Changing the Locks

Who: Maddy and Roy
When: Afternoon
Where: Roy’s vault

Maddy was positively miserable and she wished the sunlight would go away and it would start raining again to reflect the terrible mood she was in. But no, the Sunday church bells kept ringing and the sun kept shining down at her and Pepper....

Pepper was still dead.

Pepper was still dead and now she was going to tell Roy the news. Part of her thought that Roy may already know, but if he didn’t she didn’t want him overhearing it, what with Dodge’s boys all over the city. So with it being Sunday, Maddy figured he’d probably be around his vault and so she was headed in that direction. She had stopped crying awhile ago, but her eyes still stung and she felt occasionally overwhelmed with crying but so far, she’d kept it at bay.

Roy was sitting with his back up against the wall in the alcove of the bank's entrance. Outside, but not in full view unless people were walking directly in front of the stairs, and most people didn't notice then, either. He'd come back, after wandering around, his encounter with his sister heavy on his mind. Marian, Pepper...it wasn't a good day for him. Either way he'd got back but hadn't wanted to go upstairs, so he'd just sat down, where he still was, vaguely staring into space. He was utterly silent, paying no attention to anyone who might be passing by. The war could arrive on the street in front of him and he probably wouldn't have noticed.

Lucky for Maddy, she was getting ready to head into the building when the figure caught her attention and her shoulders sagged in relief at seeing him. “Hey,” she called, a little weakly, but she forced a little smile on her face. It didn’t do much, considering how splotchy her face was from crying. He was clearly in a ‘zone’ and Maddy figured her probably didn’t hear her so she walked over to him and sat beside him, settling her bag beside her.

She was entirely right. He didn’t so much hear her as he recognized that someone had ventured closer than other people had, and he didn’t even quite focus there either. It wasn’t til she sat down that he looked over at her, blinking a little. There was some vague sort of surprise on his features, like she’d just appeared out of nowhere even if she clearly hadn’t. He just was that off his game that he hadn’t caught her approach like he should have. “Hey.” he greeted, though it didn’t sound like it was in response to her greeting, more like he was opening the conversation since he hadn’t actually heard her speak. “Your face is red.” he noticed.

“I probably have pencil smeared on it too,” she said thickly, reaching up to wipe at her face again. Roy seemed kind of zoned out a little and Maddy could tell that he hadn’t heard her, especially with the way he observed the look on her face. She bit her lip, trying to figure out how to say it and found that, as usual, there was no ‘right way’ to say something like this. “Pepper’s gone. She got grabbed by some guys overnight. Same one who kicked her out of her spot the other day.” She said it in a kind of calm-but-still-upset way and she felt the tears sting at her eyes again but she didn’t resume the crying. She hated telling Roy this because Roy? Clearly wasn’t okay if he didn’t hear her approach and he didn’t have the excuse of being half-deaf.

"I know. I heard." Roy said, clearing slightly, though only that little bit. "Are you okay?" he asked, since it occurred to him that Madeline spent a lot of time with Pepper. Or what he considered a lot of time. Maybe it wasn't. But he could make a vague guess that that was why she was upset just now. Like he was. Only she'd been closer, so... He tried to sit and think what the right thing to do was. Was there a right thing? After a few long moments, he put his arm around her shoulders, wondering if that might be okay. Or the 'right' thing. This sort of thing happened all the time, and yet not that often. All the time with their fellow homeless, but not as often that it was someone they knew. Or both of them knew for that matter.

Putting his arm around her was definitely the right thing, because Maddy took full advantage of it and sort of curled into his side. Her shoulders shook a little bit, both from being upset and being in the shade where it was chillier. It was January, after all. “I just found out a little bit ago and I knew that I needed to tell you because I knew you guys were friends too. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner.” It stung, how she found herself already speaking in past tense. “I can’t believe she’s gone,” Maddy whispered, biting down on her lip to keep from crying again. Crying sucked and she didn’t want to cry anymore.

Roy could believe it. He didn't want to believe it, but he had a bit of a realist's edge to his mind at times, and the fact that life was a tenuous thing was one of them that stood out prominently in his head. He'd carried dead siblings out of the house, he knew life could get snuffed out in an instant. And beyond that? Sometimes people just disappeared. They just didn't come home, and you never quite knew what happened, but they weren't there anymore. "Don't be sorry." he told her, rubbing her arm lightly, again figuring maybe it was the right thing to do, even if he wasn't connecting into that action properly. He was trying.

