the world is an unfair place

Who: Maddy and Roy
When: later morning
Where: Around Town

Maddy was still standing in the alley where Dodge had left her, leaning back against the scarred up alley wall. She was having a hard time breathing. She couldn't really feel anything. She was just... numb. Dodge's words echoed in her mind. Gone.

He was going to leave. He was turning her back on her if she went through with this.

Gone. Gone. Gone.

But she needed to do this. Pickpocketing in the upscale areas and selling matches would get her a house. In a million years. Working at the parlor? A year tops. And what did he mean by 'too proud to admit she was broken'? Maddy was not broken. Madeline Keyes was in no way, shape, or form broken.

Maddy felt broken though. Just when she thought that she was feeling better, Dodge said he was leaving and she was worse off than she was yesterday. So she stood there in the alley, trembling violently from her inability to breathe properly and the icy wind that was whistling through.

Gone. Gone. Gone.

Roy was out and about, mind still ticking along on everything that was going on in his life. And that was a lot lately. Sometimes, his life sort of drifted into some almost spell of monotony, where it was just running numbers, going home, sleeping, going to the garage, going back home...there was a lot of just between work stretches going on. But lately? Not so much. Lately, there was a ton going on. His life had gotten interesting somewhere along the way, and he still wasn't entirely clear when that had occurred.

He was passing an alley when he stopped, and backed up a few steps, looking up it. Because that there was Madeline. That there was Madeline looking really, really not good. So, when it registered, he headed towards her, pace fast. "Hey--" he started, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder. "You alright?" he asked, sort of automatically moving to block the view of her from the mouth of the alley, where he'd caught sight. Then no one else might get the bright idea to come see her right now too. He had it covered. Or, in his mind he did.

She hadn't looked up, nor had she moved when Roy approached her, still staring at some invisible but very, very important point in the air in front of her. At first first, it seemed like she perhaps didn't hear him, but she did, she just wasn't actually able to figure out how to open her mouth. Was she alright? No. It was pretty obvious she wasn't.

So instead, Maddy settled for shaking her head slowly. Her head hurt, like it was filled with hot, sticky syrup and clamped shut with a vice and her eyes were stinging and didn't even bother wiping at the tears pooling in her eyes. She shook her head again and wrapped her arms around Roy's middle and held onto him tightly. Roy. Roy was there and yeah, she was kind of mad at him too but he was there and so she just held onto him, listening to his heart beat in her ear.

Roy blinked when she latched onto him, but he didn't stop her. Instead, he just wrapped his arms around her in turn, wondering what the hell was going on. This was the second time in as many meetings that she'd done this, sort of been really upset and then latched on like there was no tomorrow. He opted not to say anything for a few long moments, leaning his shoulder against the wall as he kept hold of her, lightly rubbing her back, trying to soothe her.

"You're never allowed to leave me, okay?" she said, voice scratchy and thick as she held onto him. The hand on her back felt good and then she started feeling guilty because if Roy found out what she was doing, then things would get even worse. Dammit. "You're not allowed. I'm not going to let you."

He really had to wonder what was going on with her that she was coming out with something like that. The wind howled at the mouth of the alley, the wind still bitter. He held her a little tighter, keeping his back to the wind, but he had to wonder how long she'd been out in it. "I won't leave." he promised. He didn't know what exactly she meant, but he could promise that. Like he'd already told Marian that he wasn't going to drop her, even if it would get Dodge off of his ass. That that just wasn't something he was willing to do. "And you won't have to let me do anything, I'll be there on my own." he added. Because to him there was a distinct difference between someone being there because they felt they had to be, and someone being there because they wanted to be. With a sister that was so amazingly important to him but who fucked off and avoided him for periods of time... he knew that difference well.

Maddy lifted her head to look at him. "No matter what, you're never ever allowed to leave. I'm not going to let you leave." She turned in his arms, gripping his jacket tight in her fists. "No matter what happens. No matter what I do. No matter what you do." She needed him to understand that, her face pinched and red and desperate. She was trembling with cold and the tears on her face felt boiling hot on her cold cheeks. "I'm not letting Marian take you away. I'm sorry, but I can't let her do that." Her dream was still vivid in her mind, Marian with her cat teeth and claws.

