angriestman | (no subject)

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andrea

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Jess is with Rachel and Raylan takes a chance to go wandering. He takes his rifle, on its strap over his shoulder, his hat on the back of his head. He doesn't know if he'll actually bother hunting and, honestly, what he's looking for isn't prey. He knows her well enough to figure out where she might be.

And he's got a question that needs asking. He's been giving it some thought.
He can't actually remember the last time that he made a friend he doesn't work with.

Which matters, somehow.
It really does.

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More and more often lately, she's leaving the rifle at home, if only because she wants to preserve what little ammunition she has for a time when it may be necessary. For now, though, she's gotten pretty adept with the crossbow Zhuge gave her before he disappeared and that's what she has with her today as she tracks birds through the jungle.

Somehow, she isn't all that surprised when she sees Raylan.

"Hey," she says, lowering the crossbow and giving him a grin. "Come to give me a hand?"

"There you are," he says, shifting the rifle on his shoulder as he wanders towards her, stride long and easy. He touches the brim of his hat.

"Nice day for it."

"As far as I'm concerned, it's always a nice day for it," Andrea answers, which is as close as she'll probably get to saying that she doesn't know what to do with herself lately. She comes out into the jungle and shoots, she spends time with the people she's grown close to, but it all still feels directionless.

"Hey, how much ammo do you have?" she asks curiously. "Does anyone here know how to make it?"

"Enough," he says, shrugging. "When the file turned up, it turned up with boxes. I don't use it that much, but I've got enough for when I need it. Sidearm's a little shakier."

He looks at her for a long moment.

"You busy or you want to take a walk?"

"I'm never really busy," Andrea answers with a laugh, shrugging up toward the sky before she looks at Raylan again. It's something that she's found to be all too true about this place. She's sure there are plenty of people who can find ways to fill their time, but she isn't sure how to fill her own. Short of shooting things and being bossed around by lawyers, there isn't much she's very good at.

"A walk sounds good," she says, taking a second to remove the arrow from the crossbow. "Lead the way."

Since Jess was born, Raylan finds himself with a real dearth of free time. There's always something that needs doing and the idea of ten minutes away is both freeing and terrifying.

"I got a question to ask you," he says, as they walk. "And you can feel free to say no, if you want to..."

"As long as it doesn't involve doing something that will get me arrested, the answer will probably be yes," Andrea says and she's teasing, but she looks over at Raylan curiously. When someone starts a conversation like that, it makes her worry a little. It makes her wonder if there's something wrong, something she'll need to take care of.

"Rachel and me are getting married," he says, falling into step beside her. "Now that Jess has been born. It's not going to be a big wedding, just something little on the beach - party at home."

At that news, Andrea smiles, wide and genuine. "Hey, that's great news. Congratulations on that." Her only real interaction with Rachel had been when the poor woman was in labour, but Andrea can definitely say that she likes what she knows of her so far. And Raylan's clearly happy, which is all she needs to know.

"Something little on the beach sounds really nice," she says. "That's exciting."

"Yeah, it is," says Raylan, grinning despite himself, because he might have done it once already and it might not have worked out so well with Winona but that's no reason not to risk it again.

"So..I kind of..." He stopped, taking a bath. "I wanted to ask. You want to stand up with me?"

Of all the things Andrea thinks he might say next, that's definitely not one of them and she pauses, her lips parted slightly in surprise. When Glenn and Maggie got married, they'd done so in prison uniforms, officiated by Maggie's father and most traditions had been more or less done away with.

It's the only wedding Andrea's been involved in. Until now.

"Really?" she asks, a smile growing.

"Yeah," says Raylan, tilting his head and rubbing the back of his neck, free hand on his hip. "I...uh...Don't have many friends that are mine. And that seems to matter with something like this."

She always thought she'd be there when Amy got married, holding her sister's hand, doing all the things a maid of honour was supposed to do. That's never going to happen now and while Andrea has mostly accepted this, Raylan's question still brings up those memories.

"I'd be happy to," she says, grinning at him. "I mean, I'm honoured that you even asked me."

Somewhat awkwardly, Raylan reaches out and claps her shoulder, a smile spreading across his face before he lets that arm slipa around her shoulders and gives her a quick, stiff hug.

"Thanks, Andrea," he says. "Means a lot."

"Oh, come on," Andrea says with a laugh, throwing both arms around Raylan in a real hug. She's never had much of a problem with physical affection and she grins before she releases him again, stepping back to really look at him for a second. It's nice to see him happy.

"So, do I get to bring a date?" she asks casually, though her smile is anything but.

It's a moment before he relaxes and then he wraps his arms around her and pulls her in against his chest.

"Of course you can bring a date," he says, after he lets her go. "There someone special?"

"There's... someone," she answers, her mouth hitching up in another grin. Sam's a great guy and she really likes spending time with him, but she isn't sure they're serious enough -- or exclusive enough -- for her to refer to him as someone special. "Sam Flynn," she says, wondering if Raylan knows him, if he'll have an opinion about him. She likes to make up her mind about people on her own, but sometimes it doesn't hurt to hear what someone outside the situation thinks.

"Don't know him," he says and then he steels himself, automatically turning them in the direction of the bar. Maybe the pretty red-head's serving; Rachel'd totally understand. He sighs.

"Well? What's he like?"

"Sam?" she asks, even though that much as obvious and she pauses, thinking as she lets Raylan change direction. It's sort of a tough question to answer, especially given how closed mouth she tends to be about things like this. It used to drive Amy nuts whenever she'd try to get details out of her about a date.

"He's nice," she settles on saying. "Being around him is easy." That counts for a hell of a lot.

"That's not nothing," says Raylan, head bowed as they walk - he's unconsciously turned them in the direction of the Hub. "I mean - I love Rachel with all my heart but nobody could ever accuse her of being easy."

Andrea laughs, unable to help herself and she lifts her shoulders in a shrug. "I bet everyone's not easy at least some of the time." She thinks of all the times Dale drove her nuts or the times Rick pissed her off, but he's right. Easy counts for a lot. Especially with her. She doesn't have much of a taste for difficulties.

"Back home, not long before I came here, I... sort of dated someone," she says. "But it just never felt right. I don't get that feeling here."

"Yeah?" he says, glancing across at her. "Man. You'd better bring this guy to the wedding so I can get a look at him."

She laughs at that, head tipped slightly as she looks over at Raylan. "So you can let me know if he's good enough?" she asks and although she's teasing, it's sort of a nice thought, too. That someone might still be looking out for her a little bit.

"Now I just feel like your daddy," says Raylan, nose wrinkling. "I haven't got that figured out for one person and there's very little that he can do to test me, yet."

"He'll find a way soon enough," Andrea says. "And between you and me, I'm sure you'll do just fine." Some people just know how to do it, she thinks, even if they're scared or think they don't. Raylan's one of them, just like Rick. She had tried once, done her best, but her best hadn't been good enough for those boys.

"C'mon," he says, nodding his head towards the Hub. "Let's go get a drink and you can convince me that everything's gonna turn out okay."

"Yeah, alright," Andrea agrees easily, another grin crossing her face. "I'm pretty good at that, actually." She suspects it's her conviction that everything really will be alright in the end, although sometimes she isn't sure how she's managed to hold onto that for so long.

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