TRP: Goro and Hansel and half the fucking crew (Five Carriage Pileup)

[Simultantious with Jonn and Roddy]

## Setting

The Sugar Glider, late evening] Hansel is just about dry by this point. Jumping in the ocean had admittedly been stupid, but at least it had cleared his head. He's heading back up to the top deck to glare at the ocean and quietly tell it fuck you, but pauses when he sees someone's already there. Convenient. It's Goro -- he recognizes him from behind. That fuckin' guy. He's been meaning to track him down, but he'd heard he was staying locked up. Good. He won't have to break down a door and then fix it later on. He comes up beside Goro, assuming the thumping of his boots is enough to announce his presence, and looks out at the water silently for a moment before looking down at Goro. Right. He has to actually say something. Should've thought ahead further than this. Fuck. "So how're you holding up?" he tries. It's probably better than are you okay, but not by much.

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Lina:

Goro turns slowly to look at Hansel, gives him a few morose blinks. Then he looks back at the water. Hansel seems like the type of guy who'll get it.

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Izzy:

Hm. Fair. "So not well, then."

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Lina:

"You?"

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Izzy:

"Not great. Saw Mishka."

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Lina:

Goro jerks around to face him. "What?"

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Izzy:

"Mm." Hansel nods, keeps looking out at the water with his arms crossed. "At his estate. Tried to host me and Nixie."

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Lina:

"What?" Goro's gripping the railing, his knuckles white.

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Izzy:

Hansel looks at him. "It's fine. We got away, obviously. Thank Sugar for that." He looks away, pausing for a moment. "You think Diva's a god?"

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Lina:

Goro continues gaping. Fuck, he's letting his guard down already, or something. Somehow it feels like his fault that Sugar was in danger, even though it wasn't like him being there could protect her from Mishka. In fact, it was pretty well established at this point that Goro being around didn't do anyone any favors. Fuck. Hansel asked him something. "A... a god? I fucking hope not." He doesn't have to pray to use the power she gave him, anyway.

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Izzy:

"Yeah." Hansel mulls it over. Got his fuckin' attention, anyway. "I think it's probably something worse." He glances at Goro again. Hm. It wasn't his question that Goro had reacted to, actually. "Look, she's fine. Nixie. You can close your mouth."

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Lina:

Goro snaps his mouth shut. He turns back to the water. "Whatever she is, I'm gonna fucking kill her. Excited for it. Well, since you saw Mishka, I might as well mention I saw Ripley. She's... well, she's in there. I know that much."

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Izzy:

Hansel winces and tamps the emotion down. Not now. Settle. "Yeah. Mishka too. I think. You got any ideas on the killing it thing?"

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Lina:

"Sure do." Goro starts tapping a finger on the railing, almost frenetically. "Wish you could've been there at Whitehelm, to see how quick and easy it was to kill that thing. The larva, I mean. Squish. Splat. She hides in bodies--strong bodies--because she's got no strength herself, that's my theory. Once we get her out, it'll be a piece of cake. And as for how we get her out?" He glances at Hansel. "We kill them."

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Izzy:

"Huh."

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Lina:

"And then--" Goro pulls out one of the two wands he carries with him everywhere, pretends to tap it on something in the air. "I bring 'em back." He tucks it away again. "One of them, anyway. Larkin, she'll get the other."

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Izzy:

Hansel squints a little. Slightly better than the first half of the plan. Slightly. "Hm." Words. He should probably say words. "How exactly does Larkin get the other?"

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Lina:

"She's got a trick up her sleeve. A gem that can revive someone. Saving it for a rainy day, and, well." Goro snorts.

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Izzy:

"So is this our only plan, because I can't say I'm a fan."

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Lina:

"You got something better up your sleeve, big guy?"

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Izzy:

"Fucking unfortunately, I do not." He glances over at the wand Goro had waved around. "Didn't you get that shit from Diva in the first place?"

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Lina:

"Sure did. But I'll say one thing for the bitch, she's honest. If she says it can cast Resurrection, I believe it can cast Resurrection."

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Izzy:

Seems like there'll be a catch. He guesses Goro would know better than him, but honest isn't a word he'd use to describe that thing. "Maybe that's something you wanna test out first, before you go killing you mom. Or my husband."

