Blood, Death, and Friendship (3)

Starring...
 * Grafsburg as Tirin Moor!
 * VelociRapper as Henry Keene and Diego Delgado-Moreno!

 CBGB. It was one of many bars in Shantytown. But it stood out, for a number of reasons. The first, was that anything inside the place had been marked by the patrons at some point. Every surface; the walls, the countertop, tables, chairs, bathrooms, they had all been written or drawn on by the patrons. Even the glasses were not safe; some had been etched into. The second reason was that it was the main hangout for a big local celebrity, one Diego Delgado-Moreno. Sloth singer-songwriter-instrumentalist, former star of the underground music scene in the Dominion. It was in CBGB that he lurked, practicing, performing, and mingling with his fans. Diego sat at the bar, cigarrete pinched in his filed-down fingers and a glass of beer in the other hand. He seemed to be expecting something. Every so often, his head would pan around the bar, from the entrance, to the stage, back to the bartender. The sloth put the cigarrete to his lips, and slowly breathed in.

 The bar door slammed open, a bit of chilly wind and snow finding its way inside before it was shut again. Tirin Moor sighed, pulling the brim of his cap up and looking around for any familiar faces. As he brushed the snow off of his shoulders and neck, he moved toward the bar, specifically to Diego, and sat down near him. "Diego," he said simply, a short, concise greeting; he didn't want to waste anymore words on the sloth than he absolutely had to to get his point across. "I'm looking for Henry."

 Smoke rose from the sloth's nose, and then a plume shot out of his lips. His lips stretched in a knowing smile. "Yes, the prodigal frilled lizard," Diego said without turning to face Tirin. He took a sip of his beer. "I take it the search hasn't been going well, then."

 Tirin closed his eyes and sighed. "Not as well as I'd have hoped, no," he replied with a shake of his head. He didn't want to play these games with Diego. Not tonight, damn it. "Just tell me where he is alright? If you know where he is. I'd really like to find him."

 Diego set his beer down, and slid it towards Tirin. "Sounds like you need this." The cigarrete created floating rings of smoke as the sloth plucked it from his lips and held it aside. "I do know where he is. Or maybe was.  But I'm not sure he wants to talk to you right now.  Or if he should." Finally, after a moment, Diego turned his head to Tirin, seemingly only half there. "He's pretty unhappy."

 Tirin took the offered beer and sipped at it. "Look, if you know where he is, just tell me please," the lemur said, emitting a sigh. "I was an idiot and I... I want to apologize to him. I'm scared Diego. Scared of losing him..." Henry was really the only person he had at the moment; sure there was Shax but the iguana was... different. Henry he could talk to and pour his soul out to.

 "Heh. Funny.  He'd probably say the same thing." Diego put the cigarrete back in his mouth, letting the end smolder. "Well, I can show you where I last saw him. He might still be there.  Wouldn't surprise me." The sloth got up from the stool in a lazy manner, walking with the slanted posture of a rock star to the back door of the bar.

 "You think so?" Tirin asked, looking up from the beer glass toward the sloth. Whatever had happened between them had been a horrible misunderstanding, Tirin wanted to think. But he was still the one in the wrong, not Henry. "Alright, show me." The lemur stood and followed after Diego, wishing the sloth would move a little bit faster.

 "Everyone feels stupid after a fight. It's a question of whether you come out of it alright.  Broken limb, broken heart, they're all wounds." Diego's body seemed to shift like unsettled water when he opened the door, and he stepped through. Once inside, his voice lowered considerably. "Found your friend in a stall. Seemed like he could use some privacy, so I took him to the poker room.  Unless he up and left, he should be there." After navigating a little web of halls, Diego leaned onto his back next to an unassuming door, gesturing with his thumb. He then began to smoke again, exhaling jets of smoke.

 "How poetic," Tirin mumbled with a roll of his eyes. Leave it to Diego to say something like that the lemur supposed. He continued to follow the sloth until they came to the door, which Tirin was quick to open and step through. "Thanks, by the way," he said in a more sincere voice to Diego, before he walked into the room and shut the door behind him.

 Henry sat at the round poker table. His head was buried in his arms, which rested on the green mat with several holes. A light haze filled the room, visible around the bare bulb hanging from the ceiling directly over the table. The lizard started, looking up just enough to see who had just intruded. His puffy eyes narrowed, and his head sank back into his arms. Henry seemed to tremble a moment.

 "Henry?" Tirin said softly, moving over to the poker table. He pulled up a chair and sat down opposite of the frilled lizard, leaning over to put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey Henry. What's up? What're you doing back here, all by yourself?" he asked, keeping his voice low and soft and soothing.

 Tirin's touch made Henry tense up. He shook again, making a breathy noise, and did nothing for a moment. "Wanted to... be alone," the lizard said, his voice muffled from his arms and the wooden table.

 Tirin sighed and kept on patting Henry. "Well you've been alone long enough. I'm here to talk. About... stuff." He chewed on his bottom lip, unsure where to beging. So he just went with what sounded right, after taking a deep breath. "I was wrong to keep things from you. I'd just wanted to protect you, and it turned out you didn't need protection. I just can't help but be a bit clingy sometimes because... well, you're all I've got."

 The lizard shuddered again. The evasiveness, being left out, it all stemmed from this overprotectiveness. He couldn't help but feel angry about it. It was like nothing had changed in the five months they had traveled together. He needed to be protected from Wintons, from slavers chasing Shax, from Tirin's own fuckups! It made him feel like a kid, helpless by arbitrary designation. Henry raised his head, looking at Tirin with anger and pain written on his face. He had little luck trying not to cry. His lips quivered, the result of his failed attempts at speaking.

