[It was the delivery really that tickled Raylan enough to laugh, eyebrows rising with a crooked bob of his head.]
Never have I appreciated normal more.
[But Tim would find Raylan just as studious a student as Jon had and he listened closely, not without an unemphatic ear, snorting under his breath that he tried and failed to hide in his cup. It wasn't funny. (It was.)]
I'll try to send a gift.
How did you get wrapped up in all this? I know Elias is over 200 years old and you said you've been working for Jon for 5 years - how's a guy get this kinda offer?
The thing to keep in mind with all of our bullshit is, really? Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of people don't know it exists. You go along, leading a perfectly normal life, plodding along like all's right in the world - then suddenly your best friend's nicked an evil library book that turns him into a bone-stealing monster. Or a couple of creepy delivery men drop a chained-up coffin in your lap for you to babysit. Or you get attacked by a bloody werewolf, or a vampire. It's just sheer rotten luck, when you do learn the truth. And even then, most people don't learn the full picture. They just... go on with their lives, perfectly traumatised.
[He takes a drink to let that sort of sink in.]
But if you live in England, everyone knows about the Magnus Institute. Officially we're an academic institute dedicated to researching the paranormal. I can't even count how many kids I've helped with their dissertations there.
We're not paranormal investigators. [Bertha's voice is low, the same RP English accent and vaguely dismissive.] Not technically, we just collect it all.
So people come to us with their spooky stories, genuine Twilight Zone or otherwise, and make a statement. Write or dictate the whole thing out in full, and the rest of us investigate it for veracity. I only started working there 'cos I dropped off my CV, and I think Elias could tell I was packing my own horror story. He hired me pretty much on the spot.
[Raylan's eyebrows might as well stay up there, an inch from the attractive wrinkles of his forehead. He already knew everything would be a Lot but that didn't stop each new thing stacked on top from making his eyebrows try to crawl off his face.
He should have brought more guns, really. His brow slowly settled back into a slight consternation, a faint pinch
Looking over at the toucan as she spoke, he managed half a nod before he was looking back at Tim.]
An odd front but I can see where that kind of affiliation and reputation gets a place a standing. Hellva job choice. [He needed another drink, hold on.] As much as I'd love to go back to that ignorance, chasin' shitkickers over the hills of Mexico or something, it's too late for that now. Dangerous too.
How long did you work there before you found out shit was weird? [I.E. How the hell did you take it, Tim.]
Bit over a year, actually, but a few key moments come to mind.
[He takes a drink as well, but the sharp alcohol isn't why he grimaces.]
When we got attacked by a flesh-eating worm hive, we discovered the secret tunnels under the Archives - which is basement level, for the record. Jon went temporarily insane for about six months, and we... discovered one of our co-workers had been replaced by a horrible monster, and I think the same day we found a famous librarian brutally murdered in Jon's office. Unrelated, funnily enough, and not actually Jon's fault.
[He's going to offer an apology to your eyebrows later, Raylan.]
We only found out the Archive itself was spooky magic bullshit when I tried to do a runner on some unpaid leave and nearly died of the bloody vapours. Not long after that, actually, Elias just straight up told us he was an evil murderer holding our lives on a string. Not the whole two-hundred-year old body snatching part, I learned that from Jon when I got here.
['Flesh eating worm hive' got a grimace from Raylan on principle. Jesus. ]
So I'm guessing your Holiday parties aren't the greatest. Jesus.
[That bared repeating and he took and let out a deep breath.]
Hellva disciplinary option... So are you of the same opinion as Jon on what Elias's being here means? Because in my world, we tend to just put these people six feet under but-" He lifted a hand to stop any clarification. "-I get the... impossible position you were all in. Why that wasn't really an option. Now that he is here, it still isn't, really. Not the point of the place.
