"Uh, all of them?" she chuckles, rifling through a stack of books, all in a foreign language. She flips between the pages like she might find something tucked in there. "It's pretty much in the job title. The obvious party is leading the pack, though."
Their best isn't good enough, Tess thinks, but he's not wrong. She would give Arthur all the leeway in the world for treating her like a partner in this rather than a project. She snaps the book shut and puts it away, giving the floorboards a glance. They seem firm under her feet, and there's no obvious gap of a board that needs to come in and out.
"You hold me accountable, and that's the difference," she replies. Flippantly: "And they aren't fun to drink with."
“I think so, we’re slippery people.” She grins, resuming going through Pagan’s things. There’s the matches and cigarettes — she’s surprised to not find anything harder. “Sacrifice a deck chair.”
“Right? He’d do cocaine. Wardens’ve told me it’s easy to get here, even.”
How that works, she has no fucking idea, but maybe Pagan just hides it better than she’s willing to dig on this pretend raid that Arthur will pretend to bust her for, anyway.
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."
"Yessir," Tess replies, a little flippantly. The death of a total stranger feels like nothing, an afterthought. She types something more and then nods her head towards the booze bottles lined up on Pagan's desk. "He's offering a bottle as thanks, grab one and we'll go."
“It’s not all bad,” she agrees. Griping about things is fun, but at the very least there are perks. “Good luck to Ellie with Pagan, though. Almost had a quiet month.”
"I bet she'll be happy to have somethin' to do, instead of sittin' around, tryin' to do something good. I was happy as anything to get a permanent pairing, I can tell you that."
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"Think he stuck something in the floorboards?"
He isn't checking. He will not.
"I think most people are just tryin' their best. You just like me because I don't give you any bullshit."
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"You hold me accountable, and that's the difference," she replies. Flippantly: "And they aren't fun to drink with."
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"Well, I got plenty of practice at that," he jokes back, pushing away from the wall.
"What'd you find?"
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This time. She moves to the trunk and crouches down to unsnap the latches. Efficient work, even with only one arm.
"You have any plans for New Year's?"
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"More of that drinking," is all. "You?"
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"We should absolutely do that. Think we could get away with starting a fire on Deck, while everyone's gone?"
They're gonna be the ones cleaning the mess, anyway.
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"I thought for sure this guy would have drugs," he comments, at that, and then:
"Yeah, let's do that. See who else wants to show up, I'll bring some good booze."
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“Right? He’d do cocaine. Wardens’ve told me it’s easy to get here, even.”
How that works, she has no fucking idea, but maybe Pagan just hides it better than she’s willing to dig on this pretend raid that Arthur will pretend to bust her for, anyway.
“It’s a plan, then.”
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He scoffs - sounds like a damn stupid idea - and comes forward.
"Great. Are you done here?"
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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."
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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."
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"Let's try somethin' new," he says, and picks up something that looks exotic and maybe a little spicy, before heading out.
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"Thanks for this, by the way."
It certainly makes staying out of trouble a hell of a lot smoother, too.
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"Sure, I don't mind. Reminds me of home, goin' into abandoned places and finding useless shit."
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"Almost," he emphasizes. "I could do without it for a while longer."
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"Full of upsides, this place."
He wiggles the bottle - case in point.
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FEEL FREE TO DROP I'm a lil late
"I bet she'll be happy to have somethin' to do, instead of sittin' around, tryin' to do something good. I was happy as anything to get a permanent pairing, I can tell you that."
nah I'm good I always have energy for Arthur B)
"I've kept you from a lot of sitting around, that's for sure," she replies. "Haven't made the doing good part easy, though."
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