TRP: Finch, Jonn, and Roddy (Za'iri)

**Izzy:** at 8:47 PM

[Setting: Day 153, Skyport.]

"I missed you."

"I fucking hate you," Finch said, his fingers
digging into the doorframe, "so much."

Jonn ignored him and kept pulling gently on his other arm.
"Fucking electrocute me, then. C'mon. I'm buying."

Finch reluctantly let go and let Jonn drag him out of the
bunker, making a gesture to wave the door closed, locks re-engaging
automatically as Jonn cuddled against his side in victory.

They went to the usual place, because Jonn didn't really
think he'd be able to drag Finch any further. He'd take what he could get. He
really had missed Finch while he'd been stuck out in Glimmerton, and he took
Finch grumbling about the things he needed Jonn to pick up for the bunker as a
sign that he'd been missed too, and grinned and pulled Finch's arm around his
shoulders.

Last time they'd been here, he had skittered into the booth
and made Finch block him in, keep him secure against the wall. This time he
pushed Finch in first and blocked him in. Finch could shove him out if he
really wanted to, but he just sulked and slumped over the table, and listened
to Jonn chatter about the time he'd spent in Glimmerton without complaining.
Even responded a couple times.

After a little while, Jonn ran out of steam, and sighed and
leaned against Finch happily. The bar was full. Things were back to normal.
He'd fucking hated Glimmerton, but at least Roddy had been there.

And then realized that the music he'd been hearing the
entire time they'd been in the bar was familiar, and he stood up abruptly to
see over the crowd, climbing to stand up in the booth.

Finch grabbed at him, hissing, "What the fuck are you
doing--," but Jonn completely ignored him.

"Roddy!" he yelled across the bar, over the music
and the general crowd noise, bouncing up on his toes and waving in case Roddy
couldn't hear him. He was busy playing music, but Jonn figured he wouldn't
mind. "Roddy! Come sit with us!"

**Muse:** at 8:59 PM

Skyport was a relief after the suffocating air that had
stuffed up Roddy's head in the castle. Between the whatever-it-was with Hansel,
the Helm thing with Ripley, probably some seasonal winter melancholy too because
that seemed to hit him hard at times- it was good to find somewhere warm,
somewhere loud, and somewhere with a good audience.

Of course, being one of the saviors of the city also helped
with that. Unfortunately time had since passed where he could milk gold just
out of that but it did seem to help finding venues. Roddy was just starting to
finish up a song when he saw someone bouncing up and down in the back of the crowd.
Took him a second to place the voice as Jonn's. He grinned back, acknowledging
him, and finished as fast as he could without seeming rushed.

"And I'll be back with more later," he promised
the people listening, and beelined for the booth his brother was sitting at.
"Hey Jonn!" he said excitedly, automatically grabbing him into a hug.
"I didn't expect to see you here! I thought you were in Glimmerton!"

**Izzy:** at 9:12 PM

"No! Fuck Glimmerton!" Jonn returned excitedly,
hugging Roddy back. He wouldn't have ever thought hugging a giant turtle would
be so nice and comforting, but it was, shell and all. "I got in trouble so
the guild made me come home."

Finch muttered, "Fucking punishment for me, is what it
is."

Jonn flapped a hand at him as he sat back down. He kind of
wanted Roddy to stay with Hansel and keep an eye in him, but Luci was with him
now, and Goro was, so -- maybe this was okay.

**Muse:** at 9:25 PM

Roddy laughed, nudging Jonn slightly. "Budge over and
stop hogging all the room." Yeah, he could sit on the other side. But
also, he liked hugging his brother. (Still felt weird, having someone beside
Amren for a brother. But- nice.) So crowding together it was then.

"Glimmerton's nice when you got a castle to live
in," he said as he squeezed in, jokingly haughty. Yeah, this booth was
really too small for three. But Roddy didn't mind and Jonn didn't seem to
either. The other guy though, he didn't seem to happy.

"Hey you're Jonn's partner right?" Roddy said,
leaning over and waving. "I'm Roddy, Jonn's brother." First time
saying it aloud. Felt weird, but- Roddy could get used to it. Roddy wanted to
get used to it. "You're uhhh. You're Frank, right?"

**Izzy:** at 9:33 PM

Jonn was torn between absolute delight at being squished
between Finch and Roddy, and a pang of some other emotion at the mention of the
castle. He wanted to live in the castle. It wasn't as cool as a pirate ship,
but it was a fucking castle. And in creeping around and scouting the place out,
he'd found the little cove where the pirate ship was hidden, and that was
fucking cool, too.

He didn't manage a response before Roddy turned his
attention to Finch, which was fine. Finch gave him a flat angry look as Jonn
snickered. "Finch. My fucking name is Finch. Like the bird." He
shifted, obviously uncomfortable, his shoulder pressed against the wall. Jonn
grinned at him.

