TRP: Finch, Larkin, and Raef (Business Partners)

**MINK**

[Day: 279 Setting: Red Gryphon]

Larkin was fuckin' difficult to track down and they'd just
got back to the damn area.  The place
looked to have grown in the time they were away, or maybe he was spoiled by a
ship and castle.  It took him nearly
three hours of wandering to finally managed it and then he found her outside of
the Red Gryphon.

If that wasn't a fuckin' twist of fate he didn't know what
was.

"Need a new building?" Raef asked, stepping up
behind and to the right of Larkin.  She
could probably gut him, but she also probably paid attention to her
surroundings.

**JEN**

She turned around at his voice. Hadn't heard him coming, the
sneaky fuck, but it took more than that to startle Larkin fucking Basha. She
grinned and went for the hug.

"Hey," she said. "What're you fucking
stalking me for?"

**MINK**

Shit.  It wasn't like
it'd been all that long, but the hug was returned.  Raef squeezed and patted her back before
letting go.

"What?  Maybe I
just wanted to say 'hi'." He snorted.
He didn't, but it was a damn good bonus.

**JEN**

"Sure." Larkin smirked. "I can smell people
wanting something from me. A mile against the wind."

**MINK**

"Damn good sniffer." Raef smiled, but it dropped
soon after.  "You got time for a
chat?"

**JEN**

"For you, anytime." Larkin waved at the building
in front of them. "I'm done here anyway. For now."

**MINK**

Raef glanced towards the Red Gryphon, but his gaze didn't
linger.  Good memories - painful memories
- there.  "Lunch, then?"

**JEN**

"Sure"

**MINK**

Raef led the way to the Crooked Coin; it was about the only
bar that he knew wasn't always shitty.
It was also easy to get to and easy to order in.

Once there he dropped into a booth in the corners, secluded
and they could keep an eye on the people in the room.  Larkin probably didn't want her business out
for everyone to know, and it had been awhile since he'd been in Skyport.  Shit changed.

"How's business?" he asked after sending a
waitress away with their orders.

**JEN**

"Eh." Larkin waved it off. "As usual. Not
shitty but not brilliant either."

**MINK**

Raef tapped his fingers lightly on his thigh. "Need any
help?"

**JEN**

The simple answer was yes. They did need the help. The
Redbird suffered from not having enough high ranking people to command the
troops, and there were barely any smart and trustworthy enough to fill the
positions. Raef would be a perfect fit, if that was what he wanted.

The less simple point, though, was that working for Larkin
and Finch was a big fucking health risk. Not really the right job for a man
with a freshly resurrected husband and a child.

Larkin considered this and instead of answering directly,
asked, "why?"

**MINK**

Raef didn't answer right away, looking at Larkin, but not
really seeing her as he thought over his words.   Why was fuckin' difficult - there were lots
of reasons why.  The problem was
admitting shit.

"I need somethin' to do," he said, finally.
"I can't do - "he waved his hand - "whatever the fuck it is
that's goin' on for the rest of my life."

**JEN**

"Hm." Larkin nodded, slowly. She got that. Some
people weren't made for sitting idle. Watching kids and leading a peaceful life
and shit. Raef was no different then... or maybe he had been, once. But no
more.

"Well, you know, my problem is," she said, "I
wouldn't want you on street level. You're to valuable for that. But anyone up
in the ranks-" she clicked her tongue. "Likely to become a target.
Their family, too."

**MINK**

"We've already been targets." The difference
between then and now was that he had Hansel, and Goro, and Jasper, and other
people who have a shit about his family other than him.  The difference was that now he wasn't going
to let his family slip through his fingers.

**JEN**

"True. It's just adding new enemies." Larkin waved
it off. "So, well. What'd you have in mind?"

**MINK**

"Mmhmm." Raef chuckled a little and leaned back
into the booth. "Anythin' you want...but I'm shit with negotiations."

**JEN**

"How're you with giving orders?"

**MINK**

Raef smirked. "Pretty fuckin' good."

**JEN**

"Excellent." Larkin ginned. "'cause I really
fucking need someone with more than just shit for brains. Help us run the show.
Make plans 'n shit, and shoo the runts around."

