Text Overflow: It's just a flesh wound

[tinstar]

[Continued from: here]

[Raylan took advantage of having several hours to bring his hotel room back into something resembling tidiness, as well as taking a shower and grabbing a nap - Sleep wasn't something anyone got a lot of around Malcolm Whitly, but he'd long learned how to live and work on smaller amounts of sleep.

Dressed but with his button up open and no shoes on his feet, Raylan answered the door with a pull of a smile.] Managed to make it one piece I see. C'mon in. [ He shut the door behind him as he continued.] Flight okay?

Comments

[abrightboy]

[Malcolm sat in the front seat of the car, fishing through the shopping bag on the floor in front of him, holding up soup cans and comparing them.]

All the labels look exactly the same. You'd think they'd put a big picture of a chicken or a mushroom or whatever so people can tell them apart easily.

[It was possible he'd never been in a standard economy grocery store.]

[tinstar]

[He smirked as they rolled back out onto the road.]

And give people even more of an excuse not to read? Trust me, it's better this way. Gives 'em a reason to use what's between their ears.

[Raylan glanced at Malcolm as he drove.]

When was the last time you were in a grocery store?

[abrightboy]

[He looked over.]

I used to go to Dean and DeLuca in DC every week. [He put the soup back in the bag.] They did not have soups in all the same tin. [Statement of fact; he wasn't suggesting the soups in the matching tins were a bad thing.] Actually, the only soups they sold 'pre-made' were these clear sleeves of premium dried ingredients and you just... poured it all in water and simmered it until it was ready. They tied them up in cellophane, so you could see what they were made of.

[tinstar]

Sleeves? Definitely not a regular store. I'll take that as never. I'm glad you got to eat well but.. This is how the rest of us live and eat. Peaches and Soup come in the same functional type of can.

[He smiled crookedly.]

So don't go peeling off any labels, otherwise you'll be having Surprise for supper.

[They rolled into the hardware parking lot and Raylan threw the car into park.]

Stay here. I won't be but a minute. Just gotta grab a couple things.

[abrightboy]

[Malcolm's attention snapped up from considering the groceries.]

...You want me to wait in the car?

[He came down here to escape waiting in the car, Raylan.]

[tinstar]

[He bobbed his head to the side.]

Well, if you're that against surprises, it's an eyehook for your restraints. I figured I could install it when we get to Arlo's so that I don't have to worry about if you're going to accidentally break something. You're welcome to come in, but it's going to be a quick trip.

[He and his long legs made short work of store aisles.]

[abrightboy]

[Malcolm scrambled out of the car before Raylan could change his mind. He hurried along beside Raylan, glancing around, taking in the contents of each aisle.]

I'm used to improvising with these things when I travel. You're going to install them?

[tinstar]

Why not, [he lead them confidently towards the fastener asile.] It's a heavy duty screw in a main stud and it'll make both our lives easier. Anyone who buys the place can uninstall it if they need too.

[Raylan glanced at Malcolm with a crook of his smile as he fished a thick hook off a rail.]

I've got a drill there.

[abrightboy]

[When they got there, Malcolm picked up a screw, put it down, then picked up another, then put it down too.]

How big does it need to be?

[tinstar]

I don't know - You've got more experience than I do but I figure the biggest they sell? I mean, I didn't think you could do that much when I first laid eyes on you but..

[Malcolm had proven that quickly. 'But' Raylan wanted to keep him safe and he knew that he wasn't going to fix or solve any of Malcolm's deeper problems. That was okay.]

What do you think?

[abrightboy]

[He grinned.] But then I almost knocked you down the stairs? [He examined the screws.] Well a wall stud is... what? Three and a half inches deep? So probably.... three inches?

[tinstar]

I think you mean 'And then you had to stop me from throwing myself down the stairs.' [He smirked and traded the screw in his hand for the three inch screw.]

I'm hoping that some hard manual labor will help but just in case..

[Raylan's smile pulled into a grin as he led them back towards the counter to check out for all of $3.49. Once they were back in the car and on the road again, Raylan continued.]

I got a pressure washer, like you suggested, for the house.

[abrightboy]

[Malcolm looked undeniably pleased by that.]

Really? It's going to look so good!

[tinstar]

Well, we'll see if the wood stands up to it, [ he admitted. ] It's 3 generations deep, with many refurbishings.

Once I get it sold off, I can look in Miami for a house with a view. [That was it, that was his grand plans: get a decent house near a beach and work until he can't anymore.]

You got any plans past what you're doing now?

[abrightboy]

I mostly do what I'm doing now to avoid thinking about things like that. [Also a confession.] I don't know. I don't really have... plans. I just look for the next case.

[tinstar]

Really? [ He frowned gently as he eyed the road. ]

You don't have any dreams of what could be? What you'd like your life to be like?

[abrightboy]

This was all I wanted to do with my life. Find killers. Save lives.

[tinstar]

And the quiet moments? You can't find killers 24/7. You have to have some kind of down time.. It can't always be watching your sister on TV, right?

[abrightboy]

I try not to have quiet moments. Then I end up inside my own head and it's not a good place.

[tinstar]

[Raylan glanced at him as he could while he drove. There was nothing but quiet at Arlo's.]

I can't promise we'll banish all the quiet moments out there but maybe we can keep you and that brain busy enough to not notice any lapse.

[abrightboy]

[He looked at Raylan brightly.]

I've never lived in the countryside. My mother used to take us to the Hamptons. I don't think that counts. And I worked a few cases in rural jurisdictions with the FBI, but I didn't have time to, you know. Take it in.

[tinstar]

[That made him chuckle.]

It most certainly does not. And I don't count what you got to see last time you were here as enough time to take anything in or to enjoy the fact that there's not another living soul for near a half mile around the house. The only good thing about the place, in my opinion.

[Despite him living in cities like Miami and Lexington, he had to admit he liked the raw space of his family home.]

[abrightboy]

[Malcolm smiled.]

I'm always excited about new experiences. What do you do there when you're by yourself?

[tinstar]

I try to be as little as possible, but there's almost always something to do. Idle hands are the Devil's tool after all. When I was younger, I'd go out and raise hell, but now.. [Raylan shrugged one shoulder.]

Putter around. Work on things here and there, and drink. Not much else to do. Though I can't say it does much for my head, but that's why I've got an end goal. Something to aim myself towards.

[He was a stewing kind of man and when there was a seed in his caw, no amount of labour or business could stop that stew from simmering. Selling the house was a short goalpost, and easier to keep his eye on than anything else in his life.]

[abrightboy]

[Malcolm looked over at him, like he was studying his face in profile.]

What kind of hell did you raise?