**Muse:** at 9:39 PM

"Finch," Roddy corrected, nodding. "Like the
bird." That sounded like a girl's name. Roddy was fairly sure people'd
been talking about Finch like he(?) was a he? Have to pay close attention to
that. People generally got really annoyed when you mixed up their gender.

It felt a little less cramped when he looped his arm around
Jonn's shoulders, so that's what Roddy did. "Hey you guys want booze? I
get free booze cause I draw in people with the music, bet I can get it for you
too," he offered, grinning. "And you can tell me about the 'trouble'
you're in, it's not cause of the Amren thing is it?" Roddy asked with
concern. He had asked Jonn to snoop on a fellow guild member. And Jonn'd done
it but that was supposed to be his team. Roddy didn't imagine his team being
too happy if he shelled out information on one of them.

**Izzy:** at 9:57 PM

Jonn pounded a fist on the table. "Yes. Free booze. I
used to get free drinks here but then the owner -- never mind." That was
going to be then the owner figured out I was never going to sleep with her, but
it occurred to him that he wouldn't say that in front of Luci, so he shouldn't
say it in front of Roddy. Yes. He was doing good. He was proud of himself.

Finch covered his face with his hands and muttered,
"Fucking kill me."

Jonn jostled him with an elbow. "Free booze." Then
he looked back to Roddy. "Nah, it wasn't the thing with Firnash, I was, uh
--."

He looked to Finch quizzically, and without even having to
uncover his face, Finch recited, "You were fucking monopolizing guild
resources, you dumb motherfucker."

"Yeah, that."(edited)

**Muse:** at 10:10 PM

Roddy snickered, waving down a waitress. "Maybe don't
do that next time," he teased. Gave the waitress his order, nothing too
strong tonight he was gonna try to stay mostly sober, and gestured to Jonn and
Finch. "These two are on me." Which hopefully meant 'on the house'.
He might have to talk the barkeep into it later, places like this were real
sticklers at times.

"So what were you doing that was so monopolizing?"
Roddy asked, mostly looking at Jonn but glancing at Finch too. He was Jonn's
partner, he had to be involved too.

**Izzy:** at 10:17 PM

"Oh, I, uh." He wasn't sure how much of this was
okay to tell Roddy. It'd be a lot easier if Roddy was just part of the guild,
too, but -- then he definitely wouldn't be able to keep an eye on Hansel. He
looked at Finch for help again, nudging him.

Finch gave a long-suffering sigh and deigned to look at the
two of them. "The guild's got spellcasters who can teleport. Like your
fuckin' friend Haeth, or whatever. This idiot kept using them as his own
personal fucking transit system, so he's grounded now." He glared at Jonn,
like Jonn being stuck in the bunker again didn't mean that there was someone
around to do supply runs for him.

Now that he had an outline of what he was allowed to say,
Jonn chirped, "Yeah, remember how we cracked away in the castle, after the
captain fireballed us? That stuff. We didn't used to have people who could do
that. It's great."

Finch elbowed him, and he shut up.

**Muse:** at 10:27 PM

Heath- oh Mishka. Roddy wasn't used to hearing the last
names. "Yeah teleporting's really useful. Couldv'e ended up coming to
Skyport from the castle that way, but figured the walk would clear my head.
Still, really good for that long distance travel!" he said cheerily. It
had helped too. He still wasn't feeling completely settled, but it was a good
start.

**Izzy:** at 10:34 PM

Jonn shot Finch a look. His eyes had narrowed, and he looked
at Jonn questioningly. Jonn gave a tiny shrug.

"Hey," Finch said, shifting forward to look past
Jonn at Roddy. "You're a bard, right?"

**Muse:** at 10:36 PM

"Yep, sure am," Roddy said, puffing out his chest.
Wondering why that came up all of a sudden- but they were all friends here.
"Y'know I helped save the city from Diva too."

**Izzy:** at 10:38 PM

"Yeah, yeah, fuckin' ... great." Finch waved that
off. "You know anything about that spell Dimension Door?"

"Finch has magic," Jonn chipped in. "Wizard
stuff. It's not as cool as bard stuff."

"Fuck you, shut up."

**Muse:** at 10:42 PM

"Bard stuff is the coolest," Roddy agreed. "I
don't know the Dimension Door one though. Maybe I'll see if Mishka can teach it
to me," he muttered thoughtfully. Hm. "Oh but I do have Blink, it's-
similar?"

**Izzy:** at 10:47 PM

"Blink's cool," Jonn said approvingly. "Some
of the --."