His expression isn't particularly charitable, but his tone remains fairly even. A bit flat. "If I'm going to be fully honest for a moment? No. Jon and I are used to having clashes of opinions, though. He thinks everyone's worth a fair cop, and that's an admirable thing, especially for someone who's been fucked over as many unique times as he has."
He takes another drink, and Bertha starts shredding a piece of orange skin rather vindictively. "But I'm not as nice as Jon. I don't want Elias here, I don't think he'll do anything but hurt people, and I really rather wish he'd just go back to being dead like he deserves. I have a lot of trouble believing he's capable of positive change."
His expression eases off a little as he looks away. "But then, I'm not his warden. I've got a permanent Inmate, so strictly speaking, Elias is only my problem when he makes himself my problem. Unfortunately, he's already given me his mission statement on how he plans to hurt me for hitting him, so it's likely that won't just go away."
"You let me know if he does anything untoward while I'm watching over him. I'll tell you what I told Jon and what I'll tell Elias when I find him tomorrow, I don't think I've got anything that's going to be life changing for someone on his level, but I do take this position seriously. I'm more a 'severed heads don't plot' kinda guy." If Tim couldn't already tell.
"I don't think its up to me to have an opinion on if he's capable of rehabilitation or not. But it is up to me to keep him out of trouble for the next 30 or so days. Can't say I'm not glad to hear that there's someone to argue against what seems like Jon's best intentions." The guy was genuine and Raylan had believed that Jon believed every word.
"Given all I've heard, Elias deserves more than a punch for what he's done. That bein' said, if you could please try to avoid doin' it again without a current reason. If I'm gonna ask him to play by the rules, then it's also my job to make sure he's protected by them too."
That gets a slight grin out of Tim, grim as it is.
'Severed heads don't plot'. He does like that.
"I got my free hit in, I'm not planning on sinking any more," he says evenly. "But Elias has a way of getting under people's skin. The other week--" ugh, he hates having to say it, and he takes a drink to wash out the bitter taste in his mouth. "--on my birthday, he made cake for everyone. As a deliberate jab at me. He made one my personal favourite, and one was. My dead younger brother's. And when I told him he'd made his point, he said he was just getting started."
He knows how much Elias could use against him. Danny was just easy bait, but if he ever tried something with Sasha, he's not sure all the training in the world could keep him at bay.
"I have multiple people on my case, including my own Inmate, who would go absolutely spare if I got demoted over Elias. So you don't need to worry about me lashing out at him for no reason."
Good, said Raylan's faint nod behind a mouthful of whiskey. "I could use one less thing to worry about." So he'll take it.
"Tells me what his preferred method of retaliation is here. I can see where people are gonna need cooler heads to deal with him. Definitely an asshole move," he said, half wincing sympathetically. "Out of respect, I won't ask how good the cake was."
That didn't count as asking!!
"The Barge must be a breeze compared to your world and Elias's bullshit. How long have you been here?"
"Honestly, he can only get to me so well because I wear my heart--"
Abruptly Bertha stops what she's doing and flaps her wings open, and hopskipjumps onto Tim's arm, just below his shoulder as he grins broadly. "--on my sleeve."
"That's never funny," Bertha comments, but her waddle back to her fruit is extra bouncy.
"Says you. Anyway," he turns his attention back to Raylan. "Elias already knows my biggest weak points. His style was trying to find people's to get a reaction from them. Get in their heads and pull it out of them if he has to. Which will be harder without powers, but not impossible. Just means he has to do it the old fashioned way."
"The 'old fashioned way' sounds a lot like what I'm used to back where I come from. Social jabs and gauged guesses based on what someone lashes out about. That's not somethin' I'm too worried about. Jon... displayed what it... being watched.." Watched felt shallow and oversimplified to the point of stupidity but Raylan lacked any other vocabulary and it was only just a hint of the discomfort it actually gave him, even now that it was gone.
