Clearly a Bad Start

Who: Dodge and December
Where: The Boardwalk
When: evening

Dodge was lonely. He'd found a new space, an off room that he'd managed to break into that was above the Apollo. The location worked out nicely, with a fire escape that overlooked the alley below. He'd hid out there for over a day now though, and he needed to get out. The fedora was left inside, as well as his standard attire.

He'd nicked an apple to eat and now was sitting on the railing at the boardwalk, looking out over the water while the wind blew at his hair some. The curls were unruly, a twisted mop that few saw regularly enough to associate with him. Same with his clothes. The suits were in his new place, passed over for an old shirt, worn jacket and pants with holes at the knees. He looked like any other street kid. A nameless face in a morgue, he thought to himself bitterly while he watched the water in the setting sun.

December was finished with her work at the haunted house for the moment, and had gone for a short walk to the pier, to have a smoke and look at the water. As usual, people were kind of giving way before her, leaving before the freaky looking girl got too close to them, like it might be contagious. That was fine, though, that was what she wanted, really. So, she didn't complain at all, she just walked over, stood with her arms resting on the rail, and lit her cigarette, hearing whispers behind her as people headed farther away.

Dodge hadn't been expecting company, but sound of a match caught his attention and he glanced towards the girl next to him. She was...something else, that much he could see in the fading light. He looked past her, noticing the few stares here and there and a couple edging away. If it had been any other day Dodge might have done the same, but he'd not talked to anyone in over twenty-four hours and it was getting old. He didn't do well on his own, that much he'd figured out the hard way. "Can I bum one?" he asked motioning with his half eaten apple to her cigarette.

December looked over, assessing the guy there, then she considered. "What do I get?" she asked, taking another drag and letting the smoke back out in an exhale, the breeze catching it and dragging it away. She kept her eyes on him, though, trying to get a read on him even if there wasn't much to go on. Well, beyond 'street kid'. That part was pretty obvious.

The slew of answers, of comments of arrogance, jumped the forefront of Dodge's mind. Things he'd always promised to those whose help he wanted. He opened his mouth about to say one, but then bit it back. He was supposed to be blending, not standing out. The guy who stood out was dead. "You can say you did your one good deed for the day. That or a half eaten apple."

December smirked, and arched a brow at him, turning more towards him but not fully to face him. "Do I look like a girl who's concerned with good deeds?" she asked him, the question rhetorical. She considered the apple, but then shook her head. No, she didn't want that. Though it was more of a safety issue. You didn't share already bitten on food with street kids unless you knew they weren't sick. Otherwise you were just asking to get sick yourself. She knew. She wasn't quite a street kid, but one step shy of it. She still knew the ropes.

"I learned a while back not to judge a book by its cover," Dodge commented, going back to eating his apple. It was a rule he'd learned the hard way, finding out that people were worse than they seemed, but it still applied. So maybe creepily pierced girl here wasn't just all badass evil bitch and it was just a thing. Her comment seemed to be asking him to judge her, but he refused. He wasn't in a place to lay judgment down on anyone.

"what, you some special snowflake who doesn't have an opinion, or you've just learned not to share it?" She asked. Most people judged. Hell, that was what she went for specifically with her attire. She wanted people to judge her and then promptly fuck off due to it. Not that she was actively trying to run this guy off. Not yet anyways. But his statement had her at least mildly curious. So she had to ask.

"The latter," Dodge said with a nod. "Or I'm working on it at least. You talk to much, you get a name, you get a name and it comes with a target on your back." He shrugged and took another bite.

Quirking her head to the side, December frowned a little, now turning more fully to face him. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, not quite following his logic, but wanting to have it explained so she did.

