TRP: Gavi and Mishka (Truce)

**ABBY**

[SETTING: Day 266, ship to the sanctuary.]

"Yeah that's interesting huh?" Gavi said in orcish
to her new niece. She'd found a wall she could lean on, out of the way from
most people, and get herself and Tikva some fresh air. Currently Tikva had a
strand of Gavi's hair, and was staring at it, fascinated. "That's my hair.
You got some good hair too," she said, gently rubbing Tikva's head.

So fuckin' cute. Gavi'd missed this. Tiny babies, so fresh
and new. Tikva was, so far, one of the quieter ones. Timur had been a squaller,
Griffin--

Well Gavi was gonna do her best to watch out for this little
one. Gruumsh wasn't gonna get his hooks in her. She rocked Tikva, humming a
lullaby. Yeah. This was good.

**COYOTE**

 Mishka founded himself wandering listlessly about the ship.
He kept trying to distract himself. Keep his mind off the problems humming
urgently in the back of his head (Joan was gone, they'd fucking kill her, she
wouldn't back down, just like Hansel, and Roddy, what if he stood up for his
friends and they killed him too, he'd gotten so brave, what if they gutted him
and split him open and Mishka couldn't find him again, what about Amari, what
about--)

He tried to shut it off and shut it down and barely managed.
Fingers itched to pinch, but he made himself not.

He found Gavi standing against a wall on the deck and paused
delicately, looking at her. He didn't say anything, just rocked back on his
heels.

"So it's your baby now," he said.

**ABBY**

Gavi saw the elf-- the mouthy blonde fuckhead wandering
around. Resolved to ignore him, but unfortunately that wasn't shared.

"Yep," she said, staring him down.

**COYOTE**

 Mishka stared at her, stomach tight.

He thought about losing his crew, ditching them and then
finding out later they were dead. He thought about leaving the Sanctuary and
then finding out it had been attacked.

He thought about Gavi leaving Griffin behind, thinking he
was safer in the Sanctuary. Then finding out later she'd failed to defend him.
Someone had taken him and broken him.

Before he could quite stop himself, he asked, "You
okay?"

**ABBY**

Gavi snorted before she could catch herself. "What do
you fucking think?" she asked. Tikva looked like she was dozing off. Gavi
better keep her voice down-- and for that matter. "Watch your fucking
volume, baby's fixing to sleep."

**COYOTE**

 "Yeah, figured." Mishka spun on his heel to leave,
then didn't. Paused. Hesitated, torn. "Hey. Did you fucking-- did you
know?" He watched her, eyes sharp. "About Immanuel. Did you know he
was gonna pull this shit?"

Mishka should've known. Seen it coming. Should've just let
Hansel fucking kill them both.

**ABBY**

Gavi clenched her jaw, then unclenched it. Better to stay
calm, with a baby. "No," she said quietly. More sadly than she meant
to. "He fucking... said we needed a new leader. Said it should be me. And
I bought it," she said bitterly. "I thought he meant well." She
laughed bitterly. "Shows how much I fucking know huh?"

**COYOTE**

 Mishka struggled for another minute. Then he turned and left
again, and didn’t come back for a while.

**ABBY**

Gavi watched him go. Good riddance. "Y'know," she
said, rocking Tikva lightly. "I'm still workin' on not seeing all elves as
the enemy and stuff, but I'm pretty sure I'd still think he was a fucking dick
even if he was orc or somethin'."

**COYOTE**

 Mishka came back in a few minutes with a plate of food:
fresh fruit from inland, a hunk of bread and cheese and butter, and a hunk of
meat. He stared at her, holding it out, narrow-eyed.

**ABBY**

Gavi glanced at it, and then back up at Mishka. "What's
all this fucking for?"

**COYOTE**

 "Food. For eating. I keep track. Of who is and who
isn't, because my husband and my boyfriend forget to eat sometimes. And I don't
think you have been. And it's hot weather, and we're at sea, and--" Mishka
glanced up at the sky. "--and you've got bone rot, so sit down and eat and
give me the baby."

**ABBY**

Gavi tensed. Had to be careful with the baby though.
Narrowed her eyes. "All right then another question: Why do you fucking
care?"

**COYOTE**

 Mishka narrowed his eyes. He chewed on the inside of his
mouth. He thought about admitting that he was a normal man with a normal sense
of empathy and seeing Gavi suffer bothered him, but that was a secret he'd take
to his grave.