 He deserved that look, he supposed. "So... Yeah. I came here to try and make it up to you. I've been an idiot, after all and I just want to... You know, make amends..." He reached over to try and take hold of Henry's hand, if indeed the frilled lizard would let him.

<VelociRapper> Henry's hand remained limp as Tirin took it. Not exactly hope-inspiring, but at least it was something. "A-a-and I should believe that? E-even if, you are, t-trying to protect me,  it, it feels like you don't listen to me."

<Grafsburg> "Henry, I'm trying to listen to you right now. I want you to talk to me here and tell me what's on your mind. Any little thing you want to get off your chest, I'm right here. Please, just let me know what I'm doing wrong." Coddling the lizard was one thing he knew of right off the bat. Keeping secrets was another. What else did Henry not like though?

<VelociRapper> Henry's free hand clenched painfully tight. "I already told you... last night... You want to go monster hunting, with, with a monster, and it's gonna, gonna make you just like them. You said you didn't want to be like that, b-but I'm not so sure." The frilled lizard looked aside and down into the table, wiping his eyes. "You... don't have to kill for money to... get all twisted.  Helping Shax is just..." Henry paused, his head sinking towards the table, hovering a couple inches. "It's another path to the same end. An end I don't... I don't want, and I hope you don't want."

<Grafsburg> Tirin nodded. "I understand. It's just that I'm... I wanted to help Shax out and... I guess you're right. I don't want to end up like him. I don't have to kill people... But it's... one of the few things I'm good at." That and killing animals, which was the same damned thing minus the negative reputation. Killing and sneaking were his two foremost abilities, and the latter only served to aid in killing. "It's how I grew up, Henry. Sutekh is a kill-or-be-killed world... But you're right. I don't want to end up a monster."

<VelociRapper> Henry hesitantly looked at Tirin, with watery eyes. "I don't know why, but when I see Shax... I can feel, that he doesn't want those slavers dead because it'll make things safer. He wants to kill because... because he likes to kill." The frilled lizard paused again, thinking back to what Shax said about himself last night. "He'd see every single slaver crucified just as he was, or worse, if he could. Just like the slavers... he's lost any sense of why being alive is valuable in the first place.  And when you offered to help him, I just... I couldn't help but fear that the same was going... to happen to you, and I'd be powerless to stop it..." Henry returned Tirin's grip, but continued staring into the table, his face drained of vigor. "I... I don't know what I can do for you. I don't want you to think that killing is all that you can do..." His grip tightened, and tears began to roll onto the table.

<Grafsburg> "Henry... Trust me, it's not something I do because I enjoy it. I don't enjoy killing people. It's... an unavoidable thing for me sometimes. I've never been given the chance to keep from killing. Everywhere I go, someone or something is trying to harm me or something I care about, and I'm left with no other choice. If it were otherwise, I'd be glad. But it's just... not." The lemur shook his head. "You've done a lot for me. Given me a purpose in life at least besides wandering and waiting for something else to come down the road." Which was true. "What would you suggest I do then? You've gotta know something I'd be good at that doesn't involve killing people..."

<VelociRapper> "I... I know it's unavoidable... but, going with Shax? That's... it's not going to help either." Henry covered his face with his free hand. "You, you could hunt. Maybe, join a caravan somewhere...  It's hard.  A lot of, of opportunities... You'd have to stay in one place or constantly travel.  I have... no idea what to do after we see this psychic guy... if we ever see him..."

<Grafsburg> Tirin chewed his lip, thinking it over. "I could... We could go to Black Lake. I could join the militia; get citizenship for me and you. It's something I'd be good at, and I'd be helping to protect people. Not killing... Well, killing gangers and slavers and wild animals but... Doing it to protect other people. What about that?" Maybe he'd found something with that idea! "M-maybe... if you think that'd be, the best way, to do it... then, once we're done here, we can do that." Henry's free hand joined his other, cupping around Tirin's hand. "A-are you sure that's what you want?"

<Grafsburg> "I don't know. But it's an option for now. What do you think of it?" For one, it would tie them to the town, for good or ill. Would their relationship even be accepted there? Tirin didn't know; before Henry had come along he'd never even put any thought toward how others perceived people like... well, them. It was just something he'd never encountered before!

<VelociRapper> "I... I dunno. I don't know much about Black Lake.  We still have a lot of, well... money..." from Tirin's last hit. "If we're careful with spending, maybe we can... travel a bit, see if we can find an ideal place?"

<Grafsburg> Tirin nodded. "We could go back to the ranch. I liked it there. It was hard work but... I liked it. I'm sure they'd take us back too, once the working season comes around again." Though the chance of them being discovered there was pretty high, and the consequences even worse, he thought it'd be worth the risk.

<VelociRapper> "Yeah... I dunno. It just... seems too far ahead to think about too much right now." Henry stood up, and let go of Tirin's hand.

<Grafsburg> "It is... We can worry about it once you've found this man," he said, standing up as well. "So... Are we good again? I mean... Is the fight over?" he asked.

<VelociRapper> "I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that... you were a monster..."

<Grafsburg> "Hey... It's water under the bridge, am I right?" Tirin said, making a flowing motion. "Now come on... Let's get back to the hotel. It's cold out and I'm tired."