(Untitled)

[angriestman]

Between high school and finally up and leaving Harlan at twenty, Raylan Givens had mined Kentucky coal. Not sure what he wanted to do with his life, it'd been a good paycheck, even with the danger and long hours. Sometimes, years away from that time, he wakes up with the taste of coal dust and dynamite smoke in his mouth and he knows that those

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[fireinthe_hole]

Boyd has been up for hours.

Sleep isn't really much of a priority these days. Days that stretch out longer and more meaningless than the next. Days spent in fervent and useless prayer. Boyd knows that such desperation goes against everything the Lord commands, but what else is a man to think?

He sees Raylan sitting there, like some kind of a sign. Some kind of a purpose. As much as the club has been shown to his as something that he might have to destroy, Raylan is someone he must save.

"You look troubled, friend," he says, boots falling quietly.

[angriestman]

"Talk about thinkin' of the devil to conjure him up," says Raylan, taking a drag on his cigarette, shielded by the brim of his hat before he looks up, taking Boyd in, standing over him.

"I was just thinkin' about you."

[fireinthe_hole]

"Were you now?" he says, easing down on the step next to him. "I would imagine those thoughts could be varied. What precisely were you thinking about?"

[angriestman]

"Coal mining," says Raylan, wryly, rolling the cigarette between his fingers. "I was thinking about how it felt to be down there. How it felt to come out of there."

[fireinthe_hole]

"Or almost not come out of there," Boyd agrees, remembering the adrenalin rush, the power of beating those odds time and time again. Of pulling Raylan out of the fire.

"And might I ask what got you thinking of these things? Do you find yourself unsatisfied here?"

[angriestman]

"Fire in the hold," says Raylan, nodding, with a smile playing around the corner of his mouth. "No. No, I wouldn't say that. Not unsatisfied. It's normal to think back, Boyd. You replay things in your head."

[fireinthe_hole]

"Thinking forward is much more productive," he counters. "I have found that despair can often accompany my thoughts on the past. It doesn't really do to dwell. I think that, among other things, dwelling is one of the things keeping us here."

[angriestman]

"Oh, you do, do you?" asks Raylan, closing his eyes before he rolls them, slipping his cigarette back between his lips. "So that's where we're goin' wrong, huh? We're just not visualising hard enough."

[fireinthe_hole]

"We aren't seeking hard enough, Raylan," Boyd explains, twisting to face him. "We aren't trying to figure out why God put us here. Everyone is too focused on the distractions, of which there are plenty. Even you yourself spent many hours at the club just last night. She is a distraction."

[angriestman]

"She's my girlfriend, Boyd. It isn't the same thing." Raylan takes a drag on his cigarette, turns his head to exhale. "And I spent hours in that club reading a John Wayne biography. Count your lucky stars I wasn't feeding singles into garters."

[fireinthe_hole]

A piece of Boyd's belly sinks low to hear that Raylan is forming those kinds of attachments in this place. And to a girl like that.

"I suppose it's a better choice than Ava," he comments, tapping his finger against the bible in his pocket. "Thought I do confess I wish you weren't insisting on repeating patterns. I myself know quite a lot about that."

[angriestman]

"She's a different choice from Ava," says Raylan, protective and a little fierce - he doesn't know where it would have ended up with Ava, but he's not willing to admit that it was wrong.

"When I need your opinion on my behaviour, Boyd Crowder, I'll be sure to ask for it."

[fireinthe_hole]

Truth be told, Boyd's lying and is pretty certain that it's a worse choice than Ava, but he isn't really looking for a beating this morning.

"It's not my opinion that matters," he points out, lifting a finger towards the sky with a small grin. "Every day I grow closer and closer to discovering my purpose, Raylan. Perhaps He will reveal yours as well."

[angriestman]

"I know my purpose just fine," says Raylan, voice low, syllables clipped. "I know exactly where I'm supposed to be."

[fireinthe_hole]

"I can guarantee you, it is not on this island. It's just a resting place, Raylan. You're meant for bigger things than this. I'm not certain that making attachments is the best course of action," he assures, scooting over a little bit just in case there's a fist coming for him.

It's too early in the morning to take a punch.

[angriestman]

"You always sound so certain for a fool who's just fumblin' around in the damn dark like the rest of us," says Raylan, hands still resting loosely between his thighs.

He doesn't have the energy to fight with Boyd, right now.