Grasping Liquid - Part Twenty-Three

By the time Crow came downstairs the next morning, Badger had already been up for at least an hour. In fact, Crow was the last one of them to get out of bed that morning. Umid had already made a start on clearing out the basement they'd discovered and Scraps was also lurking about, though he seemed to be mostly in a sulk that Umid had asked them not to go back into the basement until he'd finished. As far as Badger could tell, Scraps hadn't been too annoyed about them keeping quiet about the basement initially, but he was annoyed at not being allowed in there now he did know about it.

“There's something not right about that,” Scraps seethed, as Crow's footsteps on the stairs echoed behind them.

Badger shrugged; “I reckon yer worryin' too much. That stuff might be Mr. Sycamore's, yeah? Makes sense that Umid would want t' get it outteh the way in case there's summit private.”

“Maybe. But I wonder what that Sycamore guy has that's worth hiding,” grumbled Scraps.

“Oi, 'aven't we all got biggah stuff to worry about at the moment...?” Crow checked. The effect of his question was slightly ruined by a stifled yawn he gave after it.

“Fair point,” agreed Scraps. And he sounded as blunt as he usually did; “I'm going to remember this though. Maybe Umid is your friend, Crow, but I still hardly know him at all and this determination to hide Sycamore's belongings seems suspicious.”

“We're in Sycamore's 'ouse, no way Umid can 'ide all 'is stuff,” Crow dismissed, “I still think there's nothin' to get worked up about though. Umid's a trustworthy one an' in time ya gonna see that as well.”

“Hmm.”

That was the last response they got from Scraps before he went about his way. Somehow Badger wasn't worried about the whole thing, however. Scraps was a thorough person who never let anything slide. If there was something to be concerned about amongst the Professor's belongings, then he would find out about it. And if there wasn't, then they had nothing to worry about. That was all there was to it.

Crow turned to look at Badger once Scraps had disappeared and his visible eye widened when he saw that Badger had a bag slung over his shoulder. He was dressed to go out.

“Ya 'eaded off somewhere, Badge'?” Crow asked, sounding surprised.

“Yeah. I've got some... stuff I want t' do today. Nothin' big, but I'd ratheh keep it to meself,” evaded Badger.

“Well before ya go, can we talk? I wanna clear up about yestahday,” Crow hurriedly checked.

Badger shook his head; “Don't feel like talkin' about it right now, Crowlo.”

The worry in Crow's eyes was obvious now. He reached forward to grab Badger's hands, which almost caused Badger to jump backwards in shock. He managed to compose himself, but that didn't stop his ears from burning red, due to the stunned embarrassment. Between this and the train, Crow had now held his hands twice recently. But this time was very different to on the train.

“Okay, I ain't gonna force ya to talk about it now, but I would like to sometime soon, if that's okay. I don't want ya worryin' about a misundahstandin',” he pressed.

As far as Badger could tell, there hadn't been a misunderstanding at all. Crow liked Umid and Badger had pointed it out. That was all there was to it. The fact that Crow had got himself worked up enough to want to clarify matters was unexpected, but it didn't change the facts. However, Badger knew he should also give Crow the benefit of the doubt.

He gently took Crow's hands out of his own and smiled softly across at him.

“Ah'reet, we can talk about this when I get back,” Badger promised.

“Thanks, Badge',” mumbled Crow, “I 'ope that wotevah ya need to do today goes well.”

“So do I,” Badger hummed.

With that he adjusted the bag on his shoulder, gave Crow a nod and headed out on his way. He didn't want to wait around to say goodbye to the other two as well, since Crow would probably tell them that Badger had gone out if he needed to. The only thing Badger was a little concerned about was the fact that he didn't have a key to get back into the house yet, but he doubted that he would be out long enough to need one and Umid had said he would look into getting extra ones cut as soon as he could.

Once outside, Badger put the troubled thoughts of Crow and Umid behind him, ready to set out on his first task in London. He took a brief look around the street, taking in the cloudy grey morning, and then started on what he remembered as being the way back to the Weathered Duke's Hotel. This time he could walk at a more leisurely pace, so he took this chance to learn about his surroundings. All of the houses here were tall and cut-off, it wouldn't be easy to use them to jump around on as the Black Raven. They'd have to plan carefully if they intended to do that.

But as he got back into the less rich areas, Badger soon saw that London had just as much character to it as Misthallery did. Many of the houses in these parts were a little more like the ones he was familiar with – alleyways and low ledges to provide plenty of places to hide or run about on. Perhaps this wouldn't be a lost cause after all.