He was wondering now if Madeline had taken something. Drugs, or...something. His sister taking him away? He was incredibly clueless right now. Clueless and intensely worried. "It's okay." he told her, reaching up to brush the tears from her cheeks. "It's okay, alright? Marian wouldn't do that anyways, and I'm not going anywhere. I swear." he said, hoping it sank in. He had to get her someplace warm. He could fire up the sort of makeshift heater he had for the vault. He didn't have much fuel for it, but at the moment that seemed like the only option, and he'd just have to find more fuel some other time. This was now priority one. "C'mon, let's go back to the vault, okay? You're freezing." And freaking, and he needed to figure out what was even happening.

Back to the vault. That sounded interesting. And nice so Maddy nodded obediently. "I wanted to go looking for our house today," she said softly, running a hand through her hair. She looked around the alley, wondering if Dodge's boys were around. Wondering if any strange men were watching her. She suddenly felt like there were so many eyes on her. "I don't want you to leave me."

"We'll go on a nicer day, okay?" he said, noting she hadn't dropped that line of thinking. But she was clearly out of her head upset over things, and apparently one of them was the thought of him leaving. Which he didn't know where she'd got. Keeping an arm around her, he started to lead her back in the direction of the vault, which thankfully wasn't actually that far away. He considered just picking her up, and then decided that might be a good plan. "Here, I'll give you a piggyback ride." he offered. It would mean she could stay latched onto him like she seemed to want to be. And he could get them there faster.

Maddy nodded, letting go of his hand and scrambling onto his back. She was light, like a spider monkey on his back, wrapping her arms and legs around him and resting her head on his shoulder. "Jack used to do this," she said as they started walking again, voice quiet and still a little choked. "We'd walk all the time and my legs would get tired and I'd ride on his shoulders."

Her brother. she'd talked about him before. Roy wasn't quite sure what it meant to be compared to the guy she'd been searching for for years now. Still, he nodded a little, moving about as fast as he could manage with the streets as icy as they were at the moment. But still he got them back to the bank building in pretty good time. He also carried her up the steps, even if it was harder to do. It was easier carrying her than the typewriter, anyways. She could help hold on. When he got them to the vault proper, he set her down, and then set to sparking up the heater, letting that roar to life immediately. That, before he grabbed his blankets, and wrapped them around her, shutting the door and letting the glow of the heater keep the place lit up. "What's going on?" he asked as he sat down with her, tossing his shoes off by the door.

"Dodge and I got into a fight. He said he was leaving." She swallowed harshly, knowing that Roy would probably be happy about Dodge leaving. Roy didn't like Dodge after all. "I don't want Dodge to leave. He's a jerk but he said he was leaving and he's not allowed to leave me." Maddy wrapped the blankets tighter around her. Deep down, that little voice told her she was going to make things work. That things were going to blow up in her face but Dodge said he was leaving her.

Roy sat there and listened, not at all sure what to say to that. He was quiet, shifting closer to her, and he put an arm around her, tugging her closer so she could lean against him while she warmed up. "Why would he do that?" he asked, after a whole lot of possible responses popped up in his mind that he rejected. But that--that was safe. It was kind of something he didn't expect, so the why of it, that seemed important.

"Because he's a stupid jerk," she said, curling up against his side. "I beat him up though for what he did to you. Then we got into this fight about other stuff and he couldn't take it and said he was leaving." There were so many glaringly glaring holes in that explanation that there wouldn't have been fooling anyone. "No one's allowed to leave. I can't let anyone leave me. Jack got lost. At least he didn't leave." But he did leave. He left you and you can't find him.

Well, Roy couldn't really argue the stupid jerk part. But he was paying attention more to her story and less trying to find fault with Dodge in things. It still seemed something out of left field for the guy. So, that in mind, he was really trying to figure things out. Unless he was just pulling the ultimate manipulation. Hrm. "...what stuff can't he take?" he asked, hoping that it wasn't related to himself. That he wouldn't feel good about at all.

"Just stuff," she said quietly. "I don't want to talk about it anymore." Which... really wasn't fair to Roy because she was the one who was acting all weird but she was feeling better, there with him holding on. Not alone. "I just wish you two got along." Her breath hitched painfully and she held onto him. She hated that her boys couldn't get along. It was probably one of the worst things she had to deal with.

Roy was quiet for a few moments. "Madeline," he started, voice light. "You're sitting here all freaked out and you've been crying because that asshole left you. And now you're coming out with 'I wish you could get along'?" he asked, tone betraying the fact that he thought that was pretty fucked up. "Is that why he's left? Because of something I did?" Because that was the only logical conclusion he could reach, given the circumstances.

