TRP: Gavi and Goro (Risky)

**Abby:**

[Setting: Day 204, woods outside Glimmerton/Morningstar
Keep.]

In retrospect: fighting a bear over its cave had not been
one of Gavi's brightest ideas. Maybe even 'hey I should move out of Glimmerton
and find a cave to live in instead' could even qualify.

Or maybe Gavi's life was just a series of bad decisions and
this was just the one that was gonna get her killed. Least she took the bear
down too. There'd been a day where she could have walked off her injuries. Claw
marks raked down her back, her chest, her stomach. A bite mark that had torn
her throat open and she'd just barely managed to heal before she bled out.
Cracked and broken bones from being slammed into trees, rocks, the ground.
She'd had to pump everything she had into healing herself.

Still could feel it though. Something busted inside. Was
getting harder and harder to breath, and with one leg broken and the other one
too mauled to stand on- it wasn't like she was going anywhere.

Yep. Not one of Gavi's brightest ideas.

**Lina:**

Goro was... not lost, yet, just--mixed up. He'd fucking
figure it out.

God, damn, the woods were annoying.

He was already annoyed when he started out that morning.
Roddy being fucking noisy, first of all, then breaking out that stupid fucking
spell that forced Goro to smile when Goro told him to keep it down. Then Goro
caught the weird wolf kid cutting open some more furniture. Then he passed by
Joan who hugged him and rubbed her knuckles against his skull, and when he told
her he hoped she died in a fucking pit he decided he might need to take a walk.

It was a productive walk. He'd noticed Hansel was getting
low on some of the leaves he needed to make his healing potions, so Goro went
into the woods and gathered a bunch of them. Combining two of Amari's favorite
pieces of advice, going for walks and helping people to take your mind off your
own problems. He was actually starting to feel less hateful, until he realized
he couldn't find the trail he'd stepped off not two fucking minutes ago.

Fucking forests.

He held his arm out level and turned the ring on his
compass. Alright, there was north. Fucking, now what? What fucking direction
was the castle in? Which way had he been walking?

Eh, fuck this. He kicked a stump, then just started walking
in the direction that seemed right. That was more his style, anyway.

After a few minutes, he stumbled across something odd. The
bloodied corpse of a bear. Fresh--blood still dripping, only a couple flies
around. Alright, well, that was terrifying. Where the hell was whatever had
killed it?

He took a couple steps backward, slowly, glancing every
which way for a sign of whatever-it-was. Then he froze. A few yards away was a
humanoid, who he mistook for also being dead at first, until she moved. And
then he recognized her.

Hah. What do you know.

He walked over to put himself in her line of sight, crossed
his arms, and cocked his head at her.

**Abby:**

Heeey. There was that one guy. The one who stabbed her.
Goro. "Heya Goro," Gavi called, giving a weak wave. "Ow." Yeah
that hurt. She let her arm drop back onto the ground. "I think I'm
dying."

**Lina:**

He threw his head back and rolled his eyes. He took a few
steps closer and peered down at her, scowling. "I could heal you, but I'm
thinking maybe I won't. You wanna know why?"

**Abby:**

Gavi blinked, slowly. "Cause I'm an ass?" Didn't
have energy to be surprised. Or offended. Still wasn't sure about why, but
Goro'd made it pretty clear he didn't like her.

**Lina:**

"Nah, I've healed lots of asses in my time. Guess
again." He judged she wouldn't die for a couple more hours, at least. They
had time.

**Abby:**

"Huh." Well, that was interesting. Also confusing.
"S'best I got," she said, half shrugged but stopped, grimacing as the
movement pulled at her wounds.

**Lina:**

"Alright, here. Let me help you out." He leaned
over to get his face close to hers and pointed a finger up and down at himself,
then her. "Take a look at the size of me. Now take a look at the size of
you. You see a difference there, Gavi? You wanna wager a fucking guess on how
excited I am at the thought of being way, way out here in the woods, with
someone twice my size, who doesn't know how to keep her fucking hands to
herself? Ah, I'll just tell you. It's 'not very.'" He straightened up.
"Nah, I think I like having you at death's door. Makes things a little
safer for me."

