TRP: Finch, Larkin, and Roddy (Gang)

**ABBY**

[Setting: Skyport day 241.]

The artisans district was bustling as always. People
shouting out their wares, objects jangling against each other, the smell of
food carts dotted here and there up the way. Yep. One of Roddy's favorite
places, no doubt about it. (The only better places were where his family was,
or where he was earning money instead of spending it.)

His lyre was safely tucked away in the magic sack, where it
had gotten left too much and things had gotten tossed around too much and
well-- yeah Roddy needed to not do that. Then the frame wouldn't get a little
bent and the strings wouldn't get warped. Granny Halma was really great at
fixing up instruments though, and if there was one place a bard should spend
his money-- it was the instrument shop.

He almost missed her at first though. Not Granny Halma, Larkin.
He caught a flash of horns out of the corner of his eye, and when he turned to
look closer-- it was her!

Roddy abruptly changed course, grinning. Granny Halma could
wait a bit longer, it had been forever since Roddy'd got to say hi to Larkin.
"Heya!" he called, coming up behind her. "It's been a bit! I
missed you," he said. Wanted to hug her too but-- Larkin didn't like that
as much either so he'd refrain.

**JEN**

Larkin's head snapped around at the sound of Roddy's voice
and for a moment, it looked like she was about to bolt. Then she glanced
another direction, and back to Roddy, before grabbing him by the front of his
shirt and dragging him- tugging him, more like- around the corner of a
candle-maker's stand.

“What're you doing here?” She hissed. “You been following
me?”

**ABBY**

Something seemed up with Larkin. Roddy was about to ask
what, except then she grabbed him and yanked with a lot more force than he'd
thought she was capable of. He stumbled a bit, letting her drag him around a
corner and blinking confusedly at her as she snapped at him.

"Heeey," he said, frowning and batting at her hands.
"No! I was minding my own business and saw you and figured I'd say hi.
Cause we're friends. And why would it be bad if I was following you
anyway?"

**JEN**

"'cause I can't afford to be fucking followed?!"
She peered out from behind the stand, checking the surroundings. God, they were
so damn suspicious. Her mark didn't seem to have noticed anything, though.
Still busy talking to that cutler down the street.

Larkin sighed. "Shit. Uh, listen it's not- you, it's
that I'm on a job here, and I don't have time to chat."

**ABBY**

"Oh!" Well that was different then. She was
stressed, Roddy would forgive her for snapping. "What kind of job? Can I
help?" Roddy asked, craning his neck and trying to see what Larkin was
looking at.

**JEN**

"No." She grabbed him again to pull him back out
of view. "It's none of your business."

**ABBY**

"Hey it's okay," Roddy said, smiling. "You're
my friend I don't mind."

**JEN**

"Look, Roddy, this is kinda time sensitive here, so if
you'd kindly not blow my cover I'd be really fucking grateful."

**ABBY**

"Oh a sneaky mission?" Roddy was excited! Even
though he maybe... wasn't the best at those sometimes. "Maybe I can be a
distraction. I'm good at that."

**JEN**

"No!" Larkin snapped, too loudly perhaps because
the head of the candlemaker turned to see what was up. Larkin cringed. She put
her hands together in a pleading gesture. "Okay look. That guy over there?
Nasty haircut, ugly nose? I got business with him but he doesn't know of his
luck yet, so I'm following. Discretely. No distractions. Just me. Got it?"

**ABBY**

"Aw," Roddy deflated. He wanted to help. "Hey
what if I used that one spell and made myself a lot more inconspicuous?"
he asked. Big tortle, good for getting attention. Not so good for sneakily
following people.

**JEN**

"Hey, why don't you just go and fucking mind your own
business?"

**ABBY**

"Don't be rude now," Roddy chided, lightly booping
Larkin's nose.

**JEN**

Larkin stared at him, incredulous. "The fuck is your
problem?"

**ABBY**

"Hey I'm not the one getting all irritable and
mad," Roddy pointed out. Quite reasonably, he thought. "It's okay
though. I know your grumpy like that. You criminal types," he said fondly.
Oh hey speaking of. "Hey what's Finch up to? I haven't seen him lately
either."

**JEN**

"Oh my god," Larkin muttered. She took another
glance at her mark. Getting his knives sharpened, still. At least she didn't
have to trail him with Roddy on her heels just now.

"Look, Roddy," she said, holding her palms out,
"I really fucking need to concentrate here. I'll talk to you later if you
wanna get in with us but, for god's sake, I need to not fuck this up. Finch'll
rip me a new one."

**ABBY**

"Oh." She really was busy. And Roddy wanted to
help, but he guessed the best way to help sometimes was... not. "Aright.
I'll meet you at the bunker later?"

**JEN**

"Yeah, alright."

**ABBY**

Roddy nodded and slipped out of the alley. Resisted the urge
to look back and watch Larkin at work-- he may be a little out of practice but
he had been a thief. He knew that unnecessary attention was only good if you
were the distraction.

