the street rat and the princess

Who: Dodge and Arienne with a guest appearance by Max!
Where: near the high school
When: just before lunch

Dodge was out, hoping to score some easy marks during the lunch hour to tide himself over for the next few days. He still had some money leftover from Nate's 'gift' and that was enough to live on, but since his death he rarely went out during the day to work as it were.

The pageboy hat was pulled down low on his brow, covering the last of the bruises from Roach's punch and most of his face. Again, the nicer clothes were gone, replaced with ratty, typical street kid clothes. If anyone asked him, Dodge thought he was doing a pretty good job of blending while he walked the streets, avoiding gazes from familiar faces and trying to take that normal ease out of his step.

Arienne had gotten the note from her brother, and had opted not to eat inside today, nor attend her class beforehand, so she could beat him to the bench. After all, then she could tell him he was late today, as opposed to him turning it around on her. So, she was sat on the bench in question, a book open on her lap as she read over the text, legs crossed demurely in front of her. She looked perfectly at ease sitting there, without even a slight bit of discomfort from her current position.

For all his attempts to not be himself, Dodge was still a sucker for a pretty girl, especially one sitting on a bench in his path with legs that seemed to go on forever, no matter how demurely she was seated. He slowed his pace a little, making sure to take her in as she read her book and without thinking he found himself letting out a low whistle.

Arienne heard it, and became aware of the presence of Dodge before she let everything else filter in. She ticked her gaze up from her book to lock onto the boy immediately, but didn't actually raise her head or alter her position. She made a show of looking him up and down, then settled her gaze back on his eyes. "Did you have anything verbal to add to that, or are you merely expressing appreciation in the form of cat whistles today?" she asked.

He couldn't help the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he slowed to a stop. "I can if you'd like," Dodge said, meeting her eyes without shame. Caught in his admiration or not, he meant it as a compliment.

"Generally speaking, what you've done there is considered rude in polite society." she said. Not that she expected him to know anything about society at all, polite or otherwise. But her tone was more matter o fact, just putting information out there as opposed to an actual chiding.

"Generally speaking I find polite society to be painfully boring," Dodge countered, just as matter of factly as she did. "Where's the fun in adhering to all these pointless rules when all you want do is enjoy yourself, or express an opinion. Polite society sets everyone up for failure and gives everyone else something to look down their noses at everyone else for. Which isn't really polite in the end at all is it?"

"Sounds to me like you know absolutely nothing about polite society." Arienne stated. "And from the look of you, I'd wager that's true. It's quite ignorant to speak of things of which you've no true knowledge." she continued. "And in the end it'll turn around and get you into trouble." she warned lightly. Not necessarily from her, of course, but eventually that kind of thing usually ended in tragedy.

Dodge almost protested, but he bit his tongue against it. She was right, he hardly looked like he knew a damn thing about polite society at all. Previously he might have been able to pull that off, but these days he didn't fit the bill. "Sometimes looks are deceiving," he did say, opting to sit next to her on the bench. If only she'd seen him a few weeks before in a tuxedo, dropping in on a formal event he wasn't invited to. "What are you reading?"

"Oh, they most certainly are." Arienne agreed, nodding even as she looked back at her book. She was still paying full attention to Dodge, however, she just made a show that she wasn't bothered. "But when you go shattering that with blistering amounts of ignorance upon minutes of meeting someone, then there's not that much that's more telling." she continued. "As for what I'm reading, it's none of your business. But it happens to be The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet." she told him. And, if he looked at the book it was clearly not in English.

She said ignorance, Dodge said difference of opinions. "Isn't it ignorance on both parts if neither of us has had the opportunity to live the life the other is passing judgment on?" When she looked towards her book he frowned, not enjoying having the attention taken away from himself. He glanced over her shoulder, though the words didn't look familiar, not at all actually and he could read. "Like the play? I've seen it before." Or a rehearsal at least from one of the boxes at Maddy's theater. "Always thought Romeo was a bit of a putz."

