onlythebranch | (no subject)

Mad Sweeney is playing three games of checkers at once and winning every one of them.

One might say checkers isn't a game of luck, exactly, and Sweeney would probably agree, but he'd argue that his good luck had led him to find the three worst players in Darrow, and the three players most willing to make stupid bets on their stupid games. So while it might not be due to his luck that he's winning, it is due to his luck that he's about to win a very significant sum of money.

And when he does, there's a good share of cursing all around, but not one of the players seems to suspect Mad Sweeney is anything but an exceptional checkers player, which he thinks is pretty fucking ridiculous on their part, but he's not about to work to change their minds. He's the one with a solid stack of cash after all this and he grins as he folds it over and then tucks it into his pocket.

Money's not an issue for him. The hoard of gold at his fingertips makes sure of that, but he's always liked gambling. He's always liked winning. Seems Darrow is no different in that regard.

As he puts the cash away, he catches sight of a kid watching him. Thick glasses, the kind Sweeney figures get broken every so often by some other asshole kid at school, and he's vaguely familiar. It's possible he lives at the Home and Sweeney has caught sight of him once or twice when he goes to check in on Eddie, but he tends not to pay much attention to the other kids. Last thing he fucking needs is two of them hanging around.

"Big checkers fan or am I just that pretty?" Sweeney asks with a little smirk and a tilt of his head as he reaches into his pocket for his cigarettes.

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He's pretty sure Eddie is off with Jamie somewhere, so Richie's been forced to figure out something to do on his own. It's not that he's ever had trouble finding something to get into without his pals around—he's been accused of finding too much to get into—but he's definitely not as familiar with Darrow as he is with Derry. There's pretty much always something going on at the park, so naturally, Richie has ended up there.

"How'd you do it?" Richie asks, noticing the guy who caught him staring has won just about every game he's playing. It's got to be more than luck. He thinks he's seen him around somewhere. Maybe the Children's Home, but Richie tries to only hang out there when he has to.

"With panache, lad," Mad Sweeney answers with a grin, pressing a cigarette into the corner of his mouth and lighting it. The silver case and the lighter disappear back into his pocket and he takes a drag of the cigarette before blowing smoke into the air and then nodding for the kid to join him at the table if he wants. They're meant for chess, he figures, that's the sort of shit old men like to do in parks, but he's never been a fan of chess. That's even less a game of luck than checkers is.

"Wanna give it a go?" he asks. "You beat me and I'll part with some of that cash I just won."

It's probably a shit thing to do, betting against a kid, but it's not like he's asking for anything in return. If he wins -- which he hasn't decided on yet -- he's not gonna rob the fucking kid blind or anything. He's an asshole, but he's not that much of an asshole. Besides, he's kind of thinking this kid looks familiar for a reason and even if he were a complete piece of shit, he wouldn't mess with one of Eddie's friends.

"This is a trick, isn't it?" RIchie says, pretty serious, and he can only imagine Eds and Bev would be almost shocked at the sight. But the truth of it is, he doesn't have much money to call his own in Darrow and he's not too keen on betting away the little bit he does have. The people who run the Children's Home aren't as gullible as his parents when it comes to parting with a few extra bucks just because he's asked nicely.

"Nah," he says. "I fuck with his friend, I'm pretty sure Eddie'd try to kick my ass and I wouldn't want to cause him to break a finger on me."

He very much doubts Eddie would try to do anything of the sort, even if Sweeney chose to be a complete prick to his friend here, but he and Eddie have got an understanding of sorts. They're friends, even if Mad Sweeney might not ever say something like that out loud, and any protectiveness he feels for Eddie extends to those around him. They might not know it and he sure as fuck wouldn't drag them into the mess of his luck, but he can do things they can't. Give them a spot of protection where they might need it without even realizing it's been done.

He grins then and says, "You know he'd break a finger trying t'punch me and that kid's already been in a cast once this year."

"Yeah, he's pretty breakable," Richie concedes with a shrug, and the fact that this guy knows Eddie-- he definitely remembers seeing him around now-- makes it seem less like he's about to get his pocket change taken. He shrugs again, sitting across from the guy finally.

"What the hell, I've only got about 3 bucks anyway. I get to be the red pieces, though."

"Suppose that's fair," Sweeney says as he sets the pieces out and then settles back into his seat. "You're Richie, right? Seen you hangin' around Eddie and Beverly."

He doesn't know Beverly as well as he does Eddie, but he'd walked the two of them to and from a few parties they probably shouldn't have been going to, so he knows her well enough.

"I'm Mad Sweeney," he says. The kid's gonna give him shit about his name, he can just about feel it.

"And they call me Awesome Richie," Richie replies, and he guesses the guy must be pretty peeved all the time for people to just start calling him Mad.

"Me, Bev and Eds come all come from the same place," he continues, settling into his seat across from Sweeney, "It's not as shitty as this place, though."

"Sure they do," he answers with an amused snort of laughter. He puts the pieces out, then nods at Richie to take the first move. At this point, given his good luck, his chances are pretty high of winning if he doesn't pay attention, so he's going to have to be careful. He wants Richie to win, even if its just a few bucks.

"You think this place is that shitty?" he asks. He doesn't know all the details, but Eddie's alluded to some shit going on in Derry. Plenty of shit goes on here, too, but Sweeney's not sure which might be worse.

Hell, half the time he's not sure where he would rather be either.

Richie considers his choice for a moment, pretending that he's still trying to figure out what to do for several seconds after he's already decided. It's all dramatics, mostly. Eventually, he moves a checker closer to the center of the board.

"Yeah. I've got to share a room, I'm stuck at a school with a bunch of strange kids, and I didn't even get to bring my bike."

"Fewer dead kids, though, yeah?" he asks casually, leaning his elbow on the table as he watches the movie Richie makes. In another move or two, Mad Sweeney will be able to see exactly how to win and how to lose, so for now he just moves one of his pieces forward without giving it much thought.

"And you're sharing a room with your pal, ain't you? Seems like it could be a hell of a lot worse."

But then again, Eddie's got himself a boyfriend these days, which Sweeney had seen with his own eyes the last time he'd spent an afternoon with Eddie. And the kid lives at the home, too, so sharing a room might not be the best thing about the whole situation.