**Abby:**

Huh. "Hadn't realized it was that big a deal," she
said. Safer. Hadn't mean to make him feel unsafe in the first place.

**Lina:**

He stared at her. Fucking unbelievable. "Do you--do you
fucking know what words mean, lady? Do you actually speak Common?" He
switched to Orcish. "This better for you? If I say get your fucking hands
off me like this is that gonna sink into your thick fucking head?"

**Abby:**

"Oh hey I didn't know you spoke Orcish," she said,
in the same language, grinning. Neat.

**Lina:**

Goro turned around and started wandering away. "'Hey,
Griffin, your aunt's out dying in the woods.' Do you know which way the castle
is, by the way? I'm not sure I can get there in time before you bleed out. Shame."

**Abby:**

"Aw hey no come back," Gavi called. Still in
Orcish. "You didn't like the touching, I heard ya."

**Lina:**

Goro stopped and turned around. "You know, you were real
fucking lucky the other night. Hundred fucking percent, the only reason I
didn't stab you about fifteen more times is because I didn't want to ruin
Raef's wedding. I'm not gonna feel sad if you fucking die out here. Griffin'll
be sad, but--what's he gonna think?" Goro gestured to the carcass of the
bear. "You fought a fucking bear, or something? He won't know I left you
to die. You got a good reason why I should heal you?"

**Abby:**

"Not really," Gavi admitted. "Think you do
got more reasons to not." She still wasn't sure what had gone wrong. She'd
gotten in his space before. Sure when she'd got drunk like that was the worst
of it but he hadn't protested till then.

**Lina:**

"Did you fight a fucking bear?" he asked, squinting
at it.

**Abby:**

"I beat a fucking bear," Gavi said proudly.

**Lina:**

"Oh, my god. Is that like, a fucking Gruumsh thing?
Does he make half-orcs fight bears?"

**Abby:**

Gavi squinted at Goro. "Nooo. I just wanted to."

**Lina:**

Goro shook his head. "That bear was probably just
minding its own fucking business, and you came over and got all up in its face,
huh? Sounds about right. That's the kind of person you are, Gavi. You notice
that?"

**Abby:**

"Oh yep," she agreed. "That's me. That's what
happened. Thought it'd be nice to have a little cave, space to myself outta
town y'know? But there was a bear. So I fought the bear. Beat it too," she
grinned fiercely, showing blood-slicked teeth. "In retrospect yeah I kinda
got myself killed but I won."

**Lina:**

"How the fuck did you win if you got yourself killed?
Doesn't make any goddamn sense."

**Abby:**

"It died first."

**Lina:**

Goro rubbed his face one-handed. "Hm. Yeah. Well,
anyway. Nice knowing you, Gavi. Not really." He gave her a little wave and
turned back around.

**Abby:**

"Yeah, yeah, don't get lost and starve!" Gavi
called after him. Huh she was kinda bitter and mad now. Well he was leaving her
to die over some- drunken pawing. Well good riddance.

**Lina:**

Goro walked just far enough to make it really look like he
was leaving her behind. Then he turned in a circle, squinting up at the trees,
and tapping a finger on his chin. He faced her way again and walked back over
to her.

"Got fuckin' lost." He crouched down beside her
and glared, pulling out his wand. "Here's the deal, Gavi. We're gonna try
this one more fucking time. I'm gonna save your stupid life, once again. Heal
you enough so you can walk. And when I'm done, you're not gonna fucking touch
me. You're not gonna hug me, or grab me, or ruffle my hair, or any shit like
that. In fact, probably best if you don't get within ten feet of me. That sound
doable to you?"

**Abby:**

Gavi'd been stewing. Closed her eyes, thinking about moving.
Dragging herself into town or something. Finding someone, getting patched up,
enough to keep her alive till she could fix the rest. Course then Goro had to
show back up. She cracked her eyes open, scowling. "Y'know you don't have
to hold my life hostage in exchange for a favor," she grumbled.