"What that felt like, and I can mind the rest. I was a US Marshal at home, so I feel mostly up on protocols of how to keep as much under my hat as I can. Paranoia comes with the job title. And anything he can pull off the top, I promise I've already run a gamut on." His smile turned a little broader, but it didn't quite warm his eyes any more than they were.
"He's gonna have to dig deep to find somethin' enough to get me on."
He glanced at the Toucan. "Elias didn't... kalima you or somethin', did he?"
Bertha gives her croaking little laugh. "We were never worth the effort. Not with his precious Archivist to sculpt."
"Our disappeared coworker is my big one, my brother's the other," Tim says simply. "Neither of them are secrets between our lot, we just don't talk about them. But Jon's good people, even when he turns the spooks on. If all he did was Look at you, he probably figured that level zero was plenty to convince you."
Ah. A little less literal than Raylan had assumed and he dipped his head for a moment with his nod.
"Sorry." Too much TV or, more accurately, no idea where the metaphorical and physical line lie. "You guys have clearly gone through a lot. But I took what he said seriously. No one's got time for me to work through disbelief; I'd rather get on with the job and prepare myself for the worst. I was taking it with a grain of salt until the... spooks? Either way, I appreciate you both reachin' out. Elias isn't a guy I wanna be handlin' blind."
He took another drink from his glass, regrettably leaving it empty.
"And I thought comin' in at port with Giants and bat people was weird."
Tim and Bertha exchange a glance quickly, and Bertha gives a long suffering sigh, flapping onto Tim's head to reprimand him with her claws briefly, before she flies over to grab the bottle.
"Ahh, port wasn't all bad. Apparently the last one happened right before I arrived, something like five months ago? Six at the end of the month, I think. Something was sending people into murderous rampages." He finishes his own drink, and catches the bottle as Bertha returns with it and tries to wang it into his head. That gets her a kiss on the top of her head from Tim, still, before he tops up their glasses. "Breaches turn us into completely different people, last one was pirates. Floods aren't so bad, at least the Barge stays the same."
Oop- guess they were done drinking, but Raylan's covered surprise returned to Tim, only to snort a little too loudly at the braining attempt that was thwarted, and he manages to hide it behind a fist over his mouth and a soft clearing of his throat.
"So there's a set pattern, of sorts to all the.." Raylan waved his hand at the Barge, the daemons, the whole gig. "I've heard a run down of possibilities and know that it doesn't even scratch the surface; I gotta say, I wouldn't mind being younger again. The rest of it not so much but." Even he had his vanity. Collecting his glass with a quiet 'thanks', he leaned back.
"Gonna have to take it as it comes. Let me apologize ahead of time for any redneck hillbilly shit I might do." A murderous rampage? Raylan was too good at what he did and did it too easily. He didn't want to see what that would be like if it were let go.
"Best way to do it, really," he says cheerfully. "Just assume a quarter of every month is going to be a complete write-off and you'll be set for whatever weirdness happens. Pleasantly surprised if it's easy, even, like this one. One of my very first ones, everyone got turned into either animals or random monster species from people's homeworlds."
"Weirdest PMS I've ever seen, I swear to god. And I was married." Which means he's seen some mood swings. "What happens when someone accidently kills their warden or the other way 'round? I can't imagine there's no consequences for that, right?"
"During a flood? Usually people get a bit of a, uh." There's a slight grimace as he considers it. "I suppose a grace period, depending on if you get hit by whatever’s happening or not. Accidents and self-defence usually get a fair bit of leeway, it's the first degree murders that get people's attention."
He has a brief drink before he remembers. "Oh- warden murdering an inmate? Instant demotion, I'm pretty sure, but it might get circumstantial if it's self-defence. Inmates don't get any real repercussions besides what their warden puts on them. Like how Trevor turns into a ghost if he hits people now, thanks to Zack."
Look at Raylan, still thinking in a more 2D environment than he was in - Everything else that could happen was swept under 'Surely someone is going to kill someone else'. It was almost always the outcome, in his experience.
