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]

"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.

[rebelseekspizza]

The upside of shitty hotels like this was that Dante didn't even have to put on any semblance of his usual rough charm on the guy behind the counter. The man looked incredibly disinterested, even as Dante put in for a room, got some keys, and walked up the stairs with it.

He didn't come to a stop until he was inside; then he sat down on the bed. Silently.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo followed him in, not saying anything on the walk to the room. The blood from her cut foot disappearing into the unidentifiable collection of smudges already worked into the carpet. She set her ATs down just inside the door. Then she glanced over at Dante and turned to hop up to sit on the rickety table set in the corner. Fortunately she was small enough that it didn't just collapse under her.

She also sat in silence, not quite looking at Dante.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante sat there for a while.

He ran his hand through his hair.

"You should clean out that cut."

[soniaroadsqueen]

The silence had gone on just long enough that it took Ringo a second to process words. She glanced down at her foot, pulling it up for closer inspection.

"Yeah. Probably right." With a grimace she hopped off the table and walked slowly toward the bathroom.

She turned on the hot water in the bathtub and waited for it to actually heat up.

[rebelseekspizza]

They should probably, you know, talk. Some more.

The idea made Dante get up to dig around the minibar. No more booze for Ringo, but he was snagging a bunch of these tiny bottles. Opened one up, took a swig, and then walked over to the bathroom.

No reason. He wasn't worried.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo glanced up as she sensed his presence in the doorway. She'd tossed her ruined socks into the tiny trash can in the corner of the bathroom, and now was sitting on the lip of the bathtub with her feet stuck under the running water.

Her voice was soft. "Hey." Because what was she supposed to say?

[rebelseekspizza]

"You chilled out yet?" Dante asked, parking his shoulder against the doorframe.

Yeah, that was all he had.

[soniaroadsqueen]

That was a tough question to answer. Ringo took a deep breath, her face stiff as she nodded.

"Yeah. Sorry about that."

She was not going to cry. She was definitely not going to cry.

[rebelseekspizza]

"You said," Dante said, with a vague motion of his head. "You really can crash here."

Just don't try to take his head off again.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I don't know. I, um, maybe it's better if I get some space."

Ringo's voice was tight. Stupid lump in her throat.

She was not about to cry, okay?

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante sighed.

He wasn't going to hug her. Not even in a 'loudly saying he wasn't going to, and then doing it anyway' way.

Instead he tugged some toilet paper off the roll and offered it to her without a word. Look, they didn't have tissues.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo glanced at it, then her expressionless face cracked a bit. Her lip curling up in something like amusement.

"Probably more sanitary than trying the towels," she allowed, reaching out to take the offered paper. Her hands were still shaking slightly, but she had it under enough control that it didn't keep her from actually managing the hand-off.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante shrugged expressively.

Whatever fountain of words he'd spit out on her earlier seemed to have drained most of his reservoir. "Probably," he said. "I can leave you alone."

Wasn't like he cared about what drinking alone meant.

[soniaroadsqueen]

She started to nod, rubbing at her feet under the running water, but then a thought occurred to her and her head snapped back up.

"You okay?"

Kinda late on that one, Ringo.