently pet Sam's hair back from his face. Sometimes that helped, too.

IZZY

Sam made a quiet, pleased sound as his eyes drifted closed.

LINA

Goro kept petting Sam's hair until he'd fallen asleep--twitching lightly, breathing deep and even--and kept doing it after, too.

He propped his chin on Sam's chest and just looked at him for a while. Gave him weird squirmy feelings in his chest, being this close to someone he didn't know well. But he just... really fucking liked being close to people, sometimes. That was something he didn't get about himself. He wanted the whole world to stay a good ten feet away from him, usually, until his craving to hold someone got too strong. And then he guessed he'd settle for the likes of this insanely strong bounty hunter who was using him to help bring a demon into the world. Or a criminal overlord he'd met--once? Twice? Goro didn't know how long he'd actually known Morgan when he hooked up with her, since he was pretty sure some of the times had been Blue.

Anyway.

He didn't feel scared, lying here with Sam. Didn't feel safe, either. But he felt comfortable. And a little nervous. Motherfucker, shit was complicated.

Sam had a really good face, and Goro liked looking at it. Just examining the shape of it, the fine lines on his skin, the tangles in his beard. The braids in his hair. Goro wondered why Sam kept it so long, when it didn't seem like he took much good care of it.

Maybe Aziz liked it that way.

After some time had passed, there was a knock on the cabin door.

IZZY

Sam jolted awake instantly.

His quarterstaff was in his hand from nowhere, and he'd shifted to push Goro under him, sort of crouching over him with his free hand on Goro's chest and his staff and eyes pointed towards the door.

"What?" he barked.

A little timidly, a voice answered back, "We're 'bout at Freeport, sir. Thought ... thought you'd wanna know."

Sam stayed tense for a beat, then slowly relaxed, blinking a couple times as the initial burst of adrenaline dulled. He looked down at Goro and awkwardly moved off of him.

LINA

Goro stared up at Sam wide-eyed, his lips parted, while Sam crouched over him.

Oh, fuck yeah. Sam could shove him around all he wanted. That was neat.

God, he was so... strong, and cool, and hot...

Goro licked his lips and swallowed. Alright, time to fucking settle down. Sam wasn't into it. It was fine. They could still cuddle.

Goro grabbed lightly at Sam's sleeve as he started to move off. "Good nap?"

IZZY

Sam rested cross-legged beside Goro, not going far. His dismissed his staff again and blinked again, looking slightly disoriented from the abrupt waking. "Yeah. Good."

LINA

"Are you immortal?"

IZZY

"What?"

LINA

"You're so fucking strong." Goro tried to keep the dreaminess out of his voice, but wasn't sure he succeeded. "I never seen anyone who can take hits like you. You took down most of a pirate ship by yourself. I mean, do you ever get knocked out?"

IZZY

Sam blinked at him again. "I mean. Yeah. Sometimes. I guess."

LINA

"You guess? Usually people know."

IZZY

He scratched at his beard awkwardly. "It's been a while, that's all."

LINA

"Yeah huh. 'Cause you're all immortal and shit now, I bet." Goro edged closer, eyeing Sam's lap.

IZZY

"Nah." He sounded doubtful.

LINA

Goro slowly climbed into Sam's lap, watching him intently to make sure it was alright.

IZZY

Sam blinked and didn't seem to know how to react to this.

LINA

Goro curled up, arms around Sam's waist, and rested his head on Sam's shoulder, still eyeing him warily. "This okay?"

IZZY

"I ... guess."

He mostly seemed puzzled. He hesitantly put an arm around Goro's shoulders.

LINA

"I need a lot of touching," Goro explained confidently. "More than most people. S'fine if you don't wanna, though. My friend Morgan, she thought it was weird that I cuddled her on the first date."

IZZY

"Nah. Nah, it's ... fine." He shifted back so he could lean on the headboard again, careful to not jostle Goro. "I'm just not, uh. Not used to it."

(He used to cuddle with Corinne. That'd stopped, though.)

