Just a miner flashback

[tinstar]

Who: Raylan and whoever runs into him
What: Getting settled and poking around
When: Early May
Where: Around Milton, it's outskirts, the Milton Mine Entrance

Content Warnings: Possible mentions of claustrophobia, mine death, illness; Drinking

A Chilly welcome

Raylan had spent his first night in the community hall, though sleep wasn't something that he saw much off, dozing lightly under his Stetson for an hour or two at one point to give everyone a break from him eyeballing them. The time was spent figuring - wrapping his head around all the metaphorical doors that had been opened, 'what it all meant', planning for the next day and not a single thought about his ex-wife. The latter of which was a blessing and the amount of fat he'd been given to chew kept the Jim Beam bottle that sat heavy in his jacket closed. He had a feeling whiskey was going to be in short supply.

► In Milton

A very practical minded man, as soon as the sun was up Raylan and his hat were out of the door, collar turned up to fight against wind on his neck. He knew that not everyone lived in the community hall and no offense to dorm rooms but he was well past collage dorm room age. He was a man who needed his own space, his own door. So he set out onto the small town and studied what he could. It was almost heartening to see a clothing store, and it was the first place he poked his head into, followed very shortly after by the hunting supply store. He was sure that most of the stock had been raided, but there was no harm in seeing what they had and he could be found picking through what was left. It garnered him a bag at least, to store the few long sleeve shirts and one heavy jacket to wear instead of the denim he was currently sporting. Denim wasn't great at beating back the cold.

But once he had a bag of goods, he set out to see if he could find a house that could keep him out of the cold. Then he could worry about if he was going to eat today. It was strange to have to think about it in this way, but Raylan was taking things one step at a time. Stabilize himself, see what he could see, meet who he could and take the general social temperatures. What kind of mess had he found himself in?

Eventually, he finds himself on Greene Street and into a humble little house, one that seemed relatively untouched, and decides to claim it as his own. Though he didn't know if there was a way to do that beyond just inhabiting the place. He'd figure that out too.

► Milton Mines

Raylan had been told where Lakeside was and how to get to it but the obstacle that needed to get worked through was the mines. The Marshal might not look like it, clean, unstained by the coal dust that permeated his blood and history, but he'd spent near a year down in a mine and he wasn't eager to get back in one. He wasn't a man that was scared by much - no gunslinger or brutal terrorist ever get him feeling fear, but mines were different. He knew what could happen, regardless of if it was being actively mined or not. He could almost still feel the rush of carbon monoxide that rushed after the men when the collapse happen, could still almost hear the cries of surprise and terror. He'd worked so hard to get away from mines, to get away from the life that came with living by them, living with them, and yet here he was all over again.

19 and desperate to get out of Harlan. Desperate to be something more.

Despite the wind kicking up, he couldn't bring himself to leave, stuck somewhere in his head as he stares into the dark depths. No matter what happened, he knew he'd eventually be back in that pit, in that darkness.

► Wildcard

Raylan's priority was getting himself settled and as comfortable as one could manage in a place like this, spending a few days cleaning the small cabin he's claimed and hunting around for some basic tools. Nails, boards, a handsaw. Not only did it give him a chance to look around a bit more, but it gave him time to think and time to stand in front of the message board, reading over everyone's various pinned up pieces of paper. He knows he should be less happy about the lack of cell signal, the lack of cell really, but it was one tiny relief that he'd enjoy. Until he didn't enjoy it anymore, anyway.

[You can find Raylan ambling around Milton or at the Community Hall! Feel free to make your own starter if you like!]

Comments

mines-ish!

[heckofashot]

[ When the expedition had initially set out for the mines, Maccready hung back — he'd just arrived, was still getting used to things and figured he'd simply be getting in the way. Since everyone's return, he's heard talk of what they found on the other side; the lakeside cabins, the dam — none of it really interests him necessarily, but it would be good to at least head that way, make sure he knows where everything is and such. Though, travelling on his own isn't hugely appealing, it's why he's made it to the entrance, hoping to tag along with someone who might be making the trek themselves.

There is another figure lingering around, but Maccready can't tell if he's coming or going. As he gets closer, it becomes clear that the man seems… uneasy, maybe? Perhaps he doesn't like the idea of heading through the mines alone, either, or it could be something else entirely. He approaches, ensuring to call out so as not to startle the stranger. ]

You're one of the new arrivals?

[tinstar]

[Raylan had grown up in an environment similar to this and his ears were naturally tilted towards the world around him, so he heard the steps and glances over. He lifts his chin in a little bob of greeting, something he was hoping was as universal a kind of recognition as he thought it was.]

I am. [He turns away from the mines to face the guy properly, walking towards him a few feet. His tone was casual and friendly to match the easy amble of his lanky form.]

