tinstar | Slingin' from the hip, never the heart.

He'd been waiting an hour and a half. Security had already rolled up and told him that he couldn't part there, but all it took was a flash of his badge and a small white lie - "Waiting for my partner with a prisoner transport," was his excuse - and they left him alone. That didn't mean they weren't keeping an eye on him, several yards away.

Raylan breaks into a grin as he spots Athena in the crowd and waits for the inevitable moment - that break of sunshine across her face as she spots him in return. His whole chest swells as she runs and throws herself at him, securely caught by his still strong arms.

"Like hell I'm trustin' you to a taxi after not gettin' to see you for so long, kiddo. Can't trust those assholes to get you anywhere in a reasonable amount of time." He pulls back enough to see her face, hands squeezing her again. God he'd missed her. She looked well. Happy, if only happy to see him. "It's good to see you darlin'."

He pats her on the back and turns to amble towards the back of the car, already fishing out his keys so he could open the trunk.

"Was your flight okay?"

Edited 2023-06-28 00:53 (UTC)

She grins, hauling her bag around and hefting it into the trunk almost before he has it all the way open. She can manage that herself, thank you very much.

...Even if it is pretty heavy.

"I mean, it was a flight. There was a guy behind me who kept kicking my chair but I hummed him into having to spend the latter half of it in the bathroom. Well, I hummed his food into being moldy, which, y'know, was easier. Only a little!"

She is entirely innocent and does not abuse her Gift at all ever.

Raylan gives her a Look, but it was undermined by the curl at the edges of his lips.

"Well so long as it was only a little.. though it would be a shame if he couldn't look at chicken ala parm or whatever they're servin'." The trunk is shut. "Get in. I'll take you for some fast food if you're hungry, a slushie or somethin'-" Like she was 16 all over again. "-and then we can go home. You'll be proud to know," he continues, ambling around the car towards his driver side door. "Shit's actually surviving in my back yard this year. Got one whole half of a tomato plant and a fern that's clinin' to life like there's nothin' left."

As they get in though, the security guards come up to their windows and Raylan gives them a look as he rolls his window down.

"Prisoner transport, Marshal?"

Raylan lifts his eyebrows over an innocent look. "Straight from collage into my livin' room. If you'll excuse us." He doesn't wait before starting to pull away from the guard giving him a Look in return.

"I have no idea what it actually was, only what they said it was supposed to be."

She bounces a little on the seat, testing it out, the same way she has with every car he's gotten from work since she came here. Some things don't change, whether you're a teenager or twenty-one. Little habits are habits, like it or not. "Ooh, this one is new."

When the guard comes over, Athena bites her lip to try and hide her grin, but it doesn't work very well.

As Raylan pulls out, she turns every available air vent in her direction, putting her face near the ones in front of her. "God I will never complain about Boston being too cold ever again. Until next time."

Wasn't that the way with airline foods? He didn't eat it unless he was on an international flight that was going to take more than 10 hours. He'd rather starve and wait, thank you very much.

He can't help but laugh as she leans into the air vent on the freshly approved seats - it was new, actually - and rolls up his window the rest of the way before turning up the AC a little. They'd freeze in 15 minutes, but it was Miami; they'd warm back up.

God he'd missed her energy.

"It's only a little bit of snow and minus 8 degrees weather. Builds character." His grin is already waiting for the disapproving look over she might give him. "I'd tell you to come back in the winter but I know better." He'd tried it before.

"Foods better down here anyway. Boston is up its own ass just because of history and their baseball. Though I suppose their schools must be alright; taste enough to let a top student like you in."

"Beer's better up there though." The not sorry about it is heavily implied. "Tequila's better here."

She grins at him, the perpetual kid needling authority. She's barely 21, close enough for Raylan to argue her into submission over the throwing of a birthday party when she got home.

Oh. Speaking of which.

"So um, I know you said you've got Willa while I'm here, but does that mean we're also going to have Winona?"

Raylan scoffs at the assertion and shakes his head. "Tequila is better in Mexico," he corrects. "Miami gets all the cocktail awards though and I don't know that Boston has got shit that holds up to some of the things they're throwin' together."

And it wasn't like Raylan was going to be going to bars with her. If she wanted to drink, he'd much rather she do it at home.

He glances over. "I scheduled it durin' a day where the court docket is full. She won't be comin', I promise. Willa's stayin' over for the weekend though, so we won't be seein' Winona until Monday. Hopefully."

Athena had heard actual proper yelling matches between Raylan and Winona before, about Willa, about Athena, about him leaving or coming back. They managed to make it work for Willa's sake but now that Willa was well into being a teenager herself, some of the façade had started to peel away.

"She's excited to see you, you know. Willa is." Athena was the big sister she'd always wanted, and she hung the moon in Willa's eyes.

Athena's pretty sure Winona still hasn't and will never forgive that she accidentally taught a much younger Willa the word cunt, and that it was an accident only because Athena had been calling Winona one at the time.

"Oh good, maybe when I force life updates out of Willa she'll tell me something I can talk to Winona civilly about before then." Athena grins, just as excited to see her little sister. She bounces in her seat again.

"I've got a surprise for you too. By the way. I thought I'd give it to you when we did presents."

She hadn't. Cunt was the strongest word to Southern Culture, the worst thing you could call a person. Willa knowing it much less using it had all of Winona's family shuddering in their graves or their kitchens.

"I doubt it, but you'll let me know if that changes." He was well aware how little wiggle room Athena gave Winona after seeing how his ex-wife really treated him. It made his heart swell, this protective urge from her.

"Oh really? Should I be scared?" He was so happy to see her again. His apartment didn't feel right if it didn't have the girls in it, giggling about something, sweetly plotting something that was surely going to be his demise in one way or another.

She starts to say no, then contemplates that for a moment longer. "Well, you might be. But I don't think you'll be upset."

It takes about two more seconds before she's rolling her eyes at herself and grinning at him and digging an unmarked white envelope out of the side pocket of her backpack. She holds it up.

"It's in here, and before you even say it, no, it's not a winning lottery ticket, or a trip to Aruba, or anything like that, dork."

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

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