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Lina:

"Oh, good thinking, Hansel. You want to run down to her shop and grab some more of those seed things? We can find a couple of unsuspecting chumps on the street to try it out on." Then he makes sure to give Hansel a look, just in case his sarcasm wasn't as obvious as bright daylight.

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Izzy:

Hansel returns the look. "I'm sure it wouldn't be too fuckin' hard to find a dead body in this city." He considers saying I could always make a new one in a pointed way, but Goro might not take it well. It's a joke. Kind of. Mishka would like it. "I just mean the wand. You really think it does what she said? No catch?"

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Lina:

Goro is quick to look back out over the water. "Well, of course, there's a catch. But I know what it is and I'm going to deal with it. I don't need to test. Don't worry, it'll leave your darling husband unharmed. I'll probably save the wand for Ripley, though. Have Larkin do the gem for Mishka. I think we should get Mishka first. He might... not be holding up as well."

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Izzy:

Hansel is quiet for a second. "Hey, Goro. You still wanna know what happened to my last crew?"

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Lina:

Goro raises an eyebrow. "Oh? Trying to brighten my evening a little? That's sweet of you. Yeah, I'd love to."

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Izzy:

He puts his hand on Goro's shoulder. Heavily. "My darling husband abandoned us. We barely survived it." He leans in a little, putting more weight on Goro's shoulder without taking his eyes off the ocean. "The ones who survived him didn't survive me." He leans away again and pats Goro's shoulder gently. "Don't use your shitty fucking tone when you talk about my husband. Thanks."

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Lina:

Goro jerks away from his touch. "What the fuck do you want? Why'd you come talk to me?"

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Izzy:

"Thought you'd have better ideas than I would about the whole Diva thing." Hansel shrugs. "Considering."

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Lina:

"Not hard to have better ideas than no ideas at all." Goro took a step away from Hansel, facing toward the deck and resting his elbows on the railing. For a fleeting moment he had that uncanny sense of someone looking at him. He glanced up at the crow's nest, where Roddy and Jonn were talking. God, they sounded downright chipper. What fucking right did anyone have to sound chipper at a time like this? Well, Roddy, who could blame him. He'd been quietly minding his own business before Jonn came along. Goro worried sometimes about the effect Jonn was having on Roddy. As he stood there watching the two of them, listening--he couldn't make out their words, but the tone, yes--a funny feeling came over him, sort of. Like when you know there was something you were going to say earlier, but you can't remember what it was. Jonn, strolling around the ship, whistling, like he didn't have a care in the world. Empty. Goro couldn't tear his eyes from Jonn. He swallowed. Then he started frantically patting all his pockets, and digging his fingers in them too just to make sure.

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Izzy:

Hansel bites his tongue against responding. Something unwarranted would come out. Again. He was kind of biting back a grin, too, though -- fuckin' Goro. He shouldn't enjoy people who were like this. Then Goro seemed to start having a panic attack of some description. Hansel immediately felt guilty, but it was a pretty goddamned delayed response if it was because of what he'd said. Goro was looking up, towards the mainmast -- the crow's nest. Hansel squinted. It was just Jonn and Roddy. They might threaten to give him a fucking heart attack, but Goro? What the fuck? He started to put a hand on Goro's shoulder to try to settle him down, but stopped short. That seemed like it'd probably be a bad move. "Hey, man. Calm down. You all right?"

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Lina:

Goro looked at Hansel. Then up at Jonn. Then back at Hansel. Breathing heavy, his eyes wide and crazed.

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Izzy:

Shit. This was going to be a problem. Should Hansel hug him? That worked when Jonn was freaking out. Goro might shank him or something, though. He glanced up at the crow's nest again. There was nothing fucking there, but he stepped between it and Goro anyway to block his eyeline and put his hands on both of Goro's shoulders -- even if he didn't like it, maybe it'd distract him from whatever he was currently panicking about. "Hey. Goro. Look at me," he said firmly. "What's going on?"

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Lina:

Goro lunged forward, grabbing Hansel by the front of his shirt. "Your son. Your son!" He shook him a little. Hansel just looked confused. Well of course. Goro couldn't spit it out. Oh fuck. Oh, fuck. "He made a deal with Diva." Goro's voice was strained. Didn't even sound like his own. Too high-pitched and desperate. "He planted the vials on me."

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Izzy:

Hansel stared at him. "Don't be ridiculous."

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Lina:

Goro clutched Hansel's shirt tighter, practically ripping it off him. He screamed in his face. "He planted the vials on me! She told me!"