Finch elbowed him again and he stopped talking with a scowl.
"Dimension Door can't get you from Glimmerton to Skyport," Finch
said. "You need high-tier shit for that. Real teleportation."

Jonn caught on. "Oh, yeah. How would you've teleported
all the way here?" He narrowed his eyes. There was a circle in the castle.
Did that mean there was one here? That was what Finch was getting at, he
realized, but Finch was fuckin' dumb when it came to talking to people, so he
helped. "Is there a teleportation circle in Skyport? Like the one at your
castle?"

**Muse:** at 10:51 PM

"Oh yeah, it's down in Mishka's basement," Roddy
said, nodding. "Y'know they even used it to come back from Calimport one
time. That was neat. That's like- two weeks journey."

**Izzy:** at 10:57 PM

"Huh," Finch said, staring at him. "That's
real fuckin' interesting, Roddy."

Jonn got the feeling he'd just fucked something up. He took
a long drink to cover it up. Finch wouldn't ... like ... fuck things up for the
Graverunners, though. He wouldn't rat them out to the guild. Larkin was one of
them, and he had his own weird fucking plans for Larkin. She didn't live at the
castle, though.

"Hey, hey, Roddy," he said hastily, trying to
figure out a way to unfuck this. "Are you still living in Glimmerton, with
Dad? Are you just visiting Skyport?" And he shot Finch a quick look,
signed stilted thieves cant at him: I'll fucking stab you.

Finch looked back at him coolly and took a drink himself.

**Muse:** at 11:07 PM

"Yeah. After the whole- possession thing, and then
Joan- Ripley- had another thing- which doesn't really affect Hansel just
me," he added quickly. "Well. Yeah I did figure it'd be nice to have
some time to clear my head. S'going well so far. And I got to run into you guys
too!" Roddy said, smiling and nudging Jonn lightly.

It felt like something may have gone a little- sideways.
Finch didn't seem too happy all of a sudden. Roddy started drumming his fingers
against the table, a little tune he'd picked up in the Calimport area.
"Y'know I would have liked to see you on Candlenight," he said
suddenly. "S'kinda a shame didn't work out."

**Izzy:** at 11:12 PM

"Yeah," Jonn said slowly. "I was gonna try to
come see you, but your bedroom doesn't have any windows for me to come in
through." And it was really close to Hansel and Mishka's room, which set
him on edge. He clicked his fingernails against his stein. "I saw Luci,
though, and Gwydion."

(Finch made a vague disgusted sound.)

"And then I got in trouble for -- whatever. But you got
your presents, right?" Jonn asked brightly.

**Muse:** at 11:17 PM

"Oh that was you?" Roddy said, delighted.
"Yeah! That was really nice!" And then Roddy abruptly realized he'd forgotten
to stick Jonn's feather in his hat. "It's been a bit- hectic for me so I
forgot about changing out the feather. But I'm planning to! Once I get
back."

Though. Why'd Jonn gone to see Gwydion and not Roddy?
Supposed to be brothers and all. But then again Roddy hadn't given him much
chance to, with the windows, and hiding out in his room drunk. "M'glad you
got to see Luci. I like her. She's quiet but she's nice."

**Izzy:** at 11:25 PM

Jonn was extremely pleased by this. The gifts had been good.
He'd remembered -- one of the first few times he'd hung out with Roddy, they'd
talked about journals, and then the night he'd ended up having to leave the
ship, he'd accidentally interrupted Roddy writing. It seemed like something
that was important to Roddy. Jonn was good at giving gifts.

He hadn't gotten anything for Hansel, though, this year.
Hadn't known what to do.

But he was glad that Roddy liked Luci, too, so he focused on
that, vibrating in place slightly. "Yeah. Yeah, I hadn't seen her in a
couple years, 'cause of the Sanctuary banning me and all. Hey, hey, did Larkin
like the stuff I left for her?" He nudged Finch, and Finch scowled again,
unsurprisingly. That was just his face.

**Muse:** at 11:29 PM

"Oh uh. I didn't ask. She didn't say anything."
The fact that Jonn even left her anything was news to Roddy. Guess Jonn had
been leaving presents for more than the family. Made Roddy a bit worried, what
if they'd caught him? (They hadn't, but still. Was this part of the thing
Hansel meant when he said not to listen to Jonn?) "Oh she didn't chuck the
chocolates this time though," he said, leaning over to poke Finch.
"They were good, we traded."

**Izzy:** at 11:35 PM

Finch flinched away from the poke and tried to hide his smug
grin behind his drink, but Jonn caught it.

"I got her poison, 'cause I figured, Larkin seems like
someone who likes poisoning people," Jonn said, pleased with himself over
this, too.

Finch snorted into his beer. "She probably thought it
was a fucking threat."

