#*slams hands on table* but the twins mercilessly teasing each other while being super nonverbally supportive

[couriertraush]

Meant to type up these plot notes ages ago. After Silt played DM, I asked about a swapped AU where Larkin is dragged off to the Madre and Ryker is chewed on and left for dead in the bunker, and she made a comment about Larkin Not Wanting To Talk About It, and a few scenes put themselves together in my head. This is rambling meta rather than writing, though.

Friendly reminder that a description and short drabble of the opposite scenario exists (confession, Silt’s reply on that fic is one of my fav ever, anyWAY;;)

So the scenario is Ryker injured, Larkin dragged to Sierra Madre, no rescue party. Dog says he ate Ryker, and nobody can confirm that didn’t happen, so Larkin has to accept that might be the truth. Elijah and Dog do not make it out alive.

So Ryker spent the week or two mostly at courier base, being treated and recovering. She lost her right arm completely and had her shoulder and side injured. She doesn’t think Larkin is dead because she never saw a body, but the couriers are trying not to get her hopes up. Most of Larkin’s things were stripped and left by the bunker entrance, which isn’t promising. Ryker is pretty pissy that there’s no mass search efforts despite having no leads as to where she might be (other than the Madre, which no one knows the location of, so). Being at the base is really Not Fun for anyone.

I’m on the fence about whether Larkin would go to base or bunker first, but the latter is appealing because it’s the last place she saw Ryker and she’d get to witness the dried blood that nobody bothered to clean up. No body wouldn’t really be a red flag since Dog said he ate her. All their personal effects were taken to base, though, so she’s gotta go there for supplies at the very least.

She’s never one to start off with hostility, but her friendly demeanor is on some pretty thin ice when she gets to base. There’s a few pertinent questions that’ll determine her exact reaction: 1. Do they know what happened? 2. Did they ever try to come help either of them? 3. What did they do with any remains? To some degree, help when they get in over their heads is part of the reason the twins are in the faction to begin with. It’s not really fair to expect them to put their own necks on the line by coming to the Madre, and they definitely walked into that trap on their own, but I suppose losing a twin doesn’t really put one in the most generous state of mind.

They’re genuinely surprised to see Larkin alive, which she kinda shrugs off like “:) I sure am.” “Where were you?” and “Are you okay?” come up, but Larkin’s not about to launch into a story for them. She’s getting a water out of the fridge (it was a long walk) when Wyn makes some offhand comment, like “Ryker is never going to stop saying ‘told you so’“ or “Maybe this’ll ease Ryker out of volcano territory,” and Larkin freezes for just a second as the implication sinks in. She manages to still be remarkably composed as she pivots and says “She’s in back, then?” and kind of hurry-walks to the bedroom.

Ryker is half-sulking, half-sleeping in the medical cot with her back to the door, and Larkin reaches out to touch the top of the mound which unfortunately is her stub of a shoulder, but Ryker’s irritation is quickly eclipsed by her relief at seeing Larkin in one piece. (Bonus points if Wyn made the former comment and the first thing out of Ryker’s mouth is “I fucking told them!”) Ryker’s immediately talkative and moves her legs so Larkin can sit on the bed, and Larkin is more than happy to answer shorter questions or nod along while privately reeling at seeing her alive again.

I guess I can say from experience now that the stitched up wound would still hurt and make moving difficult less than two weeks later. But they’d still want that period of recovering in private, moving around to different hideaways or visiting Lake Meade with plenty of time to rest and relay their stories in private. I imagine Larkin’s in a better state healthwise than Ryker would be in the mirror AU since Larkin isn’t as impulsive or reckless. (An aside, but I’ve always felt like it’s the better scenario for both of them - Ryker would adapt to a missing limb better than Larkin would and physical trauma doesn’t hound her like the psychological trauma of DM does.)

Larkin conveniently leaves out the part where she thought Ryker was dead, and in better circumstances Ryker would probably pick up on the more subtle cues, but she reads them as general concern for her wellbeing (which is technically true). And thus begins the vein of tension between the twins.