Dodge shrugged, looking over at her though he didn't turn more than his head. "You're talking to me now right? You'll remember me now, at least somewhat, no matter what I say. Say I judge you, especially now after engaging you. I've moved up a step from the ones who don't engage. The judgment is harsher, stings more, is easier to remember. You tag it with my name and suddenly my name has a reputation. If I keep talking to people, I keep creating that name, those references. Next thing, everyone knows who I am. Once people know who you are they can use you, either for their side or against. I've seen too many on the against side, brought down a few who turned the masses or their own arrogance." Dodge took another bite of the apple, not finishing chewing before speaking again. "I'd rather not judge, not create an opinion and just wait it out. Seems safer."

She rolled her eyes at that. "If you want to toss out words like 'arrogance' how about the guy who's sitting there saying he's going to gain some big reputation just by giving an opinion on me and a name. Not only that but to be important enough to create enemies over it." she said. "I'm pretty sure you're just fucking overthinking it, kid. Get over yourself. Plus, have an opinion. Only shitheads with no spine don't have one." she said, shrugging.

More like a guy who'd just murdered his reputation, but Dodge shrugged, finishing off his apple and tossing the core into the water. "Alright," he said, still chewing. "I've got an opinion. You're not old enough to be calling me 'kid'," he tried. "How about that?" Shithead might have been an accurate choice, but Dodge held a little bit of offense to spineless, which had him countering what she was saying even if he wasn't sure she'd let him win their little game.

That got a little smirk out of her. "I think you're 'kid' til you start acting like you've got a set." she told him. "But that was better." she added, since he had, in fact, given her something of an opinion, one that even amused her.

"My 'set' as you say, would astound you," Dodge countered with a devilish smirk, ignoring for the fact that she was a girl and that wasn't appropriate humor to bring out around a girl. "Glad I can oblige though. You have a name?"

"You know, every guy who actually says shit like that has a pencil dick." December said. "It's a compensation thing." she put out there, and smiled sweetly which contradicted her statement. she did dig out a cigarette, though, and tossed it his way. If he caught it, he did, if not, oh well. "And I do. You asking for it? What's yours?" she asked.

Dodge didn't have a counter for her comment that didn't involve proving her wrong so he just gave her a look and then caught the cigarette she'd tossed him with ease. Never let it be said that his hand-eye coordination was sub-par. "Since you have one, yes I'm asking." He hesitated before answering about his name. "It's JD," he answered. "Light?"

She tossed him her matches, looking back out at the water again. "December." she answered. She didn't think she'd heard anyone around talking about anyone named JD. Though she also didn't talk to that many people, so it was entirely possible that she'd have heard it if she did things like held conversations with normal people. That didn't generally seem to be the case, though so she just marked it in her memory.

Dodge caught the matches with ease, leaning in to light his cigarette. He flicked the used match into the water as well and handed back the box. "Like the month?" he asked after taking a drag. The last batch he'd had were Ethan's, which were less than a twelfth of the tobacco in one regular cigarette. The scent, the burning in his throat, all of that was almost grounding. Maybe he'd have to just nick himself a whole pack to kill time with.

"You know some other use of the word?" she asked. "Yeah, like the month. My parents were unoriginal and just went for when I was born." she said, something she generally told people when they looked at her funny for not having one of the 'normal' month-names. No one batted an eye at 'April' or 'May'. Hell, even 'June' was common. December? Not so much. But she didn't mind nearly as much as she sounded like she minded. It was unique if nothing else.

"At least they didn't pick a different month than when you were born. It'd be a pain to be born in August and be named December. Confuse the hell out of people," Dodge said with a sly smile around the cigarette. He sure as hell wasn't about to judge her name. He had two, both were made up. He didn't know when he was born, nor did he have any clue as to what his family might have named him if they'd kept him.

"Or no one would give a shit. It's not like I get birthday presents anyways." But then she also hadn't had a real family for years either, so that wasn't a huge surprise. She'd not had a proper family sort of ever. There was a very distant memory of when she was pretty little that things didn't completely suck, but the Suck took major precedence later, and then she flat out just didn't have a family anymore. About the only person she thought even might still be around was her cousin, and last she'd known he had cut off the rest of the family entirely. So, whatever.