**Lina:**

"I sure as shit do. You think you're in a position to
negotiate?"

**Abby:**

Gavi rolled her eyes. "All right fine. Y'heal me, I
don't touch you, I got it."

**Lina:**

He tapped the end of the wand against his palm. "You
wanna take a stab at what happens if you lay a finger on me again? Haha, stab.
I didn't say it that way on purpose."

**Abby:**

"I get stabbed again," she said dryly.

**Lina:**

"Oh, we won't stop there, though. You remember Hansel?
Big guy, fresh scar over his face?"

**Abby:**

Gavi glared up sullenly. "Yes. I remember," she
said curtly.

**Lina:**

"And did you get a chance to meet Mishka? The blond high
elf. Terror of the Calish Sea, they called him. Taking out galleons and shit
with his fireballs. You with me so far?"

**Abby:**

"Yep," she said. "Basically your gonna sic
'em all on me."

**Lina:**

"Oh, I wasn't done. There's also Larkin. I know she
looks small, but she has these brass knuckles. I don't think I ever really grasped
the meaning of the phrase 'bloody pulp' until I saw her finish a guy off with
'em. Also, do you know what a kitsune is?"

**Abby:**

"At this rate I'm gonna die before you get around to
healing me!" Gavi snapped irritably.

**Lina:**

Goro waved that off. "No, no, you've got a good couple
hours left, trust me. I'm a medic. You're fine. Listen, I'm not normally the
type to let other people pick my battles for me. Things have gotta be real
fucking dire before I go crying to my boyfriend to help me, you know? I'm not
that pathetic. I've got some spells that'll make you real fucking
uncomfortable, if you decide to mess with me again. I'm just trying to get
across the gravity of the situation. Do we understand each other?"

**Abby:**

Gavi looked up, studying Goro quietly for a moment. Huh. Not
death then, least not off the bat it sounded like. Vindictive little asshole.
Course that was one of the reasons Gavi liked 'em. "Yeah sure," she
said. "I give you space, you heal me, and if I don't you'll make my life
miserable."

**Lina:**

Good enough. Goro didn't even bother confirming. He was
fucking done talking. He waved his wand over her a few times, using up every
charge it had. Then he rose to his feet and backed away, watching her warily.

**Abby:**

Gavi flexed her arms, her legs-- still sore but she was
always sore. She pulled herself to her feet, then staggered over for her axe,
still buried in the side of the bear. She wrenched it out, spattering more
blood and guts across the clearing and planted the end on the ground, taking a
moment to catch her breath.

Then she shouldered it, turned to Goro with a jaunty grin,
and headed off into the woods. "Castle's this way!" she called over
her shoulder.

**Lina:**

Eh, fuckin' hopefully. That was actually the direction he'd
been heading in before he stumbled across her, though. He kept a healthy
distance between them and didn't take his eyes off her as he followed, fingers
itching to trigger the springblade.

**Abby:**

Gavi kept turning and glancing to make sure Goro was
following along. Made her neck sore. "Hey!" she called. "Y'know
ten feet's distance can be ten feet to the side."

**Lina:**

"What's it to you?" he called back. "Worried
I'll stab you when you're not watching?"

**Abby:**

Gavi spun around so she was walking backwards. "Naah,
s'easier to talk to someone if I don't keep havin' to turn around to see the--
oof." She tripped over a branch and went sprawling backwards onto the
snowy ground.

**Lina:**

He came to a stop so he wouldn't have to get any closer to
her. "Uh, I should mention I used up all the charges in my wand, and I
didn't prepare any healing spells this morning. So you're outta luck if you
fuck yourself up again."

**Abby:**

"I'm not dead yet!" Gavi called cheerfully, waving
her hand in the air. Ow though. She'd managed to gash her arm open on her axe.
Eh, wouldn't bleed to death over it. She hauled herself to her feet and dusted
the snow off. "Aright where were we. Oh yeah. I was encouraging you to
shift around a little."

