a mark for socko

who: eury and socko
where: downtown
when: late

" 'Nother day, 'nother dollar," Socko murmured to himself from his vantage point outside Remillards Tavern, watching the steady trickle of people coming and going from the bar. It had been a good night thusfar, one spent selling his wares while Buttah made her customary patrols of the city, and with the wad of cash tucked in his harmonica case Socko figured there was little to no chance that it all could end badly. He'd had a drink inside earlier, slipping a barkeep a joint and spending some time dropping hints to other patrons, then retreated outside to the alley that sat next to the bar to deal to any interested parties. With the town's population swelling with the encroaching schoolyear, Socko hadn't been too surprised to move all but his personal stash in less than a few hours, and now was a last lingering before he called it a night and headed home to wait on Bu. Sure it was getting late, but he could always overcharge joint by joint to the liquored up people heading back to dull apartments and dorm rooms. Tucking a roach to his lips and sucking in, he peered out from the folds of his sweatshirt hood, eyeing the foot traffic for potential clients.

Eury had been in Remi's for quite a while now. She'd been fairly hardcorely drinking, though it hadn't done a whole lot to dull the edge of the misery she was quite fully feeling. Yeah, that so totally wasn't at all going away. Or fading, even. It was like there was a big ole knife shoved into her back, and no matter how she shifted, it didn't make anything more comfortable. She hadn't opened the shop today, she'd slept on and off most of the morning and into the afternoon, though a good portion of that had been her laying there, staring off at nothing as opposed to real sleep. By now she was drunk, but not her usual happy sort of drunk. She was quiet sort of broody drunk, and annoyed at her inability to let things go. When she stopped outside of the bar, she turned her face up towards the sky, drawing in a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

There were people he could've moved on, sure; frat boys walking out with boisterous drunkenness clinging to them, but some people took issue with him overcharging. Socko wasn't in the mood to sic his girlfriend on them after he got into a fight either, so he'd held his tongue on the guys, and on the knot of girls that followed. Eury seemed to catch his eye though; the slow stroll of resignation she seemed to have, the way her shoulders heaved as she drew in a breath, and most importantly her glasses. Girlie's already bakin' he figured, noticing the reflective shades she wore even by night. And why else would she have them on, if not to hide some serious red eye? "Yo," he called after her audibly, though not yelling, "Hey girlie, hold up. Think you dropped somethin'."

She blinked, taking a moment to actually recognize that someone was talking to her, then she looked around and noted Socko. He looked...like a lot of people that she'd known in the past, but definitely not here. He looked more city-boy to her, maybe it was the way he walked. Or maybe she had just had too much to drink, and was overly reading into some random dude who said something to her. "Huh?" she asked, looking around to see if she had in fact dropped something, because it was remarkably likely in her condition.

Socko deserved credit from some invisible onlooker on high, that was for sure. He was smooth with his hands, no doubt about it. Hopping off the curb, he bent down without breaking his stride and mimed snapping something off the pavement as he dropped a pre-rolled joint into his hands, then moved to close the gap between him and Eury. "Coulda sworn I saw this drop right out them rockin' dreds, babydoll," he drawled with an easy grin, holding his hand out to present it to her. "Good thing I ain't got no nickel-plated cereal prize pinned on my chest, yeah?"

She watched, then saw it. Oh look! A joint. Which she knew she defintiely hadn't had on her person. But with the way she was feeling tonight, she might actually want. Maybe it would put her to sleep. Weed generally did that to her, which was why she didn't do a whole lot of it as a general rule. "Interesting, guess my hair's got a mind'f it's own." she said, making an effort to sound clearer than she felt. "An yeah, good thing. There a finder's fee involved, or are you a good semeritan jus' lookin out for me?"

"Hair like that's got more'n a mind, dig? Could prolly type for you," Socko teased with a wink, "But don' take that bad, yeah? Shit be rockin', you know? Ain't seen nothin' close round here." He made a show of raising his palm to his nose, sniffing the joint carefully and studying the slur in her voice. She was definitely drunk, but how drunk? Socko wasn't normally one to back off from what seemed like an easy sale, but he never liked to push someone into a puking point of intoxication. "Daaamn," he went on, "M'guessin' your hair's got some good taste in smoke, 'less my nose be lyin' to me. An ain't no finder's fee 'less you plan on chargin' me to spark this, yeah? I'm Socko," he added at last, offering his other hand.

She shook it. "Eury." she introduced herself back. And despite the fact that she was miserable, she found herself smiling faintly at him. Yeah, her hair could do a damn lot, actually. "You walking, Socko?" she asked, nodding her head and she took a few steps, waiting for him to go with her. "Seems like a night t'go wandering around." Because she didn't want to go back to her place, because it was empty. And if it wasn't empty, it would probably just be a drunken Aiden, there to blame more of his life on her. So really, there wasn't any incentive to be home.

"Always," he answered with a bob of his head. "Shit be way easier to dodge the law than rollin' 'round in a car, right?" Socko smiled back, encouraged by the faint grin he'd earned and wanting to coax it on as he flashed a hint of teeth in his own grin. "Which way you headin'? All roads lead home f'me," he went on, tucking the joint in his lips and waggling his eyebrows as he patted down his hoodie for a lighter. A second later he pulled one free, belatedly moving to catch up to Eury as he flicked it to life and brought the flame to the joint's tip.

"Not sure...home's not on my list right yet." she admitted. She merely started walking up the hill towards Washington. "Where're you from?" she asked. Because yeah. Totally not from here at all. That comforted her in a weird way. She wasn't from there either. So it was some crazy little solidarity she was imagining.

