familiar surroundings

Who: Dodge and Eris
When: late morning
Where: The dodgy part of town

Eris wasn't looking like herself. She hadn't really taken anything with her when she left, just the clothes on her back and the money she'd had in her purse. She had her hair back in a simple ponytail, and was wearing clothes she wouldn't ever have worn in her high profile life. A hell of a lot of people who knew her wouldn't have recognized her whatsoever. She'd been looking around the buildings in her old neighborhood, and had found that her old apartment--the one she'd grown up in--was vacant. So, she'd paid up for a few weeks(the old man running the place didn't ask questions, either), and that was that. It was partially furnished, though not fully, and she needed a few things.

So, she was off getting said things. Currently, she was carrying a bag of food with her through the back alley, still pondering if she was going to turn herself in. She could. Or maybe Brett had already handed her letter over to the cops. It was possible, after all. She'd given him everything he'd need to serve justice.

Dodge had found that he couldn’t stay couped up in his new room during the day anymore. He’d never made a habit of staying inside before and now he couldn’t do it even if he wanted to. As a result he’d left the room with his pageboy hat tugged down low, wandering the streets in the less than glamorous parts of town, occasionally picking a pocket here or there, but for the most part just watching people pass, loitering on a stoop here and there.

He’d spotted Eris long before she crossed his path in the alley where he was loitering. She might not have been recognizable to high society, but to Dodge she stood out as a pretty face in a part of town that could always use more pretty faces. The moment she’d set foot in the alley he was watching from the landing of a fire escape in it, his eyes were on her. When she was close enough he called out, not caring that he was above her eye level with his feet dangling over the edge of the landing. “Need help with that?”

When she heard the voice, she looked up, taking a second to orient herself correctly. Hell, just finding the place again had been a kind of chore, and she'd gone to the closest market she could in order to not get herself lost again. Lucky for her the closest one was damn close. Still, it had been taking concentration to get herself back to where she needed to be. And then she was distracted. "What, with this bag I'm carrying just fine all by myself?" she asked, quirking a faint little half smirk at the boy.

Dodge found himself grinning the troublemaker Chesire Cat grin, leaning further off the edge of the fire escape for a moment. “But a lady shouldn’t have to carry her own bags correct?” She wasn’t dressed like the type of lady who had someone carry things for her, but Dodge knew women tended too appreciate compliments of that nature and though he was trying to turn over a new leaf, he really had trouble not being a flirt. At least he’d stopped flirting with the girls he knew personally.

"Who says I'm a lady?" she asked. "How would I know that you wouldn't just steal what's in the bag?" she asked. "Or pick my pocket?" She kept her eyes on him, still mildly amused, at any rate. She wasn't being aggressive with the questions, or accusational. And she waited for the answer.

Before he answered he climbed down from the fire escape landing with ease a few feet away from her. “Well you’re a woman, and thus deserve to be treated like a lady correct?” he offered, a smirk playing along his lips. “And technically you have nothing more than my word that I won’t steal from you, but I can give it you.” He had an urge to steal a bite to eat, but despite his talk of treating her like a lady she didn’t look the part and Dodge made a point of not taking from those who couldn’t spare it. He’d been successful enough with his other lifts to curb his hunger pains on his own.

"Well, if you're going to give me your word." Eris said, figuring if he did run off with the bag, then whatever. Oh well. It wasn't like she was planning on some new life. She didn't have a plan. Or, the only plan she did kind of had involved her going to prison at some point, and she was fairly certain that was a death sentence. One that wouldn't take long to come down, either. She stepped closer and handed him the bag. "Do you know your way around here?" she asked.

Dodge took the bag as she handed it to him, falling in to step beside her. “Of course I do. I grew up here.” By here, he meant the very streets they were standing on, but his reign as Prince of Thieves meant he knew most of the city, inside and out. Nate’s advice was with him still, which was what had him claiming his heritage rather than his title as his source of knowledge.

"So did I." Eris said. "But it's been a while since I've been back. I think I'm a little turned around." she told him. Which wasn't true--the truth was worse. She'd been distracted by the boy and lost where she was heading, so she was lost again, period. Navigating was much easier when you could just hail a cab and ask them to take you where you said. "Eighteen Seventy-Five is the building number." Her apartment was three, that she could find on her own, she was okay from there, but finding the building could be an issue.

Eighteen seventy-five. Dodge considered where she’d been going and started off in that same direction. He was pretty sure the numbers on the buildings on the street the alley dumped into were the same series of numbers. “What brought you back?” he asked as they walked.

Eris debated her answer. She could give one that was wholesale bullshit, but she knew she wouldn't remember it later. And sure, she might never see this kid again, but she might, too, so yeah. She needed to keep her story straight. So he got a sort of light version of the truth. "I did something that someone isn't going to forgive me for." she said in the end. "And when you willfully defy someone's basic principals, you move out." Or, in her case you moved out before they could throw you out. Or send you to prison as it were.

Strangely enough, Dodge actually understood what she meant and he found himself nodding. “Or they move out. At least that was what happened to me.” He’d done the same thing to Ethan and Ethan had left. Dodge guessed if Ethan could have thrown Dodge out he would have, but at the time Dodge was the glue that held their group together. “So you’re back in the old neighborhood,” he said conversationally as they emerged from the alley. He studied the closest building numbers then turned them in the right direction. “Now what?”

"Well, if they move out, then you're not really paying for what you did." Eris said. or, that was how she felt about it. Brett deserved to have the apartment, the business, everything that went with. It would run itself, pretty much, he would be able to more or less sit back and collect a paycheck that was pretty damn good. If she'd stayed, then she would have just been sitting on their combined efforts, still reaping the benefits. She didn't think that was fair when she was the one who'd done the wronging. "But yes, I'm back in the old neighborhood." she confirmed. "And I have no idea." she said truthfully. "I haven't thought things through that far."