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Izzy:

Hansel leaned back, grimacing. He let Goro cling to him, because he was still clearly freaking the fuck out, but couldn't manage to not sound dry and sarcastic. "The fucked up demon thing told you my kid is responsible for all that shit the other day? Wow. Convenient. Don't know why you didn't mention it before."

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Lina:

Goro shoved Hansel out of his way, and started for the crow's nest.

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Izzy:

Hansel grabbed his arm. "Hey." He jerked him back to face him. "Don't do somethin' you're gonna fuckin' regret, Goro."

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Lina:

"You know!" Goro stabbed his finger at Hansel's chest. "You know! Who the fuck else could've put them on me without me noticing? Without me noticing, Hansel!"

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Izzy:

"Maybe you're not that fuckin' observant."

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Lina:

"Oh, I'm not fucking observant. I'm not fucking observant?" Goro swung around, as much as he could while still in Hansel's grasp, and looked up at Jonn. "That little shit. That motherfucker." He flung his free arm out, pointed his finger, and fired off a beam of crackling energy.

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Izzy:

Hansel's fist had slammed into Goro's face before he'd even thought about it. Shouldn't've done that. Goro shouldn't've fucking attacked his kid. He'd knocked him out of the crow's nest -- that thing was thirty goddamn feet up. He could be fucking dead. But if Hansel let go of Goro, he might do some other dumb fucking shit. "What the fuck, Goro," he snarled. "That's my fucking kid. You think I won't throw you off this goddamn ship?"

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Lina:

Goro leaned over and spat blood on the deck. Then he wheeled back up to shout in Hansel's face again. "Do it! Fucking do it!"

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Coyote:

[in the captain's quarters] Sugar tumbled out of bed from her nap, blinking blearily. There was shouting. Goro shouting. Screaming "Do it! Fucking do it!" in a voice she'd never heard before, but the mirror in her pocket wasn't hot, wasn't activated. She bolted outside the door. Goro staggered, face wet with blood. Hansel stood over him. Jonn lay on the deck, clutching his arm like it was broken.

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Izzy:

Hansel looked over Goro's shoulder. Jonn was partway up. Roddy was with him. He was fine. He spun Goro around and slammed him into the railing of the ship, got close enough to lower his voice well enough that only Goro would hear him. "You attack my kid again and I'll fucking kill you and eat your bones for a snack. Otherwise, we can talk about this like goddamn adults."

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Muse:

"HEY!!" Before Roddy knew what he was doing, he was charging forwards and attempting to pry Hansel off of Goro. "NO THROWING ANYONE OVERBOARD! LETS NO DO THAT! WE'RE ALL FRIENDS RIGHT?? RIGHT?" Despite all Roddy's tugging, Hansel's grip remained firm. He wasn't getting Goro free with strength. Roddy hummed a few bars, conjuring up his magic. "Why don't you let Goro go and take a step back?" he sing-songed, infusing it with every once of magic he could drum up. Unfortunately it just bounced right off the rage Hansel was feeling.

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Lina:

Goro gave Hansel a big, bloody grin. "Your kid is the reason why Mishka's possessed. He made a deal with Diva. I asked her. Where the hell'd the vials come from, I said. She had a helper, turns out. Someone who wanted Mishka to suffer. A boy. With long hair. Empty. That was the word she used. What the fuck's that mean, you think?" Goro glared past Hansel at Jonn, who'd managed to get to his feet. Not good enough. He needed to bleed.

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Coyote:

Sugar froze. She was going to scream: Hansel!, to leap up and grab his arm, to stop him, but instead she froze up. Jonn. Jonn hurt Mishka. White-cold fury hit her, like nothing she'd felt before. She threw out her hand and clenched it, trying to get a grip on Jonn, trying to hold him still before he finishing getting to his feet. But her grip slipped off him. Not good enough. "Hansel!" she screamed. "Don't hurt Goro!"

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Izzy:

Roddy was screaming, then humming, nervous sing-song, and Hansel felt a spell slip off him. Had Roddy tried to fucking compel him? He turned to look at him, fucking furious for a second, but before he could say anything Goro had his attention again. A boy. Long hair. Empty. Empty. His stomach dropped. He wanted to punch Goro again. Throw him into the bay. Jump in after him. Stay down there this time. He should probably fucking take Jonn with him if he was going to do that, though -- seemed like the responsible thing to do. He wanted to be angry but he wasn't anymore. He wasn't even surprised. He was disappointed, and entirely in himself. He grit his teeth and looked away. "Jonn, fucking run." - - - Jonn made it to his feet, shuddering as a spell failed to take hold on him. He shook it off. He did not need to be told twice. "Got it!" He bolted towards the docks.

