TRP: Goro, Hansel, and Roddy (Bones)

**IZZY**

[SETTING: Day 238, Morningstar Keep, soon after Wanted.]

The walk home had probably been good for them. Fresh air and
all that, clearing their heads. Hansel had spread the cloak out, and Goro had
packed Luka's bones up -- Hansel kind of remembered there being a special way
you were supposed to fold Silvan burial shrouds, but he figured it didn't
matter, right now. They'd get it done right at the Silvanus Sanctuary, with a
real shroud and everything. This was just temporary.

Goro held the makeshift shroud, and Hansel kept an arm
around him.

He didn't let go until they reached the castle, when he
turned to pull the door closed and bolt it. He wondered if Goro was just going
to ... keep Luka's bones in his bedroom until they got back to Shepherd Hills
to inter him properly. No better place, he supposed.

**ABBY**

Roddy was singing a song to himself, clattering on down the
stairs. Not sure where he was going, just going. Maybe he'd find Jasper.

Or Dad! Dad was also a good option. Roddy grinned and
started to bound the rest of the way down the stairs, and then figured, why
waste the time? A spell later, he appeared next to Hansel with a pop and threw
his arms around him. "Hey Dad! Hey Goro. Watcha got there?" he asked,
reaching over to poke at the green bundle.

**LINA**

Normally Goro's reaction time would've been fast enough in
between Roddy disappearing and reappearing to keep him from getting startled.
He was a little off his game at the moment, though. He jerked and jumped when
Roddy popped into existence beside Hansel.

And he sure as hell wasn't prepared for Roddy to go poking
at the fucking shroud in his arms. "Hey--fuckin'--" Goro twisted
around to keep it out of Roddy's reach. "Nothing. It's nothing."

Which was close enough to the truth--bones were just bones,
they weren't a person--but Goro had spent the whole walk home trying to wrap
his head around the fact these were the remains of his father, and he'd done a
pretty good job of it, eventually.

**IZZY**

Hansel was just turning back from bolting the door when
Roddy appeared with the sound of a popping bubble and tossed his arms around
him. He reflexively went to hug the kid back, one arm reaching around his shell
to pat it -- god, the dimension door shit was still startling -- Roddy and Goro
both having it now was going to give him a goddamn heart attack --and he wasn't
fast enough to warn Roddy away from poking at what was left of Goro's dad.

"Oh, hey, hey." He caught the kid's hand gently as
Goro twisted away. Goro said it was nothing, so Hansel just filled in,
"Uh, careful, that's uh, delicate, is all."

**ABBY**

"Oh okay." Roddy could avoid touching it then,
Goro seemed to have it handled. "What is it?" he asked, still eyeing
it curiously. Could it be a... yeah Roddy had no clue.

**LINA**

Goro kept holding it out of reach, staring Roddy down and
not saying anything, just thinking.

"It's a fucking skeleton," he said. Daring Roddy
to make something of it. Dimly thinking he maybe ought to behave better, but
very dimly.

**IZZY**

Hansel opened his mouth and closed it, not sure what to say
about that.

**ABBY**

"Oh." Roddy glanced at the... skeleton, and back
up to Goro. Yeah you know- this seemed like Goro. "Okaaaaay then. You know
I'm gonna shriek if I find that lying around somewhere right?"

**LINA**

Goro narrowed his eyes. "I'm not leaving it lying
around. Fuck's sake."

**IZZY**

Ah, shit. Hm. Fuck. Hansel kind of just wanted to make a
quick excuse, say he'd talk to Roddy later, and bundle Goro off. He couldn't
just fuckin' explain what it was, and why Goro wasn't just going to leave bits
laying around, if Goro didn't want to say it himself. It was a touchy fucking
subject. You didn't just blurt that kinda thing out for someone.

So he very wisely went, "Uh," and cut his eyes
between them, keeping a hand on Roddy's shell but putting the other on Goro's
shoulder comfortingly.

**ABBY**

"Oh don't give me that look I never know what to expect
from you," Roddy grumbled, rolling his eyes. "D'you at least know
who's skeleton it is?" he asked. Roddy felt sorry for the person. Getting
dug up for whatever nonsense Goro was up to.

**LINA**

"Sure fuckin' do. My dad's." He held the bundle
closer without thinking about it. Ah, that was stupid. Wasn't a person. It was
just bones. Shifting around inside the cloak, scraping quietly against each
other.

