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

Raylan looks over with something of a soft bewilderment and shakes his head a little before holstering his weapon.

The 'bug', turned around and showed his face, all bright teeth and spikey hair, looking for all the world like he had been delivered the greatest gift God could provide.

"Well little lady, I'll admit I do find this house very comfortable. I'd give my regards to the good lady that decorated it-"

"Don't." Raylan's voice was heavy and sharp, thick with a promise that Boyd ceded to almost immediately with a broadening of his hands.

"But I was expected to show up now and then. Since your daddy is in lockup. He asked me to.. come by, check on the house every once and a while. I see you've got company though, and I must admit Raylan, I think she's a little young for good taste."

Athena’s glare promptly cranks up to eleven. “My dude, the fact that your brain went there first thing says more about you than I even wanted to know.”

She takes a step forward, even with Raylan now instead of behind. She’s desperately curious about the history behind what that guy said about Helen and Raylan’s response to it—but she realizes with an odd jolt that Helen isn’t there and Raylan hasn’t mentioned her living somewhere else.

That also says more than she likes.

“You’ve done your due diligence, sharkface. Fuck off.”

"Oohoo, Raylan you got yourself a feisty one."

Raylan just lifts his eyebrows a little. "Those hands of yours drift anywhere that ain't wide and empty and we won't have to get feisty."

Boyd just chuckles and ambles forward a few crooked steps that somehow saw him walking straight.

"No offense, but my tastes are, in fact, a little more refined? Then that-" Boyd continues, hands dropping to hook his thumbs in his pockets. It was the opposite of what Raylan had said but the men knew themselves well enough to know it was basically the same thing. The message was 'Don't reach for a gun'. "-And I would surely like to, as you so eloquently stated, 'fuck off' but since my friend here standin' beside you has somethin' he should probably hear, I'm gonna haveta politely decline. If you feel like callin' off your new attack pup, Raylan?"

Raylan, as evident by the shift of his weight, did not feel like doing any such thing.

Athena smirks, just a little. Then hums a low note quiet enough that only Raylan or someone standing as close as he is would be able to hear it.

The screen door swings forward and hits Boyd in the face.

Raylan recognizes that hum, the one that had preceded the worlds most suburban shrapnel - coffee mugs - and he smirks and lets her do whatever she wanted. Boyd deserved it on general principal and their psudo-friendship didn't include warning about Gifted people. Not when he was sure that Athena wouldn't kill him.

Boyd had no idea it was coming. His eyes widen for the half second it takes the door to be slammed into his face. Immediately, he was grateful as hell that it was the screen door and not the actual door. It didn't hurt, but it did confuse the ever living sense out of him.

"What the hell?!" He stumbled back a few feet and stared at Athena like she'd grown a third head.

Athena might have missed it, but Raylan saw the shift in Boyd's shoulders and in a blink, his gun was out of his holster.

"Better not."

Boyd froze for a half second, hand lowering back down.

"What the hell is she, Raylan?"

"A very talented teenager who I'm happy to continue to let humiliate you if you don't do as she asks."

"Y'all know that this is the front door, right?"

Athena takes a nervous step back as soon as Raylan's gun comes out, eyes wide. It's one thing to do a little subtle manipulation as an easy prank. She didn't think this guy would connect her smugness to the abnormal movement of the door.

Which is when it clicks for her who this has to be.

"Holy fuck, you're the guy." Her voice comes out tiny. She clears her throat, straightens up a little, very clearly trying to steel herself in that particular way that teenagers think is subtle and definitely isn't.

She still stays behind Raylan this time.

Boyd and Raylan both knew this house too well. Too many years of sitting on the porch or in the screened back dealing with Arlo - That screen door didn't just swing shut unless there was some gust of wind and Boyd hadn't felt any such thing. He didn't know how it was possible, but she was the only new variable.

"The guy?" Boyd asks, completely confused.

Raylan shifts his weight to the side to cover Athena as she postures, unconsciously trying to protect her from her proceived threat.

"Meet Boyd Crowder. Fastest talkin' crime lord in Harlan these days. He's not gonna hurt you. Not in front of me."

Athena scowls at Boyd from around the protective barrier of Raylan's... self. This is the guy. This is the guy keeping Raylan from being with his daughter, this is the guy dangerous enough, wound up with Raylan's life enough to be worth staying to sort out.

"Crowder is a stupid last name," is what she says.

"You're the one that's holdin' the gun," Boyd points out reasonably.

"I'm the one with the badge too," Raylan retorts You wanna talk to me, fine but you don't do it by breakin' into my house, I don't care how often Arlo let you in."