“I am anyway,” she said, surprised that Roy was being as comforting as he was. Not that Roy was callous or something, but he was doing a good job initiating it on his own. “I don’t know if she’s really dead though. There’s no... body. And if there isn’t a body, then that means she could still be alive, right?” There was a kind of half-hearted desperation in Maddy’s voice. One side of her knew that no, Pepper was gone. She wasn’t going to come back, but the other half that had been slapped down when she decided to stop looking for Jack was looking for another cause to latch onto.

That got Roy's attention more than anything else, and he finally looked down at her, watching her for a few long, long moments. He didn't know what to say. Because seriously? No. And if she was still alive, and just captured by people, she might not want to be alive by now. Which was a fucking horrible thought to have, and he really desperately wished he hadn't. But what did he tell her? Not to get her hopes up? Or let her dream a little bit? But would that just hurt later when Pepper didn't come back? In the end he said something neutral, wishing he had something better. "I don't know, Madeline." he said, tone quiet.

“If I went into the tunnels to look for her, would you go with me?” she asked cautiously, knowing that there would probably be a definite ‘no’ answer there, but she was asking him to go with her. She wasn’t saying she was going to go on her own. Because the initial anger had calmed some there, but the idea was still in place and Maddy knew that her going down there by herself wasn’t a good idea. There were places that Maddy knew not to go down by herself, but she could admit that in the heat of the moment, she didn’t want to just stand around to ‘gather the troops’. She wanted to take action, consequences be damned.

Instinctively, when she mentioned the tunnels, his arm got tighter around her and he pulled her closer. "It won't do Pepper any good if we both go down there and die." he told her first, because that was point blank honesty there. And they would. The tunnels? Were fucking terrifying as far as scary places went. "She wouldn't want that." he told her, emotion leaking into his tone. He was getting shaken from that sort of distant state he'd been in, that was for sure.

When Roy’s arm got tighter around her, Maddy wrapped her arms around his waist, properly hugging him now. “I just feel like I should be able to do something. I can’t sit here and not do something, Roy,” and her voice was getting thicker there and her eyes started stinging. She held onto him a little tighter, trying hard not to cry again. “I don’t want her to be gone.”

He could hear it, her sounding like she was going to cry. And he didn't know what to do. There was that helpess feeling again. There just wasn't anything he could do. Period, it seemed. Thinking back to is encounter with Marian as well. She was avoiding him. He didn't even know why. But then that wasn't usually an issue. Usually it was the same thing. it probably was this time too. But he really thought if there was something really wrong with him that she'd at least ask. She didn't. And he couldn't do anything about that. He couldn't make himself into someone Marian didn't feel like she had to avoid. And Pepper was gone, and he couldn't help her. And Madeline wanted to do something and he couldn't help with that either. "I don't want her to be gone either." he told her, tone very quiet, and he rubbed her back a little, that seeming to have worked for him before. "And I know. I want to do something too. But...." he trailed off. There just wasn't anything. this shit happened. End of story, unfortunately.

She couldn’t reply because she had started crying again, although it was quiet with a lot of shoulder shaking and clinging, but Roy’s hand rubbing her back was definitely helping. So she cried for a bit, unable to help it, but it didn’t last long and when she took in a couple of long, shuddering breaths, “We could have a funeral,” she suggested, still sounding very teary but at least her voice wasn’t trembling. “Like closure or something?”

Roy thought about it, then nodded. "I think that's a good idea." he told her, thinking it would be nice, anyways. So many people like them didn't get anything of the kind. So yes, he could back that up. "I could help you." he added. Not even sure what he would do, he offered it up. Maybe he'd make something. A marker of some sort. It would get stolen or something, but he didn't care. He would make it anyways. They could find candles somewhere. Maybe he would buy some. He had some money. It was meant for something else, but this seemed important.

“That would be nice,” she said, working hard on calming herself down. She was starting to sound normal again, which was nice. “Cause she shouldn’t be forgotten. We could make a little memorial boat. Float it down the river.” Pepper lived under the bridge after all. “Or... we could put it where my mom and dad are buried.” She had to go there this week anyway. “It’s really nice there.” When she’d first run away, she’d snuck into the graveyard and used to pray sometimes. One of those habits that had been hard to break at first.

Roy thought about that, then nodded. "Okay." he said, wondering if his family members were in the same cemetery. Maybe they'd go for a walk, and see. His memories of all of that were fuzzy. He was pretty sure he'd been to the cemetery at one point, but couldn't really remember where it was, and it could have been a different one. But they could look. Maybe it would suck less if other people were there. "I'll make her something nice, then. Promise." he told her, attempting a smile, but it missed the mark.