"It's ignorance when you start spouting off on something that you know nothing about, passing judgment on it in general. I'm merely expressing an opinion on the behavior you've blatantly displayed." Arienne said. "Therefore mine's based on evidence, and yours was just bullshit you spouted to make yourself look smart. And you've failed." she informed him. "You clearly know nothing about polite society why it works the way it does, or why it exists in the first place, yet all you're seeking to do is find some error in it's judgment because you can't adhere to it. It's hardly an informed decision on your part." She still didn't look up from her book, and turned the page as if she were still keeping up with her reading despite the conversation. "Not the play. What inspired the play. And it's Romeus, not Romeo." she corrected. In truth, Shakespere had ripped off the story quite a bit, though there were some major differences in the content. She just happened to enjoy the original, where nurse and friar were butchered for their involvement. "Why do you pass that judgment on Romeo?" she asked.

So Miss Legs had a mouth and a mind on her. "Alright, so I've failed at being clever in every attempt. Including by knowing plays and such." Dodge reached for his hat, cursing silently that it was the stupid pageboy hat and not his fedora. Damnit he missed his fedora. "Romeo? He never does anything. He spends too long standing outside windows when he could be climbing into them. And then, when he does finally do something, he leaves his girl. His wife. He should have taken her with him. Or something."

"Climbing into windows uninvited is incredibly ill advised." Arienne stated, turning another page. "As for his inaction, are you discounting the fact that he went to the party in the first place? That was directly against better judgment, an act in and of itself, of defiance as well as curiosity. He did go to her window, and eventually spoke to her, even. If he did absolutely nothing, the events transpiring in the play would not have occurred at all. When he was banished, he left without her because to take her with would have been condemning his love to a life of poverty and banishment herself--it would be like inviting her along to spend the rest of her life in the dungeon with him. So far as I can see, that would be the ultimate selfish act. I believe the fact that he did not was proof more that he loved her than that he was a 'putz' as you so colorfully put it."

"It was his friend's idea to go to the party, to sneak them in costume. Romeo only went along because the last girl he'd been lamenting about might be there." Dodge shrugged. He was selfish, that much he'd been told enough, so perhaps that was why he thought it was silly to not run off with Juliet rather than to leave her alone. "I'd think if you loved someone enough to marry them after a day or two you'd do everything in your power to see to it that you wound up back together again. In Romeo's plan he just was banished with no hope of return and Juliet was supposed to wait around for him. Maybe that just means I'm not a romantic or whatever." He leaned over again trying to get a look at her book as if it might change the fact that he didn't recognize the words on the page. "What's the difference then, between your book and the play?"

"If you truly loved someone, their wellbeing would come above your selfish desires. Honest love is built on that--not on a 'give me mine' principal. So whatever it is you think is love? Is merely selfish desires of the worst kind. The emotionally manipulative sort." Arienne said--not that she'd ever been in love herself. In fact, if she sat down to contemplate it, she would judge that she was incapable of the emotion. However that didn't mean she couldn't understand the logistics of it all. After all it was how she related to people without actually immersing herself in their worlds. She understood it all, without being sucked in by it. "Anyone who would prefer to disgrace his supposed love and send her into a world full of hardship, shunning and poverty just to have her is quite clearly someone who's only interest is his own wants." She turned another page. "There are more supporting characters in the play, and those who helped the pair get together in the first place are put to death in the story." she said, then finally slid her gaze from the book to Dodge. "You realize this is in Italian, do you not? That these words are like as not unfamiliar to you at best?"

Dodge considered that, and shrugged. He'd never been in love, or at least not real love. There was Maddy of course, but none of that had been right or healthy. In fact, the selfish manipulation part that Arienne was describing was pretty spot on with what he'd been told his relationship with Maddy was. "Wouldn't she still have been disgraced if she stayed? To find out she'd secretly wed her father's enemy's son and then he was banished? She could have been disowned or banished herself if it all came to light right?" When she looked at him he met her eyes, confidence still in his even if he'd been caught in not recognizing off bat that she was reading a book in a different language. "You read Italian?"