Dodge shrugged. “Depends on how much you needed them there.” He hadn’t gone long without Ethan living in his apartment, but Dodge knew it wouldn’t have been the same. Ethan was a balance, a force to be reckoned with and a reason the boys stayed in line. “That’s alright that you don’t know. Everyone keeps trying to convince me that you’ve got to have some sort of plan or direction, but the way I figure, you take it day by day and figure out where you don’t want to go.”

“So your advice is to live life according to process of elimination?” she asked. “How’s that been working out for you so far?” she asked him. For her, she’d always had a plan. And she’d had the ability to roll with things when she had to. It was a nice balance. These days, she didn’t have the skills she needed to to continue that way. These days, she didn’t even have the skills to remember to take her medication when she needed it. Like she couldn’t remember if she’d taken it this morning. Her brain just didn’t hold onto information like it used to.

“Haven’t had to do much I don’t want to yet,” Dodge tried with a shrug, flashing her a grin. He’d only really been at his plan-less life for a few days and though they hadn’t been great days they were days. It could only get better from here. “This is it right?” he asked as he slowed in front of the building marked eighteen seventy-five.

Eris glanced up, and the building was familiar. So, yes. She nodded. “This is it.” she agreed. “Thank you.” she added, stopping to hopefully retrieve her bag from the boy. She didn’t know how long she would have wandered without help. She was glad she hadn’t had to find out. Her anxiety really shot up when faced with situations like that.

Dodge didn’t let go of the bag, instead he just nodded towards the door. “After you,” he said giving her the opportunity to lead the way into the building. It was only right and gentlemanly to see her inside. Plus he was curious. It was a building he wasn’t actually familiar with, which meant it might hold something he’d find interesting.

Eris' first thought was that he was going to case her place. Which, frankly, she didn't have anything. There was the 'partial furnishings' that were there, and that was pretty much it. So, she guessed there wasn't any real reason not to let him see that she didn't have anything worth stealing. So she headed inside, and up the little first flight of steps, stopping at door number 3. Then she unlocked it and stepped inside, the place looking just as depressing as it had when she'd left.

Dodge followed where she lead, stepping into the meager apartment even though he wasn’t directly invited. Looking around brought a frown to his features. It was almost as pathetic as where he’d found himself, yet at least his room was so meager that it worked. There was more space here which just seemed the morose feeling even worse. “You live here alone?” he asked looking around for someone, but making it seem as if he was looking for somewhere to set the bag.

"Not really your business." she said. No woman in her right mind told a strange male that she was alone, unprotected. She hadn't been in her little ivory tower so long that she didn't remember that much. "You can put the bag on the counter." she told him, motioning to the counter off to the left where the incredibly poor excuse for a kitchen was. "And there are some apples in the bag, you can take them as payment for your services." she added.

“Of course not,” Dodge agreed. He was a little annoyed that he didn’t get the information he wanted but he couldn’t blame her for not telling him. He wouldn’t tell him either. After setting the bag down he picked out two apples, leaving the rest. Being paid for his services didn’t feel right, but Dodge was a kid who never knew where his next meal would come from. There was no need to pass up good food when it presented itself. “You need help with anything else?” he asked playfully turning the apples over in his hands, showing off the deftness of his fingers.

Eris hung her coat on the back of a chair in the room and looked back at Dodge, arching a brow. "What else would I need help with?" she asked him, just wanting to know what he'd say, what he might try to sell her a line on. For her, the display of deft fingers didn’t exactly impress--it just told her that he was probably a very good pickpocket. He gave himself away with little attention grabbing displays like that.

“That’d be up to you wouldn’t it?” Dodge asked with a shrug. As for drawing attention to his skills he didn’t care. Dead or not he was still the best in town. He stopped playing and took a bit of one of the apples, tucking the second in his coat pocket. “Whatever I suppose. Moving things, carrying things. Helping you find things?”

"Contrary to popular belief, just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I'm entirely incapable of doing even small tasks." Eris said, smirking and shaking her head. "There's nothing I need help with." she finished. She couldn't blame the kid for trying, but that didn't mean she was going to allow a strange boy who was just a little too confident or pushy for her likes to hang in her apartment, continuing to possibly case it. Even if there was nothing of value to most people, if he didn't have something she did, he could want it. "Thank you for the offer, though." she told him.

Dodge shrugged, not bothering to argue with her over what she was and wasn’t capable of. “Consider it a standing one,” he told her with a smirk. “The name’s JD in case you find yourself in need of something, ask around and someone should find me.” It wasn’t like it had been, if he’d told her to ask for Dodge she would have found him in no time, but he was working up to something, maybe not what he was before, but something.

"I'll keep that in mind." she promised. Not that she'd remember his name. Or, she didn't think she would. Things like that she needed Brett around to remember for her. But she didn't give any indication that she wasn't going to remember, or that she was ingenuine at all. "Thanks again. It was nice meeting you." she told him, a note of sincerity to her voice. It never would do to make enemies of people, and he'd helped her out.

“The pleasure was all mine,” he told her with another nod that went further, inching its way towards a bow. Straightening up again he righted the pageboy hat, tugging it low again before ghosting out the door of her apartment and back out towards the streets.

Eris watched him go, glad he'd never asked her for her name. Then she shut the door, turned around, and faced the place she'd grown up in, a place full of situations she'd truly hated. A place that was empty. But it reflected where she was at in her mind. She could do nothing else.