#here we define 'jackass' as 'someone who probably still tortures people occasionally.' it's not perfect phrasing.

[wolves-in-the-world]

thinking once again about how eliot's safety and ability to do his job well relies on him being seen as a Big Bad Scary Hitter - that's what his grift in the french connection job etc is for, it's a useful reputation, it keeps the wolves at bay - and how he hires quinn for what he knows is gonna be a high-stakes job. he brings quinn with him to intercept dubenich, lets quinn see his hand shake as he tries to talk himself into-or-out-of killing the mark, then turns around and chats with him afterwards. bickers with him easily when they shake hands at the end.

there's a trust between them from the moment eliot lays out the job offer, and it has to be more than "we have no particular reason to betray each other yet."

I'm thinking about... the code of honour in hitter circles, where A Favour is both a recognised thing and a respected currency. about eliot's confidentiality with regard to old employers. about the network of contacts (I have to assume) who can tell you if someone can be trusted and if they're as good as they claim. about eliot's seemingly thoughtless trust in quinn.

(he had to have researched, surely. if only to know where to find him. if only to be sure there aren't any big players currently after his blood. if only to find out that quinn is exactly the kind of dangerous they need for the job, no more, no worse.)

I just have a lot of fondness for He's A Killer But He's Not A Jackass quinn, who would take on a hit and accidentally go up against eliot spencer (uh oh), but can be trusted with more delicate things.

#quinn leverage #the last dam job #quinn #apologies I know other people have talked about The Dubenich Moment with regard to trust before #but if they were dedicated posts I don't remember enough to go looking for them. #here we define 'jackass' as 'someone who probably still tortures people occasionally.' it's not perfect phrasing. #the honour-among-hitters thing is low key fascinating to me tbh #what we see of like. thieves in general? isn't much like that. #though come to think of it tara owing sophie feels very much like a hitter favour actually. #I wonder if eliot just sorta branched out from but never fully left his military circles #(if perhaps a lot of hitters do that and it colours the wider culture. oof.) #if he relied on That sort of honour and the rules and cues he already knows #to figure out when it's not really honour at all. #this might be the sort of worldbuilding that falls apart when you poke at it #or it might just be the sort of social minefield my ambiguously neurodiverse ass couldn't hope to write #...if I never actually write a quinn who is kinda fucked up by the level of trust eliot shows him #please know that the thought of it visits me regularly and Won't let go