Who: Booker DeWitt, Lina Inverse What: A talk after the attacks. When: Before Lina leaves, after the attacks. Where: Lina and Rogue's. Rating/Warnings: Language, slight mentions of alcoholism, bombings, and violence. Status: Complete!
It was late, and Lina couldn’t sleep.
There were a multitude of reasons why. Her mind was overactive, worried about this and that and no matter how much she tried, it never reached quietness. There was discomfort from the beating she endured - nothing major, it was just a bitch and a half to get all that comfortable when every position you were used to snoozing in throbbed.
It’d been a rough couple days, though. For all of them. Elizabeth’s condo was ruined, Neena was on a warpath, Rachel’s cosmic tenant living in her brain almost could have devoured their planet, and Clarice had been placed in ICU. All as a direct result from being close to a man in debt.
And she knew Booker would probably be drowning at the bottom of a bottle.
“Please tell me there’s not some hobag in your bed right now,” Lina groaned, sticking her head into his bedroom with her eyes squinting. “Otherwise me barging in is gonna get awkward. You awake?”
Booker grunted. He’d only just started on a bottle. Ironically, he hadn’t wanted to be entirely out of it. In case something else happened. You couldn’t fight if you were drunk, even if you didn’t care if you died or not. “Just me. Contrary to popular belief I ain’t always got a woman in my bed.” The ones he wanted weren’t available. Or were in this weird place like Lina where he didn’t want to push their friendship. And he couldn’t start dating right now, not until he figured out how to deal with Ganon. Fucker hit people he cared about and that more than anything else pissed Booker off to the point where he didn’t want to pay him on principle.
“Hey, doesn’t hurt to confirm,” Lina teased and closed the door behind her once she was in. Booker probably wasn’t in the mood for jokes and sass - which were her ways of coping with a crappy situation - so she’d try and keep that to a bare minimum. Sort of.
But she was right about the bottle and frowned at the sight of it. This was the kind of behavior she used to encourage a few months back. They’d been on the same boat, teasing the fine line of alcoholism. She’d taken a step back, but Booker probably stepped over that line long ago.
“Couldn’t sleep. And I figured we could...talk.” Because Lina sure as hell didn’t know he owed anybody anything. And, well. He needed some help, right?
He didn’t mind the jokes and sass from her. That was part of his problem. He nodded his head. “Okay. Pick a spot an’ sit down.” He gave her a closer inspection. He was worried about her. She’d gotten hurt because of him. Even if she was some badassed magic thrower, that didn’t matter. Even the most powerful could be laid low.
Lina plopped down on his bed, and took notice at the way he’d been looking her over. Nothing hilariously lecherous, but she knew what he was looking at and waved a hand. “Trust me, you should've seen the other guys.” The two drove off, the other three were down for the count. Dead or just unconscious, she wasn’t going to stick around to find out, especially when she heard the sirens in the distance. And suspiciously enough, nothing had been covered in the news, so it sounded like Ganon had done the steps to cover what he could.
“So. What’s up, Bookerbutt?” She inhaled a big gulp of air just to sigh it back out. “How are you holding up?”
“Well I figure they’re toast, don’t mean I don’t worry,” he pointed out. He set the glass down, which was a big step. “A woman is in the hospital, two other women are hurt, a fourth doesn’t feel safe at home, and a fifth is probably a walkin’ target, and it’s my fault. I feel dandy. But this just makes me want to go in shooting. I don’t even remember how much I owe him.” Probably in the five digits, but he wasn’t going to say that.
Well, when you put it that way…
“You’re lucky all the women in your life can handle themselves when shit gets rough,” Lina pointed out, smiling weakly. “And you got these neat vigor things to use should one of us never need to be swept off our feet in one dramatic rescue gesture.” She almost wanted to say that no one died, but Clarice was in the UCI and things were still looking kinda...dim.
“But remember: he did mess with a group of people with freak powers.”
