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]

"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."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Well, good on you guys, I guess."

She picked up her next glass and eyed it thoughtfully. "What'd you end up doing?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Tried to get her to go back to the island and bring her family," Dante said, shrugging. "Go on a limb, save one or two lives. Maybe four."

The shot went down the hatch. "She promised us she would go," he said, "But then something promised her she could save more people."

He hammered the shot down on the bar. "That's when I knew she was as good as dead, so I went."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo blinked, trying to process that information.

"You told her you'd get her family out, then left them behind?" Sorry, Dante, Ringo wasn't comprehending things properly at the moment.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante rolled his eyes. "We said we'd wait so she could get her family out," he said, "She was gonna do that, but then Anders healed some kid. That got it back into her head that she could save everyone."

"But hey," he said, poking at a shot on the counter, "Huzzah, do I get an 'I tried' sticker?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"How about a 'fuck you' sticker?" Ringo shot him a glare, the shot glass in her hand mostly forgotten.

"Remind me not to ask you for help with anything that actually matters."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante rolled his eyes, grabbing his last shot. "I'll probably be dead by then anyway," he said. "Who cares?"

More shots. More shots were good.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Your friends?" She said that as if she didn't think he had any.

Even though she cared.

"And how are you going to end up dead if you're so smart about not doing anything dangerous, anyway?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"'Cause anything dangerous loves doing me," Dante said, waving at the bartender. "My life is a fucking shitpile. Things have been trying to kill me since I was seven."

He shrugged.

"Felt for like five seconds maybe I had something good going for me, but hey, I guess Kathy Li and her bag of bullshit were lying to me about thinking my life was worth saving."

He grabbed the shot as soon as it was offered to him.

"But whatever," he said, flashing Ringo a manic grin. Kathy Li and her bag of bullshit'd have been right about that, anyway, if they'd just been straightforward about it before.

[soniaroadsqueen]

That grin got a scowl in response, and Ringo slammed back the shot she was still holding to buy herself some time to formulate a response.

"Fuck you," she finally said, over-enunciating her words. "You may be an asshole, but that doesn't mean you should just give up and die."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Nobody said shit about giving up," Dante said, eyeing her. "I still fight. Doesn't mean I'm stupid about my chances." He shook his head, brushing past Ringo.

"Kathy, though, she could've lived," he said. "She chose not to. So fuck her, seriously."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"She made a choice. Decided that it was worth risking her life to try to save some people. Just because you don't agree with her doesn't mean you get to dismiss her!"

Her senpai was dead, and it hurt. Oh, how it hurt. And the alcohol didn't seem to be helping with the pain. But it was wearing away at Ringo's generally shaky self-control, and no one got to insult Kathy today. Her hand shot out, trying to get a hold on Dante's arm as he walked by.

He didn't get to walk away, not when Ringo still had all this pent-up emotion that his stupid alcohol wasn't helping with.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante'd never made a big show of what he could do around Ringo - made some vague threats, sure, but never showed off. But tonight was a night for firsts, apparently, with his usual devil-may-care cover flapping to the breeze and letting the fucked-up underneath shine.

She didn't get his arm. He moved so fast, even drunk, that it was like he'd never even been there. He twisted and looked at Ringo, though, so at least he wasn't gone yet.

"I can dismiss her all the fuck I want," he snapped. "If she's not dead now, she will be by tomorrow. Fuck her choices."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo blinked, an automatic expression of surprise even if the actual surprise never really reached her brain. He was fast. Faster than Kathy. Faster than Spitfire, King of the Flame Road. And he wasn't wearing ATs. That should have given her a hint as to how out-classed she was, but only one part of that set of thoughts really penetrated her brain.

He wasn't wearing ATs. And she was. Sure, a casual pair, nothing fancy. Just designed to almost look like platform boots if she moved right in them.

So she surged forward, trying to crowd into Dante's space. Not an attack, but definitely aggressive. "No!" Her voice cracked through the bar, drawing pretty much every sullen eye to her. "She cared about you, and now you just want to throw her away! Fuck you."

[rebelseekspizza]

In open spaces, Kathy had always been faster than him. Up close, though, where it was more reflexes than just general speed, Dante outclassed most people on the island. Maybe almost everybody. He didn't get crowded unless he wanted to be crowded.

He ignored the rest of the bar as he slipped right out of her trajectory, appearing behind her-- and tried to shove her into the wall. Not hard enough to crack it, but definitely hard enough to render her immobile.