absolutetwatmonger | TLV: IC Inbox

Kiryu isn't going to use the communicator again; instead, he's going to go to look for him during the period he knows the dining hall workers get the place cleaned after a meal. He'll wait til Izzy is done before he dips his head towards him.

"I wanted to talk to you about something. Have a minute?"

Izzy did see Kiryu lingering this time, and so he makes a point to check his communicator while he's still out of sight (which Kiryu can thank Trevor for, someday), but on seeing no message waiting for him, he unclenches a little.

There's no bluster or show when Izzy finally walks over to his warden, and raises an eyebrow at the question.

"If you've got to, I suppose." Like he'd say no to Kiryu asking him something. He's proven his mettle, he's got the requisite respect to earn Izzy's undivided attention.

There's a nod.

"Thank you."

Then he's inviting him to join him as he walks. He heads down the stairs, to his cabin, and opens the door before gesturing for him to come in. He'll head in, past the backyard, and when he gets to the deck, sit down on the edge. He's left a bottle of scotch and two glasses as well as a bowl of ice.

He gestures to a glass as he lifts the bottle.

"I want to know what you want."

He tosses a couple of slightly melted ice cubes in his own glass and starts a pour.

"Are you interested in graduating?" He finishes the pour. "The answer can be no."

He falls in line easily when Kiryu gestures to follow, half a step behind so he's not quite beside him, and he won't bother saying anything until Kiryu does.

Which makes it a surprise, then, when he gets lead back to the man's cabin, and of all things gets offered a drink.

It takes him a moment to make his decision, and it's clearly a moment of hesitation before he moves to sit on the other side of the stairs, keeping a good distance between them, but close enough that he can take his scotch dry for a quick sip.

"Haven't given it that much thought, if I'm honest," he says, then. "It's not like there's anything there for me, if I go back."

"I can help with that," he says honestly. He won't play games.

"If you want to stay here, live your life here with meals provided and a ticket out of death, all I'll do as a warden is look out for your interests and get you what you need within reason. All I ask in return is you don't get me in hot water causing too much trouble... but I'm on your side. If someone fucks with you, I'll stand with you."

He sips his drink.

"If you want to leave and you don't want to go back to your world, I can guarantee you a life in my world.Ill give you money if you want to find your own way. If you can stomach working for me, I'll find you a place in my organization. If you want to live clean, I'll arrange for an honest living for you and you can make a new start."

He looks to Izzy.

"I don't need your deal. I'm here to be here. What you want is how this goes."

Edited 2022-12-11 15:06 (UTC)

He sips as Kiryu talks, with a slowness that suggests he's genuinely considering the options being presented to him.

"I don't mind working under someone," he admits - and it very much comes across as an admission, something reluctant that he's only offering because of the privacy of the moment. "Spent twenty years doing it already. It's good. Gives you purpose."

He takes another sip, rolling it in his mouth for a long moment.

"'til your boss starts losing his fucking mind because he's bored of being a pirate. Talking about fucking retiring."

"Bored?"

He'd understand wanting to retire because you were tired of the demands of the life. But bored?

He huffs out but says nothing. It's Izzy's boss. He's not going to be insulting. Voice his disbelief and disapproval, but he'll keep his words to himself.

"You'd have to prove yourself to the men there, probably as a lieutenant under one of the families, but once everyone knew what kind of man you are, I'd see about giving you a family of your own." A pause. "A crew of your own."

He sips his drink.

"You wouldn't be proving shit to me by then. You graduate from here, you've proven yourself."

Oh Izzy will absolutely be insulting if Kiryu doesn't. But the moment passes.

"Don't particularly want my own crew," he says, a touch quieter. And he realises that a little too late, so he doubles down on the venom instead. "Last one I had threw me fucking overboard 'cos our captains both went and signed the fucking Act of Grace and left the lot of their incompetence to me to deal with."

That makes him pause and there's a scrunch of his nose, a displeased one. Oh, he'd dealt with the government when his back was against a wall... but he hadn't had a family to leave on their own. The Tojo Clan had Daigo, Majima, Saejima. He hadn't been anything but an enforcer for years This? This is something else.

He won't push, though.. He sips at his drink.

"I know a patriarch who could use a good captain." And he holds up a hand. "Captain is second in command in a family. His name is Saejima. I've fought beside him more than once. He's a solid leader, but he hasn't had much luck keeping a captain."

A wry smile.

"They keep getting families of their own. He could use someone who's interested in sticking around."

That's...

It gets Izzy staring at Kiryu for a long minute, as expressions flick in unsubtle waves across his grizzled face.

He'd been wanting to quit. Not fucking retire, just take some time to make his own damn way, find somewhere he was wanted. It had only been Ed saying he needed him that made him stay, his promises that turned out to be worth as much as a fucking treasure map (seriously, what idiot would bury treasure to begin with?). And at the end of the day, on a fucking technicality, Ed has kicked him off when he stopped nice with his shitty fucking boyfriend instead of sending him to doggy heaven.