LINA

"Did you have a good dream?" Goro asked.

IZZY

"Yeah," he said, after a second. "Just ... got some sleep. I sleep better when it feels like he's there."

LINA

"Mm," Goro said, kind of sadly. "How often do you... have trouble? Insomnia."

IZZY

He shrugged. "It depends."

LINA

"On what?"

IZZY

"Eh." He thought for a moment. "You know. If I don't stay busy, I don't tire myself out. If I sleep too much for a bit, then I can't sleep at all for a while. Or I'll just ... sleep a little bit, here and there, but not really rest. Or if I'm ... too busy, and stressed out ..." He trailed off, and shrugged. "So a lot, I guess. Most weeks there's something."

LINA

"Mm." Goro shifted his arms to squeeze him a little better, but not so much it'd hurt their ribcages. "You ever hear of valerian tincture?"

IZZY

"Yeah. I've tried it."

LINA

"No luck?"

IZZY

"Eh. Sometimes. It's not really strong enough." He hesitated. "I use White Sky sometimes. When I need it."

LINA

"Ah. Jeez. That shit's bad for you." Goro frowned. "Use more valerian instead. You're a big fuckin' guy."

IZZY

"I know it's bad for me," he muttered.

LINA

"Yeah. Listen. That's the shitty part of having friends. They start telling you to stop doing things that aren't good for you. Annoying as hell."

IZZY

"Look, Aziz doesn't like it either. I know. But it works. It's reliable. All right?"

LINA

"Do what you want. I ain't your fuckin' dad." But after a second he added, "You know it can kill you, right?"

IZZY

"Not if I'm immortal," Sam said dryly.

LINA

"You got me there."

IZZY

"Yeah." He paused, and more seriously, said, "I know. I'm sure me and you grew up seeing the same shit. I wouldn't've ever fucking touched the shit, but." He shrugged.

LINA

"You do what you gotta do. Yeah." Goro paused. "Put my poor healer's mind at ease, though. You sleep on your side when you take it?"

IZZY

"Yeah."

LINA

"Okay. Good." Goro repositioned his head more comfortably. He managed to be quiet for about thirty seconds, then said, "I really think you should try using more tincture, though."

IZZY

"I'll give it a shot," he said, a bit wearily.

LINA

"I know. You do what you gotta do," Goro said again.

He couldn't imagine anything much fucking worse than only being able to see Hansel when he slept, then not being able to fall asleep. Having the thing he wanted most dangled just out of his reach. Fucking horrible. He turned his face against Sam, almost nuzzling him but not quite.

IZZY

Sam petted Goro's shoulder awkwardly.

The ship creaked around them and there were groaning sounds as the anchor was lowered, dragging them to a stop.

"We must be back to Freeport," Sam said, but didn't move to get up.

LINA

"Mm." Goro slid off Sam, rolling to the edge of the bed and standing up. He wavered, either from the sway of the boat coming to a stop or from all his motherfucking injuries. "I want off this damn thing. You coming to the inn with me? My stepdaughter'll patch you up. I mean, almost stepdaughter."

IZZY

He hesitated. "Sure. I'm not getting back to Skyport tonight anyway."

LINA

Goro held out a hand to help him up.

IZZY

Sam pushed himself up, commenting, "I swear to god. You know you're too scrawny to drag me around, right?"

He offered Goro his arm.

LINA

"I'm stronger than I look," Goro lied, taking Sam's arm.

IZZY

"Wouldn't take much." Sam supported him out the door.

The pirates clumped around their captain, fearful and staring without trying to look like it. The captain himself was the only one looking steely, gripping his spear.

He didn't say anything, and Sam didn't either, just helped Goro towards the gangplank.

LINA

Goro pulled against him, stopping to scowl at the remaining pirates. "You fuckers learn your lesson, or do you gotta get introduced to my boyfriend's trident, too?"

It occurred to him that from the looks of things, they probably thought he meant Sam. Like Sam had a trident hidden somewhere.

