TRP: Goro and Larkin (Soup Talk)

## Setting

The Crooked Coin, a day or two after the Diva fight

The bright side of the apocalypse was, the black market was booming. With near every store, residence and warehouse in the city looted, those who'd survived as well as those just returning back to the living were in need of everything. Food, shelter, protection. Renar's gangs made money like hay selling from their storages, helping to kick looters out of properties and being the local support the church's decimated numbers weren't able to provide yet. The downside of the apocalypse was, Larkin reflected as she marched down the harbour street, important people vanished without a trace. Trying to track down the informer she'd send after Jonn had taken up all morning already and she was running out of places to look and people to ask. There was still one option left, though, and as she entered the Crooked Coin, this option named Tazu was busy tending to a customer behind the bar. Larkin stopped at the entrance for a moment, viewing the crowd – it really was one – then her eyes locked on a familiar face in the corner. He'd no doubt seen her the moment she'd come in. Larkin made a little gesture at Goro, then walked over to lean against the bar. “Mornin' Tazu,” she said. “Got a minute for me?”

Lina

Tazu beamed at her. "For you, my dear? Always. What'll it be today? Ooh, you know, I've got just the thing. This marvelous apple brandy just shipped in from the countryside. You'll love it. Nothing gets me drunk faster." From the corner, Goro watched with idle interest, though it was too far away for him to be listening in. His soup and bread were half eaten, and he tapped a finger on the side of his water cup.

Jen

"Sorry, Tazu," Larkin waved him off with a half smile. "Not here for the material goods. You seen Betsy Howard around these past few days?"

Lina

Tazu winced a little. "Larkin, I got some bad news for you. I've actually been out of town the past couple weeks. Visiting family for the holidays, and all. I haven't been seeing a lot of anyone in Skyport until this morning, you get what I'm saying?" He reached under the bar and emerged with the bottle of apple brandy. "How about it, though, eh? Eh?"

Jen

She frowned at him. "Well, I hope your family is well. Speaking of which, Betsy is like family to me, too, so I'd really like to know if she's well. Maybe you know someone who can help me out? It's important I check on her." Larkin leaned in a bit closer, tapping a finger on the counter. "Y' know, that's what we owe each other. As families."

Lina

Tazu gave a knowing smile. "How about a drink on the house?" He popped the cork from the bottle, pulled out a small glass, and poured. He slid it across the bar toward her. "You know who you should try talking to? Fella named Nikolai Boyer, he's a weapons merchant works up near the palace. He and Betsy are real tight, I hear. If anyone knows what's happened to her, it'd be him. 'Course, I don't know if my old friend Nikolai's in such great health these days, haven't seen him since I got back, but it's worth checking into."

Jen

Larkin took the glass and sniffed at the liquor. Smelled sharp and not all that bad but it was only noon and a long, long day still ahead of her. She slid it back to Tazu. "Well, that's all I was hoping for. Thanks." She tapped the rim of the glass. "Sorry to pass but it's too early for me. I'll have whatever you're cooking up for lunch, though."

Lina

"Absolutely. We've got this positively exquisite seafood bisque simmering in the back. Fresh crab and lobster, and the cream, oh, It's like velvet. You'll love it. We had to get a new chef because the last one--well, I'll spare you the details since you're about to eat. This new guy's working out great, though, he really is." Tazu nodded in Goro's direction. "You gonna sit with your friend there? I'll have a bowl brought over."

Jen

Fresh crab and lobster? Well, there was a tiny chance this was actually something the few fisherfolk who'd set out these past few days might have caught and not just what had washed up on the beach - however, Larkin did have her doubts any milk cows or sheep had remained living within ten miles of the city. Ah, whatever. Whatever was in there, she'd probably had worse. "Nah, just bring it here. I'll wait." Larkin glanced over to Goro. He was still at his own soup and not running yet. She supposed that was a good sign.

Lina

Tazu disappeared into the back and reappeared with a steaming bowl and hunk of bread on a plate. "That'll be two gold. You know, owing to the extra expense of having cream shipped in from outside the infection zone. Sorry about that, but you know, business."

Jen

Larkin let her head drop to one side, giving him a flat stop-bullshitting-me-look. Tazu kept his unwavering innkeep-smile. She sighed and dug into a pocket, then slid a silver over the counter. "Alas, this is all I got. Write the rest up and if you're struggling to get back into trade," she took a deliberate glace around at the full taproom, then looked back at Tazu with raised eyebrows. "You know who to talk to. Just let 'em know and we'll work something out." With that, Larkin took the plate and maneuvered her way through past the tables to the one Goro hunkered at. She sat it down and plopped into the chair across from him. "You haven't fled yet. I take that you don't mind?"

