Who: Rinoa Heartilly and Jack Sparrow What: Dinner with pirates! Where: The beach by the shipping docks When: The evening after she met the Joker Rating: PG Status: Complete!
Rinoa wished she could get drunk.
Not that it was something she did, ever, but it certainly was a strongly held belief that one could drink away their sorrows. So she'd heard. She only had two problems. It took money to get drunk...and she didn't know where to buy it if she did have money.
So, for now, she sat on the beach in the dark, far away from the tourists and local families, down where the stench of oil and fish permeated the air. The only movement around was the lumbering ships comng into port. She watched them for a short while, numb; at that moment, she wanted nothing more than to climb aboard one and have it take her to parts unknown. Anything to erase the images the one who called himself Joker had caressed into her mind.
Beside her, Angelo, her most faithful friend and pet, adjusted his curled body, his tail thumping once in the sand as she sighed. She had been forced to leave him at the beach all day as it was the only place not forbidden to loose dogs, while she scrounged for food for them both. It had been only enough to buy them some time. She had to find a job, or else find Sarah and the others again. She hated to confess she'd become lost when looking for Charlie's place, and since the library had tightened their rules about the..what was it? computers, she couldn't get back to the boards. No identification, no card.
The moon came out from behind the dark, smogged clouds, illuminating a small patch of beach, enough for Rinoa to realize with sudden panic that she wasn't alone. Ahead of her, walking towards the docks with a careless gait was a swaggering man. Curling up tightly against Angelo, she made herself still, hoping not to draw attention.
It proved pointless; the man's eyes were only for the incoming ships. He was wearing some sort of hat, and as Rinoa watched, it blew off and landed in the sand a bit up the beach. Then, he did something that had her sitting up in anticipation. He paused to set a bottle into the sand, before trudging up the incline to retrieve the hat. An unattended bottle.
Rinoa was on her feet before she realized what she intended. She hated having to resort to thievery, but she'd done it before, and both she and Angelo were desperate. She couldn't give alcohol to Angelo but perhaps it was something she could trade.
The sand muffled her steps as she crept towards the glimmer, and any stray noise beyond that was hidden by the man's faint mumbling. It almost sounded like..singing. Rinoa hesitated only a moment, not wishing to ruin a happy person's evening, but...it couldn't be helped. She reached the bottle, yanking it out of the sand and backing up, before she realized something.
"It's empty," she said, disappointed and accusing, before she jerked her eyes up with a gasp. She'd said that aloud.