Maddy nodded, wiping at her face as she sat up and returned his effort with a half-hearted one of her own. “I know you will,” she said, sniffling. “Do you think... the thing is that I don’t wanna move. But my door doesn’t lock.” And that was something that she used to think about, but someone coming for Pepper in the middle of the night? It terrified her and all she was able to say about that was that her damn door didn’t lock.

"I'll fix it." Roy said straight away. That he could do. He could just replace the handle and locking mechanism on the door itself, give her the only key, and call it good. That he could do easily. "I can do that no problem. I could do that today, right now if we have a little money for a new door handle. And a deadbolt." Since if he was going to fix the security Madeline had, he wasn't doing it half way.

“I got paid this week,” Maddy said quietly. Her tears were drying up and her voice was closer to normal. Focusing on something to fix was helpful. “Or I could lift it. How much do you think it’ll be?” Because the money was going to the house fund, but security in the meantime was a reason to dip into that fund. And from the way Roy kind of perked up a little with the words, she thought it would be good for him to. To fix something and make it better.

"I don't know, we'll have to go look. But we can probably find something kinda cheap." he said. He stood, then held his hand out to her to help her up. "I have a few dollars upstairs, I'll get it, and we can go find something." he said, thinking having something to actually do would be the best thing for him right now. Very much the best thing. It would give him the ability to focus around everything else.

Maddy let him help her up and she reached down to grab her bag. “No, I’ll pay for it. It’s for my door. You don’t need to spend money on me. I’ll buy it and we can say that you installing it for me could be your birthday present for me, how about that? Because I have no idea how to do it.” Because she seriously didn’t want him buying stuff for her. Roy worked hard for his money and he had Marian he could spend the money on. He didn’t need to spend it on her.

"...if it's your birthday, then that definitely means I should pay for it." he told her. "Just--shut up for once and let me do something. I'll feel better." he told her, honest there. He would. He could buy her something to help keep her safe, install it himself to be sure it worked, and that would make him feel better. At least about something. Especially after running into Marian earlier and how that had gone, he needed something.

She was going to protest, she was, because she still didn’t like the idea of him spending money on her but she closed her mouth and nodded, a little exaggerated so there would be no question for him that she was following orders. Or request. “Okay. Do you want me to come up with you or wait here?” At least Roy looked a little better around the edges and she gave herself a little imaginary pat on the back, glad in the success of giving him something to do to make him feel better. And that made her feel better, so everything was good.

"It'll just take me a second." he said. And he turned to head in, but then stopped. "...you should come with me." he said, utterly changing his mind in a heartbeat. With the thing with Pepper still on his mind, he didn't want to leave her standing anywhere by herself. Especially not in this neighborhood. So, he headed in, but he put his hand against her lower back to nudge her along with him.

Maddy went along with him, definitely not minding that he wanted her to come with him. In fact, she was glad because the whole snatching when no one was looking made her nervous. And it’d happened once before. Although that was at church with her being passed out and not necessarily bad in intentioned. It was still the whole idea of being grabbed and no one knowing. Dammit, she really didn’t like thinking those thoughts. And maybe that’s why she let herself get distracted by other things that didn’t seem as important. That was certainly an interesting bit of insight. “How’s work at the garage been?” she asked as they headed up the steps to his vault. She didn’t know if he just wanted her to shut up in general, or just the whole protesting thing.

"I don't know. Quiet, I guess. Lots of work, that's about all." he said. "Nothing exciting or noteworthy." he told her, since there really hadn't been. Or, not that he noticed, anyways. And sometimes he could be less than observant. There was something on his mind but he didn't know if he was going to say anything. He wanted a second opinion, and at the same time...

“And the stuff I left for you to work on?” she asked, not outright saying ‘the stuff you need to learn’ but knowing he’d know that. “I was thinking of, I dunno, maybe you could sneak me into the garage sometime. I can draw up the engine and label it. That way it’s something you can start applying at work.” She looked at him a little hopefully, hoping it was something that he’d like and not something that would make him feel... not happy.

He thought about that, and didn't know how much he liked the idea. He didn't want to get caught, both because he didn't know how he'd explain himself, and if he did, he didn't think it would serve him well for continuing to be employed. But he could answer the first bit. "I've been looking over things every night." he told her, which he was. Every night before he went to sleep, he tried to go over everything again, tried to remember everything she'd taught him. Though truthfully his mind still wasn't on the conversation at hand. "And maybe." he answered about the engine thing, opting not to make a solid decision about it at all. Instead he headed up the hall after they got to his floor and tugged the vault open, digging out the little can he kept money in. There he pulled out a few dollars he'd saved, then pocketed them, walking back out to her.

