Man Up

Participants:

amadeus_icon.gif delia_icon.gif

Scene Title Man Up
Synopsis She's not high class, but she's definitely too straight to hang with the real men.
Date August 22, 2010

Dave & Busters


It's afternoon, and Amadeus chose a nice simple place to hang out today: Dave & Busters! Why the hell not? He's abandoned his bat bag in the van, sitting at a table with her as he munches on buffalo wings. The plan is to play the games after they eat. He's been sipping on a glass of whiskey, not wanting to get drunk and make an ass of himself today. "This place is fuckin' nuts now. They added a lot of shit in three years." he says with a perpetually impressed gaze at everything around him.

Sunday, the only day that both of her jobs are closed and Delia usually uses it to catch up on school work. When the invite came over email, she didn't see the point in saying no. It'd just be a couple of hours, right? The redhead has opted for a sampler appetizer rather than an actual meal and is sipping on a coke because unlike the guy across the table, she's not legal to drink.

"Yeah… I've never actually been here." She doesn't seem very comfortable, in fact, every time someone looks at the two of them, she's turning her head the other way. "Is this the kind of place you hang around in?" The question is asked with a little bit of a nose wrinkle.

"Not really, I just wanted to bring you somewhere fun. Most places I hang out in are either too dangerous for you, or there'd be a bunch of guys hitting on you, then one thing would lead to another and I'd have to hit someone in the nuts with a bat." Amadeus shrugs, snickering as he wipes his hands on with a wetnap and looks around. "I came to a few parties here a few years ago, and had some birthday parties here as a teenager. Guess it's not your thing? I don't know what you like."

"Reading," Delia says quickly, a solo pastime. "Biking, but I do a lot of that at work," another pastime that's largely solo. "Studying," teenagers try to do it in pairs but it really only ends up with a bunch of hickies and possibly a visit to an adoption center.

Picking up a celery stick, she dips it in the ranch and then scrapes much of it off on the side of the little dish it's in. "You? Parties, dope, …drinking. Anything else?"

"I grow things, I do a little grifting, baseball." Amadeus reaches into his pocket and pulls out a deck of cards, then puts down an Ace of Hearts, Two of Diamonds, and Five of Clubs before turning them all over. "Remember where the Two of Diamonds is." He stuffs the deck back into his pocket, then starts shuffling the three cards around. He doesn't move them so fast that she can't see, anyone would think they know where the card is with this speed, but there's always a trick. "Now, point to where you think the card is."

Looking at Amadeus and then down to the cards, she watches carefully for a while before he finally stops and tells her to pick. Her tongue runs over one of her canine teeth as she considers, not looking at the cards, but giving him a narrow eyed stare. Finally, she extends her hand and places her index finger on the middle card and nods to the other two. "Flip them over."

"You're sharp." Amadeus admits, flipping the two cards over to reveal the the Ace of Hearts and Five of Clubs. But perhaps predictably, the card under her finger is not the Two of Diamonds, instead, whenever she decides to look, it's the Queen of Hearts.

But Delia doesn't look, instead she takes the win and slides the card back to him with a smirk. "That's one of the oldest tricks in the book," she says. Her tone is rather blase about the whole thing, unimpressed really. "Do you have anything else? I mean, if you're a grifter you must have something else. There's a billion scams they show on that TV show, like a new one every week."

Amadeus turns the card over to show her the Queen of Hearts. "When someone figures the trick out is usually when I grab the cards and run. But I've got plenty of scams. There's ways to trick people into getting you a hotel room, but it doesn't work every time. I could get us this meal for free, but I'm tryin' to be impressive and actually pay for it." He collects his cards and slips them into his pocket again, grabbing the glass so he can finish his drink. "There's so many scams you can use when you pretend you're blind. My favorite is one you can only do on a windy day. You get some realistic play money, then you wait until someone's walking out of a restaurant and make them think they bumped into you by accident. You let the money blow through the air, then, well, you're getting a free meal."

Wrinkling her nose, Delia really doesn't seem impressed by the man's ability to get away with everything for free. "Why not just get a job and pay for things yourself? I mean, be honest for crying out loud. Man up and do something." She's overly critical and she knows it, but sometimes (and this is something she knows a lot about) you need someone to smack you across the face to wake up.

"Know how hard it is to get a job after that bomb shit? And, know how hard it was for an ex-con to get a job before that? Besides, I told you, I can't pass a drug test." Amadeus is quiet for a moment, his drink almost done. He seems to be in deep thought before he asks her very seriously, "You really don't like the kinda person I am, do you?"