"Crowder is a fine name, by the way," he continues as he starts walking forwards. Raylan moves back with him, left hand carefully steering Athena in time to keep her where she was behind his shoulder.

"Shame it's got a rap sheet about as long as the county attached to it, huh. Shit Boyd, you coulda been a highflyin' accountant or something," Raylan clucks.

"Best not let anyone else find out what you got with you, Raylan, whatever she is."

"Thanks for the warning. Now get off my porch."

Unfortunately for Boyd—unfortunately for all of them, really—the Crowder has touched a nerve. It’s only Raylan’s corralling her that keeps Athena behind him.

“I’m a whoever not a whatever you viagra-sucking limpdick wannabe untrimmed hedge.”

A sound behind them, back toward the driveway, jerks her attention in that direction. There’s another guy getting out of a new vehicle—another two guys, both of them giving off a very hired thug vibe. One of them has a shotgun. Instinctively, Athena reaches out and grabs a handful of Raylan’s flannel.

Edited 2022-02-12 21:21 (UTC)

Raylan wants to remind Athena where they are. But even if he did, he knew it wouldn't be taken the way he means it to. She's too young to understand that some things just aren't worth the battle or argument and no amount of either would change things in Harlan. But that whole idea was set onto the back burner at the sounds of a vehicle driving up, the sounds to two doors opening and closing. The telltale sound of a shotgun shell being loaded was what craned Raylan's neck around as he pushed them back and to the side, aiming to get the wide fields behind them rather than the men approaching.

"Boyd, what the hell?"

"I told you I needed to talk to ya, Raylan. You shoulda listened."

Raylan's face turns dangerous, eyes darkening to match the low warning in his voice.

"And you, lil' lady," Boyd continued. "I dunno how you did what you did. But you're gonna haveta be slicker than that for me to not peg you as somethin'. I dunno what yet." He wags a finger at her. "But I'll find out."

For a second, she's scared. For a second she's absolutely terrified.

Then, suddenly, she's not.

She's very, very angry.

"I don't fucking think so," Athena hisses. She steps around Raylan, taking in the locations of the two men approaching and Boyd's stupid position with his stupid face on the stupid porch.

And then she sings, with a deep-throated, belted out passion that Raylan hasn't heard from her before. She's never been this angry around him before. This angry with a familiar weapon at her fingertips.

"Young blood, run like a river
Young blood, never get chained
Young blood, heaven need a sinner
You can't raise hell with a saint
Young blood, came to start a riot
Don't care what your old man say
Young blood, heaven hate a sinner
But we gonna raise hell anyway."

It's instant chaos. The vehicles Boyd and his goons came in start to rust immediately, brown-red patches spidering out and thickening all over, connecting and spreading as the tires burst and the seats inside start to rot.

The shotgun suffers much the same fate, as do the weapons their antagonists yank out of hiding almost the moment they have them in hand.

Then their belt buckles go. Then the rest of the metal fastenings on whatever they're wearing. Their boots.

And then the cloth itself, and she's not sorry, not one fucking bit.

Not a thing that Raylan owns sees a scratch.

Raylan tries to stop her for a half second, but the way she tears away from his grasp was enough to make him take pause. Athena was different in that she could defend herself in ways that didn't involve needing a firearm or, really, worrying too much about one in front of her. It didn't stop his stomach from dropping out as she surged ahead or as she started singing.

He'd seen her flex her Gift, but he hadn't seen her flex it like this. In fact, he doesn't think he's ever heard her so angry, or sing so.. wholeheartedly.

Raylan can only stand there dumbly, watching as Boyd's jewelry, the pocket watch in his waistcoat, the belt buckle at his waist rusting away, but he manages an amazed huff of a half laugh as Boyd's clothes start to vanish.

"What the hell?!?" Boyd exclaims, franticly pressing hands over everything in a failed attempt to keep them there. When he looks back up, there's half a note of terror in his eyes. "How-"

"I suggest y'all start runnin'," Raylan darkly supplies from over Athena's shoulders. "I'd hate to see what she can do once you're in the nude, huh?"

Boyd wasn't going to take that advice lightly and backed up a few steps before scrambling off the porch with a few frantic gestures at his men. "RUN, GO GO GO."

Raylan steps past Athena and off the porch to watch, head tilting to the side as his features lift in amusement. "Never thought I'd be so happy to see a naked ass in my life," he says quietly before looking over at Athena.

"Good job. You okay?"

Athena lets go of the Gift, finishing the last notes of the chorus without using her abilities before she stops singing.