"I'll keep that in mind.." But his brow had furrowed again. "That's.. a very creative solution. So when it comes to consequences, it's really on us.." Can you hear those gears turning? This is why Raylan liked talking to people with experience and getting information. He already knew he was going to have to do some slight adjustments, mentally speaking.
"You said you've got your own inmate - is that a permeant situation for you? How long have you been on.." On the Case sounded weird, Minding them made the inmates sound like children - Made responsible had more sense, but Raylan abandoned the question with a shake of his head. "Shit, I need a dictionary for the action verbs here," he chuckled, taking another deep swallow of whiskey.
"'Paired' is the generally accepted term. Less demeaning to everyone involved."
"Unless they're being a turd, in which case it's babysitting," she adds dryly.
"We're paired with Daniel Jacobi and Marie," Tim continues, his only concession to the interruption a wider grin. "Raccoon daemon. And a pair of absolute arseholes. We were permanently paired right off the bat, so unfortunately my advice on wardening styles is going to be limited."
"I'll keep that in mind," he said with a grateful nod. He wasn't here to put people down, there were too many different situations to go with such a broad brush here. Raylan chucked at Bertha's addition. "I'm hopin' that's not what I've got with Elias."
At the name, Raylan's head pulled back a fraction with a nod, brow furrowing again. "The Bomb Bug. I met him and Marie in the hallways a few days ago. Spunky. We may have had a conversation about his body count, in full transparency. It didn't end poorly," he admitted with a shrug. "Kinda reminds me of Boyd Crowder. Likes to rob banks and blow shit up."
"Shameless," Tim corrects, "About his whole thing. Working as a corporate espionage demolitionist." He gives a soft hum of amusement. "I get the impression we're actually a bit of an atypical pairing, the way we make it work. We became fast friends when I arrived a month or so after him, and then we got paired. Most of my wardening comes from smacking him when he's being particularly obtuse or non-constructively destructive, as his mate."
"When you get a permanent Inmate you get a file with their life story, by the way," Bertha adds. "Which is why we're giving you updates on Elias instead."
He snorted out a soft laugh through his nose. "Oh good, so we're openly admitting to it."
And it was good. Raylan just hadn't been blunt about it because he was being careful about the shade of everything coming out of his mouth right now. But he hummed; Jacobi hadn't given him that particular detail about how or where he gained the skills to make homemade pipe bombs. Certainly an interesting edge to it all.
"Life story, huh? That'd be sure as hell more helpful than what I started with. Probably should have asked Jon how, exactly, Elias started down this path but the whole end game of it is.." Well, a fucking Lot Tim, honestly. Raylan took a deep breath and refocused on the point. "I appreciate it. The road would be rougher if I was going in blind. I'm a US Marshal, I'm used to having some information. Or room enough to gather it."
Which.. was a harder version of what was happening. Kind of nice to have the information come to him for once.
"I'm glad to hear it sounds like you take this all seriously too. Wedding invites not withstanding," he said, lips curling at the edges.
Tim gestures a thumb between himself and Bertha. "Researchers. I fully understand what a bitch it is trying to build a case from literally nothing. Or even worse, hear-say."
His fingers drum on his glass for a moment as he shifts in his seat, folding a foot over the other knee. "As for Elias, though..." There's a faint grimace on his face, mirrored in Bertha's annoyed little croak. "If the Admiral thinks there's something there to redeem in that black little cavity where a heart should be on him, then that's really the end of the matter. I don't like it, sure as hell don't agree with it, but I can't do anything about it short of keep to myself."
"Fair enough. History ain't exactly clear and people don't understand what needs to be documented until they're gone."
Raylan understood Tim's position. He was still trying to swallow Boyd graduating; it felt unnatural. Wrong, somehow.
"Not saying anythin' either way but.. He hasn't graduated yet. We'll see if the Admiral is right and if Elias is capable of understanding.. I really hate askin' this question but.. I know he's already put.. Martin? in a real life or death situation - did he make an attempt on you too? From what I've heard from you so far, he's been careless with your life but.. Any direct threats?"
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Never have I appreciated normal more.
[But Tim would find Raylan just as studious a student as Jon had and he listened closely, not without an unemphatic ear, snorting under his breath that he tried and failed to hide in his cup. It wasn't funny. (It was.)]
I'll try to send a gift.
How did you get wrapped up in all this? I know Elias is over 200 years old and you said you've been working for Jon for 5 years - how's a guy get this kinda offer?
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[He takes a drink to let that sort of sink in.]
But if you live in England, everyone knows about the Magnus Institute. Officially we're an academic institute dedicated to researching the paranormal. I can't even count how many kids I've helped with their dissertations there.
We're not paranormal investigators. [Bertha's voice is low, the same RP English accent and vaguely dismissive.] Not technically, we just collect it all.
So people come to us with their spooky stories, genuine Twilight Zone or otherwise, and make a statement. Write or dictate the whole thing out in full, and the rest of us investigate it for veracity. I only started working there 'cos I dropped off my CV, and I think Elias could tell I was packing my own horror story. He hired me pretty much on the spot.
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He should have brought more guns, really. His brow slowly settled back into a slight consternation, a faint pinch
Looking over at the toucan as she spoke, he managed half a nod before he was looking back at Tim.]
An odd front but I can see where that kind of affiliation and reputation gets a place a standing. Hellva job choice. [He needed another drink, hold on.] As much as I'd love to go back to that ignorance, chasin' shitkickers over the hills of Mexico or something, it's too late for that now. Dangerous too.
How long did you work there before you found out shit was weird? [I.E. How the hell did you take it, Tim.]
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[He takes a drink as well, but the sharp alcohol isn't why he grimaces.]
When we got attacked by a flesh-eating worm hive, we discovered the secret tunnels under the Archives - which is basement level, for the record. Jon went temporarily insane for about six months, and we... discovered one of our co-workers had been replaced by a horrible monster, and I think the same day we found a famous librarian brutally murdered in Jon's office. Unrelated, funnily enough, and not actually Jon's fault.
[He's going to offer an apology to your eyebrows later, Raylan.]
We only found out the Archive itself was spooky magic bullshit when I tried to do a runner on some unpaid leave and nearly died of the bloody vapours. Not long after that, actually, Elias just straight up told us he was an evil murderer holding our lives on a string. Not the whole two-hundred-year old body snatching part, I learned that from Jon when I got here.
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So I'm guessing your Holiday parties aren't the greatest. Jesus.
[That bared repeating and he took and let out a deep breath.]
Hellva disciplinary option... So are you of the same opinion as Jon on what Elias's being here means? Because in my world, we tend to just put these people six feet under but-" He lifted a hand to stop any clarification. "-I get the... impossible position you were all in. Why that wasn't really an option. Now that he is here, it still isn't, really. Not the point of the place.
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He takes another drink, and Bertha starts shredding a piece of orange skin rather vindictively. "But I'm not as nice as Jon. I don't want Elias here, I don't think he'll do anything but hurt people, and I really rather wish he'd just go back to being dead like he deserves. I have a lot of trouble believing he's capable of positive change."
His expression eases off a little as he looks away. "But then, I'm not his warden. I've got a permanent Inmate, so strictly speaking, Elias is only my problem when he makes himself my problem. Unfortunately, he's already given me his mission statement on how he plans to hurt me for hitting him, so it's likely that won't just go away."
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"I don't think its up to me to have an opinion on if he's capable of rehabilitation or not. But it is up to me to keep him out of trouble for the next 30 or so days. Can't say I'm not glad to hear that there's someone to argue against what seems like Jon's best intentions." The guy was genuine and Raylan had believed that Jon believed every word.
