tinstar: (Hotel Cowboy)
Deputy US Marshal Givens ([personal profile] tinstar) wrote2020-10-28 08:36 pm

Slingin' from the hip, never the heart. | Open Post



Raylan's job took him everywhere, from Harlan to Los Angeles to Paris. The Marshals service was demanding but Raylan leaned into the work, traveling as needed to get to get his man.

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thering: (Doc576)

[personal profile] thering 2021-01-19 10:21 am (UTC)(link)
"Pffuh. It's just your everyday kidnapping, possibly trafficking depending on what they're after." Nothing too strange about that, apparently. Maybe it would make things a little easier knowing what they want, why they have been put here. It's the question that many people have been asking, after all. But hey. If there isn't going to be an easy road back, maybe it's better that it's two lone wolves chewing out their cowboy hats than the people they know.

"Mm, that would be her. We did get her, in the end. Took care of her without getting myself killed in the process." They're... linked? It's complicated. And Doc isn't going to get into the details. He doesn't even know the full details of it himself.

"They haven't... hm... I mean no one's managed it yet. And I don't think it ends, after that." That would be too simple. It's perhaps worse than the fate of being trapped alone in the dark, just having to watch them all die. He has grown quite fond to the girls.

"Honestly Raylan I don't know it's going to work. I'm not just a bartender. We are violent people in a violent place doing violent things, and I know it. It just- ain't what anyone deserves." This isn't worrying about your baby's first steps or their first day of school or their first date or the first time they put their foot down on the gas pedal. This is going to be Doc and Wynonna arguing over why they should or shouldn't be putting a gun in a hand too small with a thumb too short to reach the hammer and this constant need to protect someone, not being able to let go or even let them out of their sight for half a second, always fearing the worst.

Underneath all that is what Doc doesn't want to say, about Earps, Hollidays, and Givenses, but that Raylan will understand precisely because he doesn't want to say it out loud. They are who they are because of the luck of the draw, and because they are who their violent worlds need them to be in order to survive. There are enough cold and hard people in this world, and if he can help it he doesn't want anyone else to turn out like himself. Or Wynonna. Or Raylan.
thering: (Doc4)

[personal profile] thering 2021-01-20 03:48 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be considered 'every day', neither. Think you're on your own with that one, Marshal." Sometimes Doc does enjoy the limelight, and he likes being special. Sometimes he shies away from it. But the fact of the matter is, just because it's easy to forget he's more than a century and a half old sometimes doesn't mean that Doc is any less strange than the other people or the other things that are happening in this town. At least he is able to be an anomaly that Raylan can blend into. Surely two cowboys don't stick out more than just the one.

"Sometimes you cannot protect them from everything, hard as you may try." Sometimes you are the problem that you are trying to protect someone else from. Doc understands that too. He doesn't quite make eye contact as he holds his mug out for an unhealthy ration of moonshine. He would never risk asking if it is maybe too much or perhaps too early or say or do anything other than bring his drink in close once Raylan has finished pouring and peering into his rippling reflection before taking a drink.

"I think we're in the same boat for that. Not mattering much what we would do." Doc is actively rejecting the notion of making any plans beyond taking things one day at a time. Maybe decisions will be made that will require his input. Maybe there will be none. He is not allowing himself to get involved any more than he already has. For Doc it is not a matter of sticking his head in the sand as much as it is not wanting to meddle in something that, for better or worse, he doesn't feel is his place to interfere in. But maybe Raylan does perceive this very conscious, deliberate distancing as strange.

"Well if we can survive living on this I'm pretty sure we're set to survive this place at least," Doc jokes, lifting his glass of moonshine to gesture at what good shit he is referring to, changing the subject again to more neutral, friendly banter territory. "Whatever else is waiting for us back home, however we get there, it's a whole other problem for another day."
thering: (Doc501)

[personal profile] thering 2021-01-31 10:55 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh you and I have stomached worse things, I'm sure." There has been no reason to stop, so far. Doc doesn't think he would find any reason to in the coming days. He is in a better mood when he's had a glass, aboe to think more clearly than when he is cranky and grumpy, and other people who have had a glass themselves would find him more tolerable too. It's a win-win situation, as far as he's concerned.

"Suppose we are turning in after this bottle. That's about as responsible as I am willing to be." Gives them a little bit more time to finish up, but not too much that they might risk filling in the silences that fall between them with questions or suggestions that might go too far.
thering: (Doc42)

Sure 👍

[personal profile] thering 2021-01-31 05:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"My soul is unwilling but my toes might agree with you," Doc jokes. He doesn't think he has much of a soul left anymore, but that's another topic of misery for another miserable day.

Standing mostly upright out of sheer stubbornness, he reaches over to get the door, holding it open long enough for Raylan to get inside. A heavy hand claps against his back on his way in and Doc follows soon after, letting the porch door swing closed behind them. Thought of conquering the stairs is a little daunting right now but with a few laughs and clumsy bruises on their way to the promise of a dreamless sleep in a soft, warm bed, they can probably manage the feat between the two of them coordinating their efforts leaning against each other on their way up.

But first. They have a drink to finish in the dark.