It was tempting, in a way, to just say yes. If Ed could be an impulsive, irresponsible twat, why couldn't he?

...because unlike Ed, he was fucking sensible.

He finally looks away, resting both elbows on his knees and holding his glass in both hands. Tapping an index finger in an idle shanty rhythm on the glass.

"If he's one of yours, then. I might consider it," he says, finally. "If you turn out to be half decent at the entire affair."

Kiryu's answer is a nod.

"You'll be my fourth inmate. If you're interested in talking to him, my last one was Norton. The other two have left, but Crozier-san was close to another one. There's no one from my world to talk to, but I can answer any questions you have."

Kiryu hasn't been out of his rooms much, given the situation with Taylor and with Trixie to a lesser degree, but he's not the sort to shirk on his duties. Thankfully, he is the sort to be good at multitasking.

...what, most of his karaoke and pool playing and pocket circuit had happened while he was wanted for murder. The man knows what he's about.

Anyway, he finds a minute to look for Izzy, considering.

"Got a minute?" A pause. "Actually a minute. It won't be long. We can talk here, unless you'd rather not."

He's really very easy to find when you know where to look, and Izzy spots Kiryu coming into the dining hall as he's unloading a stack of plates from the dishwasher onto the counter, and he'll pop out of the kitchen for it.

"Here's fine by me." He can see Kiryu's not looking for a fight, at least, and something had come up he's got enough of a read of the man by now that he knows he'd rather do it in private, so. Whatever he was telling him couldn't be that bad. "What d'you need?"

He offers a bow of his head, an acknowledgement and appreciation for the time and regard. Then he launches straight in.

"The events the other day involved a girl I've taken as my daughter. I've been caring for her, which means I haven't been able to do much else."

He lets his shoulders sink.

"I realize there are outstanding issues going on, but I would ask you, from one man to another, to do your best to avoid the troublemakers if you can. I know shit happens, and if it does, and you need me, I'll show up. But I hope I can trust you to handle yourself, handle the situation, in a way that won't cause more bloodshed or conflict."

He's not unimpressed by the man needing to be a responsible father; if he cared about that sort of thing, he'd be proud of him, so there's certainly an underlying sense of satisfaction to the slight lift of his chin in acknowledgement. Look after your own first.

"So basically keep not being a stupid twat," he comments wryly. "I think I can do that."

That gets a nod.

"I thought so."

Exactly right. He trusts you can handle yourself. He trusts you can keep your temper.

"Don't hesitate to come to me if you need me, though."

He doesn't get to stop being a warden just because he's a father. He decides to offer more.

"I've talked to Givens-san. And Flint-sans's warden. I made my feelings clear, to them and to others:" and he looks over to Izzy, "that you were provoked. Both times. And that if a warden had a problem with you, he should have come to me. They were out of line."

And there's a note in Kiryu's voice that if Raylan tries something again, he's getting more than just a talking to about it. He likes Raylan. But third chances don't come easy, especially not for a cop.

[A day or two after this post, by which time his inmate informant (Nathaniel) has shown him the whole post on the inmate filter. And it's past time to talk to Izzy anyhow.]

Hello, Mister Hands.

My name is Jedao, and I'm Captain Flint's warden. I don't imagine you're the sort who needs or cares to be protected by a stranger, but I have a few questions for you, just to make sure I'm doing my own duty. Would you rather get them out of the way right now, or should I make tea and ask you in person?

If it's all the same, I'd rather do it in person. Tea doesn't matter all that much.

I prefer in person as well.

I'm in cabin 5-13, although if you don't care about the tea, I could also come to you.

I'll come by yours.

[He's not in the vicinity of fucking around, so he'll be over quite shortly, in fact, and knocks on Jedao's cabin door.]

The door - beautiful and strange, enameled in something faintly nacreous, with giant knucklebone dice and frolicking golden foxes, with no visible handle or hinges - slides open a second after the knock. The room is different, subtly, from the strange futurity of the rest of the barge. The light comes from golden candlevines coiling across the walls and ceiling; the pale wood furniture has oddly textured details; the cloudwood tabletop has a shifting lenticular shimmer. The room itself is hexagonal rather than square. Jedao rises, and waves him in toward the couch and chairs. He did make tea, strong and black, just in case.

"Welcome, please sit."

Izzy doesn't particularly engage with other people's cabins, so the oddness of this one is particularly striking for him, and he can't quite keep the confused wonder off his face as he looks around, a little too off-guard to hide it.

Until Jedao draws his attention and he pulls himself together, closing off again instantly and standing at- some sort of attention. It's the almost-casual shift of weight onto one leg, left hand resting habitually on his sword's hilt, leaning back just a fraction on his weight to stand taller.