"Aw, fuck." Jonn's face fell. He muttered, "I
didn't think about that." He picked at his cloak. "I got Goro something
with poison, too. Shit."

"You fuckin' idiot," Finch said, and patted his
shoulder. Then he leaned forward. "Hey, Roddy, you hang out with Lark
much?"

**Muse:** at 11:40 PM

"Uh." Well, Roddy felt very unqualified to comment
on both of those gifts. "Uh, not really? She stays in Skyport mostly,
haven't seen her around as much since moving to Glimmerton. Though I would like
to more. She seems nice except for the stabby thing."

He glanced over at Jonn. "I um. Well Goro I don't like
and Larkin I just don't talk to all that much. So I haven't- I don't really
know what they thought of 'em. They're both pretty close-mouthed."

**Izzy:** at 11:49 PM

"So she doesn't live at the keep," Finch said
thoughtfully. "Hm."

Shit, Jonn thought, he needed to work out some way of
telling Roddy to shut up without just telling him to shut up. This was probably
how Hansel felt when he wouldn't stop doing shit. He wondered if Roddy knew
orcish. Maybe Hansel'd teach him, and then Jonn and Roddy could talk about
things in front of Finch without him knowing what was going on. (If nothing
else, that just sounded really funny, but there were practical uses, too.)

He settled for just shoving Finch, sloshing his beer and
annoying him, and acting like he hadn't done anything when Finch swore at him.

"Anyway," Jonn said, "Finch hasn't fucking
said thank you, but I did buy him something with that gold you sent us. That
was really nice. Thanks."

**Muse:** at 11:55 PM

Roddy was getting that feeling again. That prickly sense
that something had gone sideways but he didn't know what.

But then Jonn made Finch nearly spill his beer and Roddy
snickered, that was funny. "You're welcome," he said, smiling.
"You got my present too right? Kinda had trouble figuring it out, but
y'know, knives are always useful!" Less useful if you were a spellcaster
though- but Roddy was pretty sure Jonn wasn't. "You've got a point though,
Finch should say thank you," Roddy said, and not-so-subtly prodded his
shoulder. "After all we're all friends here." Hopefully.

December 24, 2018

**Izzy:** at 12:05 AM

"Yeah!" It was just a knife -- Jonn had a much
cooler knife -- but he was still delighted that Roddy had gotten him anything
at all. Hansel had bought him knives, when he was still a pirate and Jonn had
still lived at the Sanctuary, and the clerics had always confiscated them. He
wondered if Roddy had asked Hansel what to get him, but he didn't really want
to ask.

Instead of thanking anyone, Finch grumbled, "Fuck
you."

Jonn patted his shoulder, like Finch had just done to him,
and solemnly told Roddy, "That's about the best you get out of him."

Finch immediately shot him a glare, and shoved him back
against the back of the booth with an elbow against his sternum so that he
could look at Roddy more directly, and put on a weirdly pleasant voice.
"Y'know what, yeah, actually. Thanks, Roddy. You're a real helpful guy. We
are friends."

Jonn squinted at him suspiciously and let himself be pinned.

**Muse:** at 12:18 AM

Hey! He'd admitted to it! Roddy grinned and wiggled his arm
free of Jonn and leaned over so he could wrap it around Finch's neck instead.

But Finch wasn't having that, crashing into the wall and
suddenly shoving Jonn at Roddy. Well fine then. "Okay no hugs for Finch
then," Roddy grumbled. He gave it to Jonn instead. Really. Why were so
many of these people so opposed to a hug? Hmph. "You could have just said
something," he said, peeved.

**Izzy:** at 12:27 AM

Jonn ignored the shove and just basked in the fact that he
was getting hugged instead, giving Finch a self-satisfied grin. He was being
fucking strange about it, but he was always fucking strange, and if Finch and
Roddy liked each other -- shit, this might be a record for amount of people Jonn
liked, who liked each other, and also liked him, because Hansel liked Roddy and
he'd never met Finch, but he trusted Finch to take care of Jonn, so that kind
of counted.

Finch mumbled something completely illegible into his drink,
so Jonn filled in for him. "Don't worry, he'll get over it." He made
himself comfy against Roddy's shell. "You'll wear him down eventually if
you can keep hanging out with us."

"Still fuck you," Finch muttered, and flipped him
off.

"I mean, I did," Jonn said happily, ignoring
him.(edited)

**Muse:** at 12:30 PM

Roddy grinned, the brief sulk fading as he shifted to make
cuddling Jonn a bit more comfortable.. Yeah, maybe they just needed to be
better friends first. (Although Roddy was pretty good friends with Mishka and
Mishka'd still poofed that one time, but Hansel said Mishka was just like that,
but maybe Finch was too?) Something to re-visit later, overall.