Tryin' to decide how I feel about the mines. You been?

[heckofashot]

[ When he turns to face Maccready, he'll be met with someone blandly average; short in stature, dressed mostly in faded greens and browns, with a backpack and a rifle over his shoulder. He certainly looks the part for being out in the woods, and nods in response to the tilt of Raylan's chin, hand raising just slightly in a greeting of his own. ]

Ah, not yet, no… [ Every time he's thought about making the trip, his mind conjures up tunnels; buried deep underground, all of them looking identical and difficult to navigate in times of crisis. He grew up underground, but caves and mines are different beasts. ] I think I might prefer caves to mines.

[ A short laugh, breath clouding around him as it hits the cold air. Coming to a stop, he adjusts his backpack, rolls his shoulders, and glances ahead at the main entrance to the mines. ]

This is about as far as I've come.

[tinstar]

I'd pass on both if I had a choice. [An honest response but given with that same easy levity. Nothing against caves but they're giant holes in the earth and that's just as troublesome.]

Might be a smarter choice, not goin' any further. Doesn't much look like they're in great repair.

I only just arrived. You been here long? [Could be that the man just hadn't gotten around to biting that bullet - no shame in that.]

In Milton

[desperate_times_right]

Chloe’s been in Lakeside for a while, hoping to wait out whatever puppy crush Lalo might have developed after the Green Fog Incident. She's back in Milton now though, having promised to search for a seed bank that might have been at the hall at one point.

She's heading to her home on Greene Street to unpack her duffel when she notices a guy she hasn't seen before at a house just down from the one she knows now belongs to Louis. Shit. She’d picked this street because it had seemed vacant and now there are guys every fucking where.

Chloe turns away from her own house and approaches. “Hey. New in town?”

[tinstar]

Ironically, Raylan had picked this street for a similar reason. Space was important and with as little as they had in terms of creature comforts, privacy took a slot somewhere up on the top billing of importance. He didn't know how far trust was or could be extended here and he wasn't about to start assuming the best.

This also wasn't the south. He understood how the smile and wave at anyone who so much as made eye contact was a LOT so when he saw Chloe across the way, he didn't pause in the work of nailing a piece of wood back onto the front façade but kept half an eye on where she was heading. As she gets within shouting distance, he straightens, pulls the nail he was holding between his teeth out and gives her an easy, crooked, friendly type smile.

"I am. Came in with the last set." He supposes that's the correct way to talk about it. "Raylan Givens. Guess we're somethin' like neighbors now." He sets the hammer and nail down, dusting his hands as he walks down the short couple of stairs that would put him on her level to meet her part way.

"Pleasure to meet you," he says, offering a long fingered hand, a silver horseshoe ring on his ring finger.

[desperate_times_right]

Chloe does have to smile a little at the accent - everyone here from the American South seems to be picking houses on that side of the street - as she reaches out to shake his hand. Her own are cracked around the cuticles and calloused from climbing.

“Chloe Frazer. Bit of a rude awakening, isn't it? Especially with this fog, it was not this cold when I got here.”

[tinstar]

He pumps her hand twice as she speaks, firm and sure without being a grip and pulls back, respectful of her space. Generally, gentlemen tried to ensure that ladies felt comfortable. It was just polite.

"Oh yeah? Maybe that means it'll warm up again. Could do without the fog too but I suppose the complaints box is pretty full at this point. You a long timer or are you fresh off the the Polar Express to hell?"

mines!

[mordue]

Claudia is on her way back from Lakeside when she spots him. The trip to Lakeside was all but useless; all she knows of it is that it's there, the shape and size of it. There's nothing advantageous for her out there – Lestat may be in Milton, but so is Louis, and she has no intention of leaving Louis alone just to get away from Lestat. Her feet are sore; the boots she arrived with are sturdy enough but they weren't made for treks like this, and to top it all off, it still seems like daylight outside.

She stops a little far back, leaning against the mine's wall and squinting ahead as far as she can. She's tired and irritable and she wants to spit right at the sun for trapping her here still. It's hard to even tell how long she'll have to wait until it's safe to leave this grim and sprawling cave. She hugs the shadows for as long as possible, debating whether or not to make herself known to him. Eventually she decides to play a little dumb – she steals back a little way, and then walks forward again, this time making sure her footfalls are loud enough to catch his attention. Conveniently, she stops before the sunlight can touch her once again. "Oh," she says, like she's only just noticed him. "Hello. Are you goin' to Lakeside?"

[tinstar]

His eyes and ears were sharp and absolutely no match for the supernatural skill of Claudia's general existence. So he was oblivious to her being there, to him being watched, in a way he would have hated if he realized. All he sees is a young girl - ten or eleven if he had to guess - standing in one of the worst places for a child to be. Something that's more than a little concerning.