"No, it has nothing to do with you," she said. "But I really wish you guys got along." Maddy wiped a hand across her face, getting rid of any tears that were still on her cheeks. Her eyes were still red and puffy, and there were still tears but they were a bit slower now. "Am I broken, Roy?" she whispered, because that had been bothering her too. That Dodge had called her broken and not being able to see it.

Not going to happen, Madeline. Roy thought, but didn't say. Not with her in this state. He wasn't going to go the route he usually would, which was just giving her that flat, total honesty. When she asked that, he frowned, and was looking down at her again. "Why would you ask me that?" he asked. "I--I don't think I'm even near qualified to answer that." he said, believing that. "I think you're you. I think you're like the rest of us. We've all got things that chip away at our insides, things that wear us down. It's just what happens when you don't have a home, don't have someplace safe to be, when you're one of the city's throw away people. In that sense, we're all broken. Just in unique ways." he said, drifting his fingers through her hair once.

He was supposed to say 'No, of course you're not broken. Who would even say that?' He was supposed to reassure her that she was fine. But... that wasn't what Roy did. It's why she liked him, yes, but it wasn't what she needed then. Maddy sighed softly, rubbing her eyes again. "I guess," she murmured. "I just don't know what to do. I hate fighting." She hated it when she lost the fight. When the other person trumped her. That wasn't 'fighting' to her. Of course, had she said that, Roy would probably tell her how wrong she was and all sorts of things.

"I don't like that you're not telling me something, and I'm thinking it's really important." Roy said softly, still looking down at her, being there, keeping his arm around her. He could definitely feel the heat he'd put on there, it was filling up the space well. That was the good thing about it, it was an easy space to heat up once you got it going. It was just usually the getting it going that was the problem. "We talked the other night, and you were really open...talk to me again. Please?" he asked.

God, there was no way she was going to tell Roy about what she had done yesterday. "Just trying to get a job to get our house. How big should our house be?"

He didn't say anything immediately. "Depends." he said. "What kind of job?" he asked, and then he shifted, putting his palm to her cheek so he could turn her face up towards his, so he could look her in the eyes. He maintained that for a few long moments, just watching. "You're avoiding. Please stop." he said.

"I'm not avoiding anything," she sulked, pulling his hand away from her face. It... wasn't something Roy did and Maddy wasn't sure what to make of it. But she held his hand in hers, moving around in her blanket to get more comfortable. "Job's just a little of whatever they need." There wasn't going to be sex sex. Maddy expressed that when she talked with the woman the other day. It was just simple stuff. The stuff that she already knew how to do. That made it better. It had to make it better. "We could go looking tomorrow maybe. Or the day after. I wish it was spring."

He didn't remove his hand from hers, but was frowning, disconcerted. "A little of whatever who needs?" Roy asked. He was pressing, he knew, but she was clearly just avoiding. If it was something simple, she would have said already. In fact, it was out of character, in his opinion, to be so quiet about it. This was D. Madeline. Self proclaimed goddess. If she had a job? She'd be shouting it to the rooftops because she'd be so proud of herself for getting something. For being so young and yet finding a job she could do and she could provide for herself, and all the other things that came with that.

The other huge tell was the thing with Dodge. A guy didn't beat the shit out of someone because he couldn't find a girl then drop her two days later. Something had to have happened. And she'd said they'd argued, and that it was about a job, so...yeah. There was a huge blank that was hanging over everything, and he didn't like it one little bit.

"The employer," she said with a shrug, realizing now that maybe she shouldn't have said anything about a job. That she should've thought up some kind of cover story but God, Roy had the worst possible timing. No time for her to think up something. Fuck. "Just one of those things where you don't ask questions." Her mouth quirked a little bit. "You know how it is."

Roy kept his eyes on her for a long, long moment, assessing. He did that sometimes, just said nothing as he gave a piercing stare. Now was one of those times. "Not for you, I don't." he said. He had one job that was a 'you don't ask questions' kind of deal. And that was with the fucking mafia. In no way did he want her anywhere near anything like that. "What are you doing? And don't dodge. Don't give me a bullshit story, either. Answer me." he said, that stern note that he had with her at times creeping into his voice.