Ryker thinks she’s recovered long before she really is, and Larkin is extremely paranoid about losing Ryker - or just letting Ryker out of her sight long enough that she gets hurt. Which is fine for the first part of her recovery, since Ryker is also getting over separation anxiety and it’s convenient that she doesn’t have to actually say things like “hey so I don’t have the upper body strength to get this shirt off” before Larkin steps in to help. But once she’s feeling well enough to travel and - god forbid - carry packages, Ryker starts to feel peevish about the constant attention.

It crystallizes when they’re wandering off path a ways and Ryker steps within range of a mine. It’s SOP for her to just disarm it and keep it to sell, she’s pretty good with explosives, but Larkin panics (bombs, it just had to be bombs) and grabs her collar to yank her away. She shields most of Ryker with her own body, and her armor keeps her mostly safe, but it hurts and her ears are still ringing when Ryker is rounding on her with fury fueled by a mix of frustration and concern. “I know how to disarm a fucking frag mine!” “With one arm?” “It’s two wires!”

And for the next week, Ryker is constantly sore about being “babied.” They go for a swim in Lake Meade, and Larkin is clearly hovering, but Ryker keeps her mouth shut until her sister has the nerve to ask if she’s getting tired. “This is it for me, Larkin. My side is cramping and I’m going to drown in three foot deep water while you watch helplessly from a foot away.” They stop by base and Ryker asks for the biggest, heaviest package they’ve got while staring at Larkin.

And for the most part, Larkin just grins and acts like it doesn’t bother her. What’s she going to do, Talk About It? It’s not like Ryker is providing the opening even if she wanted to. Her temper is short too, but she’s acutely aware that if she pushes back too hard, Ryker might actually do something stupid. Like swim across Lake Meade just to prove that she can.

Other than Larkin snapping to a degree where Ryker Gets It, I imagine it’d take two or three conversations for the realization to work its way around to Ryker. Base is one of the few places Larkin feels okay leaving Ryker so they can get some time apart to cool off, and Wyn is one of the few people Ryker can tentatively call a friend, so the venting would probably be directed towards her before too long. (I suppose, luckily for Larkin, Wyn would take her side on most accounts re: Ryker pushing herself too hard.) The touching undertone I have written down is Ryker admitting that she’s being an ass, but she also knows that Larkin can handle the worst she has to dish out without being pushed away.

Wyn would be situated pretty well to be Ryker’s reality check while the topic is already up. Like... dude, she probably thought you were dead. I feel like Larkin’s initial reaction on her return to base would be a bit outwardly suspicious to begin with, but maybe Wyn had to prod in that direction before too; it’s a question Larkin wouldn’t have answered, but sometimes an evasion from a twin is answer enough. The suggestion would give Ryker pause and make her ask why, but the gears wouldn’t really get turning until later, when she’s with Larkin and something would’ve set her off, but she remembers the suggestion and clamps her mouth shut this time. Which is concerning to Larkin since Ryker hasn’t had an ounce of chill for the last week, but it’s hard to not appreciate the temporary peace.

Ryker brings it up out of the blue sometime when they’re both engaged in their own activity: Larkin a book which she’s giving about 20% effort into reading and Ryker some spare parts she insists on trying to manipulate with one hand. Just, good old blunt “Larkin, did you think I was dead? Cuz... that would explain a fucking lot.” The half-truth is “Didn’t know where y’were or what state you were in.” “But why ‘dead’?” Larkin is somewhere between wanting to play it off in the hopes of it being dropped permanently (”With your personality, it’s hard to believe everyone doesn’t want to kill you” or “When you didn’t come find me after a week, dead seemed like a strong contender”) and sending signals to stop prying in that direction because Ryker owes her at least that. And Ryker’s able to pick up on that, so she goes back to her fiddling for a minute before offering a very sincere “I’m sorry.” For not realizing earlier, and for being an over the top ass recently.

Which isn’t to say she’s not going to test her own limits and roll her eyes at Larkin’s hovering, but she better understands where she’s coming from. And maybe do a liiiittle more reading between the lines re: Larkin’s demeanor.