TRP: Goro, Jonn, and Roddy (Scammed)

**Abby:** at 11:01 AM

[Start: Day 222. At the inn in Sienna Springs.]

The nerve. The nerve of that-- person. (Although Roddy
really should have seen it coming. This was what people did-- it was something
Roddy had done.) But still! He did not appreciate this at all!

He stomped into the inn, just because if he hadn't walked
off likely he would have got into a fight. Junior was curled around his
shoulders, clinging tightly so he (she?) didn't fall off. Started to head up to
his room, but as he walked by he spotted Goro, sitting in the corner eating
lunch.

Abruptly he changed direction, sitting down at Goro's table
with a thunderous scowl on his face. "Do you know what just happened?"
he demanded.

**Lina:** at 11:03 AM

Goro looked Roddy up and down. "Someone tried to rip
you off?" he guessed.

**Abby:** at 11:05 AM

"Someone did rip me off!" Roddy corrected.

**Lina:** at 11:06 AM

"Oof." Goro cringed and shook his head a little,
then took another bite of his stew. "Hey, you want some lunch, or
something? This stuff's pretty good."

**Abby:** at 11:11 AM

"No! I got ripped off!" Roddy said, again. He
leaned back in his chair, scowling at the wall. Junior nosed at Roddy's cheek,
chirping. Roddy patted it and sighed, deflating. Wasn't like he could do
anything about it now. "Okay yeah. Lunch sounds good."

**Lina:** at 11:13 AM

Goro snorted, but gently. He waved down the server and
ordered another meal for Roddy.

"Who ripped you off, anyway? You want me to go fuck 'em
up?"

**Abby:** at 11:15 AM

"Depends. Do you mean stabbing or scamming?"

**Lina:** at 11:15 AM

Goro shrugged, grinning. "I'm versatile. Whatcha in the
mood for? Nah, never mind, I can guess. Not stabbing."

**Abby:** at 11:29 AM

"You know me so well," Roddy said back, grinning
now too. "Yep, scamming 'em back. Good plan. Ain't that right
Junior?" he said, scratching the tiny dragon. After that, he shifted to
dig in his haversack, pulling out a flute. "This was supposed to have that
Counterspell imbued in it," Roddy complained. "There was a
demonstration and everything! But soon as I was messing with it, it didn't even
work as a flute."

**Lina:** at 11:32 AM

Goro frowned and held his hand out so he could take a look
at the flute.

**Abby:** at 11:40 AM

Roddy gave it over. "See, those bits are supposed to be
connected so those things lift up to make the different notes," Roddy
explained. "But they're not. Half convinced it's just- spelled wood or
something," Roddy trailed off, grumbling.

**Lina:** at 11:48 AM

Goro examined the thing--he didn't know shit about
instruments, but Roddy obviously did, so he must've paid for it before getting
a close look at it. In any case, Goro could tell the materials were cheap, and
a quick spell of his own told him there was no magic imbued in it at all. He
shook his head. "It's not even that. It's just a hunk of junk. Whoever was
running the demonstration had some other way to make it look magic. How much
did you pay for this?"

**Abby:** at 11:52 AM

"...Five hundred gold," Roddy mumbled, hunching
his shoulders.

**Lina:** at 11:54 AM

Goro rested an elbow on the table and put his face in his
hand, sighing. He passed the flute back. "Roddy. Roddy. Buddy. Pal. Can I
possibly fucking interest you in some tips on how to know when people are
bullshitting you? This is the most obvious fucking scam I've ever seen, and I
wasn't even there."

**Abby:** at 11:57 AM

Roddy stashed it back in his sack, shifting a little. Yeah.
He'd been... really dumb. He knew better! And still fell for it. "Well.
Uh. I guess?" he said. "It would be useful."

**Lina:** at 11:58 AM

Goro let out a relieved sigh. He worried about this kid.
"You ever heard the phrase 'if it sounds too good to be true, it probably
is'?"

**Abby:** at 12:00 PM

"Yeah," Roddy said, nodding. "He- or, she, I
dunno-- they just kept- talking. Kinda made me forget, for a bit. And by the
time I remembered--" he gestured at his bag. "Too late."