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Muse:

So many words being thrown around- so many spells. Roddy was lost, and clueless, but all he wanted to do was make sure nobody died. Jonn was running- that was good. Hansel was still looking an inch away from pitching Goro overboard- that was bad. The fury directed Roddy's way, even for an instant, had him letting go and stepping back. But Goro was still in danger. "Hansel please," Roddy switched to pleading, maybe this'd work. "He's our teammate- what would you say to me if I tried to throw- um, Sugar overboard? Just- imagine me saying that to you now." This was dumb, this was dumb and it wasn't going to work. Roddy wrung his hands together. "C'mon we can solve this without killing each other. Right?"

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Lina:

"Hm." Goro ran his tongue over his teeth. Spat blood again, not quite leaning over far enough to avoid getting it on Hansel. Goro smiled at him. "What's Mishka going to say when he finds out, you think? I mean, assuming he ever says anything, ever again."

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Coyote:

"LET GO OF HIM!" Sugar shrieked. She wanted to throw herself at Hansel and pound on his back with her fists. Instead, she thought: What would Mishka do? And her breath caught in her throat as an idea came to her, all at once. She threw out her hand and cast Magic Missile. Straight at Jonn, still fleeing on the dock. It hit him hard in the back, and he stumbled. Making sure Hansel could see her attacking him. She didn't want to hurt Jonn, but Hansel-- if she attacked Jonn, Hansel would have to stop. Would have to let go of Goro.

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Izzy:

The kid was babbling behind his back, trying to get him to calm down, but without magic this time, at least. Some part of Hansel wanted to turn around and tell him in a soft voice that it was okay, that he wasn't going to kill Goro, he wasn't going to throw him overboard, it would all be fine -- yes, they were teammates, they were a crew, and it would all be fine. It was not, however, fine. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sugar launching magic Jonn's way, making contact, making him falter, but he kept going. And some part of Hansel thought fuck. It'd be easier if someone just fucking killed Jonn. Then he could be angry again instead of whatever the fuck this was. He let go of Goro. "Shut the fuck up, Goro." Hansel turned, brushing past Roddy. He stopped on the main deck and stared at Sugar for a moment, then moved on to the foredeck, the very front of the ship, as far away from the rest of them as he could get.

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Coyote:

She did the wrong thing. Mishka's way wasn't right. He said find the weak spot and exploit it, but this wasn't what she wanted to do, wasn't how she wanted to hurt someone. "I'm sorry," she said, but her voice wouldn't come out right. "I'm so sorry, I sh-shouldn't have, I didn't..." She kept backing away. Goro was okay. Jonn wasn't dead, he'd kept going. Hansel had let go. But she still had this bone-deep feeling she'd done something hideously wrong, something Hansel wouldn't think was okay, not ever.

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Muse:

Hansel backed off. Jonn was gone- Sugar'd hit him with Magic Missile but he'd kept moving. Everyone was alive. The rest- that could be sorted out later. Roddy hesitated, glancing from where Hansel hand stormed off to, to Goro. ...Maybe he should give Hansel some time to cool off. He'd- been on the other side. He might still be mad at him. "Uh, Goro? Do you- need a hand there?" Roddy offered, edging closer to the cleric. "I could um, I could practice that spell you taught me if- if you wanted."

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Lina:

Goro pushed off from the railing, trying not to stagger. Not obviously, anyway. He waved Roddy off. "Uh, not now, Roddy, not..." He stopped, looked up to meet the big guy's eye. He reached up and put a hand on his shoulder, even. Mostly so he wouldn't fall over. "Roddy. Listen to me. You're a good guy. Listen to your gut, alright? You know what I mean by that? Well, you'll figure it out. Always listen to your gut. And don't talk to Jonn anymore." Goro continued forward, past Roddy, toward Sugar who was backing away, looking agonized. Goro reached out for her, not even really thinking about it, and instead of doing what he wanted--which was to wrap her up in his arms and hold her tightly--he just turned her around, coaxing her forward, toward the captain's quarters. "You got your locks redone, right? Right?"