It wasn't long before Badger arrived at the hotel, just in time to catch some of the guests filing out after breakfast. He shuffled by them awkwardly, then made his way quietly to the front desk, where Becky was stood. She raised an eyebrow curiously as he approached.

“Oh, it's you. You're one of Crow's friends, aren't you?” she checked.

“Badgeh, yeah,” confirmed Badger.

“And what brings you back to our lovely hotel?” Becky asked.

“I, eh, wanted t' ask yer a favour. Just... if yer eveh not busy, like,” muttered Badger. He felt the confidence drain out of him. Suddenly this didn't seem like such a good idea.

“If you tell me what it is then I'll see what I can do,” Becky offered, clearly not wanting to commit to something before she knew the details about it.

Badger took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

“It's kindeh weird, so if yer doun't want t', then I'll undehstand, but... I need t' open a bank account,” Badger explained. And when Becky looked at him in confusion, he elaborated, “Where we come from, back in Mist'allereh, none of us eveh needed one. We worked 'ard, but we shared the moneh out between us all and then did what we wanted with it. B-but we're not kids any more. We can't do that foreveh. Except Scraps doesn't trust stuff like that and Crow likes t' live in the moment. I doun't reckon eitheh of them would be keen on the idea. But the more I think about it, the more I want t' 'ave summit like a safety net fer if things go wrong. I need t' start puttin' my moneh somewhere t' save it.”

Becky nodded.

“That's sensible, yeah,” she replied, “Though I don't see what you need me for.”

“Well... um, I kindeh c-can't read or write...” confessed Badger, “I need someone t' 'elp me with that stuff, but I doun't want t' ask Crow or Scraps about this and... Umid, uh, Umid's busy a lot.”

The truth of the matter was that Badger definitely didn't feel comfortable enough around Umid to ask him for help with something along these lines. But he wasn't lying about Umid being busy right now, so that half-truth would suffice. With those three out of the way, Becky was Badger's last option for this. Though since she knew London and seemed to have a good business head, he thought that she'd be a reliable person to ask.

“You're lucky that I'm a bleeding heart,” Becky answered, “I'll call Max to cover for me here and we can head out. Honestly though, this is two days in a row that I've been away – Granny's not going to like that.”

“Thanks so much!” Badger gasped. He felt like a weight had been taken off his shoulders.

“I helped Max open his bank account not long ago, so you've got yourself an expert here,” proclaimed Becky, “Just make sure you bring all the legal documents and proof of who you are. Without those we won't get very far at all.”

In response to that, Badger gestured towards the bag on his shoulder. It had been some time before he'd left Misthallery that he'd crept back into his old house and gathered up whatever documents he felt were about him and seemed important. Part of him worried that he might have taken the wrong ones, what with no way to check, but at the same time he knew that he would need them and that they'd do him better here than they would back in an empty house. Hopefully his dad would understand if he ever did go back there.

“Glad you're prepared then,” approved Becky, “Just give me a minute.”

It didn't take long for her to find Max and bribe him into staying on the desk while she went out. Becky reasoned that it was set to be a quiet day, since they were in the middle of the lull where the hotel wasn't busy, after summer and before the Christmas season. She also promised that she'd bring him back a copy of the Radio Times, which seemed to make Max happy.

With the front desk sorted, Becky and Badger left. This time Becky knew exactly where she was going, so she walked quickly and with more assurance than she had done on their trip to Sharpace Rest. It didn't take them long to get to the building that Badger assumed was the bank. To Becky this place seemed like nothing, but Badger was a little in awe of it. There was a set of wide steps that led up to the front entrance, where men in suits were walking in and out, each seeming to be very busy. On a normal day Badger would dismiss this place as being too grand for him to have anything to do with. Honestly, he felt exactly like that about it even right now. But Becky didn't seem to think so at all, she proudly walked right up to the door, even though she was still dressed in her work pinafore, and pushed in. Badger hurried along behind her.

The inside of the building seemed to absorb the sound. There were still just as many important-looking people here, but the thick doors and walls must have drowned out the noise from the streets outside. If Badger felt intimidated before, then it was nothing compared to how he felt now.

Seeming to get the impression that he felt that way, Becky pointed him towards a row of seats in front of some small tables and told him to wait there while she went to talk at the counter. He was glad of this and went to sit quietly out of the way until she came back.

By the time Becky rejoined him, Badger had already begun to take the documents out of his bag, hoping that they'd be all of the ones that he needed. Certainly Becky had a lot of forms with her when she returned, so it seemed like it was going to be a busy day.

“They're fine with me filling these out on your behalf, but you will have to sign the bottom of each document yourself,” Becky told him, “So right now all you have to do is answer the questions and pass me whatever personal document I need for reference.”

“R-right,” Badger answered, with a nod.

“Okay then, to start off with they're gonna need your name,” prompted Becky.

“Badgeh.”

“No, really. I need your real name. This is important.”

Part of Badger wanted to be vigilant, since it was Crow's honour that he was defending here and as far as he was concerned, he was Badger. But at the same time, he knew he wasn't going to get through this by being difficult.

“Simon Walkeh,” he murmured.

“Simon Walker,” Becky sounded out, as she wrote it down on the sheet, “That's a nice name. I can't help but wonder why you all use these code names when you have good names already.”

“Crow likes them,” answered Badger, defiantly.

“There's a surprise. So what's his name then? And the other guy, too?” Becky asked.

“Doun't think Crow would want me t' say. And I honestly dunno about Scraps,” said Badger.

He'd only even found out about Crow being called Thomas because of his mother. As for the rest of the Black Ravens, he didn't ask questions unless they wanted him to know. Louis, Marilyn and Gus were all famous amongst the group for having rejected Crow's nickname system, he assumed that Roddy was probably just short for something similar, he only knew that Wren & Socket's surnames were Turner because that was what their mum was called, but he didn't know about their first names, and Scraps was a complete mystery in every regard.

“Moving on then,” Becky concluded, “How old are you exactly? They need your date of birth.”

“I dunno fer sure,” admitted Badger.

He felt as useless as a lead balloon about questions like this, but he'd stopped keeping track a while ago. One year blended into the next back in Misthallery, so as long as he could keep doing what he'd always done it had never mattered all that much. It was only when so many things began to change that he'd harshly had to realise that nothing lasted forever...

Thankfully for him, Becky was more on the ball. She reached across the table and took one of the pale coloured documents that Badger had brought with him. He'd assumed that this had been his birth certificate and it turned out he was right.

“Huh, according to this you're eighteen,” she read out, “That's good. There won't be any problems for you to open an account at this age.”

“Wh-what?” Badger stammered.

“Is there a problem? I thought this was what you wanted,” checked Becky.

“It is... it's fine. Um, sorreh...” gaped Badger, hardly able to get his words out.

Eighteen. He was eighteen. And he'd never had any idea! S-sure, he'd got the impression that he was older than he thought he was and a lot of time had passed since they first started doing this Black Raven thing, but he was apparently classed as an adult now, even just barely, and this was the first he was hearing about it. But the Black Ravens were always distrusting of adults! Even if... Crow was a little older than he was, so that must mean he was also this age as well. He wondered if any of them knew for sure. Though given that Louis and Marilyn were the oldest of the group, they were probably well aware of it at least. They could have let the rest of them know!

Badger felt the rest of the questions go by in a daze as his mind kept dwelling on this matter. It shouldn't be a big deal and in fact it wasn't really, given that they were currently starting a new life for themselves in London, so it made sense that they'd be old enough to do just that. All the same, it felt jarring. If Badger had been even just seventeen instead then he would have felt better about it.

Though amongst all of his internal worrying, it seemed that the day went by quicker than he'd expected. It turned out that through some miracle he had managed to bring everything that he'd needed and then some, so all that was left to do was to sign the papers where Becky told him to. Once that was out of the way she took the forms back to the counter and talked with them again for a while before coming back to him.

“Well, it looks like you have an account here now,” she announced, “It's maybe not as simple as all that, but you just need to take these and you can start paying into the account whenever you like. Actually, you need to make a small deposit now, so I hope you brought some change. And I acted as your character reference. Don't worry, I gave you a glowing report.”

Once these few little details were dealt with, the two of them left. Badger walked with Becky back to the Weathered Duke's Hotel, the two of them stopping briefly at a news agents to pick up the magazine for Max. When they got back to the hotel Badger thanked Becky once again and set off on his own for the rest of the way back to his new home. It was still light outside, so he reckoned that it wasn't too late, but all the same he had been gone for a while.

Back inside the house, Umid, Crow and Scraps were sat in what they'd decided would be the living room, seeming to be going over some plans. From the looks of things, Umid was long finished moving the papers and junk out of the basement, though Badger doubted that Scraps had forgotten about them. Crow got to his feet when he saw Badger lurking by the door. He motioned for the other two to carry on with whatever they'd been talking about, then walked out into the hallway and closed the door behind him.