After dropping off his lyre, and then hanging out with
Granny Halma while she fixed it, Roddy picked his way back over to the bunker.
Nobody answered when he knocked on the door, and after a moment of mental
deliberation he decided against teleporting inside to wait for them. It was
nice enough out, no need to burn the magic.

Finch was pretty secretive about the location, so Roddy
ducked out of the little alley. Instead he found an area close by, where he
could still keep an eye out on the alley mouth, and set up a tip cup and
started playing some songs. Just a bard getting some spare change, nothing to
see here. Sure Roddy was a slightly more famous bard, but he still did this
sort of thing often enough no one should take a second look.

**JEN**

Larkin dropped down from the building behind Roddy, off the
rooftop highway she'd been using to get across the maze of the dockside
district more quickly. She'd planned to go straight to the bunker but the
familiar music had gotten her distracted.

She watched Roddy for a moment, humming along to the tune he
played, before strolling up to him and tossing a pebble into his tip cup.
"If you're on hard times,"  she
said and winked, "you could've just told me. Would've given you a nice,
low interest loan."

**ABBY**

Roddy turned a bit, grinning at her and tucking his lute
away. "Nah. I just like the attention. 'Sides I'm not sure you should
trust me to pay you back," he joked.

"I think our friend's out," he said, very
deliberately not indicating the direction to the bunker. "Nobody opened
when I knocked. Guess we might gotta hang out for a bit and wait?" Roddy
didn't have anything better to do. He was spending the day in Skyport, but other
than getting his lute fixed up hadn't made any particular plans.

**JEN**

"That fuckin' guy," Larkin grumbled, She shoved
her hands into her pockets and went to stand closer to Roddy. "Heckled me
for hours 'bout getting the timing right on that job, and to be here soon as
it's done, and now he's out. Parked his ass in a bar I bet."

**ABBY**

Roddy snickered. "Now you can heckle him back."
That was fun. Finch was so easy to irritate. "Hey how'd the job go anyway?
Successful I hope."

**JEN**

"Eh." Larkin wagged a hand in the air. "More
or less."

**ABBY**

"Y'know I hope that means nobody died but with you guys
that's not a guarantee."

**JEN**

"Oh, come on, Roddy. How many times I gotta tell you
I'm not in the murder business?" Larkin put on her most indignant face but
couldn't quite keep it straight. No one had died today (not by her hand,
anyway), but he did have a point.

**ABBY**

"Yeah, yeah," Roddy rolled his eyes. "You're
still a violent type of thief. I see you sneaking around, shoving knives in
people." Still, he was glad to have Larkin at his back. Better on his side
than not.

**JEN**

"Just a side effect on the business." She glanced
off to the side and her voice dropped a bit. "Look, if I'm not doing the
sneaking and stabbing, it's gonna be someone else, and me at the wrong end of
the knife. So... I do what I gotta do."

**ABBY**

"Yeah. Well, you're good at it at least," Roddy
said. Slowly reached out and patted her shoulder. "I mean if I needed
someone murdered you're on my list of people to go to."

**JEN**

That made her laugh aloud. "Uh-huh, alright. Good to
know. I'm still not in that kinda business."

**ABBY**

"Yeah. Well how is business going anyway?" Roddy
asked. "Miss being able to come pester you in Glimmerton."

**JEN**

Larkin rolled her eyes the same way Roddy had. "You'll
get your chances, don't fucking worry. Just have to get our new thing up and
running, then I'll have more time to visit. It's not looking too bad so far.
Well, except for fuckin' someone not being at his post."

**ABBY**

"Yeah?" Roddy grinned, that sounded great.
"Maybe I'll come by Skyport more too. Hey! Maybe I can help out with your
thing. You could always use some extra hands right?"

**JEN**

"Uhm. Well. I mean, yeah, but..." She made a face.
"Not sure you wanna do the kind of jobs we got."

**ABBY**

"Oh." Roddy shifted a bit. What kind of jobs did
Larkin mean? They had just been talking about how she wasn't really into murder
as a business. "Well, I was a thief, and I wouldn't really mind doing that
again," he pointed out. "So-- what kinda jobs do you have?"

**JEN**

"Well, we need to... uhm. So, we're just getting
started, alright? And there's a lot of competition going on now. Everyone's
fighting over the scraps, so we gotta make it clear we're the biggest and
meanest." Larkin paused and looked around. No one was paying them much
attention, now that Roddy had stopped playing music. "It's not just about
picking pockets," she said quietly. "And it's gonna get you a ton of
new enemies, all of which'll be happy to stick you in the liver. That really
what you want?"

**ABBY**

"Well, fighting hydras is dangerous too," Roddy
pointed out. "It's... kinda scary yeah but I'm used to it. I can handle
it."

