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.]

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[soniaroadsqueen]

She looked up at him, expression blank, but let him scoop her up. She didn't seem injured. At least not physically.

Given that this was Ringo, and given how furious she had just been, she seemed awfully biddable. She was staring up at him, eyes wide, but didn't say anything for the moment.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante gave the general devastation of the bar one more look. People staring at them, people running outside, a chandelier broken on the floor, a bunch of shatered beer bottles.

Yeah. That seemed about right.

He carried Ringo out the door like she didn't weigh more than a feather. "Hold on," he said tersely, looking up. He jumped, the air solidifying for a moment under his feet as he pushed off a second time, and landed neatly on the fire escape.

(He thought for a second about Kathy bitching up a storm about gravity, the first time he did it, and then rudely shoved the thought aside.)

[soniaroadsqueen]

When he told her to hold on, Ringo sort of automatically reached up to wrap her arms around his neck. Not that it seemed like he needed her to to keep her in place.

She stared up at him, expression softening.

"Sorry," she mumbled quietly.

Not a word she used very often.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Yeah," Dante said.

He went up the fire escape pretty quickly, not stopping until they hit the roof. "You gonna take the AirTrek off if I put you down?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

She stared at him in silence for a couple of long seconds, then nodded ever so slightly. "If you want."

It'd leave her barefoot, bu she wanted him to know she really was sorry.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Yes."

Barefoot, they could handle somehow. Maybe Dante'd have to sober up and then drive them back to Fandom, or something. But Ringo on AirTrek was clearly a bad fucking idea right now.

He set her down gently.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo took a deep breath and slowly bent forward to unlace the ATs. Funny. Her fingers seemed to be shaking. When did that start up?

It made it a lot harder than it normally would have been, but she eventually managed to get the first off, setting it next to her and turning her attention to the other foot.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante let out a soft sigh.

He walked to the edge of the building and peered down, trying to see how bad the chaos was. "Cops are going to be here soon," he said.

Good thing he'd parked the bike in an alley a little whiles from here.

[soniaroadsqueen]

She finally manage to finish unlacing and pulling off her other AT. An action that took a lot more concentration than it should have, really. Ringo set it aside as well, then pulled he knees in and wrapped her arms around them before looking over at Dante.

"Hmm?" She hadn't exactly heard what he said there.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Cops are going to be here soon," Dante repeated. "We can't stay here."

His expression was hard and completely unreadable. "Let's move."

He walked away from the edge, speedwalking towards the next rooftop.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh." Right. Because she'd started a bar fight.

Well, that was a first.

Ringo stood up, her ATs dangling from one hand, and took a couple of careful steps to follow Dante. Socks weren't the best for walking around on roofs, but she didn't say anything. After all, this was her fault, she could deal with walking around in socks.

[rebelseekspizza]

If he'd been in a better mood, Dante might've made more of an effort to make sure she wasn't uncomfortable, at least. But pain and sadness were boiling over into anger, still, and she'd just cut off his usual diversion something fierce.

She was lucky he hadn't just bailed on her. He was tempted.

"We need to get the bike," he said. "Then we'll hole up a few blocks from here, wait for it to blow over."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo nodded stiffly. "Right. I'm right behind you."

She followed him, gritting her teeth slightly as something pointy made a small tear in her sock and poke at her foot. It didn't break skin, so it was little enough pain that she could ignore it for now.

"Sorry." She'd said it already, but it bore repeating.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Yeah, whatever," Dante muttered.

He dropped back onto the fire escape on the other side of the building, taking the stairs down as fast as possible. "Just get a move on."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Right." Ringo hurried after him. He had longer legs, so she had to almost jog to keep up with him. Without taking extra care about where she was placing her feet, Ringo could feel her socks shredding as they moved.

But they were just socks, so whatever.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante didn't stop moving until he was way down, hopping the last of the way down, over the fence and onto the street, right next to his bike.

He stopped there, staring straight up to see how Ringo was doing.

Trying not to think. It was hard.

[soniaroadsqueen]

She was almost managing to keep up. And her socks were still sort of recognizable as socks when she followed his example and dropped off the fire escape to the street. Of course then she had to go over the fence, too. It would have been easier to climb over if she hadn't had one hand full of ATs, and part of the way over there was a ripping sound.

Well, the socks had been ruined anyway, so shredding one completely didn't really matter. And a little cut on her foot? Not anything she couldn't ignore.

"We laying low, or just getting out now?"

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante's eyes darted to her feet for a second.

"Taking the bike," he said. "I'm gonna walk with it." He didn't want it to get scuffed. "You get on, I'll find us somewhere to crash for now."

[soniaroadsqueen]

In other circumstances Ringo would have noticed that glance and shot back that she was just fine to walk, thank you very much.

But the alcohol hadn't done much to dull the pain which was the reason she'd come out. It had really only made it harder to keep control of all the emotions swirling around inside her. And she still felt guilty about attacking Dante. Sure he was being an asshole at the time, but that didn't make it okay.

Her voice was subdued. "Okay." She walked over to the bike, a couple of small red smears marking her steps before she climbed on.

[rebelseekspizza]

And with that, Dante took off, walking down the alley with the handles of the bike in his hands. If he noticed Ringo's weight at all, he didn't show it.

He could definitely hear sirens in the background, though, so he picked up speed as he went, navigating the streets like someone who'd been through here a million times.

He didn't stop until he hit a grubby-looking hotel. "I'm gonna crash here for the night," he said, "Whatever money we saved not paying for those shots, I can use on room service. Stay as long as you want, I don't care."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I guess I'll get some food and, you know, head back to the island." She could feel her control unraveling, and she'd already sobbed all over Dante once. He didn't deserve to have to put up with that a second time.

[rebelseekspizza]

How could she be sure she'd be the one doing the sobbing?

Oh, right. Because Dante turned sadness into anger or flippancy, and he wasn't feeling very flippant at all. He shrugged, locking up his bike again, and walked towards the entrance.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"And, um, I've got some cash. I can help pay for, you know, everything." Ringo was already fishing in her pocket for her wallet.

[rebelseekspizza]

"If you want," Dante said dully, shoving the door open and stepping inside.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I owe you." And not just for food.

She followed him inside, trying to force herself to take slow, deep breaths. Now that the adrenaline was fading, she was feeling things again. And the alcohol was still making everything fuzzy, but not in a way that was helping with her emotional state.