IZZY

The little handful of crewmen clustered behind their captain tighter. He swallowed visibly. "We learned. Leave ye alone."

LINA

"You run into any other clerics who can raise the dead, you keep your fucking paws off them, too, you hear me?" he spat. "We all know each other." Mainly, he was just trying to cover Luci's ass, but Goro sure didn't know anyone besides him and her who could pull off that spell.

IZZY

The captain nodded eagerly, eyes flicking towards the gangplank.

LINA

"What are you looking at?"

IZZY

The crewmen clumped together more, hiding behind their captain, who stammered.

Sam was amused. "Shit, killer. Let them live. Let's go."

LINA

Goro shot them a few more glares as he let Sam lead him over the gangplank.

"Fuckers," he muttered. "Breaking my fucking hands."

IZZY

Sam limped along with Goro, towards the inn. "Your partner's kid can get you set up, right?"

LINA

"Yeah. So what? They shouldn't've fucking done it."

IZZY

"Yeah. Just making sure "

LINA

They weren't far from the inn. Goro could see it up ahead, windows glowing in the dark. But god, it just didn't seem to get any closer. Like a mirage in the fucking desert, and he was dying of thirst.

He pulled away from Sam and staggered to the edge of the wharf, just so he'd be out of the way of other people walking by. He collapsed somewhat gracefully, managing not to hurt himself worse. "You go. Find Hansel. He can come carry me."

IZZY

"Hey, hey." Sam scowled, going after him. "Fuck you. Come here. We're almost there, all right?"

LINA

"You'll go faster not having to hold me up. Git." Goro flapped a hand at him.

IZZY

Sam narrowed his eyes. "Fine. I'm finding Mishka, though. He can tell your boyfriend and I'll get out of the way. Big motherfucker would probably maim me and at this point I'm not up to fighting him off," he muttered.

LINA

"No. You gotta stick around so Luci can heal you. Motherfucker. Don't you dare."

IZZY

Sam scowled again and summoned his staff back to his hand so he could use it as a walking stick.

LINA

"Sam. Sam." Goro struggled upright again. In his rush to get on his feet, he lost his balance and pitched right off the side of the dock, managing a fuck just before he hit the water.

IZZY

"Motherfucker!"

Sam leaped after Goro. He dropped his staff, not having enough time to dismiss it, throwing one hand out to just catch Goro's robes. He tried to get purchase on the dock with his other hand, but his palm scraped against it and off it, and he hit the water right after. He managed to loop his arm around Goro's waist, though, and kick towards the surface, coming up spitting water and sputtering.

LINA

"Augh." Goro coughed and spat once they broke the surface. "Hey. Hey." He coughed again. "I can swim, okay. Y'didn't have to come in."

IZZY

Sam just sort of growled, kicking in the water and dragging Goro back closer to the docks.

LINA

"Hey," Goro tried again, weakly. He snorted and spat.

IZZY

Grunting, Sam reached up towards the dock. A couple of people -- a tall blue dragonborn woman and an alarmed tabaxi man -- had come over, and knelt down to reach to help them. Sam tried to push Goro up ahead of him.

LINA

"Hey," Goro said, as they grabbed his arms to pull him out of the water. "Hey, keep your hands to yourself." He didn't think they heard him over the sloshing water and their own concerned questions. "Get him. Get Sam." Once he was on the dock again, he crawled a couple feet away and coughed some more. Just great, coughing with broken ribs. Great feeling.

IZZY

The tabaxi kept his eyes on Goro while the dragonborn tried to help Sam, who growled and grumbled and climbed out by himself, then coughed and heaved over the edge of the dock a couple time, holding his ribs tight. The pair of them seemed to recognize that the direly injured men who'd just fell into the water didn't actually want help for some reason, though, and wandered off.

Sam spat up more seawater. He reached out for his staff, and it dragged itself across the dock and into his hand.

LINA

"Sorry," Goro muttered, climbing to his feet again--more carefully this time. "Like I said, I can swim. Just for future reference."

IZZY

He coughed a couple more times, weakly. "Just be more fucking careful."