Lina

He didn't meet her eye. He stirred his half-eaten, now room temperature soup. "Nah. I never mind, with you." His posture was noticeably more slouched than normal, and the skin around his eyes was dark from lack of sleep.

Jen

Larkin hummed in agreement, then began stirring her own soup while studying him with side glances. Mask, he barely looked any better than when they'd had him chaine up in the cellar. Worse, even, in some way. She wasn't sure if anything she had to say could help - he might not even want to hear it. No doubt, the others had already tried getting him to talk this shit out. Maybe she'd just be company for a while. "Tazu says this is fresh crab and actual cream. Highly doubt it. 's it edible?"

Lina

Goro blinked at the soup, sitting up straighter like he'd only just now noticed it. "Oh, uh. Yeah. It's fine. I don't know, I'm no gourmet." He forced himself to eat another spoonful. He got so hungry between meals, then his appetite vanished when he was actually faced with food.

Jen

"Alright." Larkin tried a spoonful and winced as the hot stuff burned her mouth. "Ah, shit." She took a piece of bread instead and dunked it in, soaking up the soup. Whatever it was, it actually made a good meal. And no fingers in it. Maybe she'd start eating in here more often. "So, uhm...how" she started to ask how he was doing but then realized, the answer to that was pretty obvious. And Goro did not look like spilling out the details of his trauma right now. She stuffed another bite of bread into her mouth. "How's Ripley?"

Lina

"Alive. Which is an improvement on before." Larkin was clearly struggling to carry on a pleasant conversation, and he took pity on her. "Everything working out alright at your uncle's place?"

Jen

"Oh, yeah." She huffed out a humorless laugh. "Couldn't've gone any fucking better for him. This whole apocalypse stuff," she whirrled a finger in the air, "it's the best damn thing that's happened to his business in years. He should be paying you royalties, really." A second later, she started. "Oh, fuck. Sorry, I didn't mean - shit."

Lina

He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and sighed. "What did you fucking mean, then, pray tell? It doesn't fucking matter, either way. I know what I did. You think I'm gonna forget it any time soon?"

Jen

"Fuck, man." She poked around in her stew, scrutinizing the pale pits and pieces floating in it. "You know I'm not judging you for it. Told you that a dozen times. You did all you could to make up for it. It's fucking over. How long do you wanna torture yourself over it?"

Lina

He hunched over the table and rubbed his face. "Oh, I'm well and done with torturing myself, thank you," he muttered, almost too quiet for her to hear. Diva had done such a good job, he didn't see the point anymore. Unless you counted how he kept squeezing his remaining cracked rib, which he had no doubt a lot of his friends would. Fuck 'em, they didn't know.

Jen

"Yeah. Well..." The soup didn't need any more stirring but she kept doing it anyway. "I wanna help you but... well, to be honest I don't even think I can. So... I'll just sit here and eat this whatever this is, being a wall for a while and if you come up with something or wanna say something..." she trailed off and shrugged, still not looking at Goro.

Lina

He had nothing to say. Even if he'd wanted to talk, which he kind of did. Companionable silence with Larkin was nothing new, but at the moment, having nothing to distract him from his thoughts was intolerable. He wondered if he'd always be that way, now. "I'm glad she's dead," he said. "We didn't even lose anyone. It's a fucking miracle. World's going back to normal and everything." Except for his head. He didn't know when that would be right again. He didn't know if it had ever been right. He jammed a thumb into his sore rib and winced. "Can you dream pain?" Fuck though, if it was fake, her answer wouldn't matter. That was the trap.

Jen

"What?" Larkin looked up, the spoon stopping halfway up to her mouth. Goro grimaced as if in pain. "I - I don't know? Don't think I ever felt actual pain in a dream. Can't remember anyway. Are you... still hurt?" She'd assumed he had healed himself afterward. Or at least, that Sugar had made him do it.

Lina

"Nah. I'm fine."

Jen

She put the spoon into her mouth, then pointed it at him. "The fuck you are."

Lina

He rested his hand protectively over the injury. "Listen. I gotta... I gotta stay a little hurt. So I know it's not a dream."