**IZZY**

Hansel winced, and squeezed Goro's shoulder. "Thought
we would, uh. Rebury him," he offered, trying to make it seem less fucking
morbid. "Under Silvanus 'stead of Helm, 'cause that's who he followed, and
all."

**ABBY**

Hang on a second. "But you don't-- oh. Oh." Right.
Jasmilia-- had to have a dad on that side of it-- birth parents were a thing.
Roddy took a closer look at Goro. Normally he was hard to read, but there were
little signs. He looked less... expressive. Flatter. Slightly twitchy. Things
Roddy  overlooked, unless he was trying.

"Hey uh. It's good that you found him though."
Roddy shifted away from Hansel so he could carefully drape his arm over Goro's
shoulders and pull him into a half-hug. "You uh, you want some help?"

**LINA**

No, no, what the fuck, I don't need any help, get the fuck
off--

Well, that was the kind of shit he was used to thinking. It
felt small and distant, though, like an echo in his head. Too weak to make it
out of his mouth.

Goro made no move to hug Roddy back, but he didn't shrug him
off, either. He thought for a second, grinding his teeth.

This was just... family. Or whatever the fuck. (Luka had
said he hoped Goro would take care of his family.)

"Yeah," he said quietly. "That'd... be
alright."

**ABBY**

Roddy nodded, gave one last squeeze and let go. There. He'd
helped, a bit. "Hey uh, you, okay?" he asked slowly. "Cause you
look... kinda sad."

**LINA**

"Uh." Goro fumbled for a response. "I'm
not--this isn't--" He shifted the bundle in his arms again. "What do you
expect, I mean... ah, I gotta sit down."

He ducked his head and made straight for the dining room,
dropping into the nearest chair. He slouched and let out a breath. Started to
set the shroud on the table, then stopped, thinking maybe other other people in
the castle might not be so keen on the remains of a body being set down where
they ate. Eh.

**IZZY**

Hansel broke off with him, patting Roddy's shoulder. The kid
didn't quite ... get things, sometimes. Which was all right. And Hansel
couldn't blame him for being mixed up when it came to family shit, god knew.
But it stood to reason someone holding the remains of the dead father he'd
never known and only recently found out had adored him would be -- yeah, kinda
sad. Least he'd noticed. He was trying. Good kid.

Hansel followed along and sat next to Goro, leaning in to
kiss his forehead and taking his hand before settling.

**ABBY**

Roddy hesitated a second before following. He was getting
better about not setting people off, this should be okay. He settled in the
chair on the other side of Goro, rubbing his back lightly. "Yeah uh, I
guess that was a dumb question," he said. Wasn't sure what else to say so
he fell quiet.

**LINA**

Goro stared at the table, rubbing his forehead.
"Fuckin' wasn't. If it were Jasmilia's bones I was carrying in here, I
guarantee you I'd be smiling about it."

It was starting to feel weird, holding the bones on his lap.
He looked around for a second for somewhere else to put them, but he was a
little penned in. Helplessly, he held the bundle out to Hansel.

**IZZY**

Hansel took it and delicately held onto it for him.

**ABBY**

If it was Jasmilia's it'd be a body and not a bunch of
bones. Roddy wasn't gonna say that though, that seemed... insensitive.
"Well, uh, guess, that's good? That you've got-- one at least to... I
don't know what I'm saying." Roddy looked at Hansel over Goro's head,
looking completely lost.

**LINA**

"One to hate," Goro filled in, staring at the
table again. "One to be sad I didn't get to love."

**IZZY**

Hansel winced again, at the both of them. He squeezed Goro's
hand. "Hey. You still get to love him. He loved you."

**LINA**

"How the hell can you love someone you never
knew?" Goro poked a finger at the bag of bones. "The fuck am I
supposed to do, sit down and have a conversation with this thing?"

**IZZY**

"I mean," Hansel said. "Yeah. Magic."

**ABBY**

Yeah. This was... confusing. Roddy had like-- one idea how
to handle this. So he pulled Goro into a tight hug. "Yeah-- hey you have
that spell. You used it on what's his name. Morgan's...." Friend? Murderer?
"that guy," he finished lamely.

**LINA**

"Not the same," Goro muttered. "It's not a
real fuckin' person."

That, and the thought of actually really talking to Luka
was... kind of terrifying. He didn't care what Hansel had said about loving
your kids no matter what. He couldn't fucking imagine how someone that decent,
someone who'd worked himself to death to provide for his baby son, wouldn't be
at least a little disappointed to learn that son had grown up to be
motherfuckin' Goro.