**Lina:** at 12:05 PM

"Eh. Kid. We're talking an order of magnitude too good,
here. You have any clue how much a flute that could actually cast Counterspell
would cost you? Try five thousand gold. You gotta hold facts in your mind when
you try to suss out people's intentions, alright?" Goro nodded a few
times. "Bet they did just keep talking. Filling your mind with fluff to
keep you from thinking. This is why I'm always telling you you gotta listen to
your gut. There's no amount of talking, no amount of fake facts that should be
able to distract you from from thinking, hey now, why am I being offered a
ninety fucking percent discount on this thing?"

**Abby:** at 12:11 PM

That was about how it played out, yep. "And in this
case I got a ninety percent discount cause it was a scam," Roddy said
sourly.

**Lina:** at 12:16 PM

"Here. Let's... let's test some shit out." Goro
thought for a moment. "I'm gonna tell you two facts about me. One'll be
true, and one's a lie. I'm a really good fucking liar, Roddy. The tells people
usually have--funny eye contact, or fidgeting hands, or tugging on their ear
and shit--I've trained myself out of all that. So I can tell you both these
things with a straight face, and you won't be able to tell the difference. But
if you keep some facts in mind--things you know about me--I bet you can pick it
out. Ready?"

**Abby:** at 12:20 PM

Well that sounded hard. Goro was a really good liar. But
then again, if Roddy was going to practice at getting better on spotting lies-
Goro was a good choice too. Least he could trust Goro to have his back. (And
maybe he'd learn more about Goro in the process.) "Okay," he said,
sitting up a little straighter. "Hit me," he said.

**Lina:** at 12:24 PM

"Alright. Let's see here." Goro sat back in his
chair, crossing his arms, and scrutinizing Roddy. Considering what Roddy knew
about him, or could have noticed by now, at least. "I'm not gonna start
this off easy, 'cause I want you to fucking think. Okay, fact one: I strangled a
guy once, with my bare hands, for threatening Amari. And fact two: I stabbed a
guy through the hand once when I caught him trying to pickpocket me in a
restaurant. Pinned it right to the table. There you go. Which one's the lie?
Think hard. Think about details."

**Abby:** at 12:32 PM

"You're right you're not starting this off easy,"
Roddy said. That both sounded like things Goro'd do. Hm. Details though. Goro
liked knives. But the bare hands... he wasn't a strong guy. Took a lot of muscle
to strangle someone like that. (Dad could do it- aand Roddy did not like this
line of thought. Nope.) "Uh. The- the strangling one?" he guessed.
"You're more stabby than- strangly," he said, poking at Goro's arm.

**Lina:** at 12:35 PM

Goro broke into a grin and smacked his hand on the table.
"Fuck yeah. You've got it. I've never strangled somebody in my life. I
don't even like touching people. I healed that fucker's hand, by the way. I
just made him pay me first." He snorted.

**Abby:** at 12:42 PM

"You don't? You're pretty clingy for someone who
doesn't like touching people," Roddy commented. Just about every time he
saw Goro and Dad together, they were practically attached at the hip.

**Lina:** at 12:57 PM

Goro almost asked Roddy what the hell he was talking about,
but then it fucking occurred to him: Hansel.

Clingy. Yeah.

He couldn't sit still anymore, all the sudden. He brought
one foot up on his chair and hugged his knee to his chest. Shifted around,
rubbed at his forearm. "Uh. I meant--people in general. I like... I do
like touching Hansel, and Mishka. Larkin and Amari are fine, too. And
Ombre."

And Theo, come to think of it. Goro hadn't had any problems
picking her up and carrying her, giving her hugs, kissing her on the head. That
was weird. Normally it took him a long fucking time to get that comfortable
with someone. "It's..." None of your fucking business, he wanted to
say, but Roddy hadn't known. He hadn't done anything to deserve Goro suddenly
going full jackass on him. "Hard to explain."

**Abby:** at 1:04 PM

Huh. That got to him. Just two minutes ago Goro was
explaining how he'd trained himself out of tells and then all... this.
"Oh," Roddy said. Bit his lip and shifted a bit, shooting concerned
glances at Goro. Had a feeling he should watch what he said, a bit better.
"Do, uh, do you want to try to...?"

