Luck rarely finds coal miners - except in cards

[tinstar]

Who: Raylan and about town | + Zoey and Fraser
What: ON THE HUNT FOR BODIES WHO ARE INTERESTED IN POKER - also gettin' his doggo and through the mine
When: Front half of July
Where: Milton, Milton mines, everything on the way and Lakeside

Content Warnings: Applicable content warnings go here.

You gotta know when to hold 'em - Milton - OTA

Raylan was out on a mission - Finding enough willing bodies to make up a good table of poker. He had talked to enough people to make up a very short list of people that might be to play poker. 'Might be' wasn't 'would' and even if it was, that very short list did not equal out to a full table. A full table was at least half of the fun of the game. He starts with the Community Hall, writing out a message and pinning it almost proudly to the board. Solid message, he thought, before looking around. It was never too soon to start the recruiting effort.

It wasn't just the hall, Raylan had no issue openly approaching people on the Streets he'd never spoken to before with as polite a- "Hey, excuse me. Raylan Givens," he'll introduce to those he hasn't met, "Yeah, can I ask you somethin' real quick?"

But it wasn't just poker that interested him. There was no dropping the conversation if someone answered his incoming questions with 'No, I don't play poker and I have no interest in learning'; he was interested in the folks that made up the community, both the people that spoke up at the town meeting trial thing and those that hadn't said anything at all. Like he hadn't said anything, expressed nothing beyond a disappointed shake of his head before exiting to avoid the rush of bodies going out. The verdicts that had come down were taken with heavily mixed result, and he couldn't help but prepare himself for the worse case scenario.

Sixteen tons, what do you get? - Closed to Zoey

The mine has been something Raylan has been working up towards since he found out it was here. The sprawling maw of darkness that sat quiet and idle in front of the un-hatted man taunted him with the memories he'd been trying to ignore, the collapse that he and Boyd had narrowly survived, the fires, the gases, the lack of oxygen, the goddamned dust - There was more to worry about in a mine than taking a poorly planned step and falling three hundred feet to your death.

That was several of a larger handful of reasons that Raylan wanted someone who'd traversed them before to guide him through. He had asked Zoey, feeling it was it's own kind of right that the lady who found him out in the middle of the cold and got him to safety would be the same luck charm of knowledge to get them through the mountain. They'd agreed to meet at the mines, and Raylan's knapsack was heavy with a few skins of water, some food, a rope and candle, flintstone and rock, and a knife on the opposite hip of his gun. He'd never been a boyscout but he packed like one. Raylan didn't have much of any kind of faith or close held superstitions, and he didn't fear much of anything. Not guns, not red-headed women or lawyers.

But mines were different. He was glad she had agreed so graciously and without any mocking jabs at his internally categorized weakness. He could have managed it alone, but he knew that madness lived under the ground as much as minerals and his resolve to 'just the facts ma'am' in this painfully specific scenario was faulty. Something about being Downstairs made him twitchy.

Who doesn't love the possibility of a man and his dog - Open around Lakeside and part closed to Fraser

Lakeside was a balm of its own sort after getting through the mine and over that damned bridge. He'd arrived with Zoey, resting at the mining cap and stopping long enough at the lake side itself to marvel at the inland body of water. At least they weren't there to fish, but there was no mistaking that there was something in the water. Raylan imagined this is what fjords must feel like. Still, the option of fishing gave him hope. Food, when his stomach still pinched a little with hunger. Maybe it connected with a river. Maybe there were salmon..

Closed to Fraser

Word of mouth had passed around the fact that new life had, in fact, come to Lakeside. It was an important thing to hear for Raylan, primarily because it proved that the animals could successfully spawn here. That nothing had gotten in the way of that part of the cycle of life, the one that was going to keep them in food, however scant.

Word of mouth had also passed along where Raylan could find the Mountie, though he was polite enough to just ask after the man by his name, but it's plenty enough to send Raylan up towards Fraser's cabin. He wished that he had something to bring, you were never supposed to arrive empty handed and on a whim, pulls out his last two cans of food. If he was going to be asking for something, he would make the nutritional sacrifice. Missing his hat desperately, Raylan knocks on Fraser's door and steps back.

Comments

[desperate_times_right]

It may be healthy for her but that doesn't mean she has to like it!

“I do. You concerned at all about getting a bunch of people who hate each other under one roof?”

