we're not friends

Who: Dodge and Corey
Where: The library
When: late morning

Dodge was a boy on a mission. He'd tried the Sixth Street Bridge entrance to the tunnels first, but those who loitered about the outside there hadn't seen Corey. Someone had suggested the library entrance, which was closer to her space. Dodge hadn't wanted to go there first, hoping to just happen up on her, but in the end he headed that way, considering it better than accidentally running into Roy in the bank building.

Once he was at the entrance he took half a step in, calling her name lightly, though it echoed through the entrance. Unsure of what else to do, and knowing not to step any farther in, he decided to hold out, propping himself up against a wall to wait for her.

It wasn't an immediate thing. But word got back to her that someone had called for her, and so she headed out. She appeared in the basement of the library, coming out from behind the half tumbled bookshelf, and her eyes landed on Dodge straight away. "You called." she said, voice a little hoarse. She'd been resting--broken ribs totally didn't make one really all that keen on getting up and running around a bunch. But she definitely came when called. So there she was. She hadn't known who to expect, but in the end she wasn't surprised it was him. He also looked worse for wear himself, really.

Dodge had been daydreaming a little, thinking about his new name and what it might entail, how Maddy would react to her gift and that sort of thing. In fact when Corey spoke to him it caught him a little off guard, eyes darting around before they landed on her. "I did," he said, straightening and moving closer to her. "How are you doing?" There were heavy topics in their future, but he wasn't going to just gloss over the fact that she was hurt because he needed to talk about himself and ask her a favor. The bruise on his cheek which had already blackened was a reminder enough that he spent too much time thinking about himself.

Corey lifted the shoulder on her unhurt side. "Alive." she said, which was as good an answer as she could give. 'In horrendous amounts of pain' was closer to the truth, but she never was the type to play up anything. And that included if she was hurt. She was meant to be tougher than that, wasn't she. "You?" she asked, wondering if Roach had talked to him already or not. If things had been set in motion, and this was the first level of damage control.

"Learned the same lesson yesterday that you did. Roach packs one hell of a punch," he said, rolling his shoulders a little. His injuries weren't as bad as hers. His face hurt but he guessed she was in a different world of hurt. "You got a minute? I've got a few things I was hoping to chat with you about, in private if that's alright." Not that there was anyone around, but his plan wouldn't work if people overheard it.

So that would be a yes on whether or not Roach had talked to Dodge, then. "Yeah, I have a minute, and this is about as private as you're going to get." she said. there wasn't anyone around. And she knew that no one was hovering around the tunnel, either. They tended to let her business be her business, and shouting distance was different than normal speaking tones distance. She did, however, slide down the wall to sit down. "What's up?"

Dodge waited for her to sit, just in case she needed something, before moving to sit next to her. "Quite a bit going on as of late, and I'm sure I owe you apologies too, just like everyone else," he started, not looking at her at first then turning his head to watch Corey. "But it boils down to needing your help with changing things, about me. The bad stuff." Once the words left his mouth, Dodge realized that Corey had every right to say no, which hit him hard. It wouldn't necessarily ruin his plan, but it wouldn't make it any easier and it would be downright terrible to know that she wanted nothing to do with him either.

She didn't answer straight away, listening and waiting to see that he wasn't adding more. When it was clear he wasn't, she looked at him. Her eyes weren't cold or anything, but she was a little unreadable. "What are you changing, and why should I help?" she asked. It wasn't pointed. It wasn't even a challenge. It was an honest if direct question.

He took a deep breath before answering, again not sure where to start. "Technically, I'm changing everything. Everything about myself that I can manage to change. I'm killing off Dodge completely." Reaching up he tugged at the brim of the fedora a little. "Sadly there isn't a good answer as to why you should help. At least not for me. You and I, we've always had an understanding, and we're friends I suppose, but not close friends. We're similar in a way, which is what creates that bond between us, but too different to be much more than that. So no, I don't have a good reason about why, but I need your help to get better. For me, for Roach, and the boys." It was an honest admission, tinged with guilt. "So I'm asking, but I'll understand if you say no."

"We're not friends." Corey told him. Again, it wasn't snapped, or pointed. She wasn't saying it to dig at his feelings or anything. "And we're not similar." she added. "An understanding, sure, but honestly? For the past pretty long while you've just been getting worse and worse, and it's all I can do to keep your shitty messes out of my business." she told him. "And you burning your bridges, and crashing and burning--I see that as a good thing. Do you have any idea what you're like?" she asked. "I mean really?" she continued. "I'll tell you. And it won't be from some personal point of view which I'm guessing you got recently. It'll be from my point of view. The outside."

They weren't friends. That sunk a little hard in Dodge, but he should have expected it. What had he done for Corey anyway? "I never said it was a bad thing, what was happening to me. It's bad from where I sit, because it's happening to me, but it's for the best I think. Or...I think that now." Zhen had helped with that, turning him around to see how he was the one who'd made himself miserable. "I have an idea, but I'd like you to still tell me." He really didn't want her to tell him, but he knew full well he needed to hear it. She wouldn't have offered if he didn't.