LINA

"That's what everyone tells me." Goro started for the inn, all but dragging the foot of his bad leg.

IZZY

Sam pushed himself up with the staff and caught up, shoving his shoulder under Goro's arm to help him, grumbling, "Maybe you should fucking listen."

LINA

"It's not like I try to get hurt."

IZZY

"Yeah, well."

LINA

They hobbled the rest of the way to the inn and entered into the dining room. Goro took in the sight of the stairs, knowing they had two flights to go, and whimpered. He slumped against Sam. Both of them were still dripping seawater on the floor.

IZZY

"I got you," Sam said lowly. He shifted to take on more of Goro's weight, and beelined for the booth nearest the stairs. A nervous-looking waiter was staring at them, and Sam jerked his head at the boy as he lowered Goro down into the booth. "Hey. What's your room number? Hansel's room. If he's there."

LINA

"306." Goro pawed at Sam's shirt. "You're not leaving, are you?" He knew he'd told Sam to go ahead before, but...

IZZY

"No." He stayed standing, though. When the timid waiter came over, he shortly said, "Listen. I need you to go to room 306, and whoever's there, bring them down. Tell them Goro's ..." He hesitated and looked to Goro to finish the thought.

LINA

"Hurt," Goro said. "Can't climb the stairs."

The waiter nodded, and took off to deliver the message.

Goro glanced nervously at Sam. He'd pinched some of Sam's shirt between his fingers and thumb, but he let it go now. Being back on land, back in the familiar setting of the inn, made everything that'd happened on the ship feel kind of dream-like. Goro had... cuddled with him, and sat in his lap. Sounded nuts. He wondered, absurdly, if they were allowed to keep touching.

"Um," he said. "D'you, um..."

IZZY

Sam looked down at him wearily, still standing next to him and leaning on his staff. "What?"

LINA

"Are you sure you wanna, um." Goro looked down at his hands, embarrassed.

IZZY

Sam kept just looking at him, waiting.

LINA

"D'you really wanna be friends with me, or."

IZZY

"Oh my god," Sam said tiredly.

LINA

Goro kept looking at his hands.

IZZY

"Listen." He glanced at the stairs, and around the room, and anywhere except at Goro. "Can you just. Until further notice. Assume that the answer is yes. So I don't have to keep saying it." Finally he did look at Goro, guarded and wary. "Because that isn't fucking easy for me to say, all right? Gives me the ... fucking jitters."

LINA

"Okay," Goro said quietly, a little ashamed.

IZZY

Sam stood there for a second, looking uncomfortable, then leaned his hip against the table so he could reach and offer Goro his hand -- not up, just to hold.

LINA

Goro's eyes darted to Sam's hand, and he took it eagerly.

"D'you wanna sit down? Plenty of room."

IZZY

He shook his head. "I'm not getting between you and Hansel."

LINA

"Here." Goro leaned his free arm heavily on the table and scooted out of the booth, shoving himself to his feet. He motioned for Sam to sit on the inside.

IZZY

"No, hey, hey -- fucking sit down."

LINA

"You sit down."

IZZY

He pushed Goro back into the booth.

LINA

"Hey. Motherfucker. Sit the fuck down!"

IZZY

He scowled and started to say something, but stopped as he glanced towards the stairs again, and took a half step back.

Hansel was there in very nearly the exact same moment. He glared daggers at Sam, who let go of Goro's hand entirely and took another step back as Hansel dropped into the booth next to Goro, looking him over frantically and touching his face, his side, his hands -- Hansel's own hands already glowing green-gold with reflexive healing magic.

"What happened?" he demanded, shooting another look at Sam before frowning over Goro. "Are you -- what --?"

LINA

Goro fumbled his way onto Hansel's lap, or at least as much of the way as he could get--wasn't a whole lot of room in the booth. He hid his face in the crook of Hansel's neck and breathed him in, the familiar and comforting smell cut somewhat by the seawater stench still in his nostrils.

"Pirates took me," he mumbled.

