SIXTH ENTRY

[keepsthemsafe]

[Here is Shane on video, looking a little uncomfortable. No. More then a little uncomfortable.]

Thanks for the gifts uh..Dracula and others.

Hope you liked yours. [Namely that he wanted everyone to get a correctional handbook and all wardens to get a badge.]

Dean Winchester?

Think you and I oughta have a sit-down.

Comments

[keepsthemsafe]

I gave you fair warning.

[One hand curls into a fist]

[surfaceshine]

[Dean is ready. So ready. A muscle in his jaw jumps, eyes steady on Shane.]

And I told you where you could shove it, poncho.

[keepsthemsafe]

[It's honestly the nickname that checks him] ...Poncho?

[shit man, we're going to go together like carrots and peas. It'll be Tonto and the Lone Ranger man.

Yeah but which one of us is Tonto and which is gonna be JR.

...Honestly Rick, I'd rather be your partner any day]

[Shane snorts.] You've got a broken wrist it wouldn't be fair.


[And the thing is, it wouldn't. It wouldn't. Even in the field ultimately when faced with someone ready to fight Shane wanted him to raise his own gun]

[surfaceshine]

[Dean snorts back, fingertips of his busted hand flexing and relaxing restlessly; he wouldn't have cared about it. He doesn't quite relax yet.]

Maybe. Maybe not. If we're gonna do this, I'd rather it were sooner than later. If we're not, you need to just drop it here and now.

[keepsthemsafe]

You don't get to fucking talk about Rick. [His voice is hard] No. No fucking way. That son of a bitch is a snake.

[surfaceshine]

[Dean may not be the sharpest emotional detector on the planet, but even he can see this isn't the time to push on this.

No matter how hard he wants to. It won't do any good, and at least part of the hunter's willingness to fight right now has nothing to do with Shane, Rick, Lori, or the things in the file; the corner of his mouth tugs but he just says:]

That ain't how this works.

[keepsthemsafe]

...Then the rules are going to change.

Adapt. Trust me I know all about adaptation.

[Tension defused, he paces away and studies the clinical wall hangings.] What do you do? I mean before all this?

[surfaceshine]

Uh huh. [Dean doesn't much bother hiding the roll of his eyes, even though Shane is turning away from him; he's a stubborn sonnuvabitch, but he's the least so of his family. He knows when to fight and when to back down in this regard, and words aren't going to be worth it.

Dean knows how this goes. That's just going to have to be enough.]

I'm a hunter. [There was a time he'd bothered to go out of his way not to talk about this; it's lost its importance, stepping around it, for multiple reasons, so now he just states it flatly and shrugs. He expects Shane won't believe him. No one ever does until they're being tossed around by a ghost.] If it goes bump in the night and harasses innocent people, I put it down.

[keepsthemsafe]

[Shane stares at him. And stares.] ...like a walker?

[surfaceshine]

[Dean smiles placidly.]

Like a walker.

[keepsthemsafe]

we're in the same business then. Of sorts. [It didn't used to be.] I remember those signs and shit.

...What do those have to do with walkers.

[surfaceshine]

Yes and no.

[Dean shrugs, moves over to the wall to study the blinds covering a sight he'd rather not see, so he doesn't try to look past them.]

Zombies ain't the only over-achieving dead thing lurching around. There's ghosts of all kinds, werewolves, vampires, black dogs, demons, rakshasas, shtrigas, wendigos...

[He cuts off with a dismissive hand gesture. All of this is old news to him, by the way he's talking.]

You get the point.

[keepsthemsafe]

[Shane's expression has devolved into "Are you on crack" but honestly Dracula's here. Dracula."

He blinks]

...So you understand why I did what I did. Because you live with those things and those decisions.

[surfaceshine]

[Some of the ease Dean has been regaining drains out of him, tension creeping into the set of the hunter's shoulders, but he doesn't turn around or stop inspecting the window dressings.]

You really wanna do this right now? We just met.

[keepsthemsafe]

...There another time?

Sorry my social skills are a little lacking, we don't have a society back home. I've forgotten how to make nice.

[the sad fact of this however is that it's true]

[surfaceshine]

I don't need you to make nice with me. But you do make a good point.

[Dean is, himself, barely acquainted with society as most people know it; he's nowhere near stuck in the situation Shane is, mind, but he wouldn't have much difficulty if he were. He's half-feral as it is.

Now, though, he turns back around and wags a finger between them.]

You and me? We got similarities, sure, and I'm willing to do whatever I can for you. But let's get one thing straight: I wouldn't pull the stunt you pulled. I wouldn't turn on my partner for anything.

If the world's out to get you, the last fucking thing you need to do is make enemies out of your closest fucking ally.

[keepsthemsafe]

[Shane's eyes go wide.] I'm gonna forget that I like a fair fight and fucking hit you if you talk about that again.

[This is just hard.] ...but I ain't...

He was fucking weak.

[surfaceshine]

Newsflash: We're gonna talk about it.

And then we're gonna talk about it s'more.

And then? We're gonna keep talking about it, because look the fuck around you. It's less of a hint and more of a neon fucking sign.

[keepsthemsafe]

[Shane runs a hand over his head] ...He killed me!

[surfaceshine]

[Dean rolls his eyes, stabs a finger at him.]

You were going to kill him!

[keepsthemsafe]

[no. He says, they just wanted to talk.

no he says. He put his gun down. Rick had talked him down.

No...]

....If I agree to this. To you. What's in it for me. Honestly.

[Sudden abrupt change of tact] what's this end game after you say no girls, no weapons.

[surfaceshine]

[Dean knows he hasn't won, but he's not as certain of what the new endgame is. Not that it makes much of a difference for how he handles it, of course, but it would still be nice to know. He also wouldn't know what to do with the knowledge - he's never able to follow the abrupt mood changes, only explain them after the fact.

He raises both eyebrows, just barely manages to keep himself from pointing out that it really isn't a matter of agreement at this point so much as the way it is. He's not that person, doesn't want to be, so instead:]

You mean if you graduate?

You get to go wherever you want. Back home, somewhere else, stay on as a warden. You get choices, and another chance.

[keepsthemsafe]

[Another chance means another opportunity to save - Lori and Carl from Rick as far as he's concerned. So he nods. Slow and precise.]

Fine.

[but he's not giving anything up. Any good card player can see that.]

[surfaceshine]

[Even if Shane is only playing along long enough to find an opening, he's still playing along; if Dean can keep there from being an opportunity for long enough, it'll stop being pretend.

He's done this before, anyway. So Dean nods, too, and then claps his good hand on his thigh since his other hand isn't clappable right now.]

Alright. So. Is there anything I need to be aware of? Other inmates you've had trouble with, any jobs or routines you've already got around here, things that aren't in your file?

[Spoiler, Shane: Dean has already combed back through the network for your posts. This is a test.]

[keepsthemsafe]

[eyebrow raise] you gonna hold my hand and make me feel better Warden?

[His tone is quick] there's nothing.

[What he's not saying: "That he can't handle"]