**JEN**

Larkin shook her head. He didn't get it. Hydras didn't just
lurk around the corner. Hydras were dangerous, and scary, but they were adventurous
and after killing them, you were a hero. No one got called a hero for wringing
protection money from shop keepers. But if he wanted to...

"Alright. There's a kid's gang two streets down that's
making good money. We want our share, and we want 'em to know who's fucking
boss. You want a job? Go get our money. And don't come back before they know
not to fuck with us. Break a leg or two if you have to."

**ABBY**

"Oh." That kind of job. Well... he had offered to
help. "Uh. Alright. I'll... go get your money, then." Slowly he
shuffled off. This was what Larkin did, and this was what Roddy had offered to
do. (Might not of if he'd really known or thought about it, but that was too
late now.) Part of him hoped that Larkin'd call him back. Tell him to forget about
it. But he didn't really believe that she would.

**JEN**

"Uhm, Roddy. Wait."

**ABBY**

Roddy stooped and turned around. "Yeah?"

**JEN**

"I haven't told you how to find them yet. And you don't
have to do it, like... right now." Larkin hesitated for a second, then
added, "You don't have to if you don't want to."

**ABBY**

"Oh." Right. He was missing a fairly vital piece
of information. "Well... I said I wanted to help didn't I? And... better
to get it over with anyway." Yeah. Yeah, this sounded right. "So, if
you just tell me how to find 'em I'll get it out of the way. We can show Finch
how productive we are while he's off at a bar right?" he tried to joke. It
sounded flat, even to him.

**JEN**

Well, fine. If he wanted to so badly, Larkin wasn't going to
stop him.

"Their lead is called Todd, 'bout fourteen years old,
this tall." She indicated it with a hand. "Black hair. Fat boy for an
orphan, you're gonna know him when you see him. Go down Fisher Road, then
right, and right again. That's where they hang out."

**ABBY**

"Black hair, kinda fat," Roddy repeated back.
(Fourteen- Roddy wasn't much older- not paying attention to that.) "Well.
Guess I'm gonna go beat up some kids then!"

Five minutes later Roddy came back. "I got beat up by a
bunch of kids." He looked it too, sporting a good shiner and plenty of
nicks and bruises on his arms, one of which he was cradling, and his shell
looked plenty scuffed up too.

**JEN**

Larkin hopped down from the fence she'd been sitting on and
walked towards him, eyes wide and hands outstretched. "Roddy. How? What
the fuck happened?"

**ABBY**

"Well first Todd didn't want to give me the money, so I
tried to threaten him, but I kinda didn't mean it and they noticed," Roddy
said, starting to gesture and then wincing and cradling his hand again.
"So then I said my friend would beat them up if they didn't give me the
money. And one of them threw a rock at my head. And someone else stabbed me in
the arm. And so then I tried to get them to stop but someone threw another rock
at me and kept it from hitting my head again but I think it broke some fingers?
So then I just hid in my shell till they were done trying to kill me. Also I
think I'm concussed."

**JEN**

"Oh my god. For fucks sake, what the... what the
fuck." Larkin turned and made to walk away but it turned into a little
circle and when she faced Roddy again, she was rubbing her temples with both
hands. "I don't even fucking know where to start here. Why the hell didn't
you do something? Show them who's boss, remember? No? Ugh!"

**ABBY**

Roddy hunched his shoulders. "I ah, I don't think I'm
too good at that part?"

**JEN**

"Listen, Roddy. If you can't fucking do the job, don't
take it. We don't have time for that."

**ABBY**

Roddy wanted to argue. He started to even. But... well what
had happened spoke for itself. He deflated. "Thought it'd be nice to give
you guys a hand," he muttered quietly.

**JEN**

Larkin grimaced and continued to massage her temples. After
a moment she sighed. It was true, he'd tried to help. Shouldn't have, though.

"Not everyone's cut out for this kinda thing," she
said a bit more gently. "And it not a bad thing you aren't. Man, who wants
to be a fucking thug, huh?"

**ABBY**

"I guess." Roddy never had liked violence, really.
Made his stomach twist in knots. Larkin, and Jonn, and-- likely Finch too
weren't so bothered by it. And as much as he wanted to help... this might be
another place where he'd help the most by hanging back. "Well, if
something does come up that's more up my alley, lemme know. Guess I'll just
stick to my music for now."

**JEN**

"Yeah, that's probably for the best. Uhm... don't worry
about us. We're good."

**ABBY**

"For a given meaning of 'good' eh?" Roddy joked
weakly. Still bummed about failing to help out. And still hurting too for that
matter. Ow. "I might go find Joan," he said abruptly. "I know
she's in town today, maybe she can fix me up and stuff."

**JEN**

Larkin nodded. "Go get that hand looked after. And
uhm... better you don't wander down that street again."

**ABBY**

[END]

Title: Gang

Summary: Roddy wants to help with Larkin and Finch's new gang.
Larkin gives him a task to do but it goes wrong and Roddy realizes it might not
be for him.