**MINK**

"I can do whatever your heart desires." Raef
returned the grin. "How many runts you got?"

**JEN**

"Hmm, you know just what to say to a lady." Larkin
stuck her tongue out at him. "We're not that many yet. Two dozen and a
handful. There are some gangs that owe us interest in our territory but they're
not strictly Redbirds."

**MINK**

Raef winked. "Need some help with that?  A lady should have a couple of more runnin'
around."

**JEN**

"You got any ideas?"

**MINK**

"I dunno...what d'ya wanna do with your business?"

**JEN**

Larkin tilted her head from side to side, thinking.
"Alright, so... well. I'm gonna be level with you, Raef." She put her
palms on the table, grimacing slightly. "When I say things aren't shitty,
I mean we're not a sinking ship. Finch seems to think it is but we're really
just way down at the bottom of the ladder. We gotta climb first." She
drummed her fingers on the wood.

"See, I'd fucking love to say we wanna be the biggest,
meanest in town again but realistically, it'd be fucking great if we can hold
the turf we got now. So what I want is one-" Larkin held up on finger,
"stability. And two- respect. Those we need before we can go anywhere big.
I got plans with Haeth for some nice smuggling deals but we ain't got the
buyers yet either."

**MINK**

Raef hooked his ankles together as he listened to
Larkin.  He didn't answer right
away.  It had been a long fuckin' time
since he had worked any sort of business like this, or kind of like this, but
he'd do what he had to.

"I can help get you respect." Stability was
different - maybe he could help, maybe he couldn't. "But you're gonna have
to show me what you have.  Where're you
workin' out of?"

**JEN**

"Well," Larkin said with a sigh, "Finch's
bunker. Mostly. We ain't no fucking guild so we don't have a headquarters or
something."

**MINK**

Raef waved his hand at the mention of not having a
headquarters. "We didn't have one either." The guild had been
relegated to a shitty stone room by the time he'd joined. "What I'm
gettin' at is...do you have anything written?" He quirked an eyebrow and
smiled. " Or're you gonna give me a lecture?"

**JEN**

She laughed. "Oh, huh. If you want notes, you gotta
talk to Finch. He's the one with all the paperwork."

**MINK**

"I think I'd rather be lectured." Raef snorted
light laughter.  He didn't know
Finch...but it looked like he was gonna have to get to know him. "But I
guess I can be a good boy and talk to him."

**JEN**

"I'll introduce you. He's a big fucking grump but you
might actually get along."

**MINK**

"Are you saying I'm a grump?" Raef teased.

**JEN**

"No." Larkin chuckled. "You're a fucking
sunshine compared to Finch."

**MINK**

Raef laughed. "You know how to stroke a man's
ego." He was going to like working with her, or for her. "When I
should I start?"

**JEN**

Heh. There was a joke here to make but Larkin guessed she'd
better stay professional for just a minute longer. They seemed to be at the end
of their discussion anyway.

"Whenever you want. Right now would be perfect."

**MINK**

Raef grinned. "You got it." He unhooked his
ankles. "Just give me your orders."

**JEN**

"I don't have any at the moment," she admitted.
"I was looking to buy the Red Gryphon. Get us started with some real money
but Finch is saying funds are too tight." She rolled her eyes. "We
gotta make investments, though. Anyway. I think it's best if we go talk to
Finch first, except... you got any good ideas how to make money fast?"

**MINK**

Raef drummed his fingers on the seat beside him.  "How much do you need?" he asked,
words paced out slowly as he thought.

**JEN**

"All we can get."

**MINK**

"How much do you want to keep it...lawful?"

**JEN**

Larkin just laughed.

**MINK**

"Could kill someone." Raef arched an eyebrow,
smiling a little, but he rolled his shoulders in a shrug. "Quickest way is
stealing shit."

**JEN**

"Yeah, but without anything big to catch, stealing is
just peanuts."

**MINK**

"Find a big catch." Raef shrugged. "I'll find
a fucker for you."

**JEN**

"Oh?" She grinned. "Now I like the sound of
that."

**MINK**

"Mmhmm." Raef smiled and made an 'X' over his
heart. "I'll get it done." Easy.
Or as easy as Skyport made it.