So instead, he said, "You're friends with Joan,
right?"

**ABBY**

"Yeah," Gavi agreed. Joan'd talked about Mishka
too-- sounded like she liked them. "You gonna tell me you're her friend
too so figured you'd better watch out for me and shit?" It did make sense.

**COYOTE**

 "Ah, yeah. She's ah-- well, the word in elvish is amar,
which means... ally, or partner... ah, it's complicated. Anyway, she's...
probably not dead, so--" Mishka had to stop a moment, freeze himself over,
so he didn't start tearing into himself.

She's probably not dead, Mishka reminded himself. She'd be
smart enough to keep her head down until he came to rescue her. Surely.

"Anyway," Mishka managed to say, "she's
probably not dead. So, I think you should stay alive and stay healthy so you
can help me rescue her. Yes?"

**ABBY**

Gavi studied Mishka for a second. She didn't fuckin' like
him. But, they had a mutual friend. And this was in her own self-interest after
all.

"You ever held a baby before?" she asked.

**COYOTE**

 "Hahaha. God, no. Who would give me a baby?"

**ABBY**

Gavi gave him a look. "If I recall about two minutes
ago you asked for mine. No-- I think you fucking told me to give her to
you."

**COYOTE**

 Mishka held out his arm and waggled his fingers at Gavi in
the universal sign language gesture for gimme that baby.

**ABBY**

Gavi did not like this fucking idea. But she needed to eat,
and if fucking Mishka would stay put while she did... this was tolerable.
"Don't you dare fucking drop her," she muttered. Carefully she
settled Tikva in Mishka's arms, guiding his hands to make sure he'd support her
head and shit. Yeah. Good enough.

"And don't you dare fucking walk off on me
either," she said, taking a step back and watching to make sure Mishka had
a good grip. Good enough. "You are gonna stay right here where I can keep
an eye on you."

**COYOTE**

 Mishka settled the baby in his arms. She was surprisingly
heavy and awkward to carry. He frowned and did what Gavi said, though, and
clung to baby.

Oh god. He hadn't thought this part through. He didn't think
Gavi would actually give him the baby. He had a baby now. "Uh," he
said, suddenly unsure what to do. "So I just-- so do I-- I just, uh, hold
her, then, and... uh."

**ABBY**

Gavi chuckled lightly, taking her plate and starting to pick
at it. "Yep, exactly like that. Don't move a muscle. 'Cluding the jaw ones."
Oh she was hungrier than she'd thought-- these fruits and shit were really
hitting the spot.

**COYOTE**

 "Uh. What do babies... Like... Do, anyway?"

**ABBY**

Yeah been a bit too much to hope for, him buying that about
keeping his mouth shut. "At this age? Sleep and shit mostly. Don't worry,
she's got a diaper."

**COYOTE**

 "Mm. Mhm. Okay. So. If that happens. I just. Hand her
back to you?" Mishka fidgeted as Gavi picked at her food.

**ABBY**

"Aw you don't know how to change a diaper either?"
Gavi smirked. And very deliberately took a very small bite and ate it very
slowly. "You know that's not that hard either." Not that Gavi would
actually let Mishka, but it was fun to needle him.

**COYOTE**

 Mishka wrinkled his nose. "What if it... gets on me,
though." Or-- oh god. Didn't babies vomit sometimes or something? Oh god.
Mishka tried to hold the baby a little farther away from him.

**ABBY**

Gavi set her plate aside and moved to take Tikva back.

**COYOTE**

 Mishka quickly clutched the baby to his chest. "No no
no. I've got it. Her. I've, um, got her."

**ABBY**

Gavi backed off slowly. "You sure?" Even that small
sign of rejection was making her itch to take Tikva back. But every reason
Mishka had for convincing Gavi to give her over for a little while was still in
effect she reminder herself. Gavi had to take care of herself too.

**COYOTE**

 "I'm good. I can hold her for five minutes, right? I'm
the terror of the-- I've destroyed-- I've killed a hundred-- okay, I admit I
have no qualifications related to children, but, ah, still. Holding a... baby.
Easy. Got it. Her." Mishka jiggled her a little. He'd seen people do that
with babies before. Jiggle them.

**ABBY**

Gavi twitched, but he really wasn't doing it wrong... She
settled back, eating a little faster this time. "Tikva," she said.
"Her name's Tikva."

**COYOTE**

 "Oh. That's a good name." Mishka eyed her.
"Ah, I should, uh..."