He's not gonna sit.

"Would I be correct in assuming you haven't run this little meeting past Kiryu?" he asks, his tone cool and clipped.

Jedao raises an eyebrow. He does sit. Pours himself a cup of tea.

"I didn't think I'd need to, just to talk. But if you want, I'm happy to call and inform him right now. I'm not Mister Givens. If you don't want to answer my questions, you can tell me to fuck off and leave anytime."

"You understand why I'm hesitant to extend the benefit of the doubt very far, then," he comments flatly. "What are your questions, then."

"Understandable, yes. All the more reason for us to get to know each other. For example, even if I had a problem with you - which I don't - I think it's stupid to threaten people who don't stay dead," Jedao says dryly. "Unless what you're really threatening is pain, and I have personal objections to torture."

He pours a cup for Izzy as well, and leaves it on his side of the table, even if he doesn't take it.

"Have you died on the barge yet?"

"Not as of yet, no," he answers plainly.

"Though I don't imagine Flint's planning on letting that stand. If he gets his hands on arms, it's not going to be from my stock, mind you."

Jedao hums, and takes a sip of his tea as he considers what he can, in good conscience, say to that without betraying James's trust. Even if James cares less about infosec than he does, it still matters.

"I don't think he's quite so far as the planning stage, but it's certainly a risk."

And the degree of risk may be changing rapidly.

"I hope it doesn't come to that, but I won't pretend my efforts can be any kind of guarantee. If he misuses anything he does manage to acquire, I want you to know, I'll want to hear about your version of events. I don't...take his actions lightly."

"I think he's a feckless bastard," Izzy counters flatly. "If he can't have his duel with me he's going to get it in his head that he can just kill me like a fucking dog and have that solve the problem."

He shifts his weight, resting both hands on his sword and running his thumb over the tip of the hilt. "He doesn't think the lot of you are going to punish him properly either, so he's got no fear of consequences. He'll do whatever the fuck he wants and it'll be my blood that's spilled 'cos he's being a spoiled brat about how I didn't get punished for something I didn't fucking do."

"He doesn't allow a fear of consequences to control him even when they're both credible and severe," Jedao observes. That's no secret; anyone who was on the Galley with them would know, could tell. Jedao privately thinks he could do better than the Judge, if it came to that - he's been tempted more than once to stab Raylan himself, or at least to threaten it, and the risk of demotion be damned. But he doubts that kind of power struggle would accomplish anything good in the end, even if it beat James down for a little while.

"If you have suggestions, I'll hear them. I do have his sword. Would you prefer a formal duel?"

"Flint only wants a duel with me 'cos he wants to see my comeuppance himself," he observes flatly. "I'll not bend to that sort of bullshit when I've got no actual quarrel with him. Duelling's for sorting out real issues, not for letting me get my hide tanned because he objects to the fact I've hurt his fucking feelings."

Even if they come back here, he takes the art seriously. You only start a duel when you want to see the other person killed, and he doesn't have issue with Flint apart from him continuing this bullshit.

"If he's anything like his fucking boyfriend and comes after me in the halls, then that reckoning's on his own head and I'll not be held responsible for his fucking state."

"If he comes after you in the halls, it's on my head, but I'd certainly appreciate you saving me the trouble of being the tyrant about it," Jedao observes.

Then he asks, in what sounds like pure curiosity about Izzy's perspective, "Whatever the source, you don't think a man can make an actual quarrel on his own, if he means to come for you?"

"I think if the man's got an idiot idea in his head, he can do what he wants with it," he says gruffly. "But a duel's got a purpose. It's a real challenge, it's for two people with their own damn problems with each other to sort out their entire affair, nice and clean."

Because Stede absolutely had a problem with Izzy, of course, obviously.

"Does that work?" Jedao asks. But he's never had anything sorted out nice and clean in his whole life, so it's not like he would know.

"Any man with the balls to taste my steel doesn't live to tell the tale."

There's pride to his tone, undeniably, but it's only quietly smug. Pirates don't live to be his age when they're bad at their job.

Edited 2023-01-30 06:42 (UTC)

"Oh, that sort." He turns his teacup idly in his hands.

"My - I suppose you'd call him my father." Not that Jedao would necessarily. "He was one of the great duelists of the age. But it was just -" No, that's not quite right. "Not just a sport to him, but - a passion. All his real killing he did with something else.

His eyebrows furrow with a suspicious sort of curiosity for a moment, but he doesn't chase the thought.

"Pirates live and die by the sword," he says evenly. "Nothing sacred about steel. But there's rules as you've got to follow in duelling. Makes it proper, instead of some blood-letting farce like any other fucking raid. Or what Flint wants to see done to me."

"Indeed," Jedao agrees. "What are the rules where you come from, then?"

TLV: IC Inbox

dining hall

Re: dining hall

Re: dining hall

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

at the dining hall

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject