TLV: Inbox

[tinstar]

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[tinstar]

[Jedao. A small surprise came with the recognition. Part of him had been hoping to slip by this one without any uncomfortable conversations with the one person who could actually hold him accountable to some of the things he opted to not realize or dig too far into, under the layers of pragmatism.

But he respected the straightforward, no bullshit way it was stated. He took a deep breath before answering.]

I'm not stabbed and I'd rather it be in person. Call me old fashioned.

[deuceoftears]

Does now work?

[He can wait; Roman would take precedence, or a work shift. But if it may as well be now -]

[tinstar]

[Roman had been taken care of days ago; no one knew unless Roman told them. Raylan liked keeping things tight.]

S'good as ever. The Enclosure, the bar, or the deck?

[deuceoftears]

Enclosure.

[It's not perfect, but it's a lot more secure from eavesdroppers than either of the others.]

See you there.

[tinstar]

Be there in ten.

--

Raylan tried to be a punctual man and, with nothing else to do but wait to see what Flint's drop on it all was, made his ETA with a minute and a half to spare. If Jedao wasn't already there, he'd call up the same field he let James and Red swing it out at, nestled into the foot of a mountain without a top, field now full with shin high bluegrass that rustled with the soft, warm, and sweet breeze that the state was lucky enough to get sometimes. The sky had several fluffy clouds floating around in it's perfectly sky blue air, with a large cluster off in the distance.

Dressed up top in only his henley shirt, pushed up at the elbows, the heel of his hand lazily resting on the butt of his gun as he waited the few seconds it would take for Jedao to arrive, Raylan breathed in the faux Kentucky air and readjusted his hat. He was ready for Uncomfortable.

[deuceoftears]

He gives it ten minutes and thirty seconds; Raylan's cabin is lower down than his, and Jedao wants him to have the opportunity to choose the scenario, if he wants - both because it'll be grounding for him, and somewhat revealing. But he also doesn't want the appearance of carelessness that would come with being actually late.

In spite of himself, something unknots in his shoulders as he steps into the scene, tastes the bewildering, indescribable complexity of planetside air, feels a little overwhelmed at the openness and brightness of it all. The void is twice as wide, with no ground beneath, but the black is quiet; this hits different.

"Expecting anyone else?" Jedao asks, as he settles in next to Raylan, eyes flicking to the hand on his gun.

[tinstar]

Raylan doesn't move as he hears the door and stays with his back to the stairs that led down, though he does look over his shoulder once Jedao is most of the way in, studying how the scenescape was taken. Letting Jedao set the tone of how they start, Raylan stayed quiet until he was spoken to, eyes swinging back up to the horizon.

"No. No one else. But if you decide you wanna make this more comfortable-" Raylan swings a lazy finger off to his left, pointing at the small stage set Southern porch, complete with pillars to hold up the awning that covered it, a fan on it's ceiling of pale blue and a couple of chairs with a table between them.

"Figured I'd give you the option. And the view."

[deuceoftears]

Really, he wants to lay down in the grass like a child making a snow angel, but that's not what he's here for.

"Sure. So," he begins, as he starts walking over, "Before I make any assumptions based on James' extremely objective report, I'd like to know your version of what happened."

Jedao is pissed, but his tone is completely calm; even the sarcastic extremely objective isn't delivered with any particular drawl or bite. Just a little bit dry.

[tinstar]

Raylan falls into line with a little hum of acknowledgement at the invitation. This was the second time today he'd dealt with this flavor of calm, careful evenness.

"My version is that I wasn't attacked and I wasn't harmed. Neither was Israel Hands. I got the slightest scratch on my neck and Izzy avoided the idea of a pine box. Everyone's fine."

That counted as an answer, right?

[deuceoftears]

"Well, now I know a lot about what didn't happen."

Jedao lets himself drop into one of the chairs, eyes unblinking as they settle on Raylan again.

"James says you went after him with a bat."

[tinstar]

He settles with Jedao, elbow resting easily on the table as he crosses his legs.

"Do you know the details of what Israel did to Roman?" Hell, Izzy was lucky Raylan didn't do more.

[deuceoftears]

"I'm giving you the opportunity to tell me."

James had something to say about that too, but, well. "Should I track him down instead?"

[tinstar]

"You're welcome to, if you think you can really get anything outta him." Raylan finally looks over, the subtle immovable mountain with his heels already comfortably dug in to how he was used to doing these kinds of things. He wasn't a child being brought to task.

"I'm asking you what you already know so I can confirm and skip over correct things or correct your record. I'm asking what context James gave you when you talked to him. Might as well start at the beginning of it all, right?"

[deuceoftears]

Jedao wouldn't bet against himself. For all that Roman is a cultural enigma to Jedao, he likes to talk.