"He was all like that with you too, at first?"
Roddy asked, gesturing at Finch. Didn't seem that way any more, cramming three
people (one of them being big-shelled Roddy) into a space meant for two meant
there wasn't much room for personal space for any of them. Which Finch didn't
seem happy about, but hey he was here. "You seem to be getting along well
now." Crankily, but Larkin was kinda that way too. Maybe that's why they
got along so well.

**Izzy:** at 9:36 PM

Finch snorted and didn't turn his head. Jonn figured he'd
exhausted himself with the admitting to being friends thing -- that was a big
deal to a recluse who claimed to viciously hate the one person he saw on a
regular basis.

Jonn poked him gently in the side, just to pester him.
"Yeah, he's just a paranoid motherfucker. Thinks people're gonna stab him
in the back 'cause that's what Larkin did to him."

"You fucking --." Finch finally had enough of his
shit and swatted his hand away, slammed his stein on the table, then slipped
down and ducked under it entirely, coming back up, alone and moderately
pleased, on the other side.

Jonn thought about chasing him, but preffered to stay cozied
up with Roddy, just giving Finch a grin.

**Muse:** at 9:43 PM

Watching the interplay might have been amusing- if the
mention of Larkin hadn't started nagging at him. "Larkin stabbed you in
the back?" Roddy asked. "Okay first I'm going to assume that was
metaphorical but- she never seemed too backstabby to me. Stabby yeah but-
loyal." He started fidgeting with his stein, uneasy. She was buddies with
Goro, and Goro wasn't all that trustworthy either. But they were supposed to be
teammates. That was supposed to mean something. "Guess I hadn't really
thought about what made you guys split in the first place," he muttered,
half to himself.

**Izzy:** at 10:03 PM

"Ooh, ooh." Jonn straighted and stretched his arms
across the table to Finch. "Can I tell him? Can I?"

Finch looked away. Jonn wasn't stupid -- he knew this shit
made Finch uncomfortable. He wasn't drunk enough yet to talk about it himself,
that was all -- Jonn had heard it a lot when they'd first become partners.

He took Finch's silence as a go-ahead and pulled back to
look to at Roddy, not quite grinning, trying not to. "Finch used to work
for the Basha -- Larkin's uncle, y'know, the big guy. But they fucked up a job
at a nobleman's house one time, and when they were trying to escape, Larkin
fucking just left him to die. He got fucked up the nobleman's guards, and then
by the town guard, too, when they threw him in prison."

(Jonn was too focused on telling the story to notice, but
across from them, Finch had dropped his head down onto the table, covering it
with an arm.)

"Anyway," Jonn said, "her guilt got the
better of her, or something, 'cause she bailed him out, but fuck the Bashas,
right? That's when he came and joined my guild instead." He finally looked
over to Finch, cheerily adding, "And that's when we became partners."

"Prison was better," Finch deadpanned, without lifting
his head.

December 25, 2018

**Muse:** at 11:29 AM

"That doesn't-" Roddy cut himself off. Telling
Finch 'that doesn't sound like backstabbing' would probably not be a good way
to keep the friendship thing. It sounded more like cowardice. Which, hey, Roddy
wasn't exactly the bravest himself so he couldn't fault Larkin for it.

"Well you seem to be doing well now," Roddy said.
Ignoring the last comment, because he was pretty sure that was sarcasm.
"Larkin's been doing well too! She's been hanging out with Goro mostly.
They're both really shifty. I'm pretty sure they murdered a guy one time."

**Izzy:** at 11:41 AM

Finch raised his head enough to glare at Roddy with one eye.
Jonn kicked him under the table to remind him to be nice, and he shifted the
glare to Jonn instead, then straightened up to look back at Roddy with narrowed
eyes.

Jonn could see him thinking, and he didn't want Finch to
keep saying shit that would make Roddy say shit, so he blurted, "Yeah, I
offered to kill Goro for Finch, but I'm not gonna do it now, 'cause Dad likes
him and all."

Finch opened his mouth to say something, but stopped and
shook his head before it came out. Good.

**Muse:** at 1:40 PM

Oh. Well that was- okay. Roddy glanced at Jonn, a little-
concerned now. Apparently he was one of those types that was more chill with
murder. But, on the other hand, Jonn was his brother. Jonn would probably kill
for him too, which Roddy was going to consider 'reassuring'. "I didn't try
to kill him but I yelled at him," Roddy said. "And then Hansel caught
me and then I got in trouble. Mostly just been trying to not talk to him now.
Goro, not Hansel."

**Izzy:** at 2:24 PM

Jonn made a face. Yeah, getting caught and getting in trouble
with Hansel was never good. Jonn had realized, though, that Hansel would never
actually do anything to him. He didn't know if he should tell that to Roddy in
a show of sibling solidarity, or not snitch on Hansel's soft side. The soft
side was ... most of him, anyway. Roddy'd probably get there on his own pretty
soon.