**JEN**

"Perfect. Man, I'm glad you stepped up." Larkin
held out a hand to clasp around Raef's. "We fucking need you."

**MINK**

Raef grinned and wrapped his hand around Larkin's,
squeezing. "Thanks for lettin' me.
This'll be good."

**JEN**

"Okay, so." Larkin let go and drummed her fingers
on the table again, excited. "Guess we better go tell Finch the good news.
Sooner rather than later. You free?"

**MINK**

"Yeah.  I've
plenty of time." Raef pushed himself up from the table and tugged at his
clothing to smooth it.  He grinned at
Larkin. "Let's go surprise your friend."

**JEN**

Larkin took Raef to the bunker on a roundabout way. This
whole situation with Finch sitting in his hidey hole with no real protection
and no way to escape was splinters under her nails. Any time she went there,
she made sure no one was following.

Once there she banged on the door, then again in the
sequence that'd tell Finch it was her. Her or someone who'd found out the
pattern. Not good but it had to be good enough.

**IZZY**

Finch Sent to Larkin, The hell do you want.

**JEN**

"Let me in, asshole!" she yelled.

**IZZY**

There was some clattering inside, and after a moment the
door cracked open. Finch peered out into the sunlight, looking groggy and
rumpled and pissed off. As soon as he saw there was someone else with Larkin,
he scowled and glared between them.

"The fuck," he grumbled. "Who the fuck."

**JEN**

"What, you can't even get a complete sentence
out?" Larkin got a foot into the door, then made to shove past Finch. She
stopped before inside, though, and grimaced. "Fuck, man. What's that
stink? Ew, fuck. It's you."

**IZZY**

He kept grumbling, but reluctantly backed off and let them
in, still eyeballing this random elf fucker. "S'what happens when you
fuckin' drop by unannounced, motherfucker."

It'd been a while since he'd cleaned up. The bed against the
back wall was all fucked up, the sheets tangled up, and the blankets on the
couch where Jonn had been sleeping were tidy, but there were empty bottles and
containers of food tossed on top because Jonn hadn't shown his face since
yesterday. Slept at Asya's or something, maybe. The wardrobe in the corner was
cracked open with clothes leaking out of it onto the floor, and the lamp on the
desk was the only light source -- Finch dropped down at the desk chair,
scrubbing his face in the light and giving a disdainful look to his scattered
work.

Hm. Coffee from yesterday. He took a sip, and it was fucking
horrific, but he grimaced and forced it down anyway, then looked back to the
two fuckers interrupting his sleep/hangover.

**MINK**

Finch made Goro look secure as fuck by the time they got to the
bunker and got the door open.  The smell
that came out was as bad as the sight, and damn near as bad as Finch.  He only recalled seeing him maybe once and he
wasn't certain Finch had looked this...rough...then.

Raef followed Larkin into the bunker, staying close, but not
enough to crowd her or look like he didn't know what the fuck he was doing.

"Good to meet you, too," he said dryly, glancing
over the desk that Finch was sitting at.
It was a fuckin' mess.

**IZZY**

Finch grunted.

**JEN**

"Fuck, man. Fucking pick yourself up, will ya?"
Larkin paced around the room and kicked a pile of clothes. She shook her head.
"Anyway. This-" she returned to Raef and gestured at him. "Is
Raef. Your new lieutenant."

**IZZY**

He grunted again. "The fuck he is."

**MINK**

"Yeah, the fuck I am." The corner of his lips
quirked.  Larkin had been generous with
her description of Finch. "I'm gonna need to..." Raef glanced towards
the piles of paperwork. "...look at whatever the fuck you have."

**IZZY**

Finch narrowed his eyes and slapped a hand over his work,
shoving some of the mess away from whatever-his-fuckin'-name-was. Raef. The
hell kind of a name was that shit. "Larkin, what the fuck," he
grumbled, glaring at Raef but refusing to talk to him. "How do we trust
this fucker? Who the hell even is he?"

Fuck, he did look kind of familiar, though. Finch was still
sleepy, and hungover. It was right on the edge of -- ahh, shit. Shit. He was
one of the Runners, yeah.

Finch had watched from the porch as Raef had buried Gwydion,
and when Jonn had come out to sit with him again, he'd stood up fast and
dragged Jonn back inside so he wouldn't ... see. Fuck. That's who this was.
Right.