He frowns, head tilting a little as he takes a few steps forward. She didn't look hurt or in any distress, but something was keeping her in there. Was there something in the woods he wasn't sensing? He doesn't look away.

"Hello. Not sure yet. Just got into town and that mine doesn't look like anyone's taken care of it in a while. Dangerous place you're standin' in." His tone was very conversational with no sense of an Adult tryin' to tell her what to do, just a nice man standing at the mouth of another pit.

"My name's Raylan. Can I ask what yours is?"

[mordue]

His tone might be conversational, but Claudia isn't letting her guard down so quickly nonetheless. She's spent so long in this particular body that she knows it doesn't take long before the tone shifts, before there's righteousness and misplaced superiority. It's just a matter of when the worm turns.

"Claudia," she says, slipping her hands into the fur-lined pockets of her coat. It's a little too fashionable to be truly utilitarian, but it's better than nothing and it's keeping her warm. "I just got back from there. Lakeside, I mean. Wasn't much worth seein'."

[tinstar]

Fancier a jacket then one would expect, though Raylan would bet dollars to donuts that if she stood out in the light, he'd find her dirty with coal dust. It got on everything. Her accent put her in the South. Louisiana maybe? He'd have to hear more.

"Oh? Was thinkin' of goin' there myself. You travel all the way there and back alone? How long'd that take ya?"

There were rules and best practices for how to handle people. Don't press. Don't command unless you had to. Make them feel comfortable.

Milton mines

[salamanca]

As luck would have it, a person emerges from the pit, covered in soot and grime, the barest hint of a limp as he slightly drags a foot. Lalo notices the man, and he starts to offer and a wave and cheerful, "Hello!" but the word dies on his lips at the expression on the other man's face. The smile dies from Lalo's countenance, replaced by a furrowed brow.

Lalo makes the trip from Milton to Lakeside and back with more frequency than most, although he still calls Milton home. His wanderlust needs satiating, and his masculinity needs to be proven, if only to himself, right now. Maybe there's a level of stir craziness to it, too. Or passive suicidality, even.

This place ruins people.

But now he's out! In the bright crisp air of Milton, not the stuffy staleness of the mines.

Concerned: "Are you okay?"

[tinstar]

Raylan's expression takes a half a heartbeat to long to break but it does, drawing the man coming out into focus as he comes back to the here and now. The tension in his brow eases, lips taking on a friendly little crook of acknowledgement as he and his pooped collar wool coat tried to look as unimposing as possible. He knew how his face could get.

Something that was made clear by the man's following question.

"Little bit of woolgatherin' that I got lost in, I suppose but I'm fine, thank you." The man had a limp but seems to be cheery about his reemergence back onto the surface, something that boded well against his hesitation about the state of the mine supports.

"You look alright for havin' just gotten through some mines, I should be askin' you that."

[salamanca]

The words 'I suppose' are doing a lot of heavy lifting there, but Lalo doesn't pry.

"Me? Ah, well — " He glances down at his foot, and laughs at himself. "Oh, this? Nah, nah! It's not from the mines. If you wanna know, I dropped a rock on it. On accident." He laughs at himself, genuinely. His smile reaches all the way up to his eyes for the first time.

"No, no. I'm all right. Woman troubles, you feel me?" A shrug. "We're all running from something. Or somebody."

He looks back over his shoulder. "But if it's your first time going in, you shouldn't go alone. I've made the trip a few times, so I'm accustomed. But the bridge is no joke! You'll be safer with a spotter."

[tinstar]

"Well that's somethin'," Raylan says with a nod at the explanation of the limp. He wasn't going to push at all, a man's business was his own, but it was reassuring nonetheless.

"Don't seem much like there's a lotta place to run-" Or enough people to make it worth running,"-but I guess that depends on how easy the mines are to get through." Not too hard, evidently. It made him feel better.

"I don't plan on goin' just yet. Need to get my head around this side of 'em first, and you're right, havin' someone with me is the smart way to handle it. How bad a shape is the bridge in?" He would remember that he hadn't yet introduced himself in a second.

Mines

[guidemyway]

Ruby had been making the trek from Lakeside back over to Milton. Her leg was finally feeling strong enough that she could break off into runs and such with only a bit of lingering pain. Which she was grateful for, being stuck out of commission had been a drag.

She turns a corner and Raylan standing there. Despite her age she seemed to recognize the expression on his face.

"Uh. Hey. You holding up okay there, bud?"

[tinstar]

Her almost sudden presence snaps Raylan out of his thoughts, the wide eyed flash of surprise falling into a well practiced mask of friendly casual, a polite smile complimenting the almost half moon squint of his eyes. Normally he was better about being aware of his surroundings but he'd slipped and fallen into woolgathering. Not something he thought was a surprising thing, considering his freshness into this madness.