"Don't fucking shout at people," he recited
instead. "That's one of the rules Hansel gave me. Shit!" He
remembered suddenly, and bounced in place. "I shoulda given you a list of
Hansel's rules -- all the stuff he's told me not to do. I bet that'd help. Hey,
when's your birthday? I'll get it to you then."

**Muse:** at 2:37 PM

Birthday. Now that was some good memories (no they weren't).
"I dunno," Roddy muttered, shrugging. "Always used to celebrate
with Amren." He was bitterly jealous and his voice showed it. "Just-
give it to me when you've finished writing it up. Not worry about the birthday
thing." Roddy'd prefer to forget that, thankyouverymuch. Although he did
need some measure of telling when he was a year older. Ugh.

**Izzy:** at 2:44 PM

"Oh, fucking Amren, yeah." Jonn reached over to
swat at Finch.

Finch batted his hands away, grumbling, "I know, you
fucking told me."

"Hey, hey, what if -- hey, what if we celebrate your
birthday on the opposite day of the year from Amren's?" he asked
excitedly, waving his hands at Roddy. "Like, if his is in winter, we can
do yours in summer."

**Muse:** at 3:12 PM

Different day. Huh. Hey that was- Roddy liked that idea.
"We could- we could do that," he said, slowly grinning. "I could
get my own day!" Maybe not opposite of Amren's- that was still in Amren's
shadow. A day that meant a lot to Roddy, separate from that. There were a lot
of choices. A lot of things had happened lately, and which day to pick... Roddy
knew just the one.

"July seventeenth," he declared. "It's the
day Ripley offered me a job."

**Izzy:** at 5:16 PM

Jonn looked blank for a moment. Right, Joan Ripley. Right,
Roddy liked her, or whatever. She'd offered Jonn a job, too, though he was
pretty sure Hansel had begged her for it -- and he'd gone along with it for a
little while, until his responsibilities to the Skyport Thieves won out and
he'd stopped showing up.

He'd liked Amari. Made him think of Hansel. But Ripley, he
thought -- she saw right into him, right through him. He didn't know what to do
around her, what face to wear.

But Roddy liked her. She was important to him, like the
other Graverunners. So Jonn decided to not say things (that was one of the
rules, stop fuckin' saying shit), and he just grinned instead.

"Okay. I'll write it down, so I don't forget." He
dug the little black leather journal out of the bag at his side, and hastily
scribbled it in the corner of a cramped, ink-dark page, everything completely
illegible but: R bd jl17.

"That's a lot of time for me to work on the list, at
least." He'd been reconstructing from memory. It was taking some time --
his memory wasn't very good. "Hey, shit, I don't think I even know how old
you are, right now?"

**Muse:** at 5:27 PM

Roddy started to answer and then stopped himself. He'd bet
he was younger than Jonn, Hansel seemed to think so, but people sometimes got-
weird when they found out how young he was. But Jonn was his brother and Finch
was his friend, so after a moment of hesitation, he answered. "Seventeen-
hey no I'd be eighteen now. Going by old-birthday." Huh. Hadn't even
occurred to him when that day was going by. Now to see how they took it...

**Izzy:** at 5:35 PM

"Fuck, when I was seventeen, I was still stuck at the
Sanctuary," Jonn said, a bit off-handed as he wrote something else garbled
in his notebook. Then he closed it and looked up. "And you get to go on
adventures and save the world and shit. I'd be jealous, but --." He cut
himself off. "Hey, that makes you the middle child. I'm twenty-three,
Luci's sixteen. Oh, actually." He thought for a second. "Yeah, she's
still sixteen. Her birthday's coming up. Anyway, perfect fit, then." He
grinned.

Finch studied Roddy, eyebrows knitting slightly.(edited)

**Muse:** at 5:52 PM

Jonn's reaction was- good. He was commenting but being
normal about it. Roddy relaxed slightly, shooting a glance at Finch. He hadn't
said anything. Couldn't tell if he was going to. "Yeah. Dragonborn are
adults at fifteen. Tortles might work the same. But- don't tell Hansel? I haven't
told many people. Luci and you guys, pretty much." Though Hansel still
seemed to suspect. Roddy should- ask him about that. Maybe.

**Izzy:** at 6:02 PM

"Oh, so." Jonn squinted at the ceiling for a moment.
"You're like ... if it's like dragonborn, you might be older than me,
then? Man. I dunno. I dunno how this shit works. Y'know, Dad's only thirty-six.
Finch is like, basically the same age. It's weird." He paused and his
expression went vacant. "Half-orcs don't live very long."

