Roddy: The Calimport Incident

**CONTENT WARNING: Uncomfortable non-explicit sexual situations.**

*Dear Diary,*

*We’re back in Calimport! Even though last time it went so well. Hopefully it’s been long enough that they aren’t gonna arrest us on sight. And Calimport being Calimport they’ve got someone new in charge so maybe that’ll help.*

*Anyway, shouldn’t be too much going on. We’re gonna stay a bit longer since Calimport’s a fairly big town. I’m gonna stick to minimal scamming, with that whole dragon thing. Don’t wanna get fed to a dragon.*

*Ugh, speaking of dragons though. Me and Amren are working on a new bit for our act. I’ve finally figured out that spell that lets me get all floaty when I fall and I wanna try to work in that. And that’s dangerous!! But Amren’s always just goofing off and he’s not gonna figure it out and it’ll serve him right if I drop him on his head during the performance. And then he’ll go and make something up and I’ll have to scramble to follow along! Jerk. Hate him. (Amren if you’re reading this, you are a buttface. And put my journal back.)*

*Well I better be off then. More details to come.*

You know, it just figured. All Roddy’d wanted was for Amren to actually practice their act, for once in his life. Practice was great, practice kept it smooth, practice meant Roddy knew what to expect, practice made perfect.

But nope, that’s not what happened. Instead, Amren found some girl and was showing off for her instead. So Roddy figured, why not give him a taste of his own medicine? Amren wanted to do something, well Roddy’d jump in and do the wrong thing.

It had been surprisingly satisfying, they’d gotten more practice done in one sitting than they had in weeks before. And the girl had liked them too. Though apparently she’d liked Roddy more. Considering she’d then promptly dragged him off to the nearest inn, Roddy was re-considering whether or not it had been worth it.

“Look it’s not that you’re not- pretty or anything,” Roddy said, stepping off to the side. Oh he did not like the look in her eye. “It’s just I, er, I wasn’t expecting this?”

“What’s the matter? Don’t know what to do with a pretty girl when you get one?” She stopped long enough to ask her question, planting her hands on her hips.

“Well, no not really.” It wasn’t like this had happened before. Roddy started edging around towards the door, trying to avoid getting any closer to her. And then he could go back to minding his own business and avoiding strange girls that showed up and dragged tortles off to rooms and started kissing them without so much as an introduction.

The girl was staring at him. Roddy froze, still several feet from the door. What was she going to do now? Throw her hands in the air and start putting her shirt back on, apparently. “Fine then! Your friend seemed a lot more interested. Maybe I’ll go talk to *him* instead.”

Oh good- oh wait hang on. “Amren?! Hold on!” Roddy stepped in front of the door so she couldn’t leave without pushing by him. “Are you sure about that? He’s- he’s- he’s very short.” And if he found out how this went Roddy’d never hear the end of it. He was still occasionally hassling Roddy about not having got a girl yet.

“Yes, and you’re very tall, and I don’t really care.” She advanced until they were pressed together, staring up into his eyes. “All I want is one thing, and if you’re going to chicken out, I can find someone else who won’t.”

“Right,” Roddy said, glancing at the bed, and then back at the girl. She wasn’t ugly by any means. Big, dark eyes, and a frizzy mane of hair Roddy’d have loved to play with. In other circumstances. And this was the sort of thing that happened all the time- Amren always came back and bragged about it when he got a hookup. Maybe it was about time Roddy got one of his own.

He rested one hand on her waist, and cupped her cheek with the other. Her skin was soft and smooth, full of warmth. “I’d like to know at least one thing first,” he said. “What’s your name?”

She smirked, a triumphant little expression. “Saliah. Saliah aul-Saud,” she said, drawing out the sounds. Slowly reaching up, wrapping her arms around Roddy’s neck. Closed her eyes, leaned in, red lips puckered up.

Roddy pulled back just enough for her to miss. “Well my names Roddy. Uh, Rodger Hammerstein the Third!”

Saliah’s eyes opened, just a slit. Just enough for her to glare at him, showing the slightest bit of teeth. “I don’t care. Are you going to kiss me or not, *Rodney*?”

“Roddy- oh, right.” Weren’t here to talk, and all that. “I haven’t- this isn’t something I’ve done before.”

“Don’t worry,” Saliah leaned up again, and this time Roddy let her kiss him. She tasted like paint- must be the lipstick. “I have,” she murmured in his ear.