**Lina:** at 4:20 PM

"Uh. Hmm." Did he? "Nah. Maybe some other
time." He rubbed his arm again and shifted forward in his seat, trying to
get comfortable. "Anyway, another thing to think about, people with
legitimate magical items to sell usually aren't peddling 'em with flashy
demonstrations on the street. Any time a stranger's trying to get your
attention, be suspicious. It's just a different kind of circus, you got
that?"

**Abby:** at 5:29 PM

"Yeah- yeah I get that," Roddy said, somewhat
distracted. Goro wanted to change the subject, but Roddy had one question he
really wanted an answer to. "Look um. Should I back off the- hugs and stuff
then?" he asked. "I didn't... mean to make you uncomfortable, or
anything." He looked down at the table, picking at the edge.
"Sorry," he added quietly.

**Lina:** at 5:41 PM

"Oh. Uh." Shit. It was... actually kind of fucking
touching that Roddy felt bad, but Goro didn't want him to feel bad. "Nah,
nah, it's fine. It's... hard for me, but I'm trying to get better at it.
Hugging, and shit. With people I trust, anyway. I mean, the way I grew
up..."

Pff, he'd said he didn't want to try explaining, and now here
he went.

"Let me just say, when you're living by yourself on the
street, getting touched is a bad thing. It's always people trying to hurt you
or steal from you. Or, at fucking best, it's cuddling up with some stranger so
the two of you don't freeze to death. Which has about a fifty-fifty chance of
ending in someone getting stolen from or hurt anyway. So... that's why I hate
it. But, uh."

He picked at some dirt on his shoe, still resting on the
seat of the chair. He'd forgotten the point he was trying to make.

**Abby:** at 5:49 PM

Ah, a trust thing. "I think I get it," Roddy said,
nodding. "Thanks for uh. For explaining." Wanted to do something to
make Goro feel better, but usually Roddy just hugged, and that... probably
wasn't the best idea right now. He glanced at Junior though, sneaking bites out
of Roddy's stew. Slowly nudged him at Goro-- maybe petting the dragon would
help instead?

"Hey, where were you with the whole-- how not to get
scammed thing?" he asked. Move on, let Goro get back in his element. Maybe
that'd help too.

**Lina:** at 7:24 PM

"Right. Uh." He rubbed the back of his head,
thinking, and keeping an eye on the pseudodragon to make sure it wasn't going
to steal his food. He scooted his bowl closer and took a bite. "Suspicion.
That was the thing. You wanna get good at spotting lies, you have to always
suspect lies. Unless it's someone you already know never tells them, like your
dad." He drummed his fingers on the table. "Your problem is, your
level is suspicion is always tied to how nice people are to you, or whatever.
Bet whoever sold you that flute was real friendly. Made you feel good about
yourself."

**Abby:** at 8:13 PM

Junior didn't attempt to steal, but gave a sad little trill
and the most pitiful expression that a pseudodragon was capable of producing.

"Yeeeeeesss," Roddy admitted. And he'd even helped
on that end. Got a few brags in about things he'd done and turned around and
got those used to inflate his ego even more. Well Roddy wasn't feeling so good
about himself now. "Being suspicious all the time sounds so- tiring
though," he complained.

**Lina:** at 8:51 PM

Goro blinked a couple times. "Tiring? I don't--"
He squinted. Was it tiring? He'd never really considered it that way. It was
just... what you did. "Do you think breathing all the time is tiring,
too?"

**Abby:** at 8:54 PM

Huh? What did that have to do with anything? Roddy looked at
Goro, utterly lost. "Noooo? But why would that be tiring?"

**Lina:** at 3:17 PM

"It's... it's not, that's the point. It's just what you
do. Well, I guess it's just what I do, in the case of being suspicious."
He shrugged.

**Abby:** at 3:29 PM

"Yep. And no offense but I'd rather not be too much
like you. I'm perfectly content with my level of stabby."

**Lina:** at 3:37 PM

"Hm." Goro frowned to himself, trying to think if
there was a way someone could be as good at reading people as him without being
as suspicious. Amari was pretty good at it. "Yeah, huh. I guess I could
try to think of things that make me more suspicious than normal, tell you to
look for those. It's all kinda second nature to me at this point, but I could
figure it out."

