But the town square is quiet, the juke joints are empty

[neverleftharlan]

Characters: Raylan Givens and Olivia Dunham and Dorian Gray and whoever else??
Date: AROUND NOW.
Location: an Earth Sector bar
Situation: RAYLAN IS SULKING, P MUCH.
Warnings/Rating: None atm will edit as needed.



[Raylan is a very particular kind of person. He has certain tendencies, given habits, patterns of behavior. And even as his job - his usual job - means he has no set schedule and has to pick up and haul ass into the metaphorical sunset after fugitives et cetera at a moment's notice, his personality means that he digs into his rituals that much harder because of it.

Tuesday night poker being Winona's favorite example to harp on.

But she wasn't wrong - all those years and he never missed a game.

Which is why he's sitting at the bar of a closed-down pub in the Earth Sector, nursing his fortunately powerful ration of alcohol - purchased elsewhere - and scowling at the empty shelves. It's not even that this place was better than most of the others (also closed). It's that it's the one he went to, one slice of routine in this shitkick town with its shapeshifters and Supermen and day jobs he knew he'd never miss.

On top of it all, he's back to feeling useless. One thing (one of many things) Raylan Givens does not do well is useless.]

Comments

[nolimitation]

[ Olivia pauses on the street when she spots Raylan through the window. There's really nothing good about sitting alone in an empty bar - it seems there's a good chance he'd rather be left alone, but she wouldn't feel right just walking by without checking in.

After a moment, she backtracks and nudges the door open, hovering just inside. ]

You know, most people just stay home when they're going to drink alone.

[neverleftharlan]

That statement being predicated upon the idea that there's alcohol at home to drink. [He takes a small slug from his watered-down ration, at least as powerful as a good bourbon even with the water he added to cut and stretch it.

It doesn't taste like a good bourbon. Like, at all.] Or that home is home, for that matter.

[nolimitation]

There's not exactly alcohol here either.

[ Her eyes flick to the empty shelves before she tugs the door shut behind her and walks over to join him at the bar, though she leans against it instead of sitting down beside him, still giving him a little space. ]

[neverleftharlan]

Yes there is. [He raises his glass in a little salute, and gestures at the flask on the counter.]

[nolimitation]

[ She raises an eyebrow, lips quirking into the faintest smile. ] Did you bring that here, or find it in a cabinet somewhere?

[neverleftharlan]

If I found it in a cabinet I would be obligated by current law to report it, wouldn't I.

[That is not an answer and he knows it he's just being an ass.]

[nolimitation]

[ Olivia shrugs. He can be an ass all he wants; Peter was worse when they first met, and if it makes him feel a little better to bleed off some of whatever this is at someone who's not going to take offense, she doesn't mind. ] Promise I won't tell.

[neverleftharlan]

[He gives her a sidelong look that isn't aggravated, exactly - more perplexed.]

You have to be the most patient woman I have ever met in my life. Every other one I know would have called me at least twice over already on this bullshit.

[nolimitation]

[ She laughs, and finally slides into a seat, turned to face him with her elbow on the counter. ] I spent two years convincing law enforcement organizations to play nice together. This? Hasn't even begun to annoy me.

So what are you doing here if it's not scrounging in cupboards?

[neverleftharlan]

Do you go in with wet hair when you're dealing with the feebs, let all the hot air blow-dry it for you?

[There's at least a slight smile on his face now. Raylan leans back with a sigh.]

You ever hear that saying, something like, 'only birds can return to old nests'? [He taps his glass against the bar, as though summoning a phantom bar tender.] Always said I'd never go back to Kentucky, no matter what I did - kept to that promise pretty well, too, for all of seventeen years. Then one stray bullet - [he mimics the firing of a gun with one hand] - and faster than you can say 'that's a load of crap' I'm getting shuffled off the grid and into an office two hours north of my home town.

[nolimitation]

[ Olivia smiles, but doesn't answer... and then cocks her head a little, trying to work out just how this connects to what she actually asked - if it does at all, which she kind of suspects isn't the case. ]

I can't say I know the feeling. I don't think I ever lived in the same place twice, or for more than two years, unless you count boarding school.

[neverleftharlan]

Now that is an adorable picture. [It is actually - the image of Olivia in some high-class institution that forces its attendees to wear bow ties.] Let me guess. Top of the class, bookworm, could probably recite poetry backwards and forwards at the drop of a ruler.

[nolimitation]

[ She's glad you're amused, Raylan. ] Something like that. Not so much with the poetry, though. I was more into sports, ROTC... and I'm not sure I'd use the word adorable.

[neverleftharlan]

No, I think that's the word for it. [ROTC, he remembers those uniforms, okay. And it fits her. Better than poetry. ]

Never was much for words myself, anyway. [Not entirely true given how much he talks, but details.] You go army after high school or get through college first? College first. Then army, then FBI.

[nolimitation]

[ Olivia rolls her eyes a little at the insistence, but... she can guess what he's thinking. Arguing probably isn't going to help. ]

Close. College, then Marines. Then FBI.

What about you? How'd you get out of Kentucky?

[neverleftharlan]

We got a badass over here.

[--and then he pauses, silence pregnant with surprise. Somehow, in spite of the trajectory of the conversation, he wasn't expecting that question.]

My aunt Helen. [Raylan looks away, smiling at the air. The expression is at least two-thirds self defense.] I'd probably be a body down a dog hole mine if it weren't for her.

[He shifts, looking at her more directly even as he takes the conversation for another turn.] I work with an former US Army Ranger, a sniper out of Afghanistan.

[nolimitation]

[ She's quiet for a moment, studying him thoughtfully. Wonders if she should ask after the story in that silence... but then he switches tacks, and she decides to let it go for the moment.

There's a soft exhale, almost a laugh. ] I work with someone out of Afghanistan too. Not military, just sort of a... nomad. Never was deployed myself.

How long was he over there?

[neverleftharlan]

About a year, I think. [He tries to recall if Tim ever said anything more specific than 'a tour'. Raylan shakes his head.] Mostly he doesn't talk about it and I don't ask, which as we all know is the best way of coping with trauma.

[He leans against the counter.] I hope you know I'm envisioning a man in robes with a camel somewhere in Boston.

[nolimitation]

[ Olivia snorts softly. ] Of course. I'm sure that works out well for you.

No camel. Though we do have a cow his father keeps in the lab.

[neverleftharlan]

And here Art thinks an office cat is an unreasonable request. Robes, though? He wear a turban to protect himself from the harsh Northeastern sun?

[He props he cheek against his fist, watching her with the beginnings of truly inebriated amusement.]

[nolimitation]

Clearly you're in the wrong office.

And, uh, we tend more toward sweaters and trenchcoats up there...

[neverleftharlan]

[He sighs, amusement parlaying into resignation.] No, I'm in the right office. Don't tell Winona I said that.

[He pours the remainder of his ration into the glass.] You like it up there? With your cow?

[nolimitation]

[ She smiles faintly, though she's eyeing the glass like she's wondering just how much he's had already. ]

I do, actually. It's definitely never boring. Her name's Gene, by the way. The cow.

What's this... Winona have against your office?

[neverleftharlan]

Ex-wife, current mother of my unborn alien. [He digs out his wallet and procures his copy of the last sonogram, sliding it across the counter toward Olivia.] Doesn't even have a tail. I'm so proud.

She doesn't tend to like how often I get shot at, knifed, et cetera.

[nolimitation]

You're having a baby? [ She picks up the sonogram and studies it with a faint smile. ] Were you expecting a tail?

And I guess that's fair enough. My sister's not fond of my job either.