#raylan knows this and really doesn’t need boyd acting caught out and giving them away

[acorrespondence]

I’m very glad I turned on email receipts for asks yesterday (I didn’t even realize it was off!), because tumblr ate this one from @toli-a!

17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic?

Oh, this is a hard one, because I’m very bad at remembering when and how I learned information unless the circumstances in which I learned it were very memorable, and most of my fic research involves getting lost in a link chain rabbit hole for hours and coming back up like I’ve just woken from a fugue state. Actually, as I was writing this I was thinking about the justified og au and remembered one of the things I researched in depth for that: the details and dangers which “robbing a mine” entails, as well as some very specific instances where attempts to do so ended in disaster. A lot of mining companies would pay people under the table to do this for them, but of course some people did it for themselves because they could make more money per ounce on the coal than the mine was willing to pay them for it. Guess which of these equally illegal activities more often resulted in arrest? Yep; if you were doing this for yourself behind the company’s back, you weren’t just accused of robbing the mine, but also of robbing the mining company.

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.)

This is from a collection of prequel snippets in the heavy heart universe. It was never intended to be published and instead is really just for my own reference, so it’s rougher than I’d prefer:

"Arlo says the two'a you's queer for each other."

Boyd freezes, but Raylan just rolls his eyes. "Arlo says the mailman's queer because he—I’m quotin, here—‘spends all day shovin things in mail holes.' And when my mama told Arlo that's just his job, Arlo said that made it worse, on account'a he's gettin paid for it."

Johnny laughs. "Shit. Your old man may be an asshole, Raylan, but he's a funny one."

Raylan's said far worse about Arlo himself, but he feels his hackles rise anyway. "You oughtta watch what you say, Johnny."

Johnny lounges back on the dugout bench and looks at Raylan through hooded eyes. "Careful, Raylan. We ain't in high school anymore, when our families left us to it. Your affairs are your daddy's, now, and his affairs are yours, and he ain't exactly got his affairs in order."

Boyd, still lounging against the chain link, having since recovered from his earlier jolt of fear, smirks at him. "Maybe you're well-served to mold yourself blindly in your daddy's image, cousin, but if I am truly to become my daddy, I must first become my own man."

Johnny spits on the ground. "Long as your own man ain't a fag."

(Questions here)

#justie2justie communication #writing #heavy heart #catching bullets #my fic #togina toli-a #justified #long post #f slur #q slur #tagged because they’re actually being used as slurs #raylan/boyd #thanks so much for the ask! #arlo doesn’t actually know shit he’s just being an asshole #raylan knows this and really doesn’t need boyd acting caught out and giving them away #johnny however suspects more than he’d let on #i’d be down to answer 29 again i have so much stuff in this document that will never see the light of day otherwise #ask game