**Abby:** at 3:45 PM

"Like offering valuable stuff at a ninety percent
discount," Roddy muttered, half to himself. "I would appreciate
it," he said. "I hate getting suckered." He sighed gloomily and
idly patted Junior as it gave up begging and went back to digging in Roddy's bowl.
"Five hundred gold," he muttered.

**Lina:** at 7:54 PM

"Sure. Alright." Goro scanned over the other
customers in the dining room, trying to look for some examples. He made a few
snap judgments, the kind of stuff he would call obvious, but then had to stop
and ask himself--was it obvious, really?

Huh. He was going to have to think a little differently than
he usually did. Try looking at everything through Roddy's eyes, then his own,
then see what was different.

"I'm gonna quiz you," Goro said. He jerked his
chin toward the rest of the dining room. "Take a look around. Tell me two
things. Who in this place you think'd be most likely to gut you if you looked
at 'em funny. And who you'd trust to watch your wallet, if you had to leave it
unattended for a second. Don't fucking know why you'd do that, but
imagine."

**Abby:** at 9:40 PM

Someone who would gut him and someone he'd trust to watch
his wallet- discounting Goro anyway. Hmm. Roddy scanned the bar, sizing up the
patrons. There was a mean looking tiefling in the other corner, glancing around
like he(?) expected trouble. Had a sword close to hand too. "That
guy," he said, discreetly gesturing towards her. "For the murdering.
As for the wallet... hey is that Jonn or am I mistaken?" he asked, craning
his neck to try and get a better look. Was a little too far for Roddy to be
able to give a good guess.

**Lina:** at 11:52 AM

"Um," Goro said, slightly concerned, "it is.
Are you telling me you'd trust Jonn to watch your wallet?"

**Abby:** at 12:23 PM

"Well. Yeah?" Roddy frowned. "Jonn's my
brother he wouldn't steal from me."

**Lina:** at 12:42 PM

Hm. Jonn sure had a fucking vicious loyalty streak in him,
Goro couldn't argue with that, but people's definitions of loyalty varied.
Goro'd stolen from Amari a few times before--granted, it wasn't the kind of
thing he'd do anymore. Eh.

"Bigger problem is you latched onto Jonn as someone
trustworthy in the first place," he said. "Why was that, anyway? What
drew you to him?"

**Abby:** at 4:40 PM

"Uh," that was a long time ago. What had drawn
Roddy to Jonn? "I guess how... he was nice to me? Came up and tried to
talk to me and stuff. We ganged up on Dad. Even though at the time I still
wasn't sure he wouldn't stab me over it. Was fun." Roddy grinned lightly.
Good memories.

**Lina:** at 5:01 PM

"Huh. Yeah, you're real..." There had to be a
nicer way to say this shit than you're weak. "You got a weakness for
people being nice to you. Don't you? Giving you real attention, not just as a
performer, but as a person."

**Abby:** at 5:03 PM

Roddy hunched his shoulders, fidgeting with his spoon.
"Well. I-- I guess. Never thought of it that way but... Makes sense."

**Lina:** at 5:08 PM

"Hey. Hey, don't be embarrassed. Ain't nothing wrong
with that, wanting some real kindness in your life." God fuckin' knew Goro
craved the same thing. "Problem is just that the best scam artists, the best
manipulators in general, they're good at reading people and knowing right away
what they'll be weak to. They take a look at a guy like you, someone who's loud
and easily offended--" He paused, to see if Roddy would take offense.

**Abby:** at 5:10 PM

Roddy sat up a little straighter and started to protest- and
then realized that was exactly the point Goro was making. Okay. Accurate then.
He clamped his jaw shut and waited for Goro to continue.

**Lina:** at 5:17 PM

"--and they know he's dying to have someone look at
him, really look at him, and say, hey." Goro put on a sweet and tender
smile. "Hey, buddy, I was really impressed with how you were playing that
lute earlier. You got a great singing voice. Where'd you learn? Can I buy you a
drink?"

**Abby:** at 5:20 PM

"Hey, hey you stop that," Roddy said, leaning
back. Creepy how good Goro was at that. "I got it."