**JEN**

"We trust him 'cause I vouch for him," Larkin
snapped. She knew Finch's whole deal, his attitude, his distrust, his tendency
to live in fucking filth when he got too much into a things but this- this was
extreme. It started to grate on her nerves.

"You think I'm just gonna drag anyone in here and
declare 'em headman? Fuck, who the hell you think you're talking to?" She
sneered at Finch but continued before he could get an answer in. "He's one
of the Runners. He's sharp, he's mean, and he's gonna help us keep this shit
show running."

**IZZY**

Finch growled and glared at her and drank more of his
fucking awful coffee. It wasn't like she was wrong. She had just as much
authority over vetting people as he did. He just didn't fucking appreciate the
surprise, and he didn't want to fucking buckle in front of this guy.

"I'll give him a job to prove himself," he allowed
grudgingly, still talking like Raef wasn't even there. "He's gonna have to
earn this shit. We can't just fuckin' deputize any motherfucker off the goddamn
street."

**JEN**

Larkin scowled at that but waved it through anyway.
"Raef's gonna help us score some cash. Should be good enough."

**MINK**

Raef listened to the exchange, lips thinned in a suppressed,
amused smile.   He didn't blame Finch for
being paranoid in this job, but, fuck, if the back and forth wasn't at least a
little funny.

"What job you thinkin' of?" he asked, smiling a
little now and arching an eyebrow.   He
should've been offended, but he'd seen this shit while in Alabaster.

**IZZY**

Finch hunched over, squinting, appraising Raef. Tiny
motherfucker, like Lark and Jonn. He might be your average cat burglar, or he
might have some more tricks up his sleeve -- yeah, he probably did, for Larkin
to bring him straight in. They didn't need another Jonn; they needed someone
with something special to bring to the table.

He jerked his chin at Raef. "You got some magic or
something?"

**MINK**

"Yeah, I got 'some magic or something'."

**IZZY**

"You're gonna have to be more fucking specific,"
Finch growled. "What are you good for, motherfucker."

**JEN**

"Hey!" Larkin stepped forward and slapped a hand
on the desk. "Fucking cut it, yeah? He's doing us a favour here. You got
no reason to be such a fucking dick."

**IZZY**

"I need more fucking information!" Finch snapped
back. He was always dick. Larkin fucking knew that. She could goddamn deal with
it.

**MINK**

Finch had a way of getting under people's skin and Raef had
to bite his tongue. "I'm really fuckin' good at killin' things," he
answered, tone cool. "And I'm really fuckin' good at getting whatever I
fuckin' want."

**JEN**

Larkin groaned and put a hand to her face.

**IZZY**

Finch glared at him. God, he fuckin' hated this guy just on
principle, now. "Fine." He dropped his mug on the desk and riffled
through some papers, finding what he wanted. "Fine. This fucker." He
shoved a tightly-wound, wax-sealed scroll at Raef. "Geof Berman. I need
him fuckin' dead. He's this fucking rich bastard looking to fund a street gang
and he picked some punks we don't like, and he won't be fucking reasoned with.
Show his skeevy fucking friends what happens when they tell the Redbirds
no."

**MINK**

Raef took the scroll and rolled it between his fingers.  He popped open the wax. "This all?"
he asked, partly to fuck with Finch.  The
guy was a dick.  At least killin' a rich
fucker was already on his list and now Finch had given him a name.  That made this easy.

**IZZY**

Finch flipped him off.

**JEN**

Okay, well. They were getting there, at least. Larkin
wandered over to the couch, snatching the obligatory bottle of liquor off
Finch's desk, and plopped down in a spot free of junk.

**MINK**

Raef winked at Finch as he unfurled the scroll.  He read it, rolled it, and handed it back.
"When do you got to bed?"

**IZZY**

Finch narrowed his eyes. "The fuck is that supposed to
mean?" If Larkin had said some shit about him and Jonn, he swore to Mask
--

**MINK**

"Just don't want to wake you up when I get your job
done."

**IZZY**

"Ugh." He dragged his hand down his face.
"Just fucking ... report to Larkin. Or Jonn. Whatever."