**IZZY**

"Yeah, well." Hansel frowned, and nudged Goro's
knee with his. "It's more than you had before, right? I know it ain't a
relationship, ahuv, but you can still kinda get to know him. You already
have."

**ABBY**

Already have? So that meant he'd already cast that spell.
Seemed like Goro, yep. "Yeah Dad's right, better than nothing," Roddy
chipped in. (No comments about the Leech, nope. Roddy was not gonna be the one
to vocalize that thought.) "I bet he'd appreciate it. You wanting to bury
him right, and all. It's.... good."

**LINA**

"Mm." Goro shook his head. He covered his face
with the hand Hansel wasn't holding. "It's not--he'd--mm."

He leaned forward to rest his elbow on the table, keeping
his eyes covered. God damn it. One would hope he'd have fucking cried it all
out already.

**IZZY**

"Ah." Hansel shifted closer to him. He wasn't sure
if this was something Goro would fucking hate -- other people seeing him cry.
He was used to shielding Mishka or to him cracking away when he got upset, so
he automatically moved to angle Goro towards his chest to hide him without
knowing if that was ... the right thing to do. "Hey. S'okay."

He kissed the top of Goro's head and gave Roddy a slightly
apologetic look. Probably not the scene the kid had intended to crash into.

**ABBY**

Uh oh. Roddy shot Hansel a distressed look. At least Dad was
already here and Roddy didn't have to panic and wonder where he was. He reached
over and rubbed Goro's back again-- it was something at least? "Yeah.
It's... okay. We're family too, it's-- it's all right."

**LINA**

Goro nodded, let himself enjoy the shelter of Hansel's chest
for just a moment longer, then straightened up, sniffling and and wiping the
tears away hastily. "Uh-huh. Yeah. Yup." He gave Roddy an awkward pat
on the shoulder. He was grateful for the support--really fucking was--but
didn't have a clue how to respond to it. "Yeah, I'm fucking glad I got you
guys, for sure. I'll be alright. Just--ah."

He shook his head again. If he started complaining about
what a let down he'd be to Luka, Hansel would fucking argue with him.

**ABBY**

Roddy nodded. Yeah, had some stuff to work though. He got
that. Made a mental note: be nicer to Goro for a little while. Especially about
family things.

"Hey, uh, what was-- what was his name?" he asked.
Maybe answering questions would be a bit of a distraction. "Bet he had a
cooler name than Gigori," he teased, poking Goro, and watching carefully
to make sure that was... okay.

**LINA**

"Um." Goro rubbed his eyes and felt his ears turn
hot. Maybe if he just... didn't fucking react to the Grigori thing, Hansel
wouldn't pick up on it and realize it was his actual fucking name. Fuckin'
embarrassing. "Luka. Luka Voronin."

**ABBY**

Luka Voronin. Huh. "Good name," Roddy said.
Decided against keeping up the teasing-- Goro looked a bit flustered.

**LINA**

"Yeah. I thought so. Was thinking... well, I don't have
a last name. I mean, I didn't know if I had one, growing up. So I've been
thinking, ah hey, maybe that'll be my last name. Could start calling myself
Goro Voronin. Was my grandfather's name, apparently. I kinda wanted to make
sure, first, that Luka wasn't a shitter--I mean, you don't fucking see me
scrambling to claim the name Basha, right?"

Goro let out a long breath, deflating a little. "Dunno,
though. Sounds like he wasn't a shitter, yeah. Seems like he was real fuckin'
nice. Dunno if I fuckin'..." Deserve it. Hansel would argue, though.

He did kind of wonder if "Hansel arguing" should
be a fucking metric for something. Eh.

**IZZY**

Hansel was quiet, for a bit. Goro had said that he didn't
think Flatflower suited him, and Hansel disagreed -- and he figured that if
anyone deserved to pass their name onto Goro, it'd be Amari. Luka had fucking
died to bring Goro into the world and keep him there, though, to be fair. Done
everything he could. Fuckin' Jasmilia sure as hell didn't get to claim Goro.

He bent to kiss the top of Goro's head again. "I like
it. Sounds more like you than Flatflower does?"

**ABBY**

Goro Voronin-- yeah that did have a nice ring to it. And
from a strictly aesthetic (did that word work with names and sounds?) point, it
was better than Flatflower. "I like it too," he piped up. Seemed like
Goro was hesitant though. "What makes you reluctant?" he asked,
cocking his head.

