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[major_rawne]

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[major_rawne]

Sure. What do you want to know?

[He sips his slowly, savoring it. One of the benefits of living on the Barge is getting sacra whenever he wants, instead of having to wait for the bootleggers in the Ghosts to make their next batch.]

[deuceoftears]

[The taste plays about as well with the constant bitter-metal aftertaste his throat finds on everything as anything else does, but he finds he actually likes the smooth rush of heat from the alcohol itself. It's different from the cheaper gin he's shared with James, sleeker somehow.]

How long have you been here? What do you think is the most important part of being a warden?

[major_rawne]

I've been here... four years. Or nearly so. If you count the year on the flotilla. [Which he does.] The most important part is listening to your inmate. Finding out what they need to graduate. It'll be different for everyone.

[deuceoftears]

What did you need?

[major_rawne]

[He takes a long drink to think it over.]

Someone who asked questions about why I was the way I was and listened to the answers. Someone who cared. Who liked me, for some fething reason.

[deuceoftears]

Sounds like they were pretty great.

[major_rawne]

He was. Quentin was. I miss him, sometimes.

[It's because of Quentin that he can say things like that and mean it.]

[deuceoftears]

[He blinks, surprised.]

Oh - I. I met him once, I think. When I was here in the General's place.

White hair, gentle and awkward?

[major_rawne]

Yeah, that's Quentin. [He smiles fondly.] Awkward as hell.

They were in a relationship, for a while. Them and Fives. Who's also gone, now.

[deuceoftears]

[He grimaces.]

I think I'd forgotten that.

[Ew, Jedao One having sex. Much worse, Jedao One having sex with someone Jedao himself has a teeny tiny maybe crush on.]

[major_rawne]

Easy for you. You weren't here for all those dinners.

[He likes all of them, he liked those dinners, but the blatant affection was a little much at times.]

[deuceoftears]

[He makes a weird noise, something that starts as a short and ends in a rueful, involuntary laugh.]

Yeah, okay, fair.

Is it ever...I don't know. Weird? That kind of domesticity next to...oh, someone set the library on fire or killed half a dozen people again? Well, time for soup.

[major_rawne]

Oh, it's fething weird. The way this place deals with murder is fething weird. But having friends and all that... it helps keep me sane. I need people around, like that.

[It took him a while to admit that.]

[deuceoftears]

It's...I didn't have very many friends, before I got here.

[He stares into his drink rather than meet Rawne's eyes as he admits this.]

It's - I'm so grateful but it's awful, too. I must have been here two weeks and my first friend was murdered, just like that. And he's an inmate - he didn't have any way to defend himself.

[major_rawne]

That's lousy.

[He was lucky enough to get here between murder sprees.]

Who's your friend?

[deuceoftears]

Fitz.

But, I mean. It could be anybody, you know? How are the inmates supposed to believe us about anything if they can die any time and we just...keep going?

[major_rawne]

It takes a lot of trust. But some of the wardens try to keep people alive. It's just. It's just hard.

[deuceoftears]

Yeah. But we can't be everywhere.

If your inmate asked you for weapons, for self-defense - how would you decide?

[major_rawne]

If I trusted them, I'd give them one. I gave Norton a gun. It'd be hypocritical if I denied another inmate the same thing.

[deuceoftears]

You trust Norton?

[He raises an eyebrow, although he's smiling. He likes Norton, and he's rather glad someone did arm him, but that's not quite the same as trusting him.]

[major_rawne]

I trust him to be himself. He's not the type to go around killing people for no reason.

[deuceoftears]

He did just plant a bomb in a public area.

[Jedao points out, though not sharply. He's not, personally, very mad about it, but it does seem relevant.]

Not saying you're wrong about him. Just...not all reasons are great reasons, even if you have them.

[major_rawne]

Right. That.

[He'd forgotten, for a moment.]

I'm not happy he did that either. I thought... if someone tried to pressure him like that, he'd come to me.

[deuceoftears]

I'd have hoped he'd fight back. In some ways it shows restraint that he didn't.

What convinced you? About him.

[major_rawne]

A while back, my commanding officer showed up. He wasn't very nice and Norton tried to kill him, for me. That meant something. That he'd try that, just for me.

[It's not a traditional romantic gesture, but it affected Rawne deeply.]