**Lina:**

God. This lady. Goro shook his head, but he humored her,
coming around wide so they were roughly walking in step. "Happy?"

**Abby:**

"Yep," Gavi said, giving a thumbs up. Glanced
around to remind herself which way they were headed and set off again.
"Hey. Got a question for ya," she said, glancing his way while
ducking around a tree. "Y'mind if I ask?"

**Lina:**

He shrugged. "Go for it."

**Abby:**

"So. I know you weren't happy about the thing at the
lake- you've made that really clear," she said, staring ahead but glancing
at Goro out of the corner of her eye. "Guess the thing is though. I don't get
it. So I guess I'd just like to know why?"

**Lina:**

He sighed. Yeah, like he'd never heard that one before. Hey,
why are you so touchy? What's your problem? Why don't you loosen up a little?

All of which Goro had, traditionally, replied to with a fuck
you, at best.

He knew himself a little better now, and he knew there was a
damn good reason he was the way he was. Would Gavi even fucking care, though?
Would she even get it?

"I don't like people touching me unless I trust
them," he tried. Starting with that.

**Abby:**

"Huh," Gavi said. "And being someone who
pinned you to the wall and broke your fingers, don't help me get on that
list."

Gavi didn't mind touching. Liked it in fact. Known a few
that weren't so fond of it, and- yeah she'd push the lines a little. Or maybe a
lot. Hard to say, some folks would push back, and sometimes she'd protest for
the sake of it. They'd ignore her, but considering she was faking in the first
place, it wasn't so bad.

Trust though. Lotta the folks that Gavi let push her around
more she trusted. She'd stabbed folks too, when they got to close. Enemies
mostly though, folks she knew was out to get her. Goro hadn't been on that
list. Guess she'd forgot that maybe, that wasn't reciprocal.

**Lina:**

He smiled at her--well, more like sneered. "Hey, you're
catching on. You wanna hear something interesting my mother taught me
once?" It was a funny thing, actually; Amari had said it to him a long-ass
time ago, around the time they first met, and he'd hardly ever thought about it
since then. "She said every person has an invisible bubble around them.
And if you get inside their bubble, they get real uncomfortable. And she told
me, Goro, you've got a bubble that's about twenty feet wide, and Sylar--he was
another kid she was looking after--his bubble's basically only as big as his
body, and he's still learning to recognize other people's bubbles. And that was
why I kept having to punch him. Anyway, Gavi, I think you've got one tiny-ass
bubble. Is this making any sense to you?"

**Abby:**

"Oh yeah, guess so," Gavi said. "Bubbles huh?
I always liked poppin' em."

**Lina:**

Goro rolled his eyes. "'Course you did. Anyway, I can't
exactly live my life never letting people within ten feet of me, so I fuckin'
make do, awful as it is. But you, lady, have lost all fucking bubble
privileges. And that's that."

**Abby:**

"Aright, I gotcha," Gavi said. "Ten foot
bubble. Don't pop that one." Guess it served her right. Only listening
when she got a knife to the gut over it. "Hey so, I'd like to say I won't
earn another stabbing over something else but," she waved her hand idly,
"yeah I think that'd be a lie. Preciate it if you'd make sure I didn't die
though."

**Lina:**

"Just how often do you think I stab people?"

**Abby:**

Gavi shrugged. "Often as you need to I expect."

**Lina:**

"Hah. That's a good answer, actually. It's not my first
resort, you know what I'm saying? I gotta feel pretty fucking boxed in before I
break out the knives. What exactly do you think you're gonna do to me that'll
make me stab you again? It's a little fucking concerning."

**Abby:**

Gavi frowned. Hm, hadn't exactly thought about that part of
it. "Not sure. Just know I'm a stubborn ass, set in my ways. Not that
great at listenin' to warning signs, and all."

**Lina:**

"And yet, you're asking me to keep you from dying, as a
favor." He shook his head. "You know, you get Hansel mad enough, he
might just knock your head clean off your shoulders. Ain't a lot I can do about
that."

