Afterparty

[toooldforlosing]

Raylan survived an entire night of being trotted around the party as Hasi's escort without doing anything embarassing, or getting attacked because he was mistaken for someone else. On the whole, he considered this a win.

The truth was, in his work, he'd occasionally been to a fancy party, but always as the outsider. It was work. Boys from Harlan county did not get invited to that sort of party as a guest. It didn't bother him, but it left him feeling a little displaced. (Of course, with some of the people he'd met and seen at the Xanadu affair, he could have been bright green and no one would have batted an eye. It did make a bit of difference.)

Even so, he was glad enough that it was over. He'd had... quite a bit to drink, though his steps were steady enough. Hasi probably knows him well enough by now to tell he's feeling the alcohol a bit, but he's still in control. Maybe glad he's not driving home, but more or less fine. Even though he's quiet, he's relaxed, and with no idea of packing it in just yet.

"I'd ask your place or mine, but frankly, you don't want to see mine. Hell, I don't want to see mine."

Comments

[norea]

"I do want to see yours," Hasibe protests, "but I will acknowledge that mine is probably a better option. At this point in time."

She walks close to Raylan as they head back, weaving just a little - but her swaying is mostly just an excuse to get closer, unsurprisingly. It's unlikely she'll topple over, as she's not falling-down drunk.

[toooldforlosing]

Well, he will certainly take the excuse to put an arm around her, at that.

"For now, at least," he agrees. "Did you have a good time?"

[norea]

"I had an excellent time, as a matter of fact." She smiles at him, comfortable, though she pauses a moment later. "Although I know there were some weird moments. We should maybe talk about those? Am I coherent? I can't tell if I'm coherent enough to say things the right way yet."

[toooldforlosing]

"You sound coherent to me. Or maybe we're just on the same level of bein' drunk, so we make sense to each other, but a bystander would be totally lost."

Bystanders are probably lost anyway, with them, to be totally fair.

[norea]

"That's okay, we can have our own code." She leads them through the door back to London, shivering and tucking her coat more firmly around her shoulders once they arrive. "You know, you're really good to me."

Which is true - he's a gentleman, she appreciates that - but the surprise with which she treats it is probably telling as to what she's used to. It's not as though people who'd treat her nicely aren't out there, and it's not that she's ever had a problem finding men, but her particular type tends to have a lot of rage.

[toooldforlosing]

"I try." And he doesn't say that she really should hold out for men who treat her decently, because she probably knows that.

Hell, he should hold out for women that don't make his life painful and complicated, but should didn't always happen.

"And it's been a pleasure, so it's not exactly like I'm putting myself out."

[norea]

"Well. All the same. We had a few brushes with potential drama this evening, but I think we avoided them, for the most part. And now everyone knows who you are, so there should be less of those 'mistaken identity' moments in the future." That was part of her plan, actually. Get it out of the way, and people can just look at her like she's the mad one, not Raylan.

She knows she is a little crazy for taking up with him, and she's still not told him how much. Maybe that'll be tonight. "Is that- I mean, I know it certainly has to be weird for you, but I hope it's not too uncomfortable? Jack knew Henry really well, they were best friends."

[toooldforlosing]

"I got that. Or something like." He sighs. "I won't say it's not weird, having people look at me like I'm about to shoot them in the face with no provocation, but I understand it. And the longer I'm around, maybe it'll get a little easier."

This is the theory, at least. "You doing okay with it?" Because he never knew Henry (or Hyde) but any time someone ran into the two of them, it's going to be a reminder to her.

[norea]

She knows it's not the first time he's ever had anybody be afraid of him - the man is intimidating - but Raylan's a far cry from a monster, and that adds to her sympathy. The question makes her glance up toward her building on the horizon, and she shrugs one shoulder, lightly.

"I probably shouldn't say this much, but...you know I don't feel things the way ordinary people do. I never have. I look at you and while sometimes the- outside looks similar to what I knew before, I can get a better sense of what's really there. That makes it easier. But missing him..." If he were just a man she loved that died, that wouldn't be better, but those circumstances mean that Hyde and Henry aren't just written on her heart, they're burned in.