IZZY

"What the fuck," Hansel said. "What the fuck." He wrapped around Goro and squeezed him, haltingly after having seen the blood on his robes. "Fuckin' -- fuckin' Jones --?"

LINA

"Ah, ah, ribs," Goro groaned. "Nn-nn. Not Jones. Some... some ship called the Cursed Thunder. They heard a rumor." He curled against Hansel tighter, sliding his face down to Hansel's chest. "Cleric who could raise the dead. Told me I was gonna work for them."

He realized suddenly that in his relief to be near Hansel again, he'd kind of forgot about Sam. He jerked his head up, looking to make sure Sam was still there.

IZZY

"Fuckers," Hansel growled, running his hands over Goro just to be doing something, since he couldn't squeeze. The glow of his healing had already faded. He made to rest his lips against Goro's hair, and had to move back abruptly when Goro's head popped back up.

Sam had backed away a couple paces and was looking in another direction awkwardly.

LINA

"All outta fucking magic," Goro continued. "Sam saved me. I called him with the sending stone."

IZZY

Hansel looked over his shoulder and blinked at Sam, still trying to find some kind of hold on Goro that was satisfying. "Really?"

Sam shrugged.

LINA

"I just asked him if he could get a message to you and Mishka, but he came himself. Murdered half the fucking crew. Commandeered the ship." Goro wasn't sure that was the right word, but he figured Hansel would get the gist.

IZZY

"Shit," Hansel said.

Sam shrugged again.

"You didn't hafta ..." He trailed off. "I mean, fuck. Thanks." He settled into one position, finally, with an arm careful around Goro's waist and the other up his back to curl a hand in his wet hair. "I mean. Contract, I guess," he said reluctantly. "S'pose you did hafta."

Sam didn't say anything for a beat, then said, "Yeah."

"Well ... I mean, still. Thank you. Really." He buried his face in Goro's hair anyway, nuzzling against him and rocking him, a little.

LINA

"We're friends now," Goro explained. "We cuddled a little."

IZZY

Hansel made a quizzical sound against Goro's hair.

Sam scoffed.

LINA

"Don't worry, it wasn't as good as cuddling you."

IZZY

Hansel snorted. He lifted his face up to run his hand through Goro's hair. "Someone hit you on the head, ahuv? Shit, never mind." He kissed Goro's forehead and started to slide out of the booth, holding onto Goro carefully. "I'm gettin' you to Luci."

Sam backed off another step.

LINA

"I mean. Yeah." Goro pulled back to indicate his busted-up eye. "Sam, too. Luci can pray over us both."

IZZY

"S'pose," Hansel said doubtfully, glancing at the way Sam was slowly backing off. He hefted Goro up bridal style.

Sam offered a noncommittal grumble.

LINA

"Mmm." Goro rested his eyes, relieved he didn't have to walk anymore. Too bad Hansel wasn't strong enough to get them both. "Sam. You're coming, right?"

IZZY

"Ehhh. I'm fine," Sam muttered. "I can take care of myself."

"My kid's a real good healer," Hansel offered. "You ain't gotta."

He still looked shifty.

LINA

Goro lifted his head and gave Sam a shocked, almost betrayed look.

IZZY

Sam looked away and hunched his shoulders a bit, grumbling. He dragged a boot closer again, and Hansel watched him as he started for the stairs, slowly.

Sam followed.

Luci had a room on the third floor, as well, though hers had a window, which she'd left open to let the night air in. When Hansel tapped a knuckle against the door, she called yes? and he tried to knob. She was straightening from the chair she was curled up in with a book, but froze and blinked.

"I thought you were room service," she said.

"Nah," Hansel said, a little guiltily. "Some fuckin' pirates heard Goro could raise the dead, tried to make'im work for'em."

She frowned deeply and stood, straightening her robes. She noticed Sam, then, and stopped. Looking straight at him, she asked, "Who is this."

LINA

"My friend Sam," Goro said. He pointed at the open window incredulously. "Do you sleep with that thing open?"