"No. Not necessarily." Arienne said. "Certainly she'd be less valuable to her father considering she was no longer a virgin, but she could have been married off to some other society nobleman or the like. Things can get swept under the rug, you see. Or perhaps they would have put her to death, it depends on how strict an interpretation you were making and how much you allowed for reality versus dramatic tension." she added. "Yes, I read Italian. It'd be quite daft of me to sit here and flip through a book I couldn't even read, now wouldn't it?" she asked, even if Dodge had been basically doing that, even if he hadn't been flipping the pages himself.

"So either way she had a lousy life to look forward to?" Dodge asked as he began to wonder why anything besides the declarations under the moonlight was considered romantic about the story. "It would be, but people do things like that when they want others to notice them and ask about things. Not to say that was your intent, obviously you do read Italian. Where did you pick it up?" Dodge had to guess her answer would involve money. He could tell just from looking at her that she had it, and his fingers twitched a little as he longed to pick her pocket, just to see what sort of souvenir he could collect.

"Who says whoever she was married to would not be someone she would find love with?" Arienne posed. "And don't forget she'd still be taken care of for the rest of her life, never having to fend for herself. She'd always be wealthy, and would never have to lower herself to work." she continued. "At the time, that would have been important." She paused as he told her she was being attention grabbing, and she leveled her gaze on him for a moment. "I was sitting here, all by myself, reading a book to pass the time as I waited for someone. Minding my own business, as it were, what exactly about that was attention seeking behavior?" she asked. "On top of that, what drew your attention was the fact that you find me physically attractive, not that I was reading anything at all. Do you often make believe things and throw them into conversation, hoping no one notices?"

"That's assuming it wasn't true love with her Romeo then, that he wasn't her one love as she told him," Dodge said though it wasn't him arguing a point, just pondering the idea of a one true love really. Love was a twisted concept for Dodge, but he had little real experience with it to completely weigh in on it. "I said that wasn't your intent," he pointed out, not entirely phased by her narrowed gazed.

"One true love is a mythic idea. It's preposterous to the rational minded. There are millions of people in the world to think that just one of them is somehow 'perfect' is grossly negligent in it's assumptions, and even the very idea that there's perfection somewhere is naive at best." she said. "You put out there in the context of attention seeking behavior, which I think you're just using to justify things to yourself. I would hardly think reading is attention seeking. It by definition is a solitary endeavor."

Dodge thought about what she said nodding a little. "It probably is a little naive, but people still strive and search for perfection." He leaned back a little, looking out into the street. "Is that your way of telling me to get lost?"

"Of course they do. If people stopped, then the human race would grind to a halt." Arienne said, shrugging one shoulder lightly. "It's required, that just doesn't mean it's rational." she concluded. "As for if I was telling you to get lost, you were never invited to speak with me in the first place, I hardly think I have so far had a say in whether or not I speak with you." she said.

"Funny that the human race depends upon an irrational and unattainable goal," Dodge said. "And you addressed me first. You asked if I had something to add to whistle. Who did you say you were waiting for?" He glanced down the street and then the other direction as if whomever she was waiting for might materialize out of thin air.

"I didn't say who I was waiting for, and was I meant to just ignore your blatant attempt to get my attention?" Arienne said. She sort of wondered what her brother might do if he caught Dodge there. She was actually curious there, thinking it might be entertaining. Some little street rat with the balls to sit and speak with her.

"I was merely expressing my appreciation for your beauty," Dodge said casually as he turned back towards her. "So let me guess, you're waiting on your older and very mature boyfriend?"

"If I was, would that deter you sitting here?" Arienne asked, though her tone was questioning, not threatening. She wasn't, she was waiting for her brother, though he could most certainly be deemed 'overprotetive'. In a rather extreme, likely homicidal manner. Not that she discouraged that at all.

Dodge thought about that for a moment, noting that she wasn't threatening, just asking. "No probably not. Maybe if he was really large the the jealous type, but still, probably not." Maybe he should, but Dodge didn't care about those sort of things. If her boyfriend was jealous of a guy like him then the guy had issues.