Her eyes narrowed in response to his tone and she pulled away from him, dropping his hand and wrapping her arms around her knees, pulling them up against her chest. "You're not my keeper, Roy," she told him simply. "Just because I listen to you doesn't mean I'm answerable to you or whatever it is."

"No, I'm not your keeper." Roy said, letting her pull away, but he sat forward, moving so he could keep looking her in the eyes. "I'm your friend, and you're playing games with me. Something's fucked up here, you know it, I know it, it's already apparently destroyed your relationship with Dodge, and I want to know what the hell it is. It's got to be major, Madeline. He beat the shit out of me just the other day because he couldn't fucking find you. You don't just drop someone out of the blue like that when you'd go through that much trouble in the first place." And yes, Roy thought that it was because Dodge saw her as a possession, but honestly? At the moment the point still stood. Even if Dodge's reasons were fucked up in and of themselves, they were still reasons. And it still didn't make sense that he'd just drop her because of an argument. "It's something bad, isn't it. If it wasn't, you would have said already. You're the self proclaimed goddess of the universe, right? If it wasn't something wrong, you'd have told me first thing. I know you."

Maddy was quiet but she didn't look away from his eyes. She felt like her insides were being pulled out again, inch by inch and shown to her under examination lights. There was something about hurting Dodge that, to a certain extent, she didn't mind. That's how they worked. They were always going to hurt one another. She didn't want to hurt Roy, though. Disappointed in her was worse than him just being angry at her. "I love you," she told him quietly, reaching out and brushing some hair off of his forehead. "Okay? And I don't ever want to lose you and I hate that you work for the mob because I'm worried that one of these days, somethings gonna happen and you're gonna get in trouble. You know what I mean?" She realized, belatedly, that he might think she loved him loved him, hence the 'you know what I mean'. Because Maddy loved. She loved with all of her heart.

There was something really, really vulnerable behind Roy's eyes for a moment, flickers back there that didn't quite have names. His sister loved him. His mom had loved him, before she'd died. His siblings, cousins, they loved him. But they were all family. He'd never heard those worse from anyone who wasn't releated. Marian's words echoed in his head, her suspicions, how she'd told him that Madeline'd kissed him when he'd been asleep. But at the same time, he did know what she meant. Or maybe he just really wanted it to be what he thought it was, which was just a platonic thing.

Still, it wasn't something that was expected, and he didn't quite know how to react. It had him sitting back, til his back hit the cold metal of the vault door. He kept his eyes on her, and there was that broken look, that look that clearly stated that something in Roy wasn't quite right, possibly never had been, and wasn't a fixable thing. People didn't tell him they loved him. It almost hurt.

It was really late that he realized he hadn't answered her. "I know--" he started, but his voice was too quiet, so he had to try again. "I know what you mean."

"And I would do anything for you, okay?" she continued quietly, still looking at him. It was almost difficult to hear him, but she was able to attach the words in her mind and it made sense. "And I'm my own person, and I make my own choices and if anything bad ever happened to me because of something I did, be it jobs or me doing something stupid like breaking into the Walker mansion or something -- not that I have, I'm just saying." Maddy sighed quietly and leaned against the metal wall across from him. "Do you get that, Roy?" She was genuinely curious, wondering if Roy really understood her. "Dodge and I aren't that different from one another, you know." Which is maybe why it made it hurt even more that Roy and Dodge didn't get along.

"I didn't ask you to do anything for me." Roy said, feeling sick to his stomach. This was all coming at him in the worst way right now. She'd really knocked him for a hard loop there with the L word, even if it wasn't meant in a romantic sense. It was still something important, that meant something to him. And with what she was saying, he was going to hate this. Because she still wasn't saying what she was doing. What the secret was.

But she had just told him it was for him. Or, that was the implication, anyhow. "And you are different. You don't treat people like toys." he said. Or, maybe she did, and he just didn't know anything. At the moment he was feeling a whole lot like he knew absolutely nothing. 'Off balance' was putting it mildly. "What aren't you telling me, Madeline?"

She shrugged, slim shoulders barely making any motion under the blanket she still had wrapped around her. "Dodge is mine. You're mine. He just lets it get to his head because he's taking care of his boys." She swallowed harshly, looking down at the cracked floor, at the tips of the shoes peeking out from under the blanket. "But his boys would be so lost without him. Those boys would be in a lot worse condition if it wasn't for Dodge." Maddy wanted to defend him, because she felt like she needed to defend him before she told Roy what she was doing. "The decisions he makes, they're not just for him. It's for the good of his boys. I'm like, the only thing he can be selfish about. And maybe that's why I give him more leeway than he should have sometimes. Like if you and all your family were still living together and you had to take care of them all." She was still mad. And she was still going to do what she wanted to do.