“I’m putting together some stuff that I think might help. I’m almost done so hopefully we could get together later this week and work on it some more,” she suggested, looking at the vault door. A vault sounded nice right about now. Locking yourself in and never ever coming out, although the space could be claustrophobic after awhile, she thought.

"That's fine. When is the funeral thing going to be?" he asked, not wanting that to interfere. In his mind the funeral was more important, so one lesson could be postponed. and he didn't think the funeral could be. Or should be, for that matter. Of course he also needed to know when to have a cross made. He already had ideas in mind for what he was going to do. There were parts at the shop he would use, he could weld something together. A cross, or something.

“Dunno,” Maddy admitted and the two of them started back down the stairs. “I sort of just came up with it. We could do it whenever you’ve got something made. This week sometime, I guess.” She fidgeted with the cuff of one of the gloves, frowning a little.”I’ve never been to a funeral before. At least, one that I remember.” She’d only been a few days into being four when her parents died and she didn’t think she’d gone to the funeral.

"I wouldn't be the person to ask on that." he said. “There were a lot of them, but they were all together, and...I don't remember them all very well." he admitted, walking out into the cold again, and he headed them towards where he knew the nearest hardware store was. "I don't think she'd care that it was done properly, more just that it was done at all."

Maddy skipped a little to keep up at first, because she found herself wanting nothing more than to drag her feet and stick in the doldrums. “No, I agree. It’s the fact that we’re doing it that’s important. I think you’re supposed to sing and throw flowers around at funerals and I don’t think she’d like that.” Or maybe that was rice? She couldn’t be sure. All that she knew was that Pepper didn’t like fuss and so her funeral shouldn’t be fussy. “Should I get a dog too, you think?”

"For the funeral?" Roy asked, blinking. Then he realized she meant for security. "Oh. Um. Can you afford to feed a dog?" he asked. Since that was a pretty big consideration. "Or keep it clean so it doesn't get fleas, and are you going to want to take it outside in the night to do it's business?" He could understand her wanting a dog that could bite people, but dogs weren't just mini security systems. They were living creatures.

She was quiet for a bit after he said that, thinking over all those things. He was right, a dog was a lot of work in general. “No,” she said finally. “Don’t think that could work.” Pepper had mentioned getting herself a dog, but her situation was different... and there she was already thinking of her in past tense. Maddy bit her lip, feeling another wave of the upset coming on because a dog could’ve saved Pepper. “Could get a gun... know how to shoot one.” She was pretty sure she could load one too, but it had been awhile. A really long while. “I just... I’m trying not to think about what happened but now it’s all I can think about because we’d talked about it, you know, since we’re girls? And people think us girls are easy pickings and I just, I feel real bad, cause I completely forgot to ask you if you could help us set up traps in her spot, because you’re real smart like that, but I just wasn’t thinkin’ bout it, so I wanna do the right thing, you know? That if Pepper couldn’t get her stuff taken care of, well, the least I can do is get my stuff taken care of.” She spoke slowly, not in her occasional rambly, all-in-one-breath declarations she could be prone to. It was a pretty thought out declaration, because Maddy wasn’t sure if Roy thought she was being selfish for talking about herself and Maddy felt that she was, but she was also trying not to focus on the death, but Pepper’s death brought Maddy’s own vulnerability to the forefront of her mind, especially coupled with the spot of trouble she found herself in the previous evening.

Roy stopped in his tracks. "You know how to use a gun?" he asked. "How the hell do you know that? And a gun is more expensive than a dog! And if you can't use it, or someone gets it away from you they can just use it on you!" Guns he didn't like so much. Pretty much all of the DiGiovanni types he dealt with carried them, and he didn't like the connotation. It wasn't the way to go, in his mind. Not at all.

Maddy’s face burned and she had stopped too, although she took a little step back when he started yelling at her. She wasn’t looking for a fight and she wasn’t trying to go around and worry him. Her mind was far away from fighting and being yelled at was at the bottom of her list with it too. “Someone showed me how awhile back. I don’t have one. I don’t carry one, but I know how to shoot. Christ, it was just an idea, you don’t have to bite my head off!” she snapped, not able to help that. “I’ve got my switchblade, but should I stop carrying that too since someone could grab it and use it on me?”