**JEN**

On the couch, Larkin sighed and shook her head. "Yeah,
you can report to me. Finch is-" she waved a hand at the general mess.
"busy."

 They'd have to do
something about that, and soon. She didn't think Raef would drop out just
because Finch had turned into a fucking molerat but if any of the other
gangsters saw how bad it was... it was no way to earn some fucking respect.
Finch had to realize that.

"I'll show you around the usual meeting places later.
We got some drop points for messages and loot you gotta know."

**MINK**

Busy wasn't the fuckin' term he'd use looking at this
mess.  If Hansel fuckin' knew what Jonn
was stuck with...fuck.  It was
disgusting.

"Sounds like a fuckin' plan." A smile tugged at
Raef's lips before he walked back towards the couch and dropped onto an arm,
avoiding any trash nearby. Thank fuck Larkin was in charge.

**IZZY**

Finch just stared at them both blankly for a beat. Larkin
was one thing, but what the fuck. "Why are you both fuckin' sitting
down?" he demanded. "Did you fucking want something else? Is this a
social call?"

He waved his hands at them and grumbled uselessly.

**JEN**

"As it happens- yeah." Larkin kicked a heap of
greasy wrapping paper off the couch so she could stretch out. "Raef's
gonna be working for us. I want you to get to know our lieutenants. Talk to
your people. Be a fucking leader, man."

**IZZY**

He gestured furiously at his desk. "The hell do you
think all this is for? My fucking entertainment? You can handle fucking talking
to people."

**JEN**

"For fuck's sake, man. You wanna be a gang leader, you
gotta let people know who you are. And this-" she threw out a hand,
pointing at him- "this ain't getting you any respect. You know how much we
need that on the street, yeah?"

**MINK**

"You're fuckin' lucky Larkin's likable and knows what
she's doin'," Raef said, cutting through the conversation.  He dropped a foot to the floor, nudging aside
a trash pile as he stood up again. "Your little birds would eat you alive if
they saw this."

**IZZY**

"You're fuckin' lucky I dont electrocute you right
goddamn now," Finch snapped, then realized he was just fucking proving
Larkin's point. He growled and jabbed his finger at Larkin. "Listen. Am I
the only fucking gang leader in this room? No. We're fucking partners, right?
Don't expect me to do goddamn everything while you're off --." He gestured
angrily, sparks crackling around his fingers. "Fucking around with
Eldathyns and orcs and shit."

**JEN**

Larkin scowled, knowing he had a point. Still, that didn't
make hers less valid. "It's the fucking minimum, what I'm expecting."

**MINK**

This was a shit show.
If it was just Finch...well, he could off, except it was Larkin and she
had a brain.  She also didn't need to
have her ass dragged down because Finch couldn't get his shit together.

"Larkin gettin' her ass out there makes fuckin'
friends." And you need friends when you're flounderin'.  He waved his hand. "I'm gonna go. Gotta
get your job done before it gets too late."

**IZZY**

Finch growled at him. "Yeah. Get the fuck out."
Hopefully he could actually fucking deliver on his ooh, I always get what I
want bullshit, or whatever. Wasn't like they didn't need competent people
around. Finch just didn't trust a single goddamn person to be useful until they
proved it, because most of them weren't.

**MINK**

\_\_\_

Az was going to kill him when he got back to the castle the
next day, but, fuck, if it didn't feel good to be on his feet and doing
something.  Missions were great, but old
habits died hard and this time it came with added chances.  It had been hard and easy.  He ached something fierce, but he felt good.

Raef brushed back the strands of hair clinging to the sweat
beaded on his forehead and knocked on the door.
In his other hand he held a bag.
Maybe he'd gone overboard, but maybe he didn't care.

**JEN**

Larkin woke up because someone knocked on the door. She
rolled around on the couch and peered over to see who it was. Door was fucking
closed, though, and Finch was still hunched over his desk, glaring across the
room.

"Hey," she said, and pointed. "Door?"

"Yeah."

Finch glanced over at her and Larkin raised her eyebrows.

"What, you want me to open for any knockin'
motherfucker out there?"

"It's Raef," Larkin said and tilted herself
upright. "It's Raef and you know it."