"I'm sure you could be a really good person," Delia says quietly as she shrugs. "You don't seem like a bad guy, you probably just had a lot od rough breaks. I just don't get why you don't try to get out of that. It's not like it's easy for anyone." She munches on the stick of celery in her hand and looks him straight in the eye. "I dunno… you just sort of seem like you want to take the easy way out and what you're doing now isn't easy at all."

"Nah it ain't easy, I'm just doin' what I know. Can't do what I don't know, I wouldn't even know how to start goin' legit. It's like learnin' to breathe in a way you never tried before." Amadeus tries to explain it in a way that makes sense, finally downing the rest of his whiskey. Though now he's into the discussion, and leans forward a bit with his arms on the table. "Sorry if you don't like me or somethin', can't really help bein' me."

"You're probably a really nice guy under the thug," she starts slowly, again giving another shrug. "You'd probably really get along well with my sister, she's into bad boys." At that, Delia breaks into a large grin that puts a little twinkle in her eye. The celery is crunched down and swallowed before she speaks again, "If you want to, I'd help. I'm sure my dad knows enough people to get you some kind of a job."

"Your sister tried to jump my dad's bones. 'Sides, you don't gotta try an' pawn me off or anything, you're a straight-laced chick, I know you ain't the type to get tied up with a guy like me." Well, Amadeus has known differently in the past, but he's pretty sure this time! He starts to stand, then offers her a hand after dropping a fifty on the table. "Come on, let's get out of here, this ain't your kinda place. I'll take you home so you can read an' stuff."

"It's not pawning you off, I really think she'd like you." Delia says defensively as Amadeus gets up and throws the money down. Her eyebrows twitch into a frown and in response to his offer, she just shakes her head. "Naw, it's okay. I've got enough time before curfew to catch the train." She slides out of her chair and pulls a few bills out of her own wallet, tossing them down into the mix.

"Well let me walk you to the train then." Amadeus insists, possibly one of the few manners he has. He starts heading for the exit, looking back to see if she's following. "I don't know what chicks see in my loser fuckin' dad, but unless I just want a quick screw, which I don't got a thing against, I don't want a chick who'd want him. What would that say about the kinda guy I am? I don't wanna be that much of a fuckin' loser. Leavin' a kid for twenty-four years, still not wantin' to own up to it, then fuckin' get rewarded with beautiful fuckin' women and a swanky government job?"

He shakes his head and looks down, not even sure what he's thinking at the moment. "Sure, fine, I'll try a fuckin' legit job and see how it goes, if your dad can do it."

Delia's hands are in her pockets as her long legs carry her in extended strides beside him. "No child support? You know you can get a lawyer and get that, right?" She shrugs again, giving him a twitch of a smile, a sly smile that accompanied by a questioning brow. "I mean, he owes it… You'd get it all, he's got a government job, you'd at least get a third of his paycheck every month to get you by. You could go to school."

"You really are like fuckin' Mother Teresa. You actually care if a guy like me makes it in the world. You're way too good for me, but I appreciate offerin' to help me. I ain't gonna sue the old bastard, but I'll try this whole job thing." Amadeus opens the door hard enough for it to stay open so she can get out; that's how he holds a door. "What're you in school for, again?"

"Nursing," she answers quickly as she passes over the threshold. Her answer places her in a little more of a parallel with Mother Teresa than he may have first thought. "When I get my degree, then med school but right now I like to be with the patients more than the charts." Which is her own distinction between the two careers. Delia passes Amadeus a quick flicker of a smile and shrugs one shoulder nonchalantly. "You're a nice guy, as far as I can tell. I think you can do better for yourself though."

"Who knows. I like that you've got that whole faith thing goin' on though, but me? I'm willin' to give anything a shot, that's why I'll do the job." Amadeus reaches into his pocket, pulling out a joint for a moment, then he looks over at her and slides it back into his pocket. "I don't think I've ever censored myself so much with someone. I keep thinkin' you're gonna run away like a little white rabbit."

They reach the steps of the train station and Delia pauses for a moment. The loose grit spread across the pavement makes a sscccrth sound as she pivots to face him. "It's good that you're willing to try. Really." She looks down at the ground for a few seconds before twisting her feet back and facing down to the cavern below. "Thanks for walking me, I can take it from here." Amadeus is graced with a smile and a wave before she puts her hands in her pockets and skips down the steps.

"Yeah, see ya later." Amadeus sighs and doesn't say anything more, reaching into his pocket for that joint again to slide it into his mouth. He watches her walk down the stairs, then brings a lighter up to his mouth and closes his eyes for a few seconds. "Gotta stay away from the good girls." he mutters to himself before finally walking off.


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