"Given all I've heard, Elias deserves more than a punch for what he's done. That bein' said, if you could please try to avoid doin' it again without a current reason. If I'm gonna ask him to play by the rules, then it's also my job to make sure he's protected by them too."
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'Severed heads don't plot'. He does like that.
"I got my free hit in, I'm not planning on sinking any more," he says evenly. "But Elias has a way of getting under people's skin. The other week--" ugh, he hates having to say it, and he takes a drink to wash out the bitter taste in his mouth. "--on my birthday, he made cake for everyone. As a deliberate jab at me. He made one my personal favourite, and one was. My dead younger brother's. And when I told him he'd made his point, he said he was just getting started."
He knows how much Elias could use against him. Danny was just easy bait, but if he ever tried something with Sasha, he's not sure all the training in the world could keep him at bay.
"I have multiple people on my case, including my own Inmate, who would go absolutely spare if I got demoted over Elias. So you don't need to worry about me lashing out at him for no reason."
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"Tells me what his preferred method of retaliation is here. I can see where people are gonna need cooler heads to deal with him. Definitely an asshole move," he said, half wincing sympathetically. "Out of respect, I won't ask how good the cake was."
That didn't count as asking!!
"The Barge must be a breeze compared to your world and Elias's bullshit. How long have you been here?"
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Abruptly Bertha stops what she's doing and flaps her wings open, and hopskipjumps onto Tim's arm, just below his shoulder as he grins broadly. "--on my sleeve."
"That's never funny," Bertha comments, but her waddle back to her fruit is extra bouncy.
"Says you. Anyway," he turns his attention back to Raylan. "Elias already knows my biggest weak points. His style was trying to find people's to get a reaction from them. Get in their heads and pull it out of them if he has to. Which will be harder without powers, but not impossible. Just means he has to do it the old fashioned way."
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"What that felt like, and I can mind the rest. I was a US Marshal at home, so I feel mostly up on protocols of how to keep as much under my hat as I can. Paranoia comes with the job title. And anything he can pull off the top, I promise I've already run a gamut on." His smile turned a little broader, but it didn't quite warm his eyes any more than they were.
"He's gonna have to dig deep to find somethin' enough to get me on."
He glanced at the Toucan. "Elias didn't... kalima you or somethin', did he?"
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"Our disappeared coworker is my big one, my brother's the other," Tim says simply. "Neither of them are secrets between our lot, we just don't talk about them. But Jon's good people, even when he turns the spooks on. If all he did was Look at you, he probably figured that level zero was plenty to convince you."
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"Sorry." Too much TV or, more accurately, no idea where the metaphorical and physical line lie. "You guys have clearly gone through a lot. But I took what he said seriously. No one's got time for me to work through disbelief; I'd rather get on with the job and prepare myself for the worst. I was taking it with a grain of salt until the... spooks? Either way, I appreciate you both reachin' out. Elias isn't a guy I wanna be handlin' blind."
He took another drink from his glass, regrettably leaving it empty.
"And I thought comin' in at port with Giants and bat people was weird."
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"Ahh, port wasn't all bad. Apparently the last one happened right before I arrived, something like five months ago? Six at the end of the month, I think. Something was sending people into murderous rampages." He finishes his own drink, and catches the bottle as Bertha returns with it and tries to wang it into his head. That gets her a kiss on the top of her head from Tim, still, before he tops up their glasses. "Breaches turn us into completely different people, last one was pirates. Floods aren't so bad, at least the Barge stays the same."
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"So there's a set pattern, of sorts to all the.." Raylan waved his hand at the Barge, the daemons, the whole gig. "I've heard a run down of possibilities and know that it doesn't even scratch the surface; I gotta say, I wouldn't mind being younger again. The rest of it not so much but." Even he had his vanity. Collecting his glass with a quiet 'thanks', he leaned back.
"Gonna have to take it as it comes. Let me apologize ahead of time for any redneck hillbilly shit I might do." A murderous rampage? Raylan was too good at what he did and did it too easily. He didn't want to see what that would be like if it were let go.