IZZY

Luci squinted at him. "You have strange priorities. No."

She angled her head at the tightly-made bed and started pulling her hair up. Hansel carried Goro over and set him down gently, looking back at Sam and nodding for him to join. Sam continued to look uncomfortable about it, but came over to stand next to the bed. Luci sized him up.

"You should sit down," she said.

"I'm fine standing."

"You should sit down," she repeated, more threateningly.

He stared at her for a second, then sat down. She made a quiet pleased sound.

LINA

"Figured you could get us both. A one-and-done. Prayer of healing kinda shit." Goro started pointing to his various injuries. "The shiner probably looks bad, but I don't give a fuck." He could tell Hansel had already cut down on some of the swelling, though. Fuckin' adorable. Of course he poured his magic into the most worrying-looking thing. "Ribs are what hurt the worst, and my fingers are all broken, which fucking sucks. You still got magic after that, my knee's busted. Not literally busted, but I can't walk straight. Sammy over there, he's got a couple cracked ribs too, I think. Good luck getting more detail outta him than that."

IZZY

"Hm. Mmhm." She cuffed her sleeves up. "It's late. I'll be resting soon. I have plenty of magic left for the day."

Hansel stepped respectfully out of her way, keeping a hand on one of Goro's shoulders, and she stepped in to put her hands, one each, on Goro and Sam's shoulders. She closed her eyes. Something she had retained from her attempted worship of Eilistraee was a tendency to pray through song, so she hummed quietly, to herself, and red-shot moon-silver magic flowed from her and into Goro and Sam.

It was cooling, like a much-needed icepack, and as her wordless hymn carried on, the magic flooded them and numbed them as it mended their bones and tissues. She was serious about having plenty of magic left. Luci didn't do jobs by half.

She pulled away, pleased with herself, bending slightly to inspect Goro's face. There was still some residual soreness throughout, but he would only need to sleep it off.

LINA

Goro closed his eyes while Luci worked, letting her magic wash over him. Getting bones fixed always kinda sucked, but somehow she took some of the twinge out of it. When she was done, he felt so much better that he was overcome by the urge to hug her. She probably wouldn't like it, though. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, instead.

"Told you she's good," he said to Sam. Then he looked Luci in the eye and said, irritably, "You need to shut that fuckin' window. It's the middle of the goddamn night. Or at least stick a warding glyph on the sill, or something."

IZZY

"We're on the third floor," she said, "and I'm awake. You worry too much about everyone but yourself, you know."

Hansel covered up a laugh with a cough, squeezing Goro's shoulder. Sam looked like he would rather be literally anywhere else; he occupied himself by using prestidigitation to to dry and warm his and Goro's clothes, and Luci's bed where they'd dripped on it.

LINA

Goro's face squinched up in confusion at her remark. He noticed Sam was looking kinda awkward, so he scooted closer to him and put his arms around him, giving him a proper fucking hug now that both their ribcages were fixed.

IZZY

He twitched, clearly startled, but part of that twitch was lifting his arms to sort of hug Goro back.

Luci completely ignored this, addressing Hansel. "Did you see a waiter on your way up?"

"Uh. Mighta interrupted him. I can go talk to the kitchen if y'like?" He glanced at Goro and Sam with a slight frown.

"No, thank you. You can leave, though," she said pointedly. "I was reading."

"Uh, yep." He leaned in to kiss the top of her head lightly and quickly.

By this point Sam was hugging Goro properly.

LINA

"Oh. We gotta go, Sam, she wants us out of here." Goro tapped him on the shoulder and reluctantly disengaged from the hug. He climbed off the bed. "God, I feel amazing. I forgot what it's like to not fucking hurt everywhere."

IZZY

"Make sure you get plenty of sleep," she told him, looking to Sam and adding, "You as well."

"Yeah. I mean. Thanks." Sam had stood up already, quickly.

"You're welcome."

Hansel ushered them both out into the hallway. He laced his fingers between Goro's.