Dodge didn't answer for a minute or two, he just smoked his cigarette. He'd never gotten an actual birthday present either. For a while, when it was just them, Patrick would celebrate the time of the year that Dodge came to live with him, as if it was a birthday. But he didn't know when his actual one was, he just sort of knew how old he was and when winter ended he added a year to it. There was another birthday though that jumped to his mind. He'd have to do something for her, dead or not. Dodge frowned a touch as he let out a stream of smoke glancing down at December. "So you like that people avoid you then huh?" he asked, offering up another opinion on her.

"That's definitely the goal." December said, which was sort of a confirmation, but not fully one. She shrugged one shoulder, and finished off her cigarette, tossing the butt into the water.

"Why?" The question was an honest one. Dodge was the type of guy who wanted everyone's attention, all the time. He collected people and things. The idea of wanting to run them off was foreign to him, but in his new life he might need to become more familiar with it.

"Why would I want to hang out with a bunch of stupid assholes who only give a damn about themselves anyways? Everyone sucks, kid. Or the vast majority of the world does, anyways. People lie, they treat each other like shit, and everyone, in the end, looks out for number one. And when they're not doing that, they're just looking for what they can get out of you. What piece they can take and keep. What they can exploit. Why the fuck would I want to be around people for? They don't get to have me. Not even a piece of me." She said.

Dodge took another drag on the cigarette, blowing it out slowly. "It's a warped way of viewing things, but I don't know if I can really argue with you about it. I can't even claim that I'm a nice guy." He shrugged a little then looked down at her. "You're still not old enough to call me kid."

"No, it's a non-brainwashed way." December said. "I just don't buy into the bullshit people pile up around themselves." It was in fact, truly how she saw the world. In her experience, that was what it was about. "And if you're not a nice guy, at least you're honest about it." she said, since he'd declared it right there. "I'll stop calling you kid if you earn respect. Till then...later, kid." she said, wiggling her fingers at him.

"You hear you aren't enough times and you start to realize you might as well just admit it right?" Dodge commented. "Respect?" he asked but realized she was waving as if leaving. "That's not fair to bail without even giving me a chance to redeem myself."

"What, you been told you're an asshole a bunch?" December asked. "Yeah, if that's the case? You probably are. And if that's the score here, why should I let you have the chance to redeem yourself?" she asked, arching a brow at him. But she hadn't walked off yet.

"Asshole was one of the nicer words to be honest," Dodge said, shrugging one shoulder. The words hadn't hurt, it was who they'd come from that had hurt. "Because I'm not afraid of you. Or at least not yet. Those type of people have got to be few and far between right?" He'd seen the pier clear out as she came down it.

"Yeah, and if I was pining for company, don't you think I'd tone it down a little? Plus there was that whole bit where I just explained to you that I kinda hate humanity in general, and you just told me you're a dick anyways." December pointed out. "So...try again. The whole 'but it'll be for your benefit' with the assumption that I'm lonely or looking for someone who isn't afraid of me isn't working for you."

"So the hatred of humanity is so intense that even the occasional individual can't get a pass?" Dodge asked rhetorically. He contemplated another reason for a minute but didn't come up with anything of worth. After a moment he shook his head. "Well, technically I'm trying to start over, but that's not been put into practice yet so I won't make promises on being less of a dick." Dodge shrugged again. "Maybe I'm the lonely one."

Even if the question was rhetorical, she answered it. "Why would you be the special little star that gets a pass?" she asked, arching a brow at him and making a show of looking him over. "You don't look like anything special. And there's that part where you just told me you're an asshole. Which I've already gone over. Not exactly too sure how to make this clearer." she said. "If I had to bet, I'd say you're right. You're the lonely one." she agreed. "Or just really masochistic."