Under the table, Finch nudged him with a boot, and
remembered to smile, but drew a blank on what to say.

Finch covered for him, commenting to Roddy, "You know,
I've never met a tortle before."

**Muse:** at 8:20 PM

Roddy hadn't thought about lifespans. Half-orc didn't live
very long... But elves did, and humans were average and- Finch was talking.

"Oh uh, yeah. Um, no there aren't many of them- of us
outside the swamps at Moorland," Roddy said, feeling a little rattled.
"It's been ages since I've been there though. I was little when I joined
the circus and I think they told us to never come back? Anyway. I've never
talked to a tortle either."

**Izzy:** at 9:11 PM

Finch made a hmm noise and scratched his chin. "Yeah, I
guess you're not too fuckin' common. If you want, I could do some research for
you. About lifespans and shit. I'm real good at finding shit out." He
shrugged. "For a favor, you know."

Oh, Jonn absolutely hated that. He made himself talk again,
blurting out the first thing to come to mind just to try to distract Roddy from
Finch's offer. "Hey, y'know, I bet that never coming back thing was just
for the circus. I bet you could go back on your own. I could go with you,"
he started brightly.

"You're still fucking grounded, dumbass," Finch
cut him off.

**Muse:** at 10:37 PM

Huh? Oh wait- Moorland, yeah. "I could," Roddy
agreed, leaning back and drumming his fingers against the table. "I wasn't
even with them when they did whatever-it-was so they don't really have anything
against me. But Moorland's a ways away. And I like it in Glimmerton." And
the thought of talking to another of his kind always made Roddy weirdly
nervous,

And, Finch was offering to find out for him... Roddy glanced
back over at him, considering.

**Izzy:** at 10:47 PM

Finch flickered something in rapid, lazy thieves cant across
the table.

Jonn narrowed his eyes. "Fuckin' rude to do that in
front of someone who doesn't know it."

Mocking Jonn's more stilted, precise version of the cant,
Finch signed, I'll fucking stab you -- just reminding him that he'd already
done the same thing himself, earlier. Jonn scowled and scuffed the toe of one
boot against the floor. He thought for a second, looking down.

"Yeah, I guess Moorland's pretty far, especially by
yourself," he said slowly. "Finch knows people there, though.
Probably some tortles." He shrugged and looked back up to Roddy. "I
dunno, didn't your parents tell you stuff about being a tortle?"

**Muse:** at 11:05 PM

"They were dragonborn," Roddy said automatically.
And then, "Oh the ones before them. They died when I was really little, I
don't remember much from then." Just an impression of stifling silence.
Loneliness. He shook it off.

"Yeah never could get the hang of that," he said,
gesturing at Finch's hands. "I tried but all the hand signals. I'm better
with voices." An idea struck and he smirked. "I'm really good with
voices," he said again, this time in an imitation of Finch's voice.

**Izzy:** at 11:13 PM

Wait, how many parents had Roddy had -- Jonn immediately forgot
that line of thinking when Roddy imitated Finch. Fuck, it was good, too, and
Finch hadn't even said that much for Roddy to pick up on. "Fuck, Roddy,
that's really fucking cool!" he started, and looked over to Finch in
delight to get his opinion on it.

Finch had frozen, staring at Roddy in alarm. Then his eyes
narrowed, flickered to Jonn, back to Roddy, and he shoved himself out of the
booth abruptly and left, disappearing into the crowd.

Jonn looked after him quizzically for a moment, but he
didn't hear the door open and bang closed -- and besides, there was exactly one
other place that Finch went, so it wasn't like Jonn was going to lose him -- so
he brushed it off to jostle Roddy. "Can you do mine?"

**Muse:** at 11:25 PM

Roddy froze as Finch took off. Uh oh. That was supposed to
be a joke. Not- something that made him run off. He tried to track Finch a
moment, ignoring Jonn jostling his side, but couldn't find his new scarred
friend. "Hm?" he said, glancing back at Jonn. "Oh right. Uh, yeah
I can do you too." It wasn't as close as Finch's had been- mainly because
Roddy was still feeling thrown- but it was still a good imitation.

**Izzy:** at 11:33 PM

Fucking delightful. Jonn was pretty sure that wasn't exactly
what he sounded like, but it'd be good enough to fuck with people. They had to
come up with some way to use this, to mess with people -- his first thought was
Hansel, but he didn't actually know what Hansel would do; it might actually
just upset him or ... maybe something else. Then he thought of Mishka, but that
would just get Roddy hurt, probably. Oh, Gwydion -- Roddy could definitely
freak Gwydion out with this, that'd be hilarious --

Finch came back with three full steins and banged them into
the center of the table, dragging one over to his side as he sat back down. His
face was flushed. Jonn bet he'd done a couple hurried shots at the bar before
getting the beer.