[tinstar]

"Nah, not really. Anyone decides to show their ass, I'm happy to offer them an extra hole in it if they don't wanna leave. I've dealt with people who hate each other all the time at home, what's their business is their business, we're just here to play poker."

His tone stayed light and matter of fact, like he was talking about the color of the sky. He was deeply familiar and comfortable with violence as the last resort for desperate and sad men.

"Though I would like to know if there's anyone that you hate so that we can minimize the possibility of conflict. I know people got their reasons."

[desperate_times_right]

Chloe shrugs. “No one I'd care enough to kick out as long as there are other people in the room.”

There are lots of people here she wouldn't want to be alone with, but she doesn't think any of them would beat on a woman in public.

[tinstar]

So she didn't like being alone in rooms with people. Raylan was glad he'd met her so far under open sky.

"That changes, you let me know me, we'll shuffle people around. I've been a bouncer before and I'm fine with doin' it again." There would be zero woman beating in his presence. He'd seen enough of that already.

"That mean I can count on you considerin' comin' by? I figure I'll put a note up on the board and learn to whistle real loud or somethin' - waste a bullet or two."

[desperate_times_right]

“I think if people don't want to see me, you're gonna know.” She’s always been a bit of a polarizing figure.

“Sure, I guess. You should get one of those big bells like farms have in the movies.”

[tinstar]

"I ain't worried about them not wantin' to see you."

Only the other way around. He'd handle it otherwise. Raylan trusted women more than men, though that wasn't to say that the trust ran too terribly deep, but he knew and understood the amount of shit that strong women took at the hands of insecure and bullish men. He didn't treat anyone like they were china either - too many strong headed women who raised him would come back to beat his ass in his dreams if he did.

"Or a big ass triangle. Doubt I'll find either, but I'll be lookin' none the less. Best get to button huntin'. Primary coinage right now."

[desperate_times_right]

Chloe shrugs. “Okay.” If he thinks he can keep the peace she's not going to dispute it.

“Buttons, huh? I’ll keep an eye out.” Another reason to get back to scavenging.

[tinstar]

"I'll be puttin' a note in the Community Hall, for what good it'll do. Otherwise, you'll hear me doin' my best cattle call to let as many people know as my voice'll carry. Considerin' how quiet this place is, I imagine it isn't hard. Open to ya, anytime you like."

[desperate_times_right]

“Yeah, I think the only other real event around here is Eddie’s concerts. Those might drown you out.”

She doesn't even really live that close and she hears them.

“Thanks for the invite, though. I know that things are weird.”

With her standing up for Hickey, she means.

[tinstar]

"Concerts?" There was no mistaking him perking up a little, a sharp interest coming into his eyes. "I was hopin' someone here played somethin'. I heard someone had a fiddle? What kinda concerts?"

Not taking thanks well generally, Raylan was happy to wholly ignore the thanks or the reassurance about how not weird it was. You grow up around blood debts in places where you gotta exist and live with your enemies and get along sometimes, and this shit is easy.

[desperate_times_right]

“Yeah, that kid Kate’s got a violin I think, and there's a piano at town hall. Not that kind of concert, though. Eddie plays metal.”

A lot of people complain about it but Chloe’s used to noisy city nights and it makes her feel less lonely.

“Only does it on aurora nights, obviously, but it's quite a thing.”

[tinstar]

He can't help but laugh out a breath, honestly enthused to hear it.

"Metal, really. Like.. Metallica or Slipknot?" Yes, he was a country boy. That didn't mean that his musical tastes were confined to that. He branched out as often as he could and, having been raised in the 80's, knew a thing or two about listening to metal.

[desperate_times_right]

"Metallica for sure." Chloe's really only familiar with the entry-level stuff despite having also been a kid in the 80s. When all that was big she'd been in her Riot Grrl phase. "There was a three-day aurora right after I got here and he played Master of Puppets every day."

[tinstar]

"Damn. Well then, I look forward to it. And things ain't weird," he assures, calling back to something she'd said a few moments ago.

"At least no weirder than us all bein' here. I can't do anythin' other than take it in stride - we still gotta live with one another."

[desperate_times_right]

"Good to hear." She might sound flippant, but it is a relief to hear. The last thing she needs is trouble from a cop who lives on her street. "Wish everyone felt that way."