She pulled back, running her hands down Roddy’s arms and tugging him towards the bed. For a moment Roddy considered bolting. He wasn’t sure he wanted this. But he didn’t. He let Saliah pull him down on top of her, watching her eyes flash with dangerous excitement.

And this time, he kissed her.

*Dear Diary,*

*First of all- buzz off Amren, this is none of your business.*

*Secondly, well. Today was interesting. I met a girl. Amren was showing off for her, so I sorta showed off too? And she liked me better. And then she dragged me off to an inn and, well, stuff happened. Sex stuff.*

*Amren seems to like it but I dunno. Saliah, that was her name, she didn’t seem like she was pleased with it either? Said we’d try again. I didn’t have a chance to say anything she was already telling me where and when to meet up again. And guess where that was?*

*The palace. Turns out Saliah is the Regent’s daughter. The Regent’s daughter!! I cannot believe this. I am not sneaking into the Regent’s home, even on invitation. That is a surefire way to get fed to the dragon and I am not going to be dragon-food. Nope.*

*Anyway. I’m going to go mooch some booze of Moggie. This feels like a good day for drinking.*

Moggie did have booze, like always. Good booze. Very strong. Roddy was sooooooo drunk. And Amren was being annoying. Roddy’d stopped paying attention for- five minutes? Ten minutes? A minute? Roddy’d stopped paying attention and all of a sudden Amren was sitting across from him, and flipping through his journal.

“Hey! Tha’s mine!” Roddy lunged for it, but Amren neatly ducked out of the way. Laughing and grinning. Stupid Amren. “Amren! Give it baaaack!”

“Roddy, be careful,” Esran called. Wasn’t even paying attention to them. Just fiddling with the lyre. Stupid Esran too.

Amren had gone to hide behind him while reading Roddy’s journal. S’too late now then. Roddy took another swig out of his bottle and waited. Picked at the label on the bottle and tried to tune out Amren’s comments as he flipped through.

“Hey, you cut a part of it out here. No fair I never got to read that. And here’s yesterday’s entry about getting here, and- hey here we go. How things went with your girlfriend.” Amren shot Roddy a grin. Roddy buried his face in his arms. It was a short entry at least, he’d be done soon.

“Aw you actually went all the way. Good going buddy! Thought you might chicken out.” Amren sounded so pleased with himself. Made Roddy want to punch him.

“Shut up Amren,” he muttered, not looking up.

Amren just laughed. “Aw, didn’t go that well with *Sa-li-aaaah?* She’s got a good idea there. Get some more practice in.”

Stupid Amren. Wouldn’t shut up. Roddy didn’t want to ‘practice’, Roddy wanted to avoid Saliah and people like her from now on. His face felt all wet. Stupid. Now he was crying. Hopefully Amren wouldn’t notice.

“Hey wait she was the Regent’s daughter? And she wants you to come sneak into her place? Roddy! Do you know what this means?” Amren’s scufflely little footsteps ran up and Roddy felt him shaking Roddy’s arm. Didn’t look up. “This is perfect! Roddy you can sneak in and *distract* her, and I can come in behind you and rob the place blind. It’s perfect!”

“M' not going,” Roddy muttered. He was gonna stay here and get solidly drunk and hopefully forget today had ever happened. “Leave me alone.”

“Aw, Roddy c’mon, just think how much money we could get! We could- we could get our own wagon! Our own space! You were wanting that, remember?”

“Wanted space away from *you.*” Roddy wasn’t gonna look up. Not while he was crying. Just wait for Amren to get it outta his system and go away.

Amren got quiet for a second. “Hey c’mon bro.” He was doing that voice again. That ‘you hurt my feelings’ voice that always got Arnyis to hug him. Probably pouting too. Jerk. “If you really don’t wanna pitch in for the wagon than we can split the money. Do our own things with it.”

“Not going.” Roddy wanted another drink. He’d have to look up to get one. Amren would see he was crying. Worth it? Not really.

“Well fine then. I guess I’ll go get rich on my own. You can stick around here drinking bad whiskey and scribbling in your book.” Roddy felt something smack into his shell and footsteps stomping off.

Good. Roddy grabbed his journal and hugged it to his chest, and started to take another swig out of his bottle.