"Maybe he used to do that. But he lost sight of perspective a long time ago. He told me, flat out, that people existed for his approval. He's gotten too big a head. He really thinks he owns the streets and everyone in them and that includes you. But...apparently you think you own people too." Roy said, catching that, and he was sure he'd heard it before, but right now it seemed like it had a whole other connotation. "I'm not a toy either. No more than you are." he said. "I'm your friend. And I'll do anything for you. and I want to protect you, and keep you safe, and I want to talk to you, and spend time with you, and tell you the things no one else is going to tell you, because they're too chicken shit to do it. I want to yell at you when you're being stupid, and carry you home when you're crying. You're my friend. I'm here because I choose to be. Because I want to be. I'm not a toy. Don't you dare start thinking about me like I am."

It was awhile before Maddy said anything, feeling like things were already... sort of messed up between them. She felt like Roy expected things from her that she couldn't give or that he thought she was someone that she really wasn't, or maybe just a little bit. Like if he looked past the skin to the twisted insides, he'd realize she was a lost cause. "I'm working on Bauer Road," she said finally, quiet but not whispering, like she was ashamed. He'd know what she spoke of. Everyone knew of that little brothel for the dregs of societies."It's what I know. I'm good at it." At least, that's what Robert had told her. That she was the best he'd ever had. That he couldn't wait for her to get a little older.

Roy's response was quiet, and stricken, his face saying quite clearly that he was in fact, shocked, and that broken look was back, not that it had ever really fully retreated. "What?" he asked, though it was clear that he'd heard her. That he very much got the connotation there, that he understood. He could most certainly put that together. "God..." he said, looking away, then back again. "No." he said, like it all hurt. And maybe it did. "Why?" Sick. He was definitely feeling more, and more sick.

"Because I want a home," she said simply, looking at him. Maddy wasn't going to be ashamed by it. She wasn't going to look away like she was. "And this is the fastest way to get my house. And with a house, it'll be easier to find Jack. Jack can move in with us. And I'll make a lot of money. Five months, tops. Then I'll get out."

Roy was shaking his head. "No." he said, quiet at first, but his voice gained strength as he spoke. "No. No, Madeline, that's not--" he started then stopped, but he was looking at her again. "You are not selling yourself to get this. Women like that, it...it hollows them out. Haven't you seen? I know you have, you've seen them, you know. Don't tell me it's just for now and you'll get out, they never let you leave. And Jack? What'll he come home to?" Roy asked. "Some shell of a little sister who's just some whore for the sickest in the city?" he asked. "Not. Acceptable."

But Maddy was shaking her head too. It was just like she told Dodge. "When I was seven, there was this man at the orphanage started needing my help. Maintenance. I was the smallest. Could get into the tight spaces. And it lasted for five years. Almost every day, for five years. Am I a shell? No. I'm the most amazing person in this world. And it's not like I'm gonna let them fuck me. Just... other stuff." She shrugged, finally discarding the blanket because Roy's heater, damn, it sure worked good. It was so warm, comfortable, in the vault.

There was that stricken look again. "Someone--" he started, looking away, hand balling into a fist. Jesus. He was silent, and too still for a long moment. Then it was like something snapped. "That is not okay." he said, conviction behind his words. "There is nothing about that that's okay. 'Other stuff' isn't okay either. None of it is. No one gets to touch you, not unless it's--" he broke off, shaking his head, and he abruptly stood up, and pushed the heavy door open, walking into the cold hall.

"It's what?" she called after him, getting to her feet and leaning in the doorway where it was still warm, standing there in a sweater that was too big for her, hair wavy and tangled around her shoulders. She expected more yelling. She expected to be yelled at and... she wasn't being yelled at. It was kind of weird. And it also felt like she was in some strange, alternate universe where Roy's amazing ability to yell at you and make you want to hug him wasn't there anymore. Had it been Dodge saying it, she was quite positive that he would said 'unless it's me', which opened up that whole other can of worms that really drove her up the wall. But with Roy, she just had no idea what he meant.