Finch just growled and shoved the papers he'd been working
on under a ledger while Larkin got to the door. Then she hesitated.

"Who's your husband?" She called through the door.

**MINK**

Raef was ready to knock again when Larkin finally asked him
a question; he should've memorized the damn knock. "Griffin and Az,"
he answered as he shifted the bag in his hand.
What a fuckin' question.

**JEN**

Larkin opened the door and stepped aside so Finch could see
how right she'd been.

**MINK**

Raef stepped inside when the door opened.  He waited for it to close before she threw
the bag at Finch. "Here, fucker.
This good enough for you?"
As he said this he fished out a key to give to Larkin. "He's got a
safe."

**IZZY**

Finch grumbled and glared as Raef came in, still hunching
over his desk. Fuckin' people coming in and bothering him. Larkin looking all
fucking smug and shit.

Then Raef lobbed a bag at him, and he caught it without
thinking -- because it'd hit him in the fucking face, otherwise -- and grimaced
as he went to open it. The fuck. He hadn't asked this fucker to bring him
anything back, just kill the --

"Geh!" He fumbled the bag and shoved it away, and
the fucking mummified head rolled out of it on the floor. "Fuck me. The
hell, man. You didn't have to ..." He scoffed. "All right, fine.
You're fucking hired."

**JEN**

Larkin snorted at Finch's outburst but she couldn't help
staring at the head, too. It was a fucking head.

"Ew, what the hell, man," she said. "Y'know
that's kinda freaky."

**MINK**

"He had it comin'." Raef walked over to grab the
bag do he could place the head back into it; he'd drop it into the water or
bury it later.  He tied the bag closed.
"People'll get the point."

**IZZY**

"Yeah, no fuckin' shit," Finch muttered. Point
fucking gotten. The guy knew what he was about. He scooted his chair back
towards the desk to get back to work, sullen. "You get paid when we get
money. Good job, or fucking whatever," he added, shooting Larkin a look.
There. Nice. He could fucking play nice.

**MINK**

"Sounds fuckin' fine by me." Raef started back
towards the door, only pausing to drop the key into Larkin's lap.  He didn't have enough hands to get into the
damn safe and carry out whatever was in it. "I've got some stuff to do in
town.  Guess I'll see you 'round."

**JEN**

Larkin reached out a hand to catch Raef's, and patted him on
the shoulder before he went. "Thanks, man," she said. "Really
made quick work of that, yeah? Love it." She forced a little grin.
"I'll show you the turf later."

**MINK**

"Anytime." He gave a sort-of smile back.
"I'll be in the market." Raef placed a hand on Larkin's shoulder and
squeezed.  He dropped it away and signed
in Nighthand, Thanks for it. He didn't specify before he finally left the
bunker, only giving Finch a vague handwave before he closed the door behind
him.

**IZZY**

Finch glanced up at them saying their little shady goodbyes.
That wasn't thieves' cant. Sort of looked like that language Asya had taught
Jonn, actually.

He narrowed his eyes at it, then scowled back down at his
spellbook. Something else to fucking worry about. He'd need to learn that shit
just whenever the fuck he had a minute. Jonn should be able to teach him.

He barely registered that Larkin stayed back -- her general
existence didn't grate on him the way just about everyone else in the world's
did. She could hang around without inherently bothering him. If she started
giving him shit about not doing enough again while he was literally fucking
working, though -- then he'd get fuckin' annoyed.

**JEN**

"We're lucky Raef's already a friend," Larkin
muttered as she sat back down on the couch. "You can't get people on your
side by treating 'em like shit."

**IZZY**

He scowled more furiously and muttered, "Yeah, well, if
you don't want people treated like shit, you probably shouldn't fucking bring
them to me."

**JEN**

"Oh yeah? What, you thought you could run this show
without ever fucking talking to your gang? Well I got fucking news for you,
buddy. You're a boss now, you know what that means?"