“You know it’s safer to work in pairs.” Esran’s deep voice rumbled. Startled Roddy, and some whiskey went down the wrong pipe. He doubled over, coughing. He’d forgot Esran was there. “You’re in much of a state for it,” Esran continued. Ignoring the fact Roddy was still
coughing. Just like him. “But it’s better than nothing.”

“Why don’t you go,” Roddy muttered, once he got his breath back.

“I have plans with Arynis. Besides, I wasn’t the one invited.” He was staring Roddy down. Cold, and unreadable. Roddy hated it when he did that. It was like he was figuring something out and Roddy always came up short.

“Well fine then,” Roddy snapped. Shoved to his feet, still clutching the journal and the bottle. “I’ll go break into the Regent’s place and sleep with his daughter. Then me an’ Amren can get eat together. Bet that’d make you happy.”

Esran didn’t even answer this time. Just started fiddling with the lyre again. Figured. Roddy took another swig from his bottle and staggered towards the town. He thought he remembered where they were supposed to meet. This’d- this’d be fine. Least he’d get paid.

*shes dead shes dead shes ded shees DEAD*

*I got there and she was dead and there was all this blood and I think I stepped in it? and there was just a lot of blood. And saliah. And saliah was dead.*

*I didnt do it I didnt do it I didnt do it. She was dead when I got there. And I got blood on me but I went and cleaned it off and- and I dont think anyone saw me.*

*Amrens not back yet. Hope he didnt get caught. Esran gave me a look but nobody asked me anything. I didnt do it.*

*I didnt.*

“I didn’t do it!” This was bad, this was very bad, Roddy didn’t know what to do with this this was *so bad.* “I didn’t! She was dead when I got there!”

“You do admit to fleeing the scene, covered in her blood though,” Esran pointed out. Way too calm for this. Wasn’t even looking at Roddy, just working on packing up the wagon.

“I checked for a pulse! But there wasn’t any! I didn’t do it! Arynis-” Roddy whirled around. She was in the wagon, rifling around and shoving things in a bag. “You believe me right?”

She stopped, staring at the pack in her hands. “Roddy,” she said softly, “it’s not that I don’t believe you. It’s just that- it doesn’t matter. Moria says it’s too risky for you to stay around.”

“But that’s not fair!” Amren was pulling himself up onto the backboard. “Roddy’s got disguise magic. He can make himself look human till we leave! We’ve done stuff like that before!”

“For things like thievery,” Esran said, handing a roll of blankets to Arynis- hey those had Roddy’s name on them!- before walking off again. “Murder’s a bit more severe,” he called back over his shoulder.

But that wasn’t fair! Roddy flailed his arms around, sputtering. This wasn’t- this couldn’t- he was- the circus was his *home*.

“Roddy,” Arynis said, reaching out and clasping one hand. “I’m sorry about this. I really am. But we don’t have a choice. Moria’s made her decision, and we can’t really argue with it.” She looked- sad. As if this was bothering her for real.

“But Roddy’s my brother.” Amren actually sounded upset about that. Looked like he was about to cry too. Like he had any right to be upset. “We can’t just abandon him.”

Roddy felt Esran’s hand settle on his shoulder. And a push indicating he should step aside. This was really happening wasn’t it. Roddy wasn’t gonna be able to stay. He felt the indignation leaking out, like a balloon that had gotten popped.

“I know your upset,” Esran said to Amren. Pulled him into a hug, and everything. “But things change, and this is one of them. You know how much we struggle to stay ahead, even with the thievery. If word got out the tortle was murdering people, how welcome would we be?”

“I’m right here,” Roddy muttered. And was ignored, like always.

Arnyis disappeared back into the wagon for a moment. Came back out with the pack she’d been fiddling with. “Here’s your things,” she said softly. “I also put some food and enough gold to get you out of Calimport. You could use your disguise magic, book passage to some other town. Skyport, maybe.”

Roddy accepted the pack, nodding mutely. Good plan. Good for Arnyis for thinking of it for him. Roddy wasn’t sure he’d have managed that.

“Bye Roddy,” Amren said. He looked about to cry. Roddy studied him a moment. Except for some hazy memories back in his early days, Amren’d always been there. And Arynis- never seeming to know what to do with him, getting snappish more times than he could count. Esran, who never was happy with Roddy no matter what he did. But despite everything, Roddy was going to miss them.

Without a word, Roddy took his pack and turned and walked away. He was alone now. And maybe he’d be happier this way.