[tinstar]

"Ah, give 'em a few months, a couple fist fights to figure it out, they'll settle into it. Or we'll be diggin' a fresh grave-" Which he didn't sound particularly bothered about either way. If people wanted to be stupid and show their ass and get themselves killed, well, they should have made better choices. He didn't waste much time thinking about those kinds of people.

"And the problem will sort itself."

[desperate_times_right]

"It's a problem for me if it's my grave." If word gets out that she'd hurt Kate - even if she'd had a reason - or someone comes for Billy and Hickey, who knows what could happen?

[tinstar]

"Why would it be your grave?" His eyes were back on her, watching to see what processed on her face or what didn't, already looking for the lie or the dodge that he had a gut feeling was coming to such a direct question.

[desperate_times_right]

"That guy I was sitting with at the trial is married to Milton Public Enemy Number One." There's a bit of an instinctual 'ugh' reaction but that's more to the idea of marriage as an institution than anything else about it. "If someone decides to take justice into their own hands I'm not going to leave my friends twisting in the wind."

There's other stuff too, of course, her own cannibalism event to name one of them, but luckily she's got enough problems that she can be judicious with revealing them.

[tinstar]

The tall gangly guy, the one that said he was Hickey's husband. Right. Well, points to the community for being non-judgmental about a same sex relationship, and it's new information that Chloe was seated with friends instead of just being seated.

"Hickey?" He was used to Public Enemy Number One having done something a little more gruesome than murder and cannibalism. Not that both those things weren't bad enough on their own, but Hickey was a million miles away from a terrorist or what Raylan would consider a real threat. Someone to keep an eye on, someone to not trust, to add to the very long list of people Raylan himself didn't trust.

"So let's say someone does, takes a shot at him, you gonna jump in? Be Australian Batwoman and dispense justice, start a whole wheel of back and forth? That may well find you in a grave, you're right. Some shots are earned, for better or worse. Denyin' that is what causes the problem."

[desperate_times_right]

“Yeah.” Chloe rolls her eyes. “There are so fucking many of those sailors here, and they're playing out whatever drama they carried in from home. That's why it was like that, with the people yelling and storming out and all that.”

And Jopson had jumped Hickey at the hall for no reason, but she's turning over a new leaf with him so she won't say that.

“How’s some guy coming at him for stuff that happened back there any different than me coming at someone for attacking him? There aren't any real rules here so you've got to be the strongest.”

[tinstar]

"Ah, that I didn't know. Not that it changes my answer any - some shots are earned and we're in no place to decide whether or not that's the truth when it comes to the past." He shrugs casually.

"Now if it happens in front of you and you want to throw yourself into the fray to protect him, that's your business, your prerogative. Somethin' happens here, same thing. Stop it if you can. Though, I suppose we're missin' the whole definition of what you mean by 'comin' at someone. There's a difference between stoppin' somethin' while it's happenin' and taking things into your own hands."

Of which Raylan naturally assumed Chole was capable of. Especially if she was so willing to jump into the battle. Just because she was a woman was no excuse and Raylan had no blinders on for it.

"I grew up part of one of those kinds of blood debt back and forths. It normally all ends one way anyway."

[desperate_times_right]

“People here are crazy over them. A while ago a guy broke into their house at night. Gibson didn't even do anything!” She’s not sure whether that's actually true or not but he doesn't have the same terminal poking-the-bear disorder that Hickey has.

“I didn't kill anyone when everything was going down at Midsummer, and I don't want to, but I'm not going to let anyone hurt my friends.”

Hickey had given her food when she’d been starving, and turned away from the community hall at gunpoint. Billy had come back for her in a burning house. It would take a lot to shake that loyalty.

“I get it, Gandhi, but I'm not going to let other people do whatever they want just for principles. If that aurora lady wanted that she should have grabbed one of my friends instead.”

[tinstar]

Raylan can't help but chuckle, eyebrows lifting at 'Gandhi' like that's a good one, nice joke.

"I am not suggestin' you sit on your hands, nor am I suggestin' you let people do whatever they want, just warnin' you what's comin' if you decide to ninja up in the middle of the night and bleed someone dry. Much better to let them start to sin in front of you and usin' that as your fodder for reason."

But he wouldn't know anything about that.

[desperate_times_right]

Chloe nods slowly. “Okay, yeah. I think we understand each other, then. Can I count on you to stay out of it if something comes up?”