Some Team

[Frankie Hawkins]

(change my characters age to 21)

Dropping out of school and getting a full time job now, he was paid less for not having his full college education and that meant working a lot mre frequently then he would have hoped. As a result his social life had been cut off a lot in that sort of way. He didn't have that many friends to begin out of school. He had a few and he still saw them but that was just about it.

It also meant when his he actually got the day off to go celebrate his favourite sports team winning he could go out with friends. Finding out that he had few people that he could really call friends though anymore he got pissed off and went to the bar alone to get drink, mummbling to himself as his shitty sports team lost above. Few people bothered him because he mostly growled back at them. He was wearing a jursey of his team so he was an obvious fan of the losing team above, the only fan in the whole bar.

[Ekene Miani]

When most people thing 'naturalist' they think either hippy extremist or rugged outdoorsman. Not Ekene. He was decked out head to toe in clothes no man and a lot of women wouldn't go near. A gossamer white shirt whispered around his skinny chest, the black ink of his tattoos showing clearly through the thin fabric; a Ra sundisk and falcon wings over his heart, and a charging lion etched into his entire back. His jeans barely clung to his skinny hips, held up by an elaborately decorated belt. Ekene's black hair fell in pinstraight lines around his face, one bang sweeping across to cover a dark brown eye. The one eye that was exposed was heavily painted in shades of grey and black. To top everything off, a white-faced Capuchin sat crouched on his shoulder.

Technically, it was against policy for the bar to allow animals inside. But Ekene had been in there a few times before and it turned out the monkey made such great entertainment he was allowed to stay. The only restriction was that Ekene had to stay away from the main dining area and food prep; which left only the bar. So as he entered the bar and the smell of grilling meat and beer assaulted his senses, Ekene moved over to the long bar and sat down beside a well muscled man who was in the process of what Ekene assumed was cursing the game playing on the large television screen. A glass of ice was placed in front of Ekene, and he reached for one of the clear cubes and handed it to the primate sitting on his shoulder. Bujune, the monkey, began licking the ice while he studied the man beside him with curious black eyes.

"Your team not doing so hot?" he asked, lips pulled into a small, sympathetic frown. See, most people asked tha type of question to start up small talk. Ekene asked for the simple fact he didn't know. Sports weren't his forte. He was used to native sports, playing rough on the African savannah with children of the different tribes. But American sports like soccer, football, baseball, and basketball were all far too complex. So many rules to remember, so many players and teams. He was lucky if he could figure out who was on what team, let alone who was winning.

[Frankie Hawkins]

Whatever Frankie was watching he was losing interest in it quickly when somebody went to talk to him which meant his team had no hope in winning anything there. As he looked over at Ekene he had a dropped out stressed sort of look on his face and with his smaller size he looked more like a strange bulldog then he did vicious but that face wasn't intentional, having a large ammount of beer already and still drinking the alcohol was really getting to his head.

"I don't get to see them play for months and I come back to see them getting knocked out of the playoffs, that's cruel." Shaking his head in disappointment at first he then noticed that he had no idea who he was talking to and took a good look at the guy.

Taking a good look at the guy it was at that time he noticed the strange things this man was wearing. "Are you what they call one of 'em rockers?" He didn't say that in a mean or derogratory way, that was an honest drunken question. "'Cause you dress funny 'n shit." He wasn't well education to know anything about fashion and almost never questioned people but if they looked like they just excited a David Bowie concert he did.

[Ekene Miani]

Ekene's lips twitched before laughter flew out of his mouth. He dressed funny? That was definately nicer than what some people had said about him as of recent. Still grinning, Ekene shook his head. "No, I'm not a 'rocker'," he paused at the word, his heavy African accent rolling awkwardly over the words. "I dress this way because I want to. Who says I've got to be a rocker?" Ekene shook his heads. People were so quick to judge, he was coming to find. But that didn't put his a damper on his efforts to befriend everyone he came in contact with; not in the slightest.

The monkey that up until now had been sitting on Ekene's shoulder, reached over with one hand and decided to touch the stranger's arm. He looked at him with pleading brown eyes and chattered nonsensically. Ekene sighed and shook his head. "Sorry about him. He just thinks everyone he meets has some kind of treat for him." Ekene reached up and grabbed the monkey from his shoulder and placed it in his lap where he proceeded to feed it little cookies from his pocket.

"So, er.." he paused for lack of a name. "I'm sorry, what's your name?" he asked, not a hint of shame or modesty in his voice. "I'm Ekene, by the way."

[Frankie Hawkins]

"Sorry, beer makes me blurt." He did all random things now but appologise after this guy snapped at him. Sure saying sorry was a sign of a weakness but he knew he shouldn't yell stuff like that outloud all the time and he didn't want anybody to be pissed off at him right now as he was having a rough day and anybody that pissed him off would be getting jumped by him, and at least he knew enough to know that. Realizing he wasn't drunk enough he picked up his mug and started to chug again.

Putting it down he answered the question with a burp. "I'm Frankie but most people out there call me Hawk, I don't give a shit what ya call me." Or if he did he'd just punch the persons lights out.

Ordering a nother pitcher full and another mug he filled the guys mug full. "Here take a pint, get smashed with me. I need a friend to celebrate with my team sucking ass and all my other friends are assholes." Or he was the asshole, either or he still needed the same thing.

[Ekene Miani]

Ekene's lips twisted when he stared at the pint of beer suddenly set down in front of him. "Er...sorry I don't drink," he excused it gently, pushing the glass of amber liquid away. Well, he did...sometimes...okay maybe once. And he was a lightweight in every sense of the word. Not to mention when he got hammered he became, as his friends so lovingly informed him, a whore. And seeing as he was bisexual that meant everyone was fair game. So no, Ekene didn't drink with strangers.

Shifting in the suddenly awkward situation, Ekene cleared his throat gently. "So which team are you rooting for?" he asked, realizing afterwards that probably wasn't the wisest question to start a conversation with. Ah, well, what did it matter? It wasn't as if there were an easier subject at hand to talk about. Well, there probably was, but being rather new to the American night scene Ekene was still a bit unaware of what was considered socially acceptable and not.