**Lina:** at 5:26 PM

"Just like that." He leaned back and snapped his
fingers. "They gotcha. But, uh... well. I don't wanna say 'be suspicious anytime
someone's nice to you,' 'cause that's fucking depressing, even though... that's
how I do it. But yeah, that might not work for you. Hm. Maybe you could ask
yourself, though--does this person seem like they want something, other than my
company? Guys on the street selling shit, the answer's absolutely yes."

**Abby:** at 5:32 PM

Roddy settled a little, seeing Goro going back to- Goro.
Good point though. He drummed his fingers, frowning and nodding. "Yeah.
Makes sense. And that is less depressing." Kinda made him sad for Goro
though. He was a mess. "Thanks, uh, for-- the advice." Gingerly he
reached over to pat Goro's shoulder. "I appreciate it."

**Izzy:** at 5:55 PM

Jonn had seen Roddy come in looking huffy, but then he'd sat
down with Goro, so Jonn just sort of lurked over by the bar where he'd been
hanging out and watched them out of the corner of his eye. They seemed like
they got along. That was ... good, definitely, and didn't make him feel weird
or anything. Yeah, it was fine.

After a little bit he wandered over anyway, with drinks so
he'd have an excuse, but cider because he wasn't supposed to be drinking and he
didn't think Roddy should, either. He ran through options of what to say as he
picked his way through the crowd, wondering what'd convince them to let him
stay.

He didn't come up with anything, though, and just sat a
frosty mug of apple cider in front of each of them and stated, "You don't
have drinks." Yeah. That was ... factual. "What're you talkin' about?"

**Lina:** at 6:02 PM

"Oh, thanks," Goro said to the mug of cider,
surprised. He glanced up at Jonn, then back to the cider, thinking briefly of
poison. Was kind of rude to cast poison-detecting magic right in front of
family, though. He could come up with some excuse, or be really discreet,
but... nah, Jonn didn't have the look of someone who was trying to get away
with murder at that precise moment.

"Have a seat," Goro said. "I'm giving Roddy
here tips on how to avoid being scammed."

**Abby:** at 6:07 PM

Roddy lit up when Jonn came over, already pushing out a seat
for him. "Yeah. Sit down, you're good at that stuff too right? Bet you got
some pointers too."

**Izzy:** at 6:13 PM

Huh. That'd been easy. It really won people over when you
bought stuff for them. Plus, it was Roddy -- Roddy liked hanging out with him.
He hesitated for a second before sitting down, scooting the chair closer to
Roddy to give Goro more space.

"Uhh." He pressed his lips against the cold rim of
his mug for a moment, considering. "If people act like they're trying to
help you for nothing they're usually not. Unless they're Hansel."

**Lina:** at 6:14 PM

Goro pointed at Jonn. "This guy's got it."

**Abby:** at 6:18 PM

Roddy had been called out for being easily offended once
already. Not gonna add more fuel to the fire. He shot Goro a narrow-eyed look
but let it go. "I seem to be a bit slower on the uptake," he said
slowly. "I'll get there."

**Izzy:** at 6:23 PM

"That's okay," Jonn said automatically. "I'll
help. Here, look at me and tell me if I'm full of shit." He turned to face
Roddy and thought for a second about whether he should lie or tell the truth.
Maybe he wasn't the best person for Roddy to practice on. He was tired, though,
and this stuff could be hard. "One time me and Finch broke into the
Prince's palace."

**Abby:** at 6:32 PM

"What really-- oh hang on." Roddy stopped to
think. Jonn and Finch breaking into the palace... Wait a second. "Finch
likes planning and hiding, and making you do the stuff," Roddy said
slowly. "Plus he's got that- limp and everything." The palace would
be harder to break into too-- but Jonn was better at that sort of thing than
Roddy. Maybe daring enough to try it too.

**Lina:** at 6:33 PM

Goro broke into a grin, watching Roddy think through it.
Atta boy.

**Izzy:** at 6:35 PM

Jonn grinned, bouncing his toes. "Yeah, there you go.
You gotta, like, observe shit. How about -- one time I stole a magic javelin
for Finch. True or nah?"

**Abby:** at 6:40 PM

Roddy thought for a second. He did know Finch had a javelin,
hadn't seen any obvious sign of it being magic though. Could be though, and
Jonn was a thief so-- "I believe it."

**Lina:** at 6:40 PM

Goro gave a slight shake of his head.