"It's not fucking acceptable!" Roy snapped, rounding back on her. He'd been going to break something, not sure what, just...whatever he came across, but she was there, asking a question like that. "Do you really think that this is at all fucking okay? Or that they'd even stop when you said so just because you fucking said so?" he continued, closing the distance back to her, looming over her as he glared down into her eyes. Yeah, that anger was tapped, it was why he'd walked away in the first place. "It doesn't fucking work like that. It's never going to work like that." He kept his eyes on hers. "You're not lowering yourself to pull this bullshit. Not you. Not. you." he said, voice low. "You want your fucking house? You get that and this ends? Fine." he said. And then he turned again to start stalking off, snap decision made.

Maddy felt detached from it all by this point and that should've sent warning bells in her head. That there was something wrong with her. But she felt fine. Not, fine as in yes, everything was okay, but she'd cried, she'd freaked and now it was... okay? It felt like that. She watched him turn away with a more detached feeling, the panic that she felt when he walked away from her in the cold absent. God, had it only been a week ago? "You're leaving too, aren't you?" she asked, voice empty. Yeah. There should've been warning bells going off in her head.

"No." Roy growled, voice echoing a little in the empty hall. "I made a promise, didn't I." He stopped at the head of the stairs, and looked back at her, one arm leaned against the wall, above his head, his shadow mostly all that could be seen, the light shining from outside behind him. He didn't say anything more, just looked at her. Had Marian asked if she was worth it? Or had he just thought that was what she was thinking? And now what was he doing? Going to the Drake. Talking to someone there. Getting himself a job that was going to provide more. More money, maybe a place, whatever. What was the lesser evil? Allowing sick bastards to touch little girls who were just going to let it happen if they had their way? He couldn't live with that. He knew he couldn't live with that. Could he live with what he might have to do for the DiGiovanni? Probably not, but he didn't know for sure. With Madeline? He knew that for certain. That he had no questions about in his mind. It didn't leave him a lot of choice.

Neither of them moved. It was like a standoff at high noon. Maddy finally looked away from him, feeling like she wasn't actually there. That her body was but her mind was somewhere else. Slowly, she walked over, standing a couple of yards away from his perch on the steps. She still wouldn't look at him because if she did, she knew, in that detached sort of way, that she'd start to cry and she was so tired of crying. It felt like she'd been crying for years.

"I know it hurts you and I know you get worried but I like it when Marian doesn't come around for awhile because that means, for that time, I can pretend you're my big brother." Her eyes moved from the wall to the floor, dirty and cracked like it was in the vault. She wasn't sure who was speaking. It couldn't possibly be her, right? "The big brother that disapproves of the guy that I wish I didn't like. The one who carry's me home when I'm crying and gives me a hard time for doing stuff that maybe I shouldn't be doing." Maddy licked her lips, the skin cracked and dry from the cold. What was she saying? She was saying that the accusation was right. She was broken.

"And I'm sorry that maybe I'm not the person you like to think I am... but you... I don't think you really get it. Me, I mean. My parents died in a house fire when I was four years old and my brother he... he got lost when I was seven and I can't find him." Her voice cracked and she scowled at the floor, like it had been the reason it had cracked. "And I live by myself in an attic. I don't have a sister who can snap me out of whatever bad mood I'm in. I don't have an apartment full of kids I need to look out for. I've got a brother who some days I think he's dead." She swallowed harshly, her eyes stinging and the pain in her chest was back.

Roy didn't say anything for a long moment, putting a few things down in his memory to consider later, but he dealt with the first things first. "Doing this, being at that place, it's not going to bring him back." he said, voice quiet. there was still an edge there, but it had softened some. "It's not going to bring him out of the woodwork. Having a house won't do that. And even if he did show up, you wouldn't want him to see you like that. I don't want to see you like that. And I'm not him, and I'm never going to be him, but I can accept the role." he told her. "But you can't do this. You can't let those sick perverts touch you. Or have you touch them. There's nothing about that that's okay. Not in any way. You'll get sick. Your body'll get sick, your mind will, your heart will." He was quiet for a moment. "I can't live with that. You know that, right?" he asked, voice quieter at the end there.

"Even though it's my choice?" she asked, taking a step closer to him. She still felt the strange detachment. That strange floating sensation. "Even though I thought about it. Already considered the risks and the stuff that might happen and decided that there were other things that were more important than those bad things that might happen?"