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He has a brief drink before he remembers. "Oh- warden murdering an inmate? Instant demotion, I'm pretty sure, but it might get circumstantial if it's self-defence. Inmates don't get any real repercussions besides what their warden puts on them. Like how Trevor turns into a ghost if he hits people now, thanks to Zack."
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"I'll keep that in mind.." But his brow had furrowed again. "That's.. a very creative solution. So when it comes to consequences, it's really on us.." Can you hear those gears turning? This is why Raylan liked talking to people with experience and getting information. He already knew he was going to have to do some slight adjustments, mentally speaking.
"You said you've got your own inmate - is that a permeant situation for you? How long have you been on.." On the Case sounded weird, Minding them made the inmates sound like children - Made responsible had more sense, but Raylan abandoned the question with a shake of his head. "Shit, I need a dictionary for the action verbs here," he chuckled, taking another deep swallow of whiskey.
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"'Paired' is the generally accepted term. Less demeaning to everyone involved."
"Unless they're being a turd, in which case it's babysitting," she adds dryly.
"We're paired with Daniel Jacobi and Marie," Tim continues, his only concession to the interruption a wider grin. "Raccoon daemon. And a pair of absolute arseholes. We were permanently paired right off the bat, so unfortunately my advice on wardening styles is going to be limited."
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At the name, Raylan's head pulled back a fraction with a nod, brow furrowing again. "The Bomb Bug. I met him and Marie in the hallways a few days ago. Spunky. We may have had a conversation about his body count, in full transparency. It didn't end poorly," he admitted with a shrug. "Kinda reminds me of Boyd Crowder. Likes to rob banks and blow shit up."
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"Remorseless?"
"Shameless," Tim corrects, "About his whole thing. Working as a corporate espionage demolitionist." He gives a soft hum of amusement. "I get the impression we're actually a bit of an atypical pairing, the way we make it work. We became fast friends when I arrived a month or so after him, and then we got paired. Most of my wardening comes from smacking him when he's being particularly obtuse or non-constructively destructive, as his mate."
"When you get a permanent Inmate you get a file with their life story, by the way," Bertha adds. "Which is why we're giving you updates on Elias instead."
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And it was good. Raylan just hadn't been blunt about it because he was being careful about the shade of everything coming out of his mouth right now. But he hummed; Jacobi hadn't given him that particular detail about how or where he gained the skills to make homemade pipe bombs. Certainly an interesting edge to it all.
"Life story, huh? That'd be sure as hell more helpful than what I started with. Probably should have asked Jon how, exactly, Elias started down this path but the whole end game of it is.." Well, a fucking Lot Tim, honestly. Raylan took a deep breath and refocused on the point. "I appreciate it. The road would be rougher if I was going in blind. I'm a US Marshal, I'm used to having some information. Or room enough to gather it."
Which.. was a harder version of what was happening. Kind of nice to have the information come to him for once.
"I'm glad to hear it sounds like you take this all seriously too. Wedding invites not withstanding," he said, lips curling at the edges.
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His fingers drum on his glass for a moment as he shifts in his seat, folding a foot over the other knee. "As for Elias, though..." There's a faint grimace on his face, mirrored in Bertha's annoyed little croak. "If the Admiral thinks there's something there to redeem in that black little cavity where a heart should be on him, then that's really the end of the matter. I don't like it, sure as hell don't agree with it, but I can't do anything about it short of keep to myself."
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Raylan understood Tim's position. He was still trying to swallow Boyd graduating; it felt unnatural. Wrong, somehow.
"Not saying anythin' either way but.. He hasn't graduated yet. We'll see if the Admiral is right and if Elias is capable of understanding.. I really hate askin' this question but.. I know he's already put.. Martin? in a real life or death situation - did he make an attempt on you too? From what I've heard from you so far, he's been careless with your life but.. Any direct threats?"
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