The slur in his voice said the same thing. "Yeah. Great
trick. Great, uh ... fuckin' trick. How long's it take you to be able t'do
that, huh? That great trick."

Ooh. Jonn would need to get him home soon, he realized.

**Muse:** at 11:49 PM

"Just a minute or two," Roddy said. Dropping the
imitations this time- Finch was back but he didn't want to chase him off again.
He seemed a little- drunker? What was that about? Roddy absolutely got getting
drunk because of stuff that happened, but usually he didn't come right back and
start poking exactly the thing that had upset him in the first place.

"Are you- okay? Roddy asked, reaching over and pulling
one of the steins towards him, pushing the other towards Jonn. "You're
being kinda- weird." He shot a look at Jonn, hoping for some insights from
his brother.

December 26, 2018

**Izzy:** at 12:07 AM

"Fucking great." He pounded a fist on the table
and little blue sparks arced between his knuckles. "I'm fucking great.
That's a real fucking ... interesting ability you've got there, Roddy. Lissen.
How about, I talk to some people about fuckin' tortles, or whatever the fuck,
for you, and you can pay me back by doing that voice thing some time when I ask
you to, huh? Huh?"

Jonn eyed him warily and let him finish before touching
Roddy's arm briefly, then ducking under the table to pop back up next to Finch.
He tried to sound the way Hansel sounded, when he got upset. "Hey,
hey." He risked touching Finch's arm, too, and got a little zap, but didn't
pull back. "Fuckin' ... chill out." That wasn't what Hansel would
say. Jonn looked to Roddy uneasily. If his brother wanted to know stuff about
tortles, he wasn't going to tell him to tell Finch no. But last time Jonn had
made a deal without knowing all the details, it'd gone pretty fucking
bad.(edited)

**Muse:** at 12:22 AM

Roddy leaned back, away from the sudden sparkies flying
everywhere. "Sure sure," he agreed hurriedly. "Just be careful
with the magics please."

**Izzy:** at 12:31 AM

Jonn prickled. He dug his fingers into Finch's arm, making
him swing his head around to glare at him, and glaring back in kind. He didn't
have to sign anything this time -- just stared him down. And Finch's jaw
clenched and unclenched, and he dropped back in the booth and dragged his fist
off the table, looking away sullenly. He flexed his knuckles and the residual
energy crackled quietly.

As soon as Jonn looked back to Roddy, his expression flipped
to cheerful again, and he sidled up close against Finch. "Don't worry,
I'll make sure he keeps up his side of the bargain."

**Muse:** at 12:49 AM

The electricity had rattled Roddy more than he'd realized.
That- incident recently. But it was fine, it was small, it was Finch, and it
was gone. "Right," he said, nodding. "I appreciate it. Thanks,
both of you," he said, flashing a wan smile.

**Izzy:** at 1:02 AM

Roddy was still on edge. Fucking Finch, getting drunk and
throwing magic around like some kind of jackass, scaring Roddy and shit. Jonn
would prefer to drag Roddy away and go get into trouble with him in another
bar, or something, but -- fucking Finch was going to need help getting home.
And -- Jonn had missed him, really. He missed Roddy too, though.

"I think I need to get this big dumb idiot home,"
he said, sliding out of the booth and pulling Finch along by his arm. "Are
you gonna be in Skyport long, za'iri?" He thought he was saying that
right. He'd only heard Hansel say it -- never needed to himself.

**Muse:** at 1:07 AM

Hey there was another one of those words. Roddy should really
ask about what they meant, sometime. "A few days probably," he
answered. "I'm not on a schedule or anything, just clearing my head. We
should hang out then if your gonna be around!" This was exciting. He
missed his brother. "You take care of your friend then, I'll be
around," he said, waving.

**Izzy:** at 1:17 AM

The grin came back. All right, then -- he could make Finch
stop being an asshole and still get to hang out with Roddy, too. Ideally
without Finch gumming up the fuckin' works with his weird bullshit.

"Yeah, definitely. I'll track you down tomorrow, or
something." He wanted to bolt over and hug Roddy again, but that'd mean
letting go of Finch, and Finch was now leaning on him pretty heavily. Probably
more out of spite than necessity, but Jonn still liked it. He wrestled Finch
into a less awkward lean and started walking back, towards the door, and waved.
"See you then! Love you! Bye!"

[end]

Title: Za'iri. Summary: Roddy bumps into Jonn and Finch in a
bar. He lets slip about the teleportation circle at Mishka's estate, which
Finch finds very interesting. Finch is also spooked by Roddy's ability to mimic
voices, and offers to do some research on tortles for him in exchange for a
favor involving that ability.