"What if he was the large, 'doesn't want street rats within breathing distance' type?" she posed. She glanced at him, then finally looked back at her book. She flipped the page, and skimmed it, sort of mildly amused with the situation and actually hoping that Max would arrive early just to see what happened.

"You know 'rat' is a slur," Dodge said. "You could call me by my name though, J.D." He was a little annoyed when she went back to flipping through the book but he kept it to himself. "And if he is then I might consider going, but I could always say I was here on the bench first. That you joined me."

"I'm aware it's a slur." Arienne said, and she smiled a little as she did so. "Why would you do that in the first place, and what on earth makes you think that you'd be trusted over me?" she asked. "Especially if it was someone who cared about me in the first place?" She flipped another page. "But go ahead and try, if that's your brilliant plan."

"I thought you were the one from polite society," Dodge mused and returned her smile though his was a little bitter. He loved his life, or he had loved his life and he didn't take to kindly to those who considered him beneath them. "I can be very convincing when I want to be you know."

Max had been on a mission since his talk with Ian and his visit with the 'lovely' Dolores. That had led to him evaluating this 'Amelia' character and whether or not she was worth his time. Being seemingly no one, he might be able to have a little fun with her (He had his new metal cross he'd stolen after all) but wanted to check with his sister first. She was sociable.

He walked towards their bench with his hands in his pockets, white button down untucked and immaculate with a blue vest and black fedora on his head. He was whistling a tune he'd heard from a band at the coffee shop on the corner and was overall in a fairly decent mood. Until he saw what was going on at the bench. He knew when his sister was annoyed and pre-occupied and the street boy in the pageboy hat was certainly the current source of it. He wondered how long this had been going on for and he walked up behind the boy and smiled down at his sister. "I didn't know we were having company this afternoon," he said, sounding perfectly amiable.

Arienne smiled, without looking up immediately, making a show of finishing her paragraph before she shut the book and turned her eyes on her brother. She most certainly smiled for him. "Hello." she greeted, meeting his gaze, as if Dodge wasn't even sitting there. "You're late." she told him, though her tone and expression said she was teasing him, for his mention of her being late the last time. "I was unaware we were having company as well, though he plans to convince you that I interrupted him." she informed Max.

Dodge wasn't keen on being snuck up on ever especially now that he didn't have his boys to watch his back properly. Instead of looking back at their new visitor right away he looked at Arienne. "You do realize that you've just sabotaged my plan right?" he asked her with a bit of a look to go with it. "You're the older and more mature boyfriend I assume then?" he asked Max as he looked up at him.

"I'm the older and mature brother," Max corrected with an easy smile and it stayed there as he took in the familiar visage of the street boy he'd been keeping tabs on for the past few months. Word was that this kid had died but clearly he was still alive. Or a twin brother running around, but Max was more inclined to believe a staged death. Well that certainly made things interesting. "And I believe that makes it my right to take care of any boys who are bothering her." Although sometimes annoyance and amusement might go hand in hand when Ari had someone in her sights.

"Considering your plan was to target me for your being here in the first place, and try to play me off as some common whore who ran about talking to strange boys on benches, I don't feel remorse for the sabotage." Arienne stated sweetly. She looked at her brother again. "He thought I was waiting for a boyfriend, you see. And he was going to blame me for his presence." she explained, again, as if Dodge weren't there, if she was just filling in her brother on the events of her day. "Doesn't speak a lot for his character, don't you agree? I think 'rat' is rather fitting."

Brother. That sat a little better with him than getting decked by some boyfriend. Of course Max was getting pretty intimidating in his own right, but Dodge didn't back down. "Really? Whore? And rat? I'd never consider you any such thing and you're the one with manners right? The slurs are just down right offensive." He looked at Max again, he thought his face looked familiar, just slightly. Instinctively he reached up and tugged at his hat, pulling it a little lower on his brow.