"I carry it around with me all the time. Every second of every day. So...I don't know, it doesn't ever really get better enough to get worse; there are just times when it shows more. It's my own fault -- it's because of what I did -- but that's just how things are. We can live with a lot, can't we?"

[toooldforlosing]

"Yeah," he said, more subdued. "We can."

Much as he'd like to give it to her, she didn't need a kind lie. Not now, and probably not generally.

He'd learned a bit more than to try and take care of a grown woman who didn't need taking care of, even if the instinct never quite went away.

At least they could hold each other up, and that was something, anyway.

[norea]

"That's enough for me." She gives him a gentle little nudge, her smile reassuring and widening, briefly, to show that she's all right. No need to knock the evening down completely. In fact, she segues here:

"So what'd you think of Charlie, huh?"

It is a little wry.

[toooldforlosing]

His look mirrors her tone.

"I think he's allergic to cops."

He sounds more amused than anything.

[norea]

"I bet you're already pretty acquainted with that type." They reach her door, and this time she doesn't feel the need to hide the click of her lock that necessitates no key. He already knows.

[toooldforlosing]

"You might say. But not dangerous, except to people's wallets and their sense of self-respect."

He'd seen the damage con men could do - he wasn't about to say harmless. Hardly. But not violent, and that was something.

[norea]

"Maybe. You never know." He's probably right - Charlie strikes her as a shady character, but not a sadist. Probably. She does tend to have a sense for sadists.

"Little does he know, I'm even more trouble than the worst of criminals," Hasi asserts, backing up into her apartment and tugging Raylan with her by the jacket-front. "You could pretty much use me as a weapon in the field."

[toooldforlosing]

He chuckles, letting himself be tugged. "Won't argue that one. Seen it in action."

[norea]

The door swings shut behind him, and she preoccupies herself with shrugging off her coat.

"It probably won't be the last time--God, you know, much as I love fancy clothes, it's almost as much fun to finally take it off as it is to wear it--"

[toooldforlosing]

"Always felt bad for women having to wear those shoes. I mean, don't get me wrong, I appreciate 'em as much as the next guy, but it can't be fun for you." He takes his hat off - he's been here enough it probably has a Place now.

[norea]

"Beauty is pain, they say," taking the aforementioned heels off, one hand balanced against the wall, glancing half-up to smile at Raylan. "Fortunately I like that kind of thing."

[toooldforlosing]

"The shoes, or pain in a general sense?" He asks it lightly, though they've touched on this before.

[norea]

"Both," she says, with certainty, straightening up.

"Though I know the latter doesn't make you too comfortable."

[toooldforlosing]

"Hell, I don't know," he says, frankly. "A little. But physical pain's one thing, and I can understand that. It's just that sometimes I feel like fifth grader where all the rest of it's concerned."

"All the rest of it" here encompassing subspace, magic, the nexus, and flying whales.

[norea]

"You shouldn't. I'll let you in on a secret." She meanders into her living room - Huan is on the floor nearby, watching them peacefully, as he is now fairly used to Raylan. "The people who are used to that stuff are usually so emotionally fucked that that's all they know how to do. Trying to navigate social politics in a realm where they can't just blow something up with a half-thought is impossible for them."

She tucks her legs up when she sits on her sofa, reaching for her cigarettes.

"It's more admirable to do it straight. Scarier." This doesn't quite address the subspace, mind. "That's why I tried to have it all cut out of me, actually. Didn't work, but I gave it a shot."

[toooldforlosing]

He comes to sit next to her, slipping off his shoes. (He'd loosen his tie, but he didn't wear one.)

"I think there's a middle though - gotta be, right? I mean, it's like with regular violence. Not everyone's so far removed they don't know how to fire a gun, but not everyone's a psychopath, either."

[norea]

"You're right." The metaphors they use are telling, she knows, but she's more interested in curling up against Raylan's side than considering that for too long. (Her cigarette is conscientiously transferred to the other hand, and kept aloft, naturally.)

"The middle would be good. 'Happy medium.'"