Then she sits down on the porch steps, staring after the retreating, naked guys who were clearly going to hurt Raylan whether he listened to them or not.

"What?" She feels slightly dazed when she looks at him. Shakes herself out of it, parses what he said. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Uh... I think I lost my temper."

Edited 2022-02-20 02:02 (UTC)

There was no doubt in Raylan's mind that they'd come back. He'd have to hunt down Boyd tomorrow before the man could get too much fanatic ground underneath him; he could almost hear the scriptures about dealing with the devil now.

Raylan slides his piece back into his holster and moves to sit beside her with a heavy sigh, elbows propped on his knees as he looks over at her.

"You've gotta be careful with those. Tempers." He should know. "But you didn't harm 'em and that's what's important... Sure as hell a step up from blowin' up all the mugs in the house, huh." His lips curl softly, trying to let her know that he's not mad at her or scared of her, though maybe a reasonable person might be. He'd seen too much with her to be either of those things.

She’s scared to look at him, even though his tone hasn’t changed.

Then he makes the crack about the mugs and it surprises her into looking up. Seeing his expression without judgement, his tiny smile.

Athena shifts enough to press her face against his shoulder and grab on to him loosely with both hands.

“Guess I just. Got fucking sick of being scared,” she mumbles.

Edited 2022-02-20 18:17 (UTC)

With a little shift, Raylan lifted his arm, making room for her to tuck right under it so he could hug her properly if she would take it.

"One of these days, we're gonna find you a place where you can work on bein' sick of being disgustingly happy. I'm sorry that it won't be here.. No one oughta be raised in Harlan so.. I'll try to make your stay here as short as possible, I promise."

That was the only promise that he could make and keep. Keeping his promises to Athena were a paramount importance.

She settles against him, comforted by how solid and calm he is.

"Those guys are totally coming back, huh."

"They might, but not tonight," he assures softly with a short rub of his hand on her shoulder. "And if they come back tomorrow or the day after, we'll be ready for them. They ain't gonna rile up a mob, if that's something that you worry about. There aren't enough people that would believe that. Not here."

That does relax her a little bit, the fact that people won't mob up with Boyd and storm Raylan's house.

She chews her lip for a second, catching a bit of loose skin in her teeth and wincing. "Do you think he'll want to kill me or catch me more?"

"Oh catch, definitely. Boyd likes a show, and with everyone tellin' him that he's crazy with what he'll say, he'll look to turn it into a circus act, see if he can't pull in a profit off you before he comes around to killin' anyone."

Raylan looks down at her. He'd been knowing and chasing Boyd for too many years to not know what the man was going to do next. "I'm not gonna let that happen either, Athena. Not the catchin' or anything else. You're not somethin' to be shoved into a room and stared at like someone's at the zoo."

She scowls. "If he thinks he can control me for shit he has another thing coming."

The scowl fades a little as Raylan talks. She looks up at him sidelong, something really starting to register for the first time.

"I'm the only one with the Gift here," Athena says quietly. There's shock in her tone. A fresh new wave for a fresh new reason. "I'm literally the only person in the world with the Gift. Fuck."

Raylan huffed a smile. Boyd certainty did have another thing coming if he thought Athena would come quietly in the night or something and she'd done plenty tonight to prove it. But his expression sobered as she stared at him and even more as she came around to a conclusion he already knew.

He nods softly. "Unless Jeff shows up.. Yeah, darlin'. You are." His hand tightened on her. "At least as far as the wide world knows. I'm so sorry, 'Thena. You shouldn't have been dropped here.. Not.. not here." He took a deep breath, caving to the impulse to press a kiss into her hair.

"You're not alone. I know I'm.. You're not alone."

She presses her face against him, the way she would have in Mathias. The was she would if he were Jeff. Except he's not, he's Raylan, and she loves him, but a horrible, selfish part of her wishes that it was Jeff sitting with her right now instead.

"I'd rather be with you than someone else, if I have to be somewhere where no one knows about the Gift," she mumbles.

I know I'm not Jeff. He couldn't say it out loud, not fully, but he couldn't blame her if that's how she felt. Raylan had already stolen his face, as it were.

His other arm came around to hug her properly.

"I'm so sorry, honey. Maybe I'm wrong and they're.. just not Out yet. Maybe they think they're the only one too. Don't give up that hope... Why.. why don't we get the groceries in and get settled for the night, huh? I know it's weird to.. go back to the evenin' like nothin' happened but we can't linger in this moment too long. Ain't healthy to stop movin' like that."

He rubs his thumb across her shoulder. "It'll be alright. Somehow."

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