"Whore?" Max asked with that easy smile still on his face. "Has he treated you unkindly, sistermine?" His action of pulling down on his hat did not go unmissed and it just served to keep that smile still on his face. No one got away with bothering his sister and if he'd tried anything, well... unfortunately things were a little complicated here but he was still perfectly in his "limits" to scare the living daylights out of the kid. "You know, you might end up like this one street rat I knew who went around with all the girls." Dodge's antics had not gone unnoticed, not when it was one of Max's jobs to observe. "Although I suppose I can understand. My dearest sister does outshine everyone else." It was incredibly clear that Max was just toying with him. He was like a cat batting at a mouse and he moved around the boy as if he were sizing him up.

"What would you call telling some girl's boyfriend that she was the one who came on to him, or the nearest equivellent thereof?" she asked. "I'm fairly certain there isn't a way you can spin this that isn't incredibly bastardly towards me." she said, not sounding like she was bothered, just that she was aware of the score there. "But by all means, you can go ahead and try to convince him anyway. I'd love to hear how you were planning on explaining things." Then she looked back at her brother again. She seemed to be deciding, though she was making a show of it, a play, for Dodge's nerves. "He was going to, but as of yet hadn't gotten around to it." she said finally, after a long pause.

Dodge's spin tingled a little at what Max said. Fuck. "No use in trying now," Dodge said without looking at Max. The guy could pace around him all he wanted, Dodge wasn't going to cower. So maybe Max was just talking, but then again maybe not. Either way his cover might be blown. "You expected me to be mean to you?"

Max arched an eyebrow and the friendliness from his smile turned cold and the way his eyes gleamed was almost like a snake that had found it's next meal. "That does sound like bad manners. What if I had been her boyfriend? This could've caused all sorts of complications and made her cry." He shook his head and looked at his sister. "Would you give me a moment to impart a word of advice to this boy?" The way his hand came up onto his shoulder, the way the fingers tightened up to near his neck was like a python begining to coil around its prey. "I promise it won't involve me hitting you," he said to him.

"There's no way I can see that the scenario you presented could be anything but cruel towards me." Arienne stated to answer Dodge's question, though it was as she packed up her things, and she stood. "Of course." she answered Max, and she stood, then moved to give her brother a smooch on the cheek as she pushed up on her toes to do so. "I'll wait over there." she indicated, nearby but not so close that she'd overhear anything. Which was a shame, but then she imagined she'd just ask Max to tell her what he'd said, and she planned to watch in any event. Then she turned to head off, just as promised.

When Max touched him Dodge's face shifted into a scowl. He had no desire to talk to this guy alone and for the first time since his friend had walked out on him, Dodge missed Ethan. This guy would already be decked at this point. "I'll be seeing you then. Maybe next time we'll read something in English." It wasn't as smooth as he usually was, but it did the trick for now. "What do you want?" he asked Max as Arienne walked away.

"The only reason your neck isn't broken is because there are other things in store for you," Max started off. They were about the same height. Max had a bit over an inch on him and that was probably because Dodge grew up on the streets. The friendly smile had faded and now all that was there was something wicked. Something just not right behind Max's empty blue eyes. "But if you ever come near my sister again? Bother her in any sort of way? And the fact that you've insinuated terrible, terrible things about her that in another circumstance could cause quite a lot of trouble? Those two little blonde girls that you used to run around with will be the price you pay. The one who lives in that ugly apartment and that tiny one who lives in the theater. Do I make myself incredibly clear? Stay away from my sister."

Dodge's blood ran cold at the threat. Not only did this guy know who he was, he knew about Maddy and JJ. Despite the feel of dread in his stomach he narrowed his eyes. "I wouldn't do a damn thing wrong to your sister, nor insinuate terrible things about her. And you've got the wrong guy. But sure, you win. I'll stay away." He didn't want to, but he couldn't risk Maddy and JJ. Dodge took a step away, lithe and easy, holding Max's terrifying gaze a little longer as he took a step or two back before he left. Turning his back and whistling as he walked off. He'd worry about what Max said about whatever was in store for him later.