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He scoffs - sounds like a damn stupid idea - and comes forward.
"Great. Are you done here?"
"I ain't tellin' you it's not peaceful enough," he points out, seeing the way she'd flinched. "I'm fucking shocked I made it this long without getting in any real fights, and sometimes that's just 'cause I don't wanna get demoted."
Which is a terrible fucking reason not to shoot a man, but he knows where he came from.
"There's always gonna be people out there wantin' something from you that you ain't willin' to give."
Tess shoves the drawer back closed with her hip and fishes her communicator back out of her pocket with her good hand. She scrolls a moment, checking messages. None. The network: there's a Pagan post.
"And we have a murder," she says, typing a response to Pagan with her thumb. "Looks like he used Norton as bait. I'll tell him I'm leaving his shit here, he can come back here and hide it himself."
"And I'm supposed to just ignore it when guys like Yunlan or William push my buttons, disrespect me?" She shrugs one shoulder. "I don't like getting messed up but sometimes there's no other way out."
Arthur groans, displeased with that outcome. Fine, Pagan didn't get killed - someone still did die, even if they're going to come back.
"Come on. Let's get outta here before people clue in."
He shakes his head. "No, that's... that's a fine line. Difficult to really make a good call about this. I try not to get in a position where my buttons can get pushed," is the best he can do.
"Let's try somethin' new," he says, and picks up something that looks exotic and maybe a little spicy, before heading out.
"Thanks for this, by the way."
It certainly makes staying out of trouble a hell of a lot smoother, too.
"Things are bound to flare up," she knows that as well as he does. "We was in conflict with the O'Driscolls for years. Anytime one of us saw the other, it was always bad business."
"Sure, I don't mind. Reminds me of home, goin' into abandoned places and finding useless shit."
"Of course not. I ain't your daddy - but maybe he don't win if you ignore that smug piece of shit. Playing into it means there's nothing to win, either side."
He holds up a hand, expecting pushback. "I know I ain't always done that myself. But I coulda done with someone telling me this years ago."
“It’s not playing,” she says. “Not when he’s convinced I’m up to shit and it’s his job to intervene.”
"Tell him to get the hell away, and that he's actively hindering you. If he keeps it up he can at least be aware he thinks his own ego is more important than your life."
“We’ll see what happens next time,” she says.
"Almost," he emphasizes. "I could do without it for a while longer."
It's the best he could do, without him being the one to help her out. She really does have to get herself out of this kind of trouble, though.
So he just nods, seriously. "That's all we can do."
It’s odd to have to use that self-control, after so many years of relying on violence or partners’ violence in equal measure.
“I’m gonna keep my head down for a bit, I think.”
"Full of upsides, this place."
He wiggles the bottle - case in point.
He isn't going to keep her to that, that's for sure. But he'll do her the courtesy of nodding and rapping his knuckles on the table.
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