"Someone like who?" Roy asked, wondering who the holy hell she was hanging around with that was teaching her shit like that. God. Maybe he didn't even want to know. It was upsetting. He looked away, dragging his fingers through his hair, and he started walking again. He didn't answer her, because it was clear to him that she didn't get it. And really, it was her. She had an ego the size of the moon so why would she? She was always like that. So, he just didn't say anything.

“It was this actor a few years ago, right after I moved into the theater.” She didn’t see why it was such a big deal, her knowing how to use a gun. “He had one, I asked how to use it. I haven’t seen the guy since!” Maddy was confused as hell, and Roy was walking away, which she didn’t understand why either but he did that exasperated and frustrated thing with his hair. “Why are you so angry about that?” She honestly had no idea if she was supposed to go after him or not and so she took a few steps, following him a few paces behind. “Considering I got stabbed before, I thought ‘hey, maybe a gun would be a good idea to know to avoid close combat!’ Because if you haven’t noticed or not, I’m short and I don’t weigh much and the majority of people in this city could break me in half before I could blink! So don’t you dare presume you can get mad at me for trying to do what I can so that doesn’t fucking happen, Roy Grady!” Maddy’s voice was angry, slightly strangled, and still confused. She could talk a big game, she prided herself on that, but she was trying to be realistic here and he was acting like she was talking about killing puppies for some kind of magic sacrifice of protection. If someone could grab Pepper, who had had probably a head on her and could’ve have kicked her ass (not that it had ever come up besides joking), then how was she supposed to protect herself against someone like Roy or Dodge? Hell, she was lucky she was friends with Roach, because against a guy like him? No fucking way. Now here she was yelling at him on the street and wondering what the hell she had done wrong.

"A few years ago?!" Roy asked, thinking that really just wasn't making him feel any better. because for fucks sake--Madeline was a child now. "What were you, ten?!" he asked, knowing she'd been on the streets for quite a while, and that she'd been living at the theater for a lot of that time. So no, that really didn't make him feel any better. In fact, that made him feel worse about it. And if she had been shown when she was that little, then did she even still remember? "Guns are dangerous. They get people killed. And if you've got one and are seen as that big of a threat then maybe they see that as an excuse to go after you before you go after them." he continued. "Or they might just want it, and anyways, are you actually thinking at all about the idea of killing someone? There are other ways to keep yourself safe. Like not going where people are going to attack you, and you've got a roof over your head so stay there after it gets dark or keep people with you at all times, and--you just never think of anything like this, do you?" And he still wanted to know what kind of an asshole taught a little girl how to shoot a fucking gun.

“More like twelve. He wasn’t a whole lot older than I was. I don’t think so anyway. There were guns in the play, look, it doesn’t matter!” She was working really hard on not getting any more defensive, trying to remind herself that Roy was just worried about her, but now she felt like he was trying to say she was stupid. “And I know there are places I shouldn’t go after dark and I don’t!” At least not for the most part, except for when she worked that late night at the Kitten Club. “Keep someone around all the time? What, you wanna move in and follow me around all the time? Yeah, Roy, like that’s realistic.” She didn’t really think it was all that realistic. Being followed creeped her the hell out. “I’m sorry if I try not to think of the multiple ways I could be attacked or killed or kidnapped or something at all hours of the day and try not to be a paranoid person. You know, enjoy myself and enjoy life where I can.” She wanted to say more. She wanted to say how maybe he should try enjoy life some time, not be so damn depressed all the time.

"Oh, twelve, that makes it so much better." Roy said, sarcasm deep in his tone. "And You. Have. Dodge." he said, emphasizing that entire thing. "You know if you so much as hinted that you wanted a little back up when you're out and about that he'd give it. You know that." And so did Roy. Whatever issues he had with Dodge aside, he knew that in no uncertain terms, if she went to him with this issue, Dodge would immediately remedy it. He had the man-power to do it. He had his own gang, with people willing to do whatever he said, and all it would take would be a word from him and she'd have people around. All the time. She'd be safe. "Don't talk to me about being realistic when you're just being thick." he told her. "And what the hell are you even talking about with that?" he asked, honestly confused by her last statement. "Who said anything about--No one ever said you had to do it all the time, or that you had to not enjoy life, but giving a little bit of thought to it so you don't have to worry about it all the time would be a good idea." he told her. "But you like to tell everyone every chance you get that you're invincible, don't you? So why on earth would I believe that you do think about this shit at all, save for today when it's in your face that things aren't safe around here?" he asked. "You always do that, you always talk yourself up like you're untouchable. It's pretty much your baseline conversation. Don't get pissy with me because you've made that impression when it's the one you work so hard to project in the first place."

