Derek Miller (throughthemill) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-09-25 18:27:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 20, derek miller, thomas galloway, | derek and tom |
Week 20 - Thursday
Characters: Derek Miller and Tom Galloway
Location: Derek's room
Summary: Tom wants to talk to Derek about the fight. It doesn't go nearly so well as his conversation with Jed.
Rating: PG-13 for language
Derek had made himself scarce after the fight. Tom had looked for the former construction worker once he finished his conversation with Jed, but the man hadn’t been in any of the public areas of the farmstead and didn’t show up for supper. Finally deciding that if the mountain wouldn’t come to Mohammad, he’d have to go to the mountain. The sort of thing that had happened in the barn this afternoon couldn’t be allowed to happen again.
He reached the entrance to Derek’s room and knocked lightly on the closed door. “Derek, it’s Tom. Got a few minutes to talk?”
Derek had no desire to talk to anyone and had skipped dinner rather than explain what happened to his face. He wanted to be left. Tom’s voice at the door was an unwelcome intrusion. Scowling, he opened the door.
“Can we just skip to the part where I promise to be a good boy and never do something like this again and save ourselves ten minutes? That’d be great.”
“‘fraid not.” Tom told him, frowning slightly. “I’d like to get to the root cause of the problem to make damned sure it doesn’t happen again. If not you and Jed, it might be you and someone else, or Jed and someone else. I’ve already talked with Jed, I want to hear your end of things.”
He gestured toward the room. “Can I come in or do you want to do this in the hall?”
Derek’s craving for privacy conflicted with his desire to tell Tom to go fuck himself. He stepped back and let the other man into his room.
“Thank you.” Tom stepped into the room and shut the door behind him.
“What’s there to discuss?” Derek said after the door was closed. “People fight. I’m amazed it hasn’t happened before now with all of us on top each other.”
Tom nodded. “Maybe so, but the way you two were going at it is more than just a run of the mill fight. If it were just a few punches that would be one thing, but it seems to me like you goaded Jed into throwing the first punch. Mind telling me why?”
Derek shrugged and his expression hardened. “Felt like it. That redneck should learn not to be so sensitive.” Who did Tom think he was, acting like this was any of his responsibility? Fighting with Jed had been a relief - a way to blow of steam and concentrate on actual, physical pain. And none of that was any of Tom’s business.
“And your solution to that was to taunt him until he snapped?” Tom shook his head. “Look Derek, I’m trying to keep people safe here. I’d like to try and stop bad blood from developing as much as I can while everyone gets stir crazy over the winter. If you want to let of steam, I’m gonna grab boxing gear on the next raid, better that it happens under controlled conditions than a bloody free-for-all.”
Derek hadn’t taunted Jed. He had merely implied that the other man was a child-molesting homosexual and he hadn’t even believed a word of what he said. “Look it’s nice you’re so concerned and everything but I’m not one of your soldiers. What I do with anyone else here is none of your business.”
“I live here too, and I want to make sure everyone here stays alive through the winter without killing each other, so that makes it my business.” Maybe he was overstepping any ‘authority’ he had, but he was trying to get through to the younger man. “What’s bugging you that you had to go and start a fight?”
No. There was no way in hell Derek was going to answer that. “Maybe you didn’t hear me. This is none of your business.”
“Fine.” Tom let it drop, since he couldn’t compel Derek to talk to him. “Don’t let it happen again, please.” If Derek became a source of conflict amongst the group then Tom would have to see what he could do to make sure that source was removed.
Derek turned away, conversation clearly over in his mind. “There’s the door. If you don’t mind, I need to get some sleep if I’m going to be up for my shift.”