LINA

Once they were out of Luci's room, Goro wasted no time turning to wrap around Hansel, getting in position for a good and proper squeezing. For a second, he imagined Sam hugging him from behind at the same time--getting squeezed on both sides. Fuck, that sounded amazing. Sam probably wouldn't feel too comfortable about a group hug with Hansel, though.

IZZY

Hansel scooped him up immediately and squeezed him hard. Yeah, that was better. That was a relief.

LINA

"Mmmm." Goro nuzzled him, satisfied. He kissed his cheek a few times.

He glanced over at Sam. "Thank you. I mean it. Fucking thank you."

IZZY

Sam had looked off to the side again. He looked tired, even after being healed. "Yeah," he said, a bit too quickly. "No problem."

"You stayin' the night?" Hansel asked, around Goro. "Got a room?"

Sam shrugged.

LINA

"You deserve a bed," Goro told him.

IZZY

"I don't need one," Sam started.

Hansel talked over him. "Lemme cover a room for you. You saved my fuckin' fiance, yeah? I can buy you a goddamn bed."

"I have money," Sam said, sounding slightly insulted.

"Yeah? I don't give a shit."

Sam scoffed.

LINA

Goro hid a grin against Hansel's neck. "It's no use arguing with him, Sam."

IZZY

Sam narrowed his eyes, and Hansel stared back at him.

"Fine," he said grudgingly, after a moment.

Hansel gave a satisfied mm. He kissed Goro's face and hair a couple times and asked, "You wanna come downstairs, or you need to sleep?"

LINA

"I just wanna be wherever you are." Goro held him tighter. He knew he always said he was never gonna let Hansel go, but he felt pretty sure he meant it for real this time.

IZZY

"M'kay," Hansel said, more than happy about it. He nuzzled against Goro's neck for a moment, then made himself stop and put Goro back onto his feet, keeping an arm around his shoulders to hold him close by. He nodded to Sam and down the stairs, and Sam followed along, his arms crossed, still not quite looking at them.

LINA

Psh. Hansel setting him down--that was bullshit. Being able to walk wasn't that great, actually.

Goro kept glancing at Sam, hoping he wasn't too uncomfortable. He elbowed Hansel lightly. "Hey, you know where Mishka's at?"

IZZY

"Uhh. Nah. Was passed out upstairs 'til a few minutes ago," he admitted. "Prob'ly out causin' trouble."

LINA

"Was just thinking maybe he'd wanna see you," Goro said to Sam. "Since you're in town for the night."

IZZY

"Yeah," Sam said, attempting to sound uninterested.

LINA

"I ain't got the magic to call him, obviously, but we can point him your way when he gets back."

IZZY

"That'd be all right," Sam allowed.

"Could ask Luci to Send to him, if she's got magic left," Hansel offered, kind of fucking amused.

Sam scowled. "You don't have to fucking bother him."

Hansel paid for a key and held it out to Sam. It was on the same floor as theirs, other side of the hall like Luci's, with a window. 311. "Think Luci'd be more bothered than Mishka would."

"It's fine."

Hansel gave Goro an I tried look and shrugged.

LINA

"Why you so cranky?" Goro asked, trying to be gentle about it.

IZZY

"I'm tired," he muttered.

"Don't let us keep you, eh?" Hansel said. "Get some dinner an' whiskey or some shit."

LINA

"Yeah, um. Do... d'you need anything else?" Goro asked, bracing himself for Sam to snap at him or grumble or something.

IZZY

Sam shrugged, looking away. He toyed with the key in his hand. "I'm fine," he said quietly.

LINA

Goro glanced at Hansel, giving him a look he hoped said gimme a sec. He stepped toward Sam and held an arm out for a hug.

IZZY

A little reluctantly, Sam stepped in to hug Goro.

LINA

Goro squeezed him really good. The best kind of hug he knew how to give. He rocked them back and forth a little.

IZZY

Sam gripped the back of his robes a bit with one fist.