**LINA**

"Ah. Psh." He shrugged. Yeah, that fucking cleared
it up. "I'm just not... well. You know, now that I think of it, that
probably was my fucking name when I was a baby, huh?" He snorted.
"Here I am, acting like I'm going shopping for something, when I guess I
already own it."

And Luka... wasn't like he'd given Goro the name idly. He'd
named Goro after his father. Goro Voronin was the name he'd picked out
intentionally. The name he'd no doubt thought Goro would have for the rest of
his life.

Well, shit. When he thought of it that way.

"Goro Voronin," he said again. "Yeah. I
think... I think that's good."

**IZZY**

"All right. Goro fuckin' Voronin," Hansel teased
gently.

He felt a bit bad for Amari, if he was honest, but maybe it
was just because for him, ditching the name Granger had been ditching Elijah.
Deciding to use Bell instead -- even though Marion and Leigh both still used
Granger -- made him feel closer to the blood family he had, less fucking
tainted by his stepfather. Goro wasn't abandoning Amari, just -- finding other
family, Hansel guessed. Coming back to an old one. When he thought about it
that way, it made more sense.

Mishka used Hansel's last name, sometimes. Had with Granger,
had with Bell. Hansel wondered if Goro ever would.

**ABBY**

Roddy rubbed Goro's back again, smiling. Whatever name he
used, that was still Goro. Still prickly and weird, but getting nicer. Still
Roddy's family, and it felt good to be able to think that.

"Hey what if we had a party?" Roddy said suddenly.
"Celebrate Goro's new name. Don't worry I'll let you do the guest
list," Roddy said, patting Goro's shoulder.

**LINA**

"Ah. Psh." Goro ducked his head, sheepish.
"Don't need a fuckin' party just for getting a name. I do, uh." He
glanced at Hansel, then quickly back to the table. "I do... know my real
birthday now, though. It's in July, I guess."

Always thought that shit was so fucking dumb. Birthday
parties. A little bit because he was jealous of the people that got 'em,
though. And even once Amari started celebrating his on New Year's, it had
seemed like a shitty consolation prize. A reminder that he didn't have the real
thing.

**IZZY**

"Oh yeah? What day?"

**LINA**

Goro worked his mouth around, fighting off a grin. "Who
wants to know?"

**ABBY**

"We do you doofus," Roddy grumbled, shoving him
lightly. He really hoped it wasn't the seventeenth. That was supposed to be
Roddy's day.

**LINA**

"Pfff. Fine. It's the third." He rubbed his face,
hoping he wasn't getting red.

**IZZY**

God, it was cute how embarrassed he was getting about it.
Hansel remembered him being awkward and upset when they'd played Three
Questions and Hansel'd asked about his birthday. This was better. A lot fucking
better.

Hansel grinned at him and ruffled his hair, pulling him in
for a real quick kiss -- 'cause Roddy was here, and Roddy didn't wanna see
that. Couldn't stop himself from quietly commenting, "Well, aren't you a
lucky boy, gettin' two birthdays each year, eh."

**LINA**

"It's just the one," he grumbled, but he leaned
into Hansel anyway.

**ABBY**

"Hey, don't turn down an excuse for a party. 'Sides you
could think of it as making up for all those missed ones." There. That was
good logic. Dad would agree with that logic, so even if Goro didn't he was
outvoted.

**IZZY**

"Mm." Hansel nodded in agreement.

**LINA**

"Psh," Goro insisted, and he turned his face into
Hansel's shoulder.

He reached to put an arm across Hansel's chest, and his
elbow bumped the bag of bones. He stared down at it for a moment, then
muttered, "That's actually my spot." He lifted it off Hansel's lap
and reached over him to set it gently on the floor. Then he climbed into place,
looping his arms around Hansel's neck, and shooting Roddy an apologetic look in
the process. But hey, he needed to fucking hug Hansel. No getting around it.

**ABBY**

Normally Roddy might make a show of it, roll his eyes and
grumble. But today, Goro really seemed to need the hug. So for once, Roddy
didn't say anything about it. "You want me to give you guys a
minute?" he asked instead.

**LINA**

"Nah." Goro closed his eyes and sighed
contentedly. "Stick around. We're good just like this."

[end]

Title: Bones. Summary: Hansel and Goro return to the castle
with Luka's remains, running into Roddy. They talk about Goro's family, and he
decides to start going by his father's surname.