A sketchy bar, Baltimore, Friday Afternoon

[soniaroadsqueen]

Dante had found them a great bar. Dingy, grimy, and cheap. In what Ringo was pretty sure was one of the worse parts of town. Despite the time of day, they weren't the only one's there. There were also the sorts of people you might expect to be in a sketchy bar on a Friday afternoon.

People who Ringo wasn't even paying attention to. "Is whiskey the best way to do this?" she asked, glancing over at Dante. "That's what you usually have, right?"

She probably shouldn't be getting drinking advice from Dante, but it wasn't like she had anyone else to get it from anymore.

[ooc: Expecting one.]

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

"Whiskey, tequila, whatever," Dante said, shrugging. "Sometimes I just get something with a shit ton of sugar and booze." He eyed Ringo up. "Shots?"

Oh god.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Sounds good to me." Ringo didn't have a ton of experience getting totally smashed, but she figured Dante could make up for that.

As tiny as she was, it wouldn't take many for her to really start feeling the effects.

It probably would have been better if she'd gone to someone who didn't solve their emotional problems with alcohol, but she'd gone to Dante. And she was starting to feel like he might be onto something.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante was what you got when you took a seven-year-old with memory loss, hit him with constant trauma on every level, and then didn't give him an outlet besides violence and excess. His coping mechanisms were deeply entrenched and very, very unhealthy.

But they tended to work if you just kept doing them for long enough, so that worked, right?

He walked up to the bar and ordered two of the most sugary-sweet and strong shots he knew about. He wordlessly shoved one at Ringo.

... Also, had the narrative mentioned he had a healing factor? Because in a couple of shots, that was gonna make kind of a difference here.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo glanced over at Dante. "Supposed to do it all at once, right?"

Her own lack of a healing factor was probably going to come into play pretty quickly, yeah. Especially combined with her lack of practice.

But that was okay. As she understood things, that was the point.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Yep," Dante said. He held his shot up for a toast.

Somehow he managed to do it sarcastically.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Another day, another situation, Ringo might have bristled, assuming that sarcasm was aimed at her. Today, though? She just mirrored the gesture and softly spoke. "To Kathy."

Her eyes burned suddenly and she scowled. Should have kept her mouth shut. Because saying it somehow hurt even more than thinking it.

She slammed the shot back hard before she had a chance to start dwelling on that.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Fuck Kathy," Dante amended that toast.

Pretty viciously.

Then he slammed back his drink.

[soniaroadsqueen]

That drink Ringo had had back in Dante's room already had her slightly tipsy. But, honestly, it was the grief coming at her in surges that prompted her own almost-bitter response.

"Tried. She didn't go for it."

Now she was scowling at her shot glass. It needed to have more alcohol in it to distract her, so why was it empty?

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante snorted. "Did," he said, "A whole fuckload of times. She stayed a fucking idiot."

Not that whether or not he fucked Kathy had much to do with whether or not Kathy wanted to be an idiot or not, but he didn't need to logic right now, either.

"Can we have two more?" he asked the bartender.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I'm aware," Ringo muttered. "But she wasn't an idiot. Jus', you know, bad at knowing her own limits."

She turned to the bartender and provided a helpful addition to Dante's request. "Each?"

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante shrugged. "Each," he agreed.

The bartender didn't really seem to care, and slammed down four shots.

"Bad at knowing her limits and full of shit," he said. "That makes you an idiot."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo slammed back a second shot before aiming a scowl over at Dante. Priorities, you know.

"What do you mean 'full of shit'?" Because Ringo had some thing to say about Kathy, a few of them even negative, but that wasn't on her list.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante snorted. "All this 'saving the world' crap," he said. "What the fuck was she talking about? She can't even save herself."

Which he'd already known, well up front. He still resented her for even trying to get his hopes up about life in general.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Just cause you can't do it doesn't mean you don't try," Ringo shot back with a scowl. "She had a responsibility."

Self-imposed, maybe, but a responsibility nonetheless.

[rebelseekspizza]

"She was a fucking eighteen-year-old high school student," Dante said, drawing out each word. "She had dick shit."

He snagged his third shot. "She was a fucking kid, like the rest of us."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"That's got nothing to do with anything," Ringo snapped, slamming her third shot, and actually feeling the alcohol burning down her throat despite the sugar. "If you've got the ability, you can take on the responsibility."

She scowled. "Not that you'd know anything about that."

Which wasn't even remotely fair of her, but Ringo was hurting, and arguing with Dante was an old habit by now, and she definitely didn't know how to hold her liquor.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Responsibility to do what?" Dante asked. Flatly. "To die at 18 in some shitty hospital somewhere? Cut me a fucking break."

There went his shot.

"The world's going to hell in a handbasket whether you do something or not," he said, all false cheer, "Everything else is just bullshit you tell yourself to sleep better at night."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"The world's not just some big thing." Ringo scowled. She had more to say, but was starting to feel the alcohol for real now, and it took her a second to remember what it was.

"It's people. Can't save everyone, but you c'n save some of 'em. How many d'you think she got to?" Huh, Dante? Huh? "Said her family was safe." So at least she saved them.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Did you go there at all after this shit started happening?" Dante said. "If her family made it out alive, great. They get to live another day. Instead it'll be their turn next week, or the week after."

He held up four fingers for the bar guy.

[soniaroadsqueen]

No, she hadn't. Kathy hadn't asked for help, so Ringo had trusted she didn't need it.

"Buying time isn't nothing," she muttered. Sounded like a pretty sullen argument, to be honest.

[rebelseekspizza]

"It's just buyin' time," Dante said. "Nothing to stake your life on if you can get old and grey otherwise."

He snagged a shot as soon as it was set down for him.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo followed suit. Because the alcohol didn't seem to be working. Oh, sure, her head was feeling a bit fuzzy, and her thoughts were sluggish, but she still hurt. And badly.

"Not everyone can just walk away when other people need them." Because, yeah, lashing out at conveniently nearby targets was so helpful, Ringo.

[rebelseekspizza]

"No, 'cause some of you are fucking idiots," Dante said easily.

Like, this wasn't even an argument, Ringo. What were you trying to do?

"You see there's evil everywhere, and you get all these fancy ideas that you can make a dent."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo set her now-empty glass down very precisely and turned to face Dante, hands planted on her hips.

"Sure, a dent. So what? You think one or two lives is no big deal? You think a week or a month of survival doesn't matter?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"No," Dante said. Didn't even need to think about it.

He picked up the next glass, eyeing it. "Y'know, she almost got into my head with this same bullshit," he said. "About saving people. So when she called about the zombies, I ran over there with Anders. Who's in love with her."

That was probably not relevant, but whatever.

"Figured we could do... something."