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Coyote:

Sugar shook her head. She meant to say: Yes, she had, she'd done exactly as he'd said, but she just kept shaking her head. She sank to the ground, holding her head, tears streaming down her face. She did the wrong thing. Mishka would've done something better. Would've fixed it. "It's fine," she said shakily. She got to her feet, clasped his hand, pulled him into a tight hug, then let go. She went to Hansel instead. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to, I wasn't thinking. He seemed okay." Hansel had hugged her, before, had told her she'd done a good job... and now he looked at her like she was awful. She was awful.

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Izzy:

Hansel was staring at nothing. He didn't register Sugar had even come near him until she spoke, and then he turned to look at her -- blankly at first, then confused. "Nixie, it --." He didn't know what to say. He was fucking exhausted. He closed his eyes. "It's fine. It's okay." He looked back out at the docks, wondered what fucking hole Jonn would have crawled into to lick his wounds. He hoped someone was helping him, and hated himself for it. "He'll be fine. I'm not mad at you." He paused. "You should've tried harder to kill him."

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Muse:

Roddy was just- so confused. He didn't understand a thing that was going on. But Goro had given him advice, so Roddy was going to latch onto that. Listen to his gut- and don't talk to Jonn any more. Okay yeah he still didn't understand it, but he had to take something away from this. Everybody seemed to be calm now, so Roddy slunk off towards his room. "You should've tried harder to kill him." The comment from Hansel made Roddy freeze. Hansel was- glad Sugar tried to kill Jonn? Roddy could feel a knot forming in his stomach and he hurried his pace. If Hansel thought Sugar was right to try and kill Jonn... What did that say about what Hansel thought about Roddy?

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Coyote:

She didn't understand. She sat down on the deck again. "No," she said in a small voice. "I don't want that." God. She was so tired of trying to be captain.

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Izzy:

Hansel sat down heavily next to her. His knuckles were throbbing now that he had the mindset to notice them, and he flexed his fingers. Shouldn't've punched Goro. He'd been fucking right. Goddammit. "Listen." He tried to figure out how to say this. "Jonn's my kid. And I fuckin' love him. But he's ..." Empty had been close to it. "Not ... right." Thing was, Sugar knew this already, and he'd tried to talk her out of it. "He's not ..." Fuck. "He's a bad fucking person. On some real deep fucking level that I can't fix. And someone should keep him from hurting people, and I've tried, but he keeps fucking slipping past me." He sighed and rubbed at his face. He wanted to hug her, but he'd just roughed Goro up in front of her, and he didn't think she'd want him to touch her. "I don't want you to kill him. That's not on you. I shouldn't've said that, I'm sorry."

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Coyote:

He wasn't mad. She thought he'd smack her. Tell her to toughen up, to try harder to kill him. Once, when she was small, she caught a thief in her room, and she scared him off. Her mother dragged her out of her room and slapped her for not killing him. Sugar didn't want to be like her mom. She crawled over to Hansel and pushed her way into his arms so that he held her. Okay. Momentary panic moment over. She was fine. Just had to keep following her notes. She stood up, then offered Hansel a hand up.

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Izzy:

Nixie wasn't afraid of him. He didn't know how to feel about that, in the long-term, but right now, it was just a fucking relief. He held her tight. But when she stood and offered a hand down, he shook his head. "You go on. Make sure Goro's all right." Under his breath, he added, "You can tell him I know I shouldn't've fucking punched him, if you want." He guessed he'd have to apologize for that at some point. And Goro would be snide about it and he'd have to manage to not punch him again, somehow.

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Coyote:

Mishka told her, something, once about Hansel. He has a tendency to become so pre-occupied with taking care of everyone else he often forgets to take care of himself. Sometimes you have to watch him. It was a passing comment a few days ago, right before this mess. She didn't know what she could do, though, to help take care of Hansel. So instead she nodded and straightened up, leaving him to sit. Hansel already had to take care of Roddy and Jonn. Sugar would take care of everything else, for now. Ease the burden he held. And maybe for a few moments, he'd have peace alone on the deck. It was the best she could do. "I'll take care of Goro," she said quietly. "Please don't hurt yourself." And she pulled Goro into her quarters to sit. But left the door open, just an inch, so she could hear if Hansel needed her.

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[END]