“I have a type,” He retorted, glancing at his glass again. “People like Ganon only really respond to money or power. Since I don’t got the money, I’m gonna have to show him power.”
Drinking from the glass was tempting for her, too. Hell, honestly, she’d just want the damn bottle - fuck pouring yourself portions, you might as well drink from the source itself. Lina reached over to glass and instead of grabbing it, she pushed it away some more. “He’s got a lot of people on his payroll, Booker.” Not that she didn’t have the confidence that they could do something and stomp him to the ground, but it’d be exhausting sifting through expendable bodies to get to one dude. They could go to him directly - which she and Neena were planning on doing - but something about entire thing felt off to both women and they couldn’t put their finger on it yet.
Last time someone Booker cared about got hurt, he went all in, guns blazing without much of a plan and landed himself a cozy hospital bed beside Neena. They were gonna do their best to make sure he didn’t rush in again.
“You’ve gotta be careful. You are the guy that pissed off a group of baddies and ended up getting his apartment and shop bombed. I’m all for going ‘WHOO, fire and violence!’ but considering how he’s not the shy type afraid to go after, say, someone like Elizabeth, you probably need a good plan and a clear head.”
Booker tilted his head back and sighed. Lina was right, and what’s worse, he had to agree with her. He hated when he agreed about that kind of thing. He looked at her and smirked. “You’re right. Mark that on the calander.”
He wanted to put an arm around her, but refrained. Instead he lit a spark on his finger and looked at it. “He ain’t a man to take payments either.”
Lina only knew what she had been told of Ganon. He dealt with Shabranigdo before - in her younger days - and it looked like Shabby himself owed Ganon a debt, which is why Xelloss had been loaned in the first place. She knew his loyalties weren’t with Ganon anyway, and had no problem telling her information once he found a loophole in it all, but part of her couldn’t help but wonder…
Did Xelloss know this was going to happen? The timing was almost...convenient.
Part of her almost wanted to tell Booker about his involvement with Ganon. The other part felt the need to fiercely protect the image of the monster-to-be. In the end, the loyalty to the man that had left her triumphed, and Lina didn’t realize how guilty her face looked. “Whatever happens, we’ll...figure it out. And hopefully once this is all said and done, you won’t surprise us with anymore debts.”
She jabbed him with the sharp point of her elbow, none too nicely.
“Oof. I’m pretty sure I ain’t got no more debts like that,” he said. And he was sure. Mostly. Maybe just a little bit. Okay? A little.
He glanced at her. He liked to think he’d dampened his feelings for her. “You okay? Besides the obvious?”
“You better be sure.” The warn was accompanied with a little smile, so she couldn’t have been that mad. No point in whacking him over the head for a debt he’d forgotten - he was drowning in enough guilt already, and that was punishment enough. Even if she didn’t want him to feel guilty about the entire thing.
His question gave her pause. Lina blinked, eyes a little wide, and eventually shrugged and pulled at some hanging thread from his bedsheets. “I’ll be okay. Eventually. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? Or something cliche to make life feel a little better.”
“Does it? Make you feel any better?” Booker asked. He could think of a few things that made him feel better, but they were usually fleeting things. Physical or mind-altering type things. For a time he’d been pretty heavily hooked on painkillers and it was still tempting, sometimes.
She’d expected him to just nod and agree with her, not add another question. Not like it bugged her or any of the sort - it just had her kind of...stumped. Lina frowned, and then shrugged again. “No. Maybe? I don’t know. I guess the only thing that would make me feel better is closure.”
Hence the dying need to go out and find him. Figure out what happened - if it had something to do with the monster in him, his family, something. All she had to go by was the cat, and he either left that behind on purpose or accidentally. Lina let out a heavy sigh and then forced a smile. “No matter what happens, life still goes on anyway.”
Booker forced a smile, as well. Life still went one. They just didn’t have to like it.