Jen

“You… what?” Was that why the weird question about feeling pain in a dream? He’d probably dreamt while Diva had him – Ripley did, anyway, when they’d communicated with her. Apparently he was using the pain to make sure he was awake, but… “Why’d you think this is a dream?”

Lina

Goro stared at her for an unsettlingly long time. Looking for something off. "Diva, she... she was really good. At imitating the real world. She made me dream, and I couldn't always tell it was real. Except she couldn't fake some things. Like she couldn't make me hurt, or hungry. But, you know." He glanced at his soup bowl again, considering how the hunger kept coming back but then would vanish after he tried to feed himself. "Maybe she's learned."

Jen

Her stomach felt as if she'd swallowed a clumb of lead. Larkin put a hand over her mouth, then disguised the gesture by leaning onto the elbow. She kept watching him for a long moment. What could she say or do to show him this was real? Nothing. The answer was nothing and he knew it as well. He'd have to simply get over it or - damn. "Hey," she said after what had felt like minutes of silence. "Don't you think about offing yourself. I'm just gonna bringt you back. Still got that gem, remember?"

Lina

"Who says I'm thinking about offing myself?" Though this wasn't the first time Larkin had brought it up. She'd accused him of being suicidal before, just because he was willing to risk his own life for Ripley and Mishka's sakes. It was different. "Not like that would help, if this is a dream."

Jen

"Well, pal... you don't act or talk like a man very attached to his life. Is all I'm saying." She shrugged it off. "If it's a dream, it's a pretty boring one."

Lina

He shook his head. "Oh, that's where you're fucking wrong, Larkin. I am attached. Real fucking attached. That's what Diva made me realize, see? You know, I said to myself, when I was... trying to calm myself down, I guess. When she started showing me scary shit, and I needed to think about something nice. I asked myself, alright, well what's your dream life like, Goro? Picture that instead. And what I fucking realized was, I was already living my dream life. I mean, not exactly. It wasn't perfect, or anything. But I had all these people. People I cared about, and who cared about me. I was fucking rich. And I told her, you can't ever take that away. I'll always have those memories. I'll always know that was my life. So then--" His voice broke, and he paused a while to make sure he wasn't going to start fucking crying or anything. "Well then, she decided to show me otherwise. She showed me real fucking good." He picked up his cup and swallowed the rest of the water. "If I'm not sure now whether I dreamed it all up, then, yeah. She took it." He tried taking another swig and got only a few drops. "So don't fucking tell me I'm not attached."

Jen

That stung. Well, this is what happened when she tried talking out of her depth. She spent a few moments sitting in silence, trying to come up with a reply but failed. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "Fuck. Yeah, I'm sorry. Can't see inside your head, so I just don't... understand I guess. Maybe I should just - yeah." She shoved away from the table and got up. "Lemme just get out of your hair. Before I fuck up even more. Got some stuff to take care of anyway." Larkin would have to leave this fight to people who knew how to handle it. She'd go back to doing what she knew how to do well. Nikolai Boyer, at the palace. Hopefully that guy would turn up at least.

Lina

"Larkin. Wait."

Jen

"Look, I'm clearly not the right person for you to talk to. You don't need to put up with me right now, I get it. You can still hit me up later if you need me."

Lina

The harsh response caught him so off-guard, he didn't even try to hide his reaction. He sank back into a slouch, hands circling his cup, eyes dropping. Deflated. That Larkin, you could say one thing for her: she sure was good at sticking holes in people. It was fair. He wouldn't want to talk to himself right now, either.

Jen

She'd turned, expecting to hear a reply she could ignore - some insincere agreement or one of his weird, cynic comments - but nothing came. Larkin paused and looked back. Ah, fuck. Her best friend was a heaping pile of misery right in front of her and she had no fucking idea how to deal with it. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Someone bumped into her, making her stumble against the table and she realized she'd just been standing there in everyone's way like an idiot.

Lina

He glanced up at her after she got bumped into the table, and waited for her to say something. She was just staring at him. "You need something?" he asked.

Jen

"Nah." She wiped at a bit of soup that had splattered on her shirt. "See ya." She waved a short goodbye, then beelined for the exit, muttering curses under her breath.

Lina

Well, great. Now there was one more person out there who knew how bad he was losing it. Looked like he might have driven her off with it, even. Good to know he had to watch out for that sort of thing. He tossed a coin on the table for a tip, and left to take care of other business.

[END]