Dodge reached for the fedora that wasn't there and settled for just dragging a hand through his messy hair. It was both good and bad news that she thought he blended in with everyone. He hated hearing it, that the persona was gone, but it also meant he might very well manage to blend. "Masochistic?" he asked, not entirely sure what it meant or how it applied.

"Yeah, as in a glutton for punishment, or someone who enjoys painful or uncomfortable things. It's pretty clear you and I aren't getting along all that great but you want to prolong the conversation. So, either you're really lonely, and desperate for someone to talk to and you don't care who it is or what they say, or you're enjoying the fact that it's not the world's smoothest conversation. I suppose there could be a third, outside explanation, but I don't know what that would be right now. You're not close enough to me to try and find a pocket to pick." December observed.

"Oh," Dodge said, taking the explanation in and turning it over in his head. After a moment he shrugged. "Both probably. Though the third...that's not entirely out of the question either. Except you're out of arm's reach of course." Surprisingly enough, picking December's pocket hadn't occurred to him. "What about you? You haven't quite walked away yet." He glanced over at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You'd also be pretty hard pressed to find pockets." December said. Which was actually something she generally paid attention to when she made her clothes. She knew all about pick pockets, there wasn't a single time they'd stopped the carnival on the road where it wasn't a problem. And it wasn't that she didn't have any on any of her clothes, just that sometimes they were inconveniently placed for your average pick pocket. "And there was the bit where I started walking away from the rail here, and you stopped me, by keeping talking." she pointed out. "That's usually considered 'walking away'."

"Pockets aren't always necessary," Dodge pointed out. He'd swiped jewelry off necks before. Turning he jumped down from the railing, leaning with his back against it and elbows propped up behind him. He kept the same amount of space between them, a show of respect considering he'd just admitted to being a thief. "And you started the walking and didn't finish. You could have kept going."

"Awesome. Even less reason to spend another minute here." December said, with a smile that wasn't a very pleasant expression. And with that she turned to finish walking off, hoping he didn't do anything like follow her. She was, however, aware in that moment that she should probably learn a little self defense, since she didn't have anyone around anymore to do that for her. Probably not the best time to consider such things.

Her smile was a little off putting, but Dodge matched it with one of his more charming ones. When she left he let her get a few steps away before, half jogging to catch up, matching her pace but keeping out of reach again. He wasn't following her, per say, but for the moment they were headed in the same direction with was off the pier. "Maybe we'll give it another shot sometime. I owe you for the smoke anyway."

"How much do you like your balls?" December asked, tone sugary, but the look she shot him out of the corner of her eye wasn't. Still, she asked, and she hadn't made even a slight move to hurt him or anything. Her posture was still relaxed and normal as they walked. Or what passed for 'normal' for her, anyways.

Dodge held up his hands in mock surrender and then tucked them in his pockets. "Well enough," he told her with a mischievous smirk. He guessed she didn't really stand a chance against him given the size difference, but he wasn't about to test that theory. "Merely a suggestion."

"How much do you like your balls right now?" she asked. "Because usually when someone says they're out of there, and walks away, it's really meant to end the conversation. And you're walking with me. Uninvited. but you know I've been considering a new technique for castration, if you keep it up and ignore the hints to fuck off. Just think, you can start a new career of being an asshole soprano singer."

"Quite a bit," Dodge said as they neared the end of the pier. "Though here, you go that way, the way you came from and I go this way. So spare me a few feet, then I will officially leave you alone."

"Walk fast." December said, turning indeed to head off. Though she didn't go the direction she'd come, she went off straight ahead, just to be contrary to what he'd said. It was ingrained in her, something she didn't even think about but did anyways, even if she didn't really have business in that direction. Apparently she was going for a walk now. But no one was telling her where to go.

Dodge watched her go a different way as he turned like he said he would, but walking backward so he could see her. There was an urge to call out after her but he let it slide. No need in beating a dead horse or risking her turning around to take his manhood.