**Izzy:** at 6:44 PM

"Nope." That kind of pleased Jonn too, not because
he wanted to trick Roddy, but because he was trying to make a point and shit.
"You've probably seen that he has it, right? And --" he shrugged --
"I'm a thief, so fair guess, but I actually bought it for him, for
Candlenight. So, y'know, it's not enough to just know the facts. People can use
them and still lie to you. That's how the best tricks work."

Then he faltered a bit at having probably let on a little
too much, and hid the lower half of his face behind his mug again.

**Abby:** at 6:49 PM

Oh. Huh. Roddy deflated a little. He'd been doing really
well... Guess it was a lesson best learned from people like Jonn and Goro
though. Shady, sure, but they had Roddy's back. "Hey. Good advice
though," he said, resting his hand on Jonn's back. "Now I won't get
all full of myself thinkin' I know what I'm doing," he said wryly.

**Lina:** at 6:51 PM

"I keep telling him he needs to listen to his
gut," Goro said to Jonn. "And--ah, never mind, you probably don't have
a fuckin' clue what I'm talking about." He took a drink of his cider.

**Izzy:** at 6:58 PM

Jonn tilted his head and narrowed his eyes a little at Goro.
The fuck did that mean? He wasn't sure if it was meant to be an insult, or
what, so he just brushed it off, hunching his shoulders a bit and looking back
to Roddy. "Yeah, I mean, you should never -- be positive." He glanced
up towards the ceiling, thinking. "Even if you're pretty sure you're not
being scammed, you might be, so you gotta figure out what you're gonna do if
you are." He wasn't great at that part, but he could tell Roddy to do it.

**Abby:** at 7:01 PM

"Do you people really just walk around expecting people
to scam you and plotting how to handle it when you do get scammed?" Roddy
tilted his head back and sighed. "That sounds exhausting."

**Izzy:** at 7:03 PM

From behind his mug, Jonn mumbled, "I dunno, usually my
plan when people fuck with me is to threaten'em with a knife. It doesn't have
to be complicated."

Usually the plan was to stab them with a knife, but he
didn't think Roddy would like that, so he didn't say it.

**Abby:** at 7:07 PM

"Oh. Well. Guess that's a pretty simple plan."
Roddy forgot for a minute that Jonn was also a stabbier type. Pretty sure Luci
was the only one that wasn't, come to think of it. Wasn't sure what else to say
so he just patted Jonn's back a couple times and took a swig from his cider.

**Izzy:** at 9:07 PM

Jonn felt awkward. They'd looked like they were having a
nice conversation before he'd come over, and talked about lying, and
threatening people with knives, and shit. Hansel wouldn't be happy with him. He
didn't want Roddy to get scammed by people, though. Maybe he'd just done it wrong.
He should've been quiet and listened to how Goro did it.

It was a little late for that, now, though. He'd just keep
it in mind for later.

"I'm gonna -- go check on Dad." That was a good
excuse. Bad segue, though. Fuck. He pushed himself up, setting his cider down
to leave it behind, and turned to go without saying anything else.

**Abby:** at 9:16 PM

"Hey, I'll come with," Roddy said, picking up
Junior and plopping it on his shoulders. "Uh, seeya," he said to
Goro, and then followed after Jonn. This had been good. Learned a few tricks,
learned not to get overconfident with 'em either. And for now- maybe Dad'd be
up to showing Roddy a couple of the tricks he'd suddenly picked up!

**Lina:** at 3:57 PM

Huh. Fuckin' Jonn, man. Little weirdo. Goro didn't think
he'd ever known somebody who was so fucking desperate to do the right thing,
and yet utterly clueless about what the right thing would be. Goro usually knew
what the right thing was; he just didn't give a shit half the time.

Good thing Jonn had chosen Hansel to be his moral center, he
guessed. There sure as hell were worse people you could be dependent on the
approval of.

Roddy, though. Kid was figuring shit out. Goro was proud of
him. Like having a goddamn protege, right there.

He stayed in his seat for a while, finishing up his stew and
cider, just thinking.

[end]

**Izzy:** at 5:08 PM

Title: Scammed. Summary: Roddy gets scammed and goes to rant
about it to Goro. Goro gives him a lesson in telling people are lying or
telling the truth. Jonn shows up to help.