LINA

"You could come hang out with us a bit," Goro said. Then he realized he'd forgotten to check if that was okay with Hansel. "Uh." He looked back over his shoulder.

IZZY

Hansel shrugged easily. "S'fine. We ain't gonna be entertainin', but I don't mind."

Sam hesitated. He seemed like he really considered it for a moment before shaking his head. "No. I'll -- just get some dinner, yeah. I'm good."

LINA

"'Kay. You change your mind, you know where to find us." Goro gave him one more squeeze, hesitated, then gave him a kiss on the cheek. He let go and stepped back to Hansel's side.

IZZY

Sam tensed up and went warm immediately. He'd dismissed his staff once Luci healed him, and didn't seem to know what to do with his hands once Goro let go, loosely crossing his arms and gripping his own sleeves hard. He glanced between Goro and Hansel, looked away, and briskly said, "Yep," before stalking off.

Hansel waited until he was out of earshot to jostle Goro and go, "Cuddly, eh?"

LINA

Goro threw his arms around Hansel. "Well, I didn't have you, so I had to do something. Nearest big warm guy."

IZZY

Hansel snorted and wrapped Goro up, squeezing him tightly and then hoisting him up to carry him bridal style again. He headed for the stairs.

LINA

Goro grinned and linked his arms around Hansel's shoulders. He kissed him on the cheek. "Hey, you got food upstairs, by chance? Tell you what, those pirates sure as hell didn't feed me."

IZZY

He scowled a bit. "Fuckin' pirates. Cursed Thunder, eh? Never fuckin' heard of'em. They're still in port tomorrow, they ain't gonna have a fucking ship anymore, tell you that much." Then he softened again and kissed Goro's forehead. "Just lucky for them I got more important shit t'do right now. Got a fiance to feed."

LINA

"Sam scared 'em real fuckin' good, but I told 'em if they tried anything else they were gonna meet the end of your trident. Dunno how well it sank in."

IZZY

"Trident'll sink in real fuckin' good," Hansel grumbled.

LINA

Goro snorted and giggled. Then, somewhat suddenly, his smile fell away, and his grip on Hansel tightened.

IZZY

"Hey," Hansel said softly, alarmed. "Hey. I gotcha. What's wrong, ahuv?"

LINA

"Um." God, it just all caught up to him all the sudden. Just like that. Being snatched, having the shit kicked out of him. Running out of magic and being scared and helpless and still trying to fight. Sam, Sam, Sam, everything with Sam. All the fucking weird places and sounds and smells. Now that he was alone with Hansel, it hit him all at once like a sack of bricks.

He didn't know if he had it in him to explain. He tugged his robe up to hide behind. "Need--" A safe spot. A cave. "Bed. Blanket. Hansel." He was hungry, yeah, but it was gonna have to wait.

IZZY

"All right," Hansel said, quickly, quietly. "You're all right, love. Got you."

He shifted a little to shield Goro with his arm, as much as he could, angling Goro into his chest more until he made it upstairs and to their room. He managed to get the knob with one hand and kicked the door back closed behind him, hesitating a taking a second to lock it. Was just gonna have to get back up and lock it, anyway, and he didn't wanna leave Goro by himself. Goro needed hugs. Shit, Hansel needed to hug him -- didn't like to think about how he'd just been up here snoring while his bracelet went dark. Fuckin' oblivious.

Once he'd gotten to the bed, he went through the now-familiar routine of leaning himself against the headboard, and Goro against his chest, and pulling the blanket way up to cover Goro. Get him all snug. He went ahead and dragged his shirt off one-handed, too, while he was at it -- so they could settle in properly.

LINA

Goro would've been happy with just the Hansel cave, but the bare skin, too--ah, that was deluxe. Goro tugged his robe and shirt off and shoved them to the side. He unhooked his bracelet and stuck it in his mouth, put his hands over his ears, and planted his face against Hansel's chest. Hansel's heavy arms went around him, holding him in place.

Good. Good. Better.

This was where he needed to be. He felt himself unwinding; muscles relaxing, racing thoughts quieting.

[END]