"I might. But I came to you first. As for James, he's told me precious little, all of it reactionary. I would prefer you not skip things, in fact."

[tinstar]

"Mm," he sounds again, head bobbing slightly as he looks back out over the bluegrass field.

"Did you see Kiryu beatin' Izzy's ass on deck? If not that, I'm sure you heard about Roman's blatant share of the video of it over the network?" He nods again. "That's where it really starts. If Roman had left it there, he'd be fine. But instead, he finds Izzy and shows him the video. Worse than that, he made the apparently murder worthy sin of slinging an arm around Izzy and mockin' him. Izzy taught him a lesson, and then he pitched his steak knife at Roman as he was trying to get away. Cut him open three inches deep. Four inches long. I'd invite you to guess how I know but I'll save the time. Field stitchin' skin is harder than it looks, if I'm honest. Fourteen stitches. Still not sure if I was meant to put them closer together or further apart."

[deuceoftears]

"Tell me what 'taught him a lesson' is in this context, as separate from the stabbing."

He can infer, of course. But he wants specifics, not guesses.

"And Roman wanted to avoid the infirmary because...?"

Possibly it wasn't actually Roman's preference, but it seems like a less inflammatory way to phrase the question.

[tinstar]

Raylan looks over, brows furrowed slightly. Surely Jedao knew how toxic masculinity worked, right? He would phrase it as 'the way some guys are' but that wouldn't be very helpful. Why did he need details.

"As I understand it, he reacted poorly, aggressively, tried to stab Roman's hand and missed. Roman ran, the breech happened and Izzy decided, coming out of that, to hurl his knife like a ninja star and caught him sidelong. He's a pirate, just like James is. They only react to being humiliated or being made powerless one way. Ironically for the same reason Roman didn't want to go to the infirmary - Pride - but I talked him into the infirmary after it all for actual pain killers and a look over. He's fine."

It's fine.

[deuceoftears]

Everything he knows about toxic masculinity he learned from James, or his file, although he's farther along than Jedao One ever got in figuring that anti-Andan sentiment might have at least a few strokes in common with it.

He understands pride, though, and not showing weakness before the enemy, better than even James thinks he does.

"I'm glad to hear that," he says sincerely.

[tinstar]

He had to respect Roman's wishes - forcing the man got him very little traction. Roman shut down, resorted to his bullshit talk and, like an elephant, never forgot that kind of theft of agency. He'd take the rap for it too, if it meant not disassembling his friend and that trust to other people.

"Anyway. I had a.. lapse in temper and judgment. So yes, I took my bat and went to have a conversation with Izzy in a language he'd understand. We had it and he left. James only knew I was up to anything because of our necklaces." He pulled his out of his shirt, the black sitting proud on the bluegrey color of his shirt.

"Transmits a heartbeat and when we're in danger, that beat jacks up. My bat handle ended up under Izzy's jaw, his blade ended at my throat, and everyone's fine. I didn't know James was gonna make a post like that, or that his opinions were that.. particular about it."

[deuceoftears]

"I didn't expect he had run it by you," Jedao says honestly, although he does think it's interesting, and not particularly heartening, to hear Raylan use the exact same phrase that James seemed to be stuck on.

"I'm not mad at you for him being upset, or any of what he's doing, or for being angry on Roman's behalf. But I am mad at you for being dumb about it."

[tinstar]

That was almost sweet, honestly.

"Bet you'd be madder if I'd shot him." Which was to say, Raylan did the bare minimum and not particularly effectively without that kind of action. "But I've already talked to Kiryu. Everythin's fine."

As he keeps saying, like that resolved everything neatly with a bow on top.

"What do you think about James's post, his suggestion about group voices in individual punishment?

[deuceoftears]

Jedao narrows his eyes slightly, staring at Raylan for just a second too long.

“Why don’t you tell me what part you think was a lapse in judgement.”

[tinstar]

He shrugs with his face, a faint downturn of his lips with a bob of his head as he goes back to casually enjoying the view.

"Not talking to Kiryu about his inmate first." Some things were easier to admit than others. "But that's between me and him."

He looks over again, calmly waiting for either the next question or the answer to the one he'd asked.

[deuceoftears]

Jedao gives it another second to see if he's going to say anything else. When Raylan doesn't -

"What was your actual objective in that confrontation?"

[tinstar]

Raylan's head tilts slightly, eyes narrowing slightly himself. He wasn't anywhere near defensive, but he feels he's handled the questions rather well so far. He wasn't an inmate, Jedao wasn't his Warden, nor his superior - why was he being questioned like those things weren't true?

"Why's that important to your uncomfortable conversation?"