“Glad to see ya back,” he said, “Did everythin' go well?”

“Yeah, it did,” Badger answered.

“Ya not gonna tell me any more than that though, are ya?” Crow questioned.

“Nah, sorreh,” replied Badger, with a shrug, “Yer not missin' owt interestin' though, so doun't fret about it.”

The two of them walked through the hall together, to a quiet room at the back of the house that they were yet to designate a role to. There was a alcove at the far end, with some seats looking onto a window that showed the garden. In the summer this would probably be a nice place to lounge about and Badger could instantly imagine the three people from the portrait in the entrance sharing an afternoon here together. Right now though it was just him and Crow, both awkwardly taking a seat next to each other.

Badger waited for Crow to talk. He had more to say, after all.

“About yestahday,” Crow started. It seemed like he'd needed to work his way up to this, “I maybe gave ya the wrong impression. Me an' Umid, we did call it off. The last time we went to London aftah... well, aftah we found ya passed out in that street. I knew that I couldn't stay an' Umid also 'ad plans to go 'ome to Mosinnia back then, so it didn't make sense to keep things goin' when we weren't sure if we'd even see each othah again.”

“Ah'reet,” said Badger, with a nod, “Be yer do still like 'im.” There was no point beating about the bush with this.

“N-nooo, not... really...” Crow whimpered, unconvincingly.

It was strange to see Crow like this, but somehow Badger felt that he couldn't get angry with him. He was upset, sure, but now that he'd had time to let it settle he could trick himself into thinking that he would be okay. So Badger shuffled to face Crow and gave him a doubtful smirk.

“Wheneveh 'e's in the room it's like there's no one there except 'im. Suddenly everythin' yer do becomes about impressin' 'im, because what else mattehs otheh than what 'e thinks of yer? And when 'e looks yer way, it's like all of the wind gets knocked outteh yer sails, but yer so, so lucky that 'e'd look at yer at all. Even if it's not the same way that yer lookin' back at 'im,” Badger theorised, “...Trust me, I know those feelin's.”

Crow couldn't meet his eyes any more. Instead he looked down into his lap.

“Badge'... I'm so sorry...” he whispered.

“Doun't be,” Badger dismissed, “I doun't want yer to not be 'appy with Umid just because yer feel bad about me. Honestly, I'd be angry if yer did that outteh pity.”

Suddenly Crow did look sharply back up again. He stared right at Badger and even pressed forward where he was sat.

“I don't just like ya outta pity!” he stated.

“Eh... I-I neveh said yer did like me, Crowlo,” Badger clarified, “I meant... um, if yer didn't go out with Umid because yer pitied me.”

As Crow realised exactly what he'd said, he drew back in on himself. Now he looked so tiny and lost. If only Badger could reach out to him then maybe it'd be okay, but there was no way he could do that right now.

There was a long pause in which neither of them knew what to say. Then, just as Badger was starting to hope that the other two would come and interrupt them, Crow spoke up.

“...No mattah wot else 'appens, I'm not gonna be with Umid any more,” he said, softly yet firmly, “An' that ain't for you, it's for me. I like 'im an' we 'ad a good time togetheh, not gonna lie about that, but it's ovah now. I'm more interested in bein' Umid's friend an' 'avin 'im join us in the Black Ravens, 'cause I think it'd be good both for 'im an' for us as a team. But nothin' more along the lines that we were back then. That's ovah.”

“But yer like 'im,” Badger insisted.

Crow shrugged.

“It's just a crush,” he reasoned, “I'll get ovah it soon. Not like I was in love with 'im or anythin'.”

With that he got up from the seat and held a hand out to Badger. After a moment of hesitation Badger took it and pulled himself up. They looked at each other once more, again not sure what to say. For a moment Crow went to reach forward, but then he seemed to think better of it and pulled back. Badger found himself wishing that Crow hadn't had second-thoughts about whatever he was going to do in that moment.

“We should get back to the othahs,” Crow decided, “We've all bin talkin' about our plans for the Black Ravens an' I wouldn't wanna leave ya out.”

“Sounds good,” Badger agreed.

“I'm glad we've 'ad this talk though,” added Crow.

“Yeah, me too,” Badger concluded. And he honestly did feel better about having it all out in the open. Even if he wasn't any less confused about Crow's feelings.

They walked together back through the hallway and to the living room, where Umid and Scraps were waiting. This time the silence between the two of them was a better one and Badger could feel that both him and Crow were at ease with each other properly for the first time since they'd picked Umid up at the airport. They could go forward like this, even if they didn't know where their journey would take them.