[four] β [video]

[freezerburns]

[Private to Mickey]

[Isaac so did not expect to get a friend as his inmate. This really makes things awkward. He both wants to read Mickey's file and doesn't want to even think about it sitting there on his desk, considering what he does know about the guy's life. He keeps glancing over at it like it's going to flip open on its own or something.]

So. You saw, huh?

Comments

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[freezerburns]

[Isaac watches him, biting at the inside of his cheek. He's awesome at this, obviously. He's a great warden. No one else can match how easily he can fit his whole damn foot in his mouth.

He can smell the hurt under Mickey's anger, mingling with it. It wasn't even a judgement thing, it was just something he had to reassure himself about. Wardening someone who liked killing would be harder, worse. When he speaks, his voice is mild and honest.]

What, you think something like that'd scare me off?

[I'm not going anywhere is what he doesn't say, even if it's what he means. (And suddenly he realises consciously he does really want to do this for Mickey as well as just for his deal.) It's not something he believed about Scott the first time - hell, or the second or the third - he'd shown he actually cared about Isaac. Trusting people isn't easy.]

Dude, I'm trying to figure out why you're there on the 'needs redemption' side now and I'm not. There's other wardens who've killed people and they didn't get demoted. I'm sorry.

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[americasdirtiest]

I told you why. I planned it. I conned Winchester, I led him down where no one would hear us, and then I bashed in his fucking skull with a pipe.

[And maybe what upsets him is that he can't promise he didn't enjoy it. Not in the way Isaac means, not like he'd go looking to do it again on purpose, but God... he can't deny that there's something viscerally satisfying in lashing out and making contact, in dropping someone to the ground. In going from trapped animal to apex predator.

Killing Dean had been a mistake, a loss of control -- the last thing he really remembers about it is feeling Dean cut him and thinking that at least now he had an excuse to hit him harder -- but he can't really say he hadn't just loved kicking the shit out of Detmer and Jerry.

And really, fuck Beacon Hills. Is that so wrong? Fuck Isaac, too, if he's judging him on that. He snorts and pops the top off his bottle using the corner of the counter, then takes a long swig.]

Murder in cold fucking blood? Straight to the top of the naughty list. Life in prison here, a job offer there.

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[freezerburns]

[Isaac shakes his head. He's not judging, honest. Really, he's thinking that it seems more like cannibalism - not like Hannibal style but like those guys who get so hungry and desperate after a plane crash they eat other guys to stay alive - it's fucked up but it's not as simple as just pointing a finger and calling it wrong. Is there such thing as murder in cold blood with good reason or extenuating circumstances? And would that be enough on its own to get you stuck on the Barge as an inmate?

He thinks not - hopes not, at least the part of him that still badly wants to kill Jerry does at least - but without Mickey's file all he's got to go on is what Mickey says. So he's here because he killed Dean. That's what they're starting with. Anything else will have to come later.

Something about how Mickey phrased that last thing catches in his mind and sticks there.]

It's not a life sentence, you know. You're not gonna be stuck here forever.

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[americasdirtiest]

Come on. Like I give a fuck about that.

[It's flippant, but he's actually kind of serious. Yeah, he's trapped here, and he's trapped with people like Jerry, but he's also trapped with Ian. With Iris and Chris and everyone that came to dinner. And without the best parts of his family, but also without the worst. Honestly, between here and home, at the very worst it's like six of one and half a dozen of the other. And hey, at least here, he doesn't have to worry about money.

Which... actually sort of puts them in a weird position, now that he comes to think of it, because that means that Isaac is relying more on him to graduate than vice-versa. He glances at him out of the corner of his eye as he takes another drink, brow furrowing. He's not sure what to make of that, nor how to feel about it.]

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[freezerburns]

[Mickey might catch a flicker of a grimace at the flippancy, because yeah, he wants to help Mickey get out of here but he's still got Allison and his deal to worry about. Time spent with her on the ship has weirdly both dulled the ache of her death and sharpened his resolve to not stop until he saves her. Before, he had a goal but no real way of making it happen. Before, he didn't have an inmate. Now he does and yes: he is relying on Mickey in a way that hits him at much the same time as it does the inmate. If Mickey doesn't play along, doesn't try, then he's stuck.]

I didn't mean leaving or going home or whatever. I meant... Ian, I guess. Your deal. You can still get that.

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[americasdirtiest]

Yeah. Maybe.

[And now he actually feels just a little bit guilty for taking Iris's help, even though no power in the universe would have him ask her to take it back. It's truly bizarre to think he has something over his own warden, someone he doesn't even want to have anything over, but he kind of does. He clears his throat, scratching at his jaw.]

Iris, uh, gave me hers, too. Like for when what's-her-face graduates.

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[freezerburns]

[He glances up with a frown. His own desperate determination to get his deal wars with what he knows about Iris: that she's kind and weird and loving. He could see it, from her. He's still surprised, though. Doesn't everyone need something?]

What-- really? She doesn't... want something herself?

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[americasdirtiest]

I guess not. She's a lifer, right? She's already graduated half a prison-full just by herself, is what I heard.

[Which means that, yeah, Mickey's incentive is pretty low right now. He shifts uncomfortably, biting his lip. Can he get motivated for someone he barely knows? Iris is, but he's not even going to pretend like she's not a thousand times better than he is. For Mickey... it definitely doesn't feel easy, but he tries to throw Isaac a bone.]

So what now, Attica?

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[freezerburns]

[Man, he wishes he had a good answer to that. He really does. Instead, he had no idea where he's supposed to go next. He's just a teenager, just a kid and he feels pretty massively out of his depth with this whole wardening thing. He totally needs to talk this out with Scott, maybe with Allison. Or just take some time and think about what he knows about Mickey and what he's supposed to be helping him with.

For now, he just sits back a little in his chair with a sigh.]

Good question, dude. You need anything?

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[americasdirtiest]

Not really.

[He is, after all, ghetto-married to dating a warden; his booze and cigarette needs are covered.]

Not unless you can get me my guns back.

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[freezerburns]

Who're you planning on shooting?

[Partly a joke, except there's obviously people Mickey's got problems with. Not that Jerry doesn't deserve a half dozenn bullets to the face, but. That's probably not something a warden should encourage.]

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[americasdirtiest]

No one yet.

[Because let's be real, he's not taking the option off the table.]

I like guns. Stress release or whatever. Plus, you really think it's cool the Admiral says I can't defend what's mine in this fucking place?