Private Finished Broen's Going Rate

"Did I say that?" And while normally that question might have come out brusque, Rory sounded genuinely curious. She couldn't remember if she'd told Broen that, but there was a fifty-fifty chance of it.

Okay, one more, she could do this. Lorelai took a slightly bigger hit than she had before. She held it in a mere three seconds, unlike Broen, and watched as the smoke filtered from her mouth. It was oddly peaceful seeming.

"You're going to laugh, so I'm going to preemptively," she reached up to cover his mouth loosely with her hand. Rory had assumed this weed wasn't getting her but...

"Like it or not, we've all taken you in. But you're like that shitty step-son who's all 'you don't know me,' and, 'you're not my real mom.'" Fuck, what was she on about? Right. Right. "Simply put, seemed about the only way to actually be around you and make sure you're doing good."

Rory was glad when Broen put the bong down. The high was good for dealing with Broen, granted, but she didn't like how groggy it made her feel.

Rory couldn't understand Broen's sheer level of cynicism. But then, she wasn't a huge liar and when she did lie, Rory would have argued she wasn't great at it. Better at not saying anything at all — which usually said too much.

"What would I get out of lying to you? In fact, why would I go through all this trouble? You're never going to owe me. You wouldn't ever help me unless I paid you. You're still an asshole. There is no logical reason to do anything I'm doing right now."

But Rory was glad Broen was doing well. Maybe the best of all of them, but he didn't quite have the same emotional connections any of the Defiant had.

"You have way more abilities to mess around with here. Also, no threat of the birdcage, I imagine it's almost a paradise for you." She motioned to his ankle. "Minus that little detail."

Rory hummed, but remained lazily relaxing back against the couch. God, how did people deal with this sort of thing? She missed being sharp and wary. Whatever. Whatever. Whatever.

She inhaled slowly and reached up to rub her face. "Okay," she said slowly to the first part. She felt too out of sorts to fight with Broen about empathy and whatever that bullshit. To even try and figure out what he was on about with that damn contempt of his. It was easier just to ask, "why do you think I came here and paid you to talk to me, then?"

And no, Broen wasn't wrong. This world was... not one Rory liked. But there was also nothing any of them could do about it. Something she wasn't exactly keen on saying.

"You're right," she said after a pause and an air about her that suggested she may have thought about fighting him over it. "But it's what we've got. It's not ideal and unless you have some type of plan, the only thing any of us can do is wait."

Lorelai hated saying that more than she hated pushing her pride down to pay Broen to talk to her. She hated it more than anything in the world because the idea of giving up like that killed her, but she had to think about her team and this was a fight they couldn't win. Even if they did, where would they go? What could they do?

Somewhere along the way, Rory had closed her eyes, wishing this was one of those reclining couches. Ah well. "Naturally," she told him before Broen's arm was around her and the heat of his body was right beside her. Of course he teleported. Of course.

Rory debated opening an eye to watch him, but she felt too lazy to do so. "I mean, I know," she told him as if he must have forgotten that fact or something. "I just want... to understand. I like to understand people. I like to understand them for more than what they do — and that's all I've seen with you. What you do. How you act in front of a crowd. So I wanted to see the way you talk about things."

That was probably a good start to talking? Eh? Eh?

"And of fucking course I want to go home man? I miss the fight too, y'know? I miss having to think creatively to get out of danger. Started for the adrenaline rush, stayed for the people."

Clearly something Broen felt strongly about. And Rory was lightheaded enough to giggle about it when Broen got enthusiastic enough that his roommate quieted him with a slam of his bedroom door. What a fucking silly way to communicate.

"Man, that's got to be annoying," she said with a backward glance. It was annoying her and she hadn't been there even an hour. Or... had it been an hour? She'd need to check the time.

"I don't know if it was the freedom. I'm sure that had to be part of it. Mom was usually busy at work, so any household responsibility was self-imposed."