"Even then. It doesn't make it right. It doesn't make it okay." Roy said, firm on that. "Honestly? I feel sick, just thinking about it. It's not okay." Plus, he didn't think that even if she had thought about it that she really understood. He had to believe she didn't understand. Had to. "I can't stand by and let it happen. Please don't do this." he said, quiet again, but there was still something behind his voice. Maybe something resembling desperation.

There's something wrong with me drifted hazily through her mind. Maybe she should say that. That there was something wrong. But saying it would acknowledge it, not just worry Roy. Saying that she didn't know what to do anymore? Yeah, that would make that problem real too. "Everything's going to be okay," she finally said, meeting his eyes with a gentle smile. So while she didn't say she was going to go do it, she didn't say she wasn't. "Do you trust me?"

Roy looked at her for a long moment, watching her eyes. He knew something was wrong. Her behavior was off, and all he could think was that it was to do with that place. Already, she was different, empty, not the girl he'd convinced to stay the other night because he didn't want her to walk home in the dark. "You haven't said you won't do this. That you won't go back there, that this is over." he said. He'd said please, even, and all he was getting was the runaround. And while Roy wasn't the best educated boy in the city, he knew the runaround when he saw it. He knew when someone was just not answering things, saying what people wanted to hear, or just trying to get around shit. He truly hated that she was doing it to him now. That she was even going there. He'd thought, with how things had gone the other night, that there was something different between them. he'd felt better about it all, he'd felt more on solid ground. But now? That all seemed to be cracking again. His world did that a lot. Some days he wondered when it was going to shatter and Marian wouldn't be around to help put it back together again. Or when she'd just stay away too long and he'd be far too broken by the time she got back.

She nodded slowly, running a distracted hand through her hair and closed the space between them. She got up on her tiptoes and gave him a gentle peck smack on the lips before wrapping her arms around his middle again, burying her face against his chest. He was warm and there and he hadn't told her he was going to leave her but half of her couldn't help but wonder if that just made things worse. So Maddy just held onto him, trembling from her stupid nerves and the cold in the hallway and hoped that he could just take this as an answer that things would be alright. That she loved him and would do anything for him.

He hadn't expected the kiss, but it wasn't one that lingered, so he didn't exactly have to respond. When she hugged him, he put his arms around her and hugged her. "Everything'll be okay if you don't do this. If you don't go back there. I'll think of something. But I can't accept it. I won't sleep. No one gets to touch you unless it's because you want them to. Because you want to be with them. Not for money, or anything else." he said, wanting that to be true. Wanting things to go that way. He didn't really know what he'd do if she didn't agree. Burning the place to the ground sounded like a good idea right now.

Maddy wanted to ask 'even if it's someone you don't like' but she didn't want to, nor could she really find the words to say it. So in the meantime, she held onto him tightly, just for a few minutes then slowly pulled away. "Give me two days," she said, looking up at him, hesitant. "I'll find some place else... just... give me until Wednesday." Because most places were closed half the day on Sundays, and with the weather, some business just didn't even open. Regardless, Maddy would still technically have to go back to that little place, but it'd only be once or twice more, to Roy's knowledge at least. "Please? Just give me a little time?" To find a more acceptable job to tell you about?

"No." Roy said, looking at her and shaking his head. "No. You just don't go back. You don't give them more opportunity to pull you in, you don't get in a room with anyone else. A new place will just be someplace different. And honestly? You've gone this long surviving on not having work at all. In no way do I actually accept that you couldn't just walk away now, that there's any reason whatsoever that you'd have to go back there. I'm not stupid. And you telling me to give you time? That's you just trying to take advantage of me. That's you just giving yourself more time to scramble. I don't like this. And I definitely don't deserve it from you."

"Scramble? I'm saying give me two days to get out of it. It's not that easy. You said that yourself." She was frowning at him again, wondering what else she was supposed to do to make this better. Would he rather she lie to him and say that she'd be able to cut it off completely.

"What isn't that easy? You just don't go back. Pretty fucking simple, Madeline." Roy said, heading back towards the vault, because one thing that he'd not done before he started to walk out was remember his boots, which he really rather needed. Dramatic gestures aside, he couldn't lose toes to frostbite. That just wouldn't help anyone. He still was vastly unhappy and felt like he was being taken for a ride, but... what could he do? He wasn't sure. But he'd figure something out. Hopefully.