"Detroit reresent," Socko murmured, bumping a fist over his heart before he sucked down his first lungful of flavorful, acrid smoke and repressing a cough. "Got lost on my way to buy some beer, dig?" he went on with a smooth exhale, passing it over to Eury, "An' that was like three, four years ago, jus' can't find my way outta here. How 'bout you? Don' no locals got a look like that goin' on, none of 'em could even try to pull it off." Maybe it was the first hit already working it's way through him, but Socko wasn't so worried about the sale anymore. At least, not as much as he was curious about this chance encounter.

Well, one thing was for certain. She liked the way he talked. It kind of reminded her of when she'd been through some cities. Again, she had that impression that she knew him. Or knew of him, his kind of person. She'd called different incarnations of the type her friend before. She took her hit, not answering him until she was prepared to--though she coughed, considering it had been quite a while since she'd done anything of the sort, and she passed it back. "Lost on the way to get beer?" she asked, amused with that explanation. "...this place does kinna seem...mazelike sometimes." she agreed. "Might be lost too, never know. An thanks. I know I stand out, but I don't mind the looks." She held her arm out, rubbing her hand over some of the colorful tattoos on it.

Yes, Eury was nothing of not happy with her appearance. And while she wasn't terribly vain, she didn't have troubles with self esteem in that regard.

Puffing like a champ, Socko's gaze drifted down to the passage of Eury's hand and the inking beneath it, and he flashed a quick rock sign with one hand as a show of appreciation. "Fuckin' solid lines, girl," he complimented, sucking in an errant curl of smoke and handing the joint off again. "You din' get that done local, didja?" He only bore the messages along his own forearms, and they were hidden at the moment, but Socko was a man who could appreciate a good tattoo (courtesy of Bu's own rune work). "S'strange town f'real, but it's cool if you're part of the strangeness, yeah? Kinda thing I don' mind gettin' lost in. S'why I'm still here."

"Thank you." she said, taking her turn again. "And oh, no. I've gotten them all over the world, actually. I travel a lot, move 'round from city to city....countries, all over." she said. "I'm years worth've work." she added. There was a touch of pride in her voice, and she shoved the thought that her and Aiden had spent a lot of time talking tattoos together before he'd decided to crush her heart away. "Hafta say I like it so far. It's...quiet but not." she added, even if it didn't make a lot of sense.

"Yeah, it's a trip an' a half, f'sure," Socko agreed, a subtle jive working it's way into his step as he went through the motions of passing back and forth with Eury. "Ain't nothin' like it I've seen, but alls I got to compare's D-town, you know? S'cool though, ain't gotta worry 'bout hittin' the wrong turf at night, gettin' rolled by some dudes." He started to chuckle a bit at the memory that had been brought up, shaking his head to dispel it. "So what's with the glasses? You in the Corey Hart fanclub?" he joked, turning a cheshire smile her way.

"That's exactly it." Eury said. "Someone has to keep the 80's alive. If for no other reason than so we know they're over, and we can all breathe easier now." She gave him a little half smile. "'Sides. Gives me a little mystery, or somethin."

He tilted his head, giving Eury a lopsided grin as they walked and nodding. "Dunno if you need any mystery, doll, but you make it work f'real. I was kinda sweatin' you bein' blind and makin' an ass of myself, follow? So you jus' doin' it cuz it looks good on ya is more than fine... s'double-fine or some shit," he half-complimented, half-teased.

She laughed a bit at that. "Double-fine, huh?" she asked. "I'll take it. Thank you. But no, not blind. Just...hyper sensitive to light. So, I have to protect the peepers or they burn out on me. But I like the Corey Hart defense much better."

"Serious?" he asked incredulously, doing a double-take at her. "Daaamn girl, I thought that shit only happened in movies. S'harsh, but at least you found some stylin' shades." Socko's lips pursed as they strolled past local businesses, and with one last puff off the remaining joint he flicked it over a shoulder and into the gutter. "I get migraines m'self, bad too... docs tried prescribin' when I was younger, but nothin' levelled me out like a nice puff of the green."

"Really?" Eury asked. "That's kinda awful. Migraines suck, I don't get a lot of headaches but when I do they're bad. My eyes thing just kinda...gets people askin lots've questions, more or less." she said, shrugging. "Well that and sometimes it's inconvenient inside places'nstuff, an I've had lovers before who were real upset cuz they couldn't ever see my eyes." she added, rambling a bit more than she probably would have otherwise due to substances in her system.

She was rambling a touch, but all it was getting was grins from Socko. Most women probably didn't gab about their lovers so offhandedly, but it didn't faze him either. If her weirdest quirk was wearing shades during sex, she'd have to work much harder to truly shock him. "Yeah, I can see peeps gettin' weird 'bout all that. You should try turnin' off the lights next time you rollin' with your fella," he suggested with an overblown wink.

He got a full laugh there. "Should I?" she asked. "Hm. Maybe. Though I'd have to have a current one for that sorta thing. I just...got kinda-sorta dumped. Maybe. I dunno. Long, messy story that involves a guy who doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut after he's had too much t'drink, and then goes over to people's houses to blame them for all his problems." she said. Which was more of the story than she'd been intending to tell, even.

"Aw baby, don' be like that to your fella," Socko advised with a chuckle. "Homeboys always steppin' wrong, right? Don' matter if it's drink or smoke or other ladies, we always got somethin' to blame. Truth is, we jus' fuck up sometimes... I bet you a philly blunt that boy's gon' come callin', lookin' to fix his shit." He knew that if her situation was somehow applied to him and Buttah? Socko would be taking out full page newspaper ads trying to apologize.

"I don't know, he's one'a those guys who spends all of his time running away from like everything, so I'm pretty sure he's gonna skip town and I'll never hear from him again." she said. And despite the fact that she'd been drinking herself to oblivion over the guy she still felt kind of sick thinking that. Good thing she never claimed to make sense.