Maddy’s prepared remarks flew out the window when Roy -- Roy -- actually pulled the Dodge card, and pulled that card in a positive manner at that. She was so unprepared for him to use it that she was sufficiently derailed from saying things that would make the fight even worse. No need to throw things in his face just because he was calling her an idiot. She didn’t want to do that when she knew that Roy was doing what he did. Telling her when she apparently was acting stupid. While Maddy didn’t think she was being stupid, she didn’t argue that point. “Okay,” she said, holding onto her shoulder bag strap with both hands, just needing something to hold onto. “You’re right, I’m stupid. You’ve proved your point. Can you just... stop lecturing me now?” She was careful not to say ‘yelling at me’ like she had earlier, because she figured that just saying what she’d just said would frustrate him more. She just didn’t want things to get worse because she was already in a more emotional mood because of Pepper and the last thing she wanted to do was burst into tears because Roy was doing his thing and she couldn’t take it. “I’m not ignoring what you’re saying, I get it. Can we just... not talk about it anymore,” Maddy tacked on a little more quietly.

“Whatever.” Roy said in return, because he very much took what she did there to be a dismissal. ‘I’m not ignoring’ didn’t actually go along very well with ‘let’s stop talking about it’. That and there was a part in there that irked him even more, and he left it a good minute and a half as they walked before he addressed it. “I never said you were stupid, that wasn’t even the fucking point.” he muttered.

Maddy followed a half step behind at his side, quiet and subdued. She adjusted the shoulder strap of her bag for lack of anything to do with her hands and contemplated if she should say something. “That’s what it felt like,” she finally answered, just as quiet as he had been.

“Well what it felt like wasn’t what I said, so don’t put words into my mouth.” Roy said. “It’s not fair.” He walked along a little farther before he added anything. “Besides, you know if I do think you’re being stupid I’ll say it plainly.” He had before after all.

“Yeah... I know. Sorry.” He had a point. He would’ve outright said she’d been acting stupid, but she’d also been wondering if he hadn’t just been trying to find different ways of saying it, because saying someone was stupid over and over again sort of got old without changing it up. “I wasn’t trying to do that.” It sounded kind of lame when she said it that way and she wasn’t sure if Roy was going to accept that, even though she meant it.

“Do you have someplace in the theater you keep things?” he asked, knowing he was utterly changing the topic, but there was a reason behind it. “Or someone there around now that I could give the keys to when I’m finished?” he asked, glancing back at her, but only for a moment.

“There’s the caretaker’s wife whose usually in the box office. I need to give them a copy of the key anyway,” Maddy told him. If she was surprised by his sudden change of topic, she didn’t show it in her voice. In fact, she was relieved that the topic was being changed. The elderly couple who cared for the theater were incredibly good to her. Didn’t bother her, let her do what she wanted as long as she didn’t destroy anything. Did ask though that she check in once a week to let them know she was doing alright, and Maddy suspected, by how the space had been set up when she moved in, that housing the occasional stray or two had been something they’d been doing for a long time.

"Okay, well, I'm going to go, put in the locks, and give her the keys, you can get them from her later." he said. Which was clearly him intending to finish off what he'd said he'd do on his own, without her company. But he'd still do it. He'd still buy her the locks, he'd go there and install them, and he'd help keep her safer than she had been. It just didn't mean he'd have to spend time with her while he did it.

Maddy nodded slowly, unable to meet his eyes properly. “Alright. Um... thanks.” They’d already discussed his paying for the lock and all that jazz and Maddy wasn’t going to try talk him into letting her pay him back, because Roy had already been clear that he was going to pay for it and install it and that was the end of it. “I... yeah. I’ll see you later then?”

Roy made a non-committal sort of sound to that, and kept walking, not sure if she was going to go off at some point or what. She didn't seem to be fighting him at all on his decision to part ways, though. So he assumed she wasn't. That she was leaving. Plus she'd just more or less said goodbye, so that was pretty clear. It was for the best. Or, in his opinion right then it was the best. Whether or not that was a reality had little to do with Roy's rationality, which was always suspect. Especially right then, when he was dealing with Pepper's disappearance, and the empty feeling left gnawing in his gut over his encounter with Marian. And he didn't have anyone to talk to about that. He'd considered Madeline...but not now. Now he was just going to take care of her locks, and that was all.