Corey nodded, and she took another minute before she started to speak. "I'm a leader." she said. "And you pretend to be one. Your title, that whole...prince of thieves thing, which I keep hearing you upgraded to 'king' lately, is just something you made up. It wasn't given to you, you just claimed it. And there's a difference. For me, I'm a leader because I take care of my own. I do what's right for them, I think about them in everything I do. I know that I am more than just me, and everything I say and do will reflect back on them, whether I want it to or not. I have a room full of things--like you do--only mine? Were gifts. I got them because people believed I had earned them. Yours are all things you've stolen, that you've just taken, because you wanted them." she said. And she was still keeping her tone even, she wasn't being petty or biting about any of it. "All you really care about is you and instant gratification of whatever whim you're experiencing at the time. You don't really care. You don't really think about how your actions are going to trickle back down on everyone else. You don't think about anyone's feelings, all you care about is that any itch you've got gets scratched when you say so. And that's a terrible person to have in any role of authority." she told him. "Honestly I wouldn't give a damn if you were just some asshole, running around. But you're not. You've got little kids to take care of. And they see how to be through emmulating you. You don't take care of the people you're supposed to, and that makes you bad people." she told him. "You don't deserve what you've got, and all you did was inherit it anyways, even if you claim some royalty from it. You're terrible to deal with, because you're too arrogant to listen to a thing anyone else says. Because it's not like this is news, y'know. Even if you seem to just be getting it sunk in now? I'm underground here and I heard about that fight with Roy. This isn't new. You just haven't been listening--because you don't care what anyone else says or thinks. And if you do? You don't back that up with acting like it, which is as good as not caring." She sighed. "Maybe you think somewhere deep down you're a good guy or something. But all that really matters in this world is what you do. Actions you take. And your actions...they've been wrong for a long time."

Dodge kept his mouth shut through her whole explanation, biting his tongue against any urge to protest. If he was honest with himself, he'd heard it already, which didn't make it any easier to hear. Ducking his head for a moment once she finished he fought hard against his natural reaction to demand she take it back, to tell her how he was a good guy, deep down. People just got confused and it wasn't his fault. All that was wrong though, it was his fault and every word out of Corey's mouth was true. "You're right," he said quietly to his feet. "About all of it you are. And it's why I'm here. I'm trying to fix things, to put distance between myself and them because I don't know how to lead them, and all I'm doing is teaching them things they don't need to learn. Only they are all in too deep, we're all in too deep." Dodge glanced up at Corey, face passive, but his eyes giving more of the pain inside him away. "There's a way out for them. It's not...the best plan, but it's a plan. Only I have to go. Completely. Not gone away just leaving them, but they need to have no reason to try and bring me back. Because I'll go back to them. I've realized I'm selfish enough that I want their attention and their love, even if it's not the kind of love you get from those who follow you. Dodge has to die. The Prince of Thieves has to die. I have to die."

Corey frowned, listening. "I'm not a killer, Dodge." she told him. Because as bad a person as she thought he was, she still wasn't a killer. She wouldn't do that. Especially not when she hadn't before. "I could let you wander the tunnels, and say you're not protected and you'd wind up dead, but...that's pretty extreme."

Dodge shook his head a little. "No, not like that. I've see the error of my ways, but I'm still too fucking selfish to actually off myself. At least in reality. But in theory...that much I can do. I think. Or well I'm going to do it an hope I survive," he explained. "All I need from you is your help spreading a rumor. That Dodge is dead. I don't care how or why, it just needs to spread tomorrow like wildfire. Which, given the number of people I've pissed off it very well might." Dodge sighed, leaning his head back against the wall behind him. "The boys...I can't take care of them anymore, but I'll see to it they are taken care of. Tomorrow morning, they authorities will come for them. And Dodge dies. They'll stay where they're put if they think I'm not there to run to. It'll be better for them." He voice faltered for a moment and he closed his eyes. Telling someone other than Zhen would see to it that his precious kingdom fell. There was no coming back from this conversation. "Tell Roach, or Ethan I guess now. He said he was gonna be Ethan again. Tell him I'm not dead, but don't tell him about the boys. I'll tell him after it's done. He'll tell Maddy. If you need me, I'll be going by JD, but it won't be the same. Or I hope it won't."

Quiet for a long few moments, Corey ran all that over in her head. "I can do that." she said, eventually. "You owe me." she added. "But I can do that." What it would accomplish, she didn't know, and she'd have to see a change in Dodge to believe it, but she supposed she'd give him the shot. She could see why her role was necessary in what he was planning.

"I know I will. And I give you permission to cash it in for whatever. No argument on my end," he told her, knowing full well that was one hell of a promise. Everyone had lines, things they would and wouldn't do, and he'd just given her a free pass to ignore everything he'd usually put up as boundaries. Swallowing hard, he fought back against the urge to tell her it was one big joke. It wasn't. It had to be done. "Thank you Corey, honestly. I don't think I ever sound like I mean it, but I do this time. And I'm sorry. I've caused problems for you and in some ways I've let you down. I shouldn't have done that." After writing out Maddy's apology, the other apologies, they seemed to come a little easier.

She nodded. "I hope it works, for whatever it's worth." she said. She didn't think it would, but he sounded sincere at the moment. So, whatever. Maybe it would work. Maybe he'd get his shit together. Maybe there would be some silver lining, or something like that. It wasn't something that usually happened, or not that she saw happen. But that didn't mean it was impossible. She stood again, carefully, keeping her one arm in close against her side. "Good luck." she told him.

"Me too," Dodge told her. "At the very least, maybe I'll be separated from people enough that I can't hurt anyone anymore." Isolation sounded terrifying to him, but if he couldn't actually change? He could put himself out of harms way. He watched her stand, wincing a little and wanting to help, but not. She didn't want his help. Once she was up, he stood as well, pulling the fedora back down low like he always wore it. "And it's JD, if you need anything, besides the favor I owe you. I'll try and help. Thanks again." He wanted to smile but he didn't have it in him, so instead he just left.