**Abby:**

"Yeah, yeah, gotta watch my step 'n' all, I know,"
Gavi grumbled. There'd been a time when Gavi wouldn't have had to back down
from that. Been a time where she was the one others had to watch out for. Then
she got the rot, and went and took off from her tribe. "I'm not talkin' to
fuckin' Hansel right now am I?"

**Lina:**

"Maybe not, but things have a way of, you know..."
He clucked his tongue a couple times. "Getting back to people."

Not that Goro was a fucking snitch. But Gavi didn't need to
know that.

**Abby:**

"Didn't we go over the threats an' all earlier?"
Gavi snapped irritably. "I'm not plannin' on doing anything, I just know
we ain't had a good track record so far."

**Lina:**

"Hey now, those aren't threats. That's called fair
warning."

**Abby:**

"Yeah well I've been fair warned then." Gavi ran a
hand through her hair, hissing out an irritated breath. Getting worked up
again. Not good for stayin' on touchy (hah) cleric's good sides.

**Lina:**

"Glad we've reached an understanding." Goro
crossed his arms tightly. "How much farther is it to the castle,
anyway?"

**Abby:**

"Not too much further. S'one reason I liked the
cave," she said, gesturing back the way they'd came. "Close."

She trudged along quietly, but just for a second. "Hey
how come your wandering around on your own if you get lost so easy?" she
asked.

**Lina:**

He grumbled. "I don't get lost that easy." However
much that was. "Just--the goddamn woods. I stepped off the trail for a
second and then I couldn't find it again. I was out here getting these leaves,
for Hansel." He pulled one out of his pocket and held it up to show her.
"He uses them for his healing potions."

**Abby:**

"Oh potions huh? Neat," Gavi grinned. "Good
skill to have. I got no clue how that works."

**Lina:**

"Eh, I'm no expert myself, but. There's a few different
plants he uses that have medicinal properties, and he steams some of them to
make extracts, and there's one he grinds into a paste, and then you have to mix
it with this magical mineral dust. He's good. Some of 'em really pack a
punch."

**Abby:**

"Yeah? Good for him. Handy, having some healing
around." Who knows how many times Gavi'd have kicked it if not for her own
healing. "You never asked him to teach you?"

**Lina:**

"Nah, no need. It's rare I run out of healing magic,
and he keeps us all well-stocked for when I do. Plus I think he's got a level
of patience for that kind of work that I don't. Real slow, and careful and
shit. I'd get bored."

**Abby:**

"Me too," Gavi said. "Patience ain't been my
strong suit. Punchin, that's another story." She tapped her axe against
her free hand a couple times. "Got lots of practice with that. Patience
though. Naw. What's life without a little, or a lotta, excitement, eh?"

**Lina:**

He almost laughed at that. "Damn straight. Only way to
know you're alive, really."

**Abby:**

Gavi grinned. "Hey. Hey y'know, when I was a kid I
never got to go sledding. Desert and stuff, no snow. But on that other side of
the hill where that cave was, real steep slope. Real steep. Lotsa rocks. I'm
thinkin' about giving that sleddin' thing a try."

**Lina:**

"Hah. You sure you know what you're getting into?
People always think they can handle more than they really can, when it comes to
sledding. There's this street in Skyport--real steep and long, and we used to
ride, you know, whatever shit we could find that would slide--pieces of metal
and shit. Anyway, one kid I knew snapped his neck doing that. Bummer."

**Abby:**

"I sure don't, but that's half the fun," Gavi said
cheerfully. "Sides, between the two of us, we can make sure the other
don't die. Advantages of healin', right?"

**Lina:**

"So you're proposing we go sledding together." He
snorted and shook his head. "You're a weird lady, you know that? Sure. I'm
game."

**Abby:**

"I'm dyin' why not make the best of what time I've got
left," Gavi said, grinning. "It's a date then!"

**Abby:**

[END]

Title: Risky

Summary: Goro comes across a badly wounded Gavi in the
woods. He heals her under the condition she stay far away from him after. On
the walk back to the castle, things get slightly more friendly.