He paused delicately. He considered apologizing for being an
asshole, then blandly decided not to. She didn't deserve it.

"Why are you here?" Mishka said instead. "Why
are you fighting your brother with us? I don't get it. I honestly wondered for
a while if you were just, like, the worst fucking spy ever, but no, it looks
like you genuinely are just trying to help us out."

**ABBY**

"Hey fuck you," Gavi said on reflex. "My
brother's just..." she trailed off. The usual defense stuck in her throat.
He'd gotten Griffin killed. (Gavi'd been the one to strike the final blow.) She
stared down, tapping her fork against her plate.

"I don't fucking know," she finally said.
"Right now ya'll... you're getting into the same shit I want to. Different
reasons but. Feel like I can play damage control, tagging along." She
looked up, staring at Mishka. "I want to help my people. Immanuel said we
need a new leader. Fucking... said it should be me. And after that shit back in
the temple? I'm just about fucking ready to agree with him."

**COYOTE**

 Mishka eyed her. "You gonna lead your people on an
empire-building crusade too? That it?"

**ABBY**

"Fuck no." How much did she want to fucking tell
this elf anyway? Tell Mishka, she mentally corrected herself.

Then again, maybe if he believed in her cause, he'd help.
(Gavi resolutely stamped out the sneering voice asking how much help he'd be.)
"I still ain't sure how I'd wanna lead my people," Gavi said slowly.
"But this warring, it's costing orc lives, and I've seen where we go when we
die. We need to figure out a new way. And shit if I know what that is."

**COYOTE**  8:42 AM

Mishka sat down on an enormous hunk of rope. “I know you’re
probably not gonna believe me, because I’m a fucking elf and a liar and all
that, but... I’m on your fucking side, here. Nobody wants this war. And your
people have in fact been fucked with. Royally fucked. My husband Hansel...
well. Fair to say orcs have the short end of the stick.”

**ABBY**
 9:52 AM

"Been trying to get better at that 'fucking elf'
thing," Gavi muttered. But... yeah. Her first instinct was to scoff at it.
But what about her second one? She studied Mishka a bit. He was married to an
orc, couldn't hate her people the same way she'd hated his.

"Y'know you were still a real dick for supposedly being
'on my side'."

**COYOTE**  10:0 AM

“Well.” Mishka paused. He was going to say you did break my
friend’s fingers, but he supposed she’d already been punished for that enough.
Besides, Mishka poisoned a guy’s kid once, and that guy forgave him. Maybe
Mishka could let the finger-breaking thing go for five minutes.

“Well,” Mishka said. “You’re a dick, too. So.”

**ABBY**
 10:04 AM

Gavi snorted, grinning a bit. "All right, fair enough.
Guess we hate each other cause we're both dicks, not so much the whole orc and
elf thing."

**COYOTE**  10:07 AM

“You’ve got a fucking deal.” Mishka almost stuck his hand
out to shake on it, then got that crawling sensation on his skin again, then
decided not to. Also, he was holding a baby. “Sorry, I ah.... sorry. For, ah,
before.”

**ABBY**
 10:08 AM

Gavi arched an eyebrow at him. "So you're apologizing,
after agreeing on how much we fuckin' hate each other?"

**COYOTE**  10:2 AM

“I can recognize I’m an asshole and need to apologize and
also think you are an asshole,” Mishka said. “I am capable of that level of
perspective. You are an awful creature with no manners at all— much less any
clothing sense— and also you served and evil and wretched god who hurt my
husband— and normally I’d poison your breakfast and toss your body overboard in
the middle of the night for some unlucky shark to eat, then lie and tell
everyone you jumped overboard—“ Mishka had considered this. “But unfortunately
it looks like I need you right now, so—“

He kept jiggling the baby, because he was nervous. Suddenly
the baby burped, and something hot and wet splattered across Mishka’s back. He
screamed, a little.

**ABBY**
 10:36 AM

Gavi was up and taking Tikva back, cuddling her and checking
she was okay. She was, it was just fucking Mishka and being bad with babies.
"If you're gonna burp her it's handy to put a cloth over your shoulder so
you don't have to change clothes after," she said, amused. She had one of
those handy for her little baby-bag and fished it out to burp Tikva properly.

**COYOTE**  10:41 AM

“Burp her? How do you— what do you mean, burp her? Don’t
they burp on their own? I was just jiggling her. Babies like to be jiggled,
right?”

