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[abrightboy]

This is Bright. Leave a message.

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[tinstar]

Better that someone is left with her in case she wakes up in the middle of this hell and finds her wife on a suicide mission.

What're you up to in all this new downtime?

[abrightboy]

Keeping tabs on Kikimora. ...Staying with Will a lot. Oh! Have you seen John Doe yet?

[tinstar]

I have. Congratulated him, and Arthur too. I'm glad for 'em both. Can't imagin' how hard it is loving someone and not bein' able to hug 'em.

Might make JD a smidge harder to kill too, which is always a plus.

[abrightboy]

Yeah, and now we can do movie nights!

[tinstar]

I'd always wanted to do some of those..

Hey, think you can break away, come have a drink with me?

[abrightboy]

Yeah! I’m not really doing anything right now. Where do you want to meet?

[tinstar]

I can come up to your cabin or your free to come down here. No much of a view on deck right now, after all.

[abrightboy]

I’ll come to yours. See you in a few.

[He arrives a few minutes later, casually dressed in jeans and one of Will’s shirts. He has a box with four bottles of beer in his hand and he holds it out when Raylan opens the door.]

I’m told the rustic ale from the planet is really good.

[tinstar]

[Raylan smiles at the sight that greets him, ale and all, and can't help but chuckle as he takes the ale and steps back to make room for Malcolm to enter.]

Well thank you, we'll have to see and pass judgement on it. C'mon back out to the porch, I prefer sitting out there.

[The CD player is out there too, softly pumping out Trace Atkins to greet them.]

You gonna have one of these with me?

[abrightboy]

If you’ll pour me just half in a glass. [He grins.] Is that too fancy?

[tinstar]

Only if you're around people who care about fancy. [He grins, and nods, setting the ale on the table.]

Grab a seat, I'll be right back.

[And so he is, glass in hand. He sits on the loveseat and pulls a bottle out, setting the glass down to pop the lid off with his ring.]

How'd you come about gettin' ale? I thought scotch was your thing.

[abrightboy]

We only had a couple chances to pop into town. We grabbed what they had and what we could afford.

[tinstar]

Well, work with what you can get I suppose. [He didn't hold anything against it. The half was poured into the glass and held towards Malcolm. Raylan would drink the rest of that one before breaking into another. If he liked it.

Which, after a sip, he nods with a faint downturn of his lips, the one of approval under the lift of surprised eyebrows.]

It's not bad. Decent choice.

[he was stalling, but it felt.. rude. strange, hard to just.. Jump into it.]

[abrightboy]

[Malcolm takes a sip and nods his own approval, but catches... something crossing Raylan's face.]

...Is everything okay? Did something happen down there?

[tinstar]

[He glances up and over from the briefest wool gathering and offers a little smile that didn't stay long as he shook his head.]

Nah. Not specifically no, but..

Malcolm, I- I think it's time for me to think about goin' home. Properly. For a while and sooner rather than later. Have-- Have you talked to Neal at all?

[abrightboy]

[Malcolm stares at him for a moment.]

...Not... not since the port. He was. Um. He was talking about taking a break. Off the ship.

[tinstar]

[Raylan nods.]

He's comin' with me. We're.. goin' together..

[abrightboy]

[Malcolm frowns faintly.]

But... he said he was just... taking a break. ...Do.... together? Together together? I thought he and Norton... ............So he's not coming back?

[tinstar]

He might. Says he plans on it, anyways. Norton can come by whenever he wants, wisk Neal off onto an adventure or a jaunt around Paris or-

Norton knows. He approved it well before I even knew anythin' about it.

[abrightboy]

[Very quietly, like he's afraid of the possible answer.]

Are you coming back?

[tinstar]

Maybe. [He's quiet about his answer in return, like if he speaks too loudly or too quickly, he'll break his brother.]

I dunno. I haven't thought that far ahead, honestly. I just.. I need to reground in reality. Otherwise.. I'm gonna be honest, I don't know what happens after I stop bein' able to remember what real life is like.

[abrightboy]

[He looks faintly hopeful.]

So... you need a break. That's understandable. For, like... how long, do you think?

[tinstar]

Couple of months, at least. I don't know that there's a hard number I could give ya. If I had one, I would, I promise.

But my offer for you and Will to visit remains the same. Should.. somethin' change here.

[abrightboy]

We'll be traveling. When we're done here.

[He looks down at the table that they didn't end up using for Christmas dinner, since that ended up in the dining hall. He traces the grain of the wood with his finger.]

Well. You graduated your inmate. So. You're supposed to live your dreams now, right? Like Francis.

[tinstar]

'Live my dreams'? [The echoed sentiment was scoffed, more like a question than not.]

I'm not as lucky as Francis, maybe. I just get to live part of a dream - watching Willa grow up. Bein' there for that as best I can, gettin' whatever time I'll get with Neal while he's there, and workin' until I get put in a pine box in the ground. That's the only thing waitin' for me. I've come to peace with it. Long time ago.

No. I don't get to live my dream. I get to live scraps of my dreams.