"Fine, thank you. Just got a little off and away with myself I guess. You, uh, comin' from Lakeside I take it? How's the walk?"

She didn't look any worse for the travel, though coming out of a mine dirty is a requirement of stepping inside one. Maybe this mine didn't go too deep - maybe it was more horizontal than not. That'd be a boon.

Sorry for delay! It's been a month.

[guidemyway]

The shift in his demeanor is noticeable but not exactly unexpected. Showing up in this place could be a lot to adjust to, and Ruby wasn't about to judge anyone for that.

"Glad to hear it. But- I guess just be careful about it all the same. This place can be a little dangerous even if you have your wits about you." Just the honest truth and she'd hate for something bad to happen to anyone here, really.

"Not bad. The bridge across is still rickety beyond belief but it's safe an sturdy enough to cross."

Milton

[solitarysoul]

Most of the good things have been looted out of the hunting store long ago, but Levi still goes through it every month or so. Maybe he missed something, or maybe some person or animal moved things around and uncovered something. But mostly it was force of habit. This time, the boy in the oversized coat with the rifle on his back finds Raylan.

"O-oh, I-I-I didn't know anyone was here." Did he interrupt something? There probably wasn't much to interrupt here but he always feels a bit awkward when he runs into someone in one of the stores or still-empty houses.

[tinstar]

One of the perks of being inside a building that could withstand the weather was that Raylan could unbutton his wool duster length jacket and the denim underneath it. It made sure he didn't start sweating in the difference of air, let his temperatures regulate a little as he looked around. The only thin he'd found so far was a bag that wasn't in too bad a shape, very useable, and he knew he was going to need something. Might as well start with this-

His head snaps up at the sound of someone, hand shifting to settle on the butt of his gun stored in his dark walnut patinaed holster, but the sharp readiness of his expression eases at the sight of the boy and his rifle. Shit. This place was pulling kids? His hand drops back to a loose dangle at his side.

"That's alright. Seems to me like it's a public place, nothin' too odd to maybe see someone. I'm Raylan. Just havin' a look around." He aimed for reassuring and nonthreatening, something vastly helped along by his laissez faire tone and general everything.

"Not that it seems there's a lot to look at, now that I'm in here." Wasn't that funny.

[solitarysoul]

"No, people have been through most of it. Some of the things in it might have ended up at the general store but this is one of the places I figure most people have gone through."

milton

[bigbaddy]

"Hey, Raylan!"

Maybe it's a little surprising to hear a voice calling out to him with his name when it's not like the other guy has been in town for all that long - but considering Bigby met him pretty much right as Raylan showed up here in the first place, he knows the other's name enough to call out to him.

Besides, no matter what Bigby might tell himself or others, he's a person who cares deeply about the people here. It doesn't matter how new they are. If anything, Raylan being new gives him only more of an incentive to go make sure the other guy is doing alright now it's no longer his first day.

Despite Bigby's gruff appearance, there's something that doesn't seem unfriendly about him as he greets the other.

"This your place to stay?" He asks, glancing at the house behind Raylan.

[tinstar]

It is a little surprising but not unwelcome and while Bigby may be a resting grouch face kinda sort, Raylan had experience with knowing what the storm of Purpose might look like. As long as that wasn't on Bigby's face, Raylan wouldn't even expect a smile if the man wasn't inclined to it.

Raylan was. He found it a good social lubricant, made people trust you more - there were studies done on it that he read about in Popular Science sometimes when he was in a waiting room. So he pulls a crooked one, lifting his chin in a faint greeting as he turns to face the oncoming Sheriff.

"Suppose it is now," he says with a squinting glance up at the house. "Feels disrespectful to just be movin' into someone's house, goin' through their things, knockin' on all their walls and floorboards for the hidden compartments." Look, he was raised around a particularly clever hiding culture.

"But it's better than the hall. Too many people to watch. You headin' somewhere or just out an' about?"

[bigbaddy]

He shrugs a little, answering: "The latter, mostly."

Granted, it's not like he doesn't have plans for the day, but he definitely first wanted to head around town to see how the new people were settling in. Especially when it seems like they got such a weird variety of them again this time. Raylan definitely looks like one of the most normal - or, well, you know, mundy - ones when Bigby also spoke to an insect and at least one other person who definitely didn't just seem human.

"You get used to it though, having to repurpose everything else here. It's all we've got, you know?" Sure, maybe they almost magically got supplies from other sources at times, but Bigby knows how rare it is. And he knows better than to count on that happening again necessarily. "I'm sure the dead wouldn't just want us to starve and freeze in the cold just so their stuff could be preserved."