**ABBY**
 10:54 AM

Gavi snorted. Yep showed how much he knew.

"Am I supposed to thank you for not murderin' me?"
she drawled. "Cause I ain't gonna. I've always done what I thought was
right. Changed my mind recently and got a new judge of what's 'right'. Maybe I
might apologize to some over how I was before. But I don't like you enough to
think you're one of 'em." Gavi gave Mishka a mean little grin.

"Also who the fuck thinks fashion sense is a worthy
insult?"

**COYOTE**  10:58 AM

Mishka scoffed. He peeled off his outer tunic and dropped
it.

“First of all, woman,” he said, “I didn’t ask you to thank
me for not killing you or ask you to fucking apologize.”

**ABBY**
 11:01 AM

"Oh look at that Tikva, he's got some sense after
all."

**COYOTE**  11:04 AM

Mishka’s eyes narrowed. “Twice as much as you.”

**ABBY**
 11:07 AM

"Aw, I think I spoke too soon." Gavi said, staring
at Mishka and smirking. God, he was so fun to rile up.

**COYOTE**  11:08 AM

Mishka kicked his legs on the rope. “Hey, I’ve got a
question. How many elves you kill? You spent a long time hating them?”

**ABBY**
 11:1 AM

"Thirty-three years," Gavi said. It gave her a
pang. Even without the rot that was half her life. "And how am I supposed
to know? I didn't fucking keep track. A lot."

**COYOTE**  11:11 AM

“Why?”

**ABBY**
 11:14 AM

"Cause!" Gavi felt Tikva burp again and re-settled
the baby against her chest. "It was fucking hard too all right? I had a
lot of shit to keep track of and didn't seem important to tally off the bodies
I left behind."

**COYOTE**  11:16 AM

“No,” Mishka said, settling down a little. He felt... bad
for her. “I mean— why did you hate them? Why did you kill them? I’m honestly
just... asking.”

**ABBY**
 11:24 AM

Gavi gave a soft sigh, looking down at Tikva. Gavi'd been
born into a harsh world. She'd fought and fought to make it better for her
children, her nephews, her nieces. How much better would it be though? How much
had Gavi lessened the suffering Tikva would have to face?

"Because I saw what they did. Or what I was told was
them. Not like all of it was fucking Immanuel and his golems though." She
looked up. "You ever wanna go visit some of your kin, your people, but
when you get there the whole camp's been razed through and slaughtered? You
ever hear kids crying in hunger and knowing that if we had better fucking land
we'd be able to grow enough to feed 'em? Cause the beginning and ending of all
our fucking problems was the fucking elves."

**COYOTE**  11:27 AM

Mishka curled his legs up to his chest and folded his arms
over them. He didn’t say anything. None of that had ever happened to him, no.
He was pampered and sheltered until he decided to run off. He never went hungry
and he still felt sorry for himself enough to leave.

“I’m sorry,” Mishka said again, after a long pause. “I know
you don’t give a shit. But... I’m sorry.”

**ABBY**
 11:3 AM

Gavi eyed him for a second. She believed him. Wasn't sure
what to do with that, but she believed him. "Yeah well," she said
gruffly. "You do give a shit, and... that'll help my people. I'll take
it."

**COYOTE**  11:53 AM

Mishka wasn’t sure what else to say. So he said, “I don’t
give a fuck about ‘my people’ as in the elves in Alabaster. I was never a
proper elf and I doubt I’ll ever be. But if you do shit that helps my people as
in my people here, I suppose we’re good.”

**ABBY**
 12:05 PM

Gavi thought about that for a second. She knew where her
priorities lay. But for now, everybody on this boat wanted to stop the war.
"I know ya'll are tight around here. Family and shit," she said
slowly. "I've already got one, and you ain't it. But I can say this much:
long as I'm sticking around, I'll help out. If I live long enough, and see a
way to help my family more somewhere else, I'll be leaving. But I'll make sure
not to stab you in the back on my way out. Fair enough?"

**COYOTE**  12:06 PM

Mishka offered her his hand this time. “Fair enough.”

**ABBY**
 12:12 PM

Gavi shifted Tikva so she could shake it. "By the way,
you're still a dick."

[END]

**ABBY**
at 1:04 PM

Title: Truce

Summary: Gavi and Mishka get on each others nerves, talk
about the situation the orcs are in, and agree they are on the same side and
they need to help each other out.  This
does not make them friends.