prison time. as vague as it was telling. theft, murder, corruption, robbery, grand theft auto, drug dealing, god knows what else ; there lay a hundred and one different reasons for a man to be imprisoned, and yet almost every one marked the man before him as a peer. of course, there also existed a permeating unease from the unknowing. petty or violent -- ? scarred countenance gives nothing away. the assassin's muscles shift beneath scarred skin, loose, brain mulling silently over its options of attack, were push to come to shove.
" something like that. " blunt nails scratch at the discoloured side of his face. " same shit, different name. asylum for the criminally insane, whatever the fuck that means. it's all just a front to hide the shit they do behind the scenes. " a sound of acknowledgement ; leo knows how psychotic he sounds. ( if he hadn't witnessed it, been through it himself, he would've scoffed and dismissed it as delusion. )
" guess they know how fuckin' crazy it sounds. makes it easy to brush it off. i know i've gotta sound insane, but, hey. i'm not gonna make you believe me. we all know how good the government is, don't we ? "
pushing his luck to speak so unrestrained. another drag, another unsteady glance, this time toward the thick, grey-black clouds coalescing into an oppressive dark blanket, laying dark and suffocating overhead, swallowing what remained of empty blue skies. his lungs ache through the wafts of smoke ; leo still couldn't recall if he even smoked at all. but the pollution that sears through his lungs was at least something. something more than the hollow, aching pulse of emptiness that rotted and festered somewhere deep enough for drugs to ignore. but it was a sufficient mask.
" not from around here, huh ? " he asks as soon as it registers. of course not ; were the man from cottonmouth, something would've tipped him off before now ( and he would've known better than to hunker down in some shithole abandoned building with his guard down. ) and yet, leo almost can't fault him for his ignorance ; not when he brings himself to his feet, hands smothered into the fabric of his pants for all but a moment ( residual bloodstains wiped off onto dark fabric, ) before one is warily outstretched.
" leo. " the word - name - is almost grunted around the cigarette in his mouth. it tastes as rancid as it always has. " now you owe me yours. "
he still hasn't let down his guard. he's just fairly certain he could beat this man were things to go south.