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[last_kodiak]

I’ve seen the ways you people handle your inmates. Coddling them. Giving them treats when they get their feelings hurt and having them talk through the turmoil they experienced. It’s disgusting. You’re doing them a disservice by treating every conflict they have as a negative experience.

Conflict. It makes a person stronger. Makes them better. Every

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[raisedinabox]

[There's something about hearing Tyr chastise all the other wardens for coddling their inmates, followed immediately by his warden demanding his presence that sits uneasy with Jim, but he contains his feelings on the matter. He takes the ten minutes to change his clothes, not quite dressing for the gym, but a little more casual than his usual suit and tie combo. He turns up to the gym a couple of minutes early, and steps inside a little guardedly.]

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[raisedinabox]

[If Jim could have shrugged, then he would have done, instead he just kept running, replying breathlessly:]

Maybe? I enjoy his company, at least.

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[last_kodiak]

His company? [Pause to take a breath.] Playing cards?

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[raisedinabox]

And good conversation. [Same pause for breath, this is really getting hard now. Jim forces himself to finish the point, but he has to force the words out:] He's very intelligent.

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[last_kodiak]

What is it that you find you have in common with him? [He noticed that he was straining to talk and that was the whole point. Tyr didn't give a damn about his relationship, other than what he could get out of them.]

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[raisedinabox]

His interests. [This was a test. Jim had initially been suspicious of Tyr wanting to know who he was associating with, thinking that his warden wanted to know so that he could use it against him. Now he wasn't so sure. He couldn't imagine the man being sincerely interested in what he and Edward had in common.] Art, theater, writing... [Every word was punctuated by heavy breathing now, but he could keep going until his lungs or his legs gave out.]

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[last_kodiak]

[There were several motivations involved. Tyr was planning on seeing what he could do with that information, but now he just wanted to keep him talking. The Nietzschean merely nodded once.]

I wouldn't take you for...a man who enjoys the arts.

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[raisedinabox]

Biography not so much. [He forced out. Perhaps he'd have been more eloquent at another time, but right now he was still too focused on keeping up.]

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[last_kodiak]

[And Tyr broke into a full out run, though he hesitated in his move to see if Jim would follow.]

Keeping up, inmate?

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[raisedinabox]

[Jim didn't answer that, at this point it would only be a waste of the effort that he'd need to keep up. He knew he couldn't keep pace with his warden indefinitely, anything else aside the other man was just clearly in better physical condition than he was, but he could push himself into keeping up for the moment.]

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[last_kodiak]

[Tyr just kept running, turning a bit to Jim to make sure he wasn't dead. That would be inconvenient.]

Care to reveal any more of your associates here?

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[raisedinabox]

[Jim forced himself to keep running. By now his lungs were burning and he could feel sweat running down his back, and he was really regretting not wearing proper gym clothes for this, but he was still running. At Tyr's question, he gave the warden an incredibly dirty look.]

None-- no other important ones.

[His speech was too broken up by his exhaustion to get his words any clearer than that, and that frustrated him.]

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[last_kodiak]

[Tyr laughed, sucking air into his lungs as he got his second wind.]

What about the unimportant ones. Come on, Jim.

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[raisedinabox]

[Keep pushing. Keep pushing. Keep going.]

Some-- some wardens. Libby. Cissie. Doctors. All of them.

[His lungs ached, trying to draw in more oxygen than his blood could absorb, he could feel the muscles in his legs beginning to burn. Jim kept running.]

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[last_kodiak]

Why them? [He was ignoring the sounds of Jim's exhaustion. The little signs that Tyr was looking for.]

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[raisedinabox]

Chance.

[Still going. Anything more than this he doesn't know if he could manage anymore.]