**IZZY**

"Don't fucking condescend to me," he snapped,
slamming his pen down and spinning on her. "It means all of this, is what
it fucking means, Lark." He gestured furiously to the desk. "It means
not fucking sleeping because you're trying to work out how to make it look like
you got more people than you do so you can avoid a street fight instead of
losing kids in it, and trying to get leverage on a leatherworker so you can
fucking afford actual boots for the baby birds, and it means decrypting their
horrible fucking illiterate-ass handwriting to put together a cohesive goddamn
picture of the townhouse they're scouting, trying to keep records of what
they're all good at, except, fucking surprise, none of'em are actually good at
shit -- means sending Jonn out to train them and then not eating all fucking
day because he ain't around to being me food, and I can't fucking --."

He choked on that one a second, but he was pissed enough to
shove through it.

"Can't fucking leave alone, because it's too fucking
dangerous out there, and maybe if I learn a few more fucking spells then I
could do it, but who can fucking learn magic when you're starving and have a
fucktillion other things to do and you haven't slept in forty fucking hours --
and hey!" he snarled. "Then you finally manage a fucking nap, and
your partner shows up and decides to bitch at you for not goddamn doing enough.
Apparently that's what being the fucking boss means."

**JEN**

Larkin tried a few times to get a word in but Finch just
fucking waltzed over her. At the end of it she had her teeth grit, her fingers
digging into the stuffing of the couch. Didn't say anything, though. He'd not
listen. He'd just... go at it again. God dammit, though. Larkin hadn't seen
Finch this angry since... since he'd gotten out of prison, beaten half to death
and...

Larkin stopped staring him down and wiped a hand over her
face. "Fuck, man." She said it quietly. "You gotta...
shit."

**IZZY**

"I gotta fucking what?" he demanded. "What
else do I have to fucking do?"

**JEN**

"Talk to me. I- it's not just you. We're fucking
partners, alright, you gotta let me know this shit before-" she jerked a
hand his direction and huffed.

**IZZY**

He opened his mouth and closed it. The wind kind of went out
of his fucking sails. Right. Right, right, right. Well ... still fuck that. He
turned back to his desk, finding it hard to say anything else after all that,
and rested his face in one hand.

"I've got it," he muttered after a second.
"It's fucking handled. Just don't fucking come in here and give me more
shit. I'm at fucking capacity."

**JEN**

"It's not fucking handled. I'm... fuck, man."
Larkin got up and paced over to Finch, standing a few feet away and looking at
the ground. "Look, I'm sorry, alright? For giving you shit. But I'm not
being a dick for no reason, yeah? I want us to fucking succeed. If you need
more help I'll get it."

**IZZY**

"I don't need any fucking help." He rubbed at his
face. Yeah, he'd never been a good enough liar to sell that shit, much less
now. He could keep fuckin' insisting that it was handled, but it was just gonna
come out weak.

**JEN**

"Then why don't you go outside and get your own fucking
food?" It was a low blow but it made the point.

**IZZY**

"Because --." He bit it off before he could get
any further. "Fuck you," he said lowly.

**JEN**

"Yeah, fuck me, fuck Raef, fuck everyone." Larkin
growled. "Fucking Avis got it handled, no problem at all. He's just having
a teeny-tiny fucking breakdown over having to be not a shithead."

**IZZY**

Finch threw his pen at her over his shoulder, growling.

**JEN**

Larkin fumbled to catch it and hurled it right back at
Finch.

**IZZY**

"Fuck you!" The pen clattered on the table. This
wasn't fucking accomplishing shit. "If you're just here to fucking piss me
off, congratu-fucking-lations. Thanks for all the goddamn help, Larkin."

**JEN**

"Oh, now you want help?" Larkin sneered. "I
thought you didn't need it? Got it all handled, no? Well, fine." She threw
up her hands and turned to walk to the door. "I'll just fucking take my
contacts, my money, the Intel, the people I brought in- oh, don't forget my
bloody bandages from the street fights, don't want those cluttering up your
bunker, yeah? "

**IZZY**

"Sure, fine. See if you can fucking make it without
me," he spat.

This was bad. This was really fucking bad. He needed to say
something else. She needed to come back. He --

"Go fuck yourself."

Right.

**JEN**

"Sure, man." Larkin opened the door. She paused
there and thought about turning back but- well, fuck him.

"Whatever."

**JEN**

[End]

Title: Business Partners

Summary: Raef goes to aks Larkin for a job with the
Redbirds. She agrees and takes him to meet Finch. It goes downhill from there.