True but Maddy couldn't help but feel bad, which was pretty fucked up. The whole situation was fucked up so did it really matter any more. Like she should go and apologize to the owner or something. Fucked up. Totally fucked up. "Yeah, I guess," was all she was really able to say. "God, Roy, it's so much money..." She rubbed her hands over her face, leaning against the banister while he went back to the vault.

He grabbed his boots, and sat down to put them back on. "It doesn't fucking matter how much money it is, it's not acceptable." he said, remaining firm on that. "No amount of money in the world is worth your dignity, your soul, your heart, your mind, anything. It doesn't fucking matter." He glanced at the heater, and reached out to try and lower it a little, even if he wasn't sure if she was staying or not. "It's not worth it."

"You said that already," she snapped defensively, watching him put his shoes back on. She wanted to point out that it not being acceptable to him as a reason for her not to work there was kind of along the same vein of him dictating what she was allowed or not allowed to do. And god, she wanted to say it so bad. "So what is acceptable to you? Pickpocket and sell matches? Or see if they'll hire me on at the Kitten Club. Would that be better too?"

"Yeah and you don't seem to have fucking thought about it, so it bore repeating." Roy said back to her, looking up. He was quiet for a second, just looking at her. "Do you actually want to do this?" he asked her. "Is that it? You actually want it? You put yourself into a fucked up situation like that because...?" he trailed off, just not getting why on earth she would do something like that, but... well. She kept fucking arguing it, didn't she. So, he had to ask.

She didn't have an answer for him. Not that she didn't have reasons, but it was made up of things she didn't want to say to him. Reasons that she couldn't quite put language to. That she couldn't quite grasp. 'It seemed like a good idea at the time' was quite true though. Yesterday had been strange and she was still feeling it.

"I think I'm going to go back to my place." That seemed like a wise course of action. Clean up. Count her money. Painting. That sounded like a nice idea. She hadn't properly painted in awhile. "I won't go back there." Not today, at least.

"Really. You're just not going to fucking answer me on something that important." Roy said, shaking his head. "Jesus, you really don't give a shit about anyone but yourself, do you?" he asked. "You don't care. You just want what you want and you just do what you do, and you don't give a damn what it does to anyone else, cuz you're the goddess, right? You don't have to answer to anyone, you don't have to think about any of that shit." His jaw set. "It's not fucking fair." He pushed himself to his feet. "Don't treat the people you care about like shit."

Maddy shrugged. What else was she was supposed to do? "Because maybe I don't have an answer that will satisfy your standards. Or the answer that you'll want to hear. Maybe I don't have the whole damn answer. I'm sorry I'm not whoever you think I am." She grimaced. That didn't really come out right. "You... know what I mean. The kid... whatever. It doesn't matter. I'm a selfish, fucked up person and I love people too much and I do stupid things. But at least they're my choices." She shook her head. "I'll see you around, Roy," she said, turning to go.

"I didn't ask for an answer I wanted to hear, I asked for an answer. And if you don't have one, you say you don't have one, you don't just ignore me and say 'well I'm going to go home now' like I never even fucking said anything." Roy snapped. "And no, I don't." he continued. "I don't know what you mean. When I ask you something it's because I want the truth, not whatever you think I want to hear. I never just want some blowoff answer. If I don't like it, I'll sure as hell let you know, but I thought that was what you wanted from me. Because I'm honest with you when the rest of the world would rather just lie to you. What, that change now because you don't like how this is going?" he asked, though it was rhetorical. "One thing you seem to be forgetting, is those people you love too much that you're doing stupid things for?" he shook his head. "It doesn't do anything but hurt them. Like this bullshit? Do you think for a second that I'd be okay with just going to find a house that would be paid for by what you did? There'd be no way I could. No way that I'd ever be able to live in a place bought off of that," he said, even if she was already leaving. He kept getting struck with the idea that this wasn't fair. That the things she wanted from him, they were the things she was suddenly deciding she didn't want now, because it didn't suit her. There was a whole lot of not fair there.

She looked back at him, delicate doll features pinched and tired. "Well, what's better in this fucking city, Roy? Working for the mob where you don't know if what you're doing is getting someone killed or at least knowing what you're doing upfront? Good bye, Roy. I'll see you later." And with that, she turned on her heel and headed downstairs.

Roy felt like that was a cheap shot. A really cheap shot. So he didn't follow her. What he did do, was say one last thing, knowing it was going to echo down the stairs after her. "Now who's leaving, Madeline?"