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 Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 9:04 am
He went to New York only because he couldn't go to the other major cities he had once visited in Maine. It would have been easier if he could go to places that he once picked up women, but that was many years ago when he wasn't a taken man. When he was a different man that now had a death certificate.
But this was a different game, and he felt nervous the moment he entered the lighthouse and went through the portal. Not only did he have his entire month's wages and the extra cash from runicing in his in cash, he was entering a new city to get something he had no idea how to acquire. Rep's messages had been only a vague guideline and the Sun didn't account for Melvin's general nature to not be eloquent or charismatic when speaking. Didn't the people who did these types of exchanges have a lingo, a general confident air that said they were a badass? He took a few seconds in an alleyway just to try and roll his shoulders back and appear gruffer, but he ultimately felt silly. He was a white, skinny man in his late twenties with thick, blonde hair wearing jeans and a Vocal Hemorrhage t-shirt (he felt it did better than his usual attire of a dress shirt and khakis).
He checked the internet at a local café for breakfast and coffee to see where word of mouth said the worst areas in town were, and a crime map showed him to head to Manhattan down towards the Upper Bay area. It made him nervous and while he had a shield, the threat of stabbing, guns, and general bad looks made him palms warm and his throat dry.
He finished his coffee and tossed it and a barely touched sandwich into the trash before taking a taxi. Lingering too long in the area made him nervous.
The area was just as you expected. Small houses of the same make lined side by side with yards filled with children's toys, wire fences, angry dogs, and everyone piled on porches and walking across streets. It was congested, laid back, but he felt a underlying degree of tension as he walked, feeling more and more as a minority. He worked his way to the neighborhoods, getting eyes and at a few times would be followed, but after a while he made his way to the corners where women lingered. He wasn't driving, but they still noticed him as much as he noticed them. Seeing as they were already in a services business, he felt he should ask. There had been a few times when women like these had asked him if he wanted to make the experience more fun, and he had always declined.
He approached two women; a brunette with large, curly hair down to her back in a neon-stripped dress, and a large, curvy, mocha-skinned woman with dyed red hair. "Hello. Can I ask you something?" He asked, and both women looked at his attire and glanced at each other. "We don't do discounts."
He stammered a moment, looking at himself and then them. "I'm not –" He stopped. There was no point in saying he was poor. He worked at Deus. He was poor. He was a lot poorer considering what he had to buy for his friend.
"I'm looking for someone who sells." He asked, and both women were confused.
"Sells what?" The brunette said with a sneer as the other girl checked her phone. Twitter – the real kind. Not the restricted type they had on the island. It was weird to see it on a normal person's phone.
"Uh…" He looked around and then leaned in. "…..coke."
The brunette moved in, smiling. "I know a guy. I'll show you if you treat me."
"Treat you? I'm…I'm sorry. I can't really do that. I kinda have to get a specific amount."
"Why? Don't you want to party with me?" She asked, leaning in to then run her fingertips over a ear lobe and through his hair. The sensation made him jump back and she watched him, surprised.
"No. I'm not – I'm with someone else. I just need to get some for a friend. He needs it." Was that wrong? Should he say he was buying it? Would they want Rep here then? Maybe he should try another corner.
"Oh. Whatever."
The red-head made a d**k-sucking motion by curling her fingers into a 'O' shape while pressing her tongue against her inner check over and over.
His face flushed and he was about to correct her when the brunette made a phone call.
"Hey, Vinny. Darnice. Whatcha doing?" He could hear the other man on the line mutter back to her and she stepped away as the red-head watched him.
"Gonna have a party? Why don't you have a car?"
"I like walking." He said. "I took a taxi and I'm not from around here." Should he just not say anything? Did everyone go through intorrogrations when getting this stuff?
The girl came back. "Go to the corner of East Oak St and 75th. He'll know what you look like."
Melvin thanked her and then walked down the street before he tried to find a taxi. After another ride, he was dropped off right at the corner, but just as he went in, a tall, dark man with short, shaved hair and clean, starched clothes entered the cab next to him.
"You that kid Darnice talk to? How ya doing?" The man leaned to knock on the cab divider. "83rd and Wexton."
"Uh…yeah. At the corner. She said you – "
"Yeah, I got it. Calm down. Let me head over and we can get this sorted. Right?"
"Uh…right." Melvin waited while the man took out his phone and called a friend about what they were going to eat for dinner before they stopped at the destination. Stepping out. Melvin paid the taxi cab and got out.
"So whatcha lookin at?"
"Looking at?" Melvin wasn't quite sure, and he looked around.
"What you want? How much?"
"Oh, Uh…I need 6 grams."
"Alright. That's going to cost you 800."
Melvin cringed at the number but reached into his pocket.
"Hold up. Walk wit me."
Melvin stopped and then walked down the street into a side alleyway where, as the man looked about, he gestured for the money. Melvin presented a crumpled envelope with the money inside and then had to reach into his pocket to fish out 50 more from his now empty wallet. He had been hoping he could get something to eat after, but it didn't seem to work that way.
"Alright. We good. Here. If anyone asked, you didn't get it from me, but if you come here again, ask for me. I'm V. Okay? Vinny. You come to me when you need a fix, right?"
Melvin nodded, taking the small packets from the man. It seemed so very little, so light, to the thick weight of currency he handed over.
"Alright. I gotta go. You come back in town and see me. I'll hook you up. Kay? Whatch-your-name?"
"Right." But he doubted Rep would need to do the experiment twice once he did his first row of testing and worked he controls. "Darren." He lied, as it was the name on his fake ID at the moment.
Vinny smiled wide, showing off brilliant white teeth. "Right, Darren. We can work things out. You stay good." And said, bringing up his fist to bump. The Lifer raised his hand slowly and tapped it, and Vinny just looked at him and shrugged. "Okay. Okay. Later."
He left, leaving Melvin to stand in the alleyway with 6 grams of coke.
He felt a strange panic, as if a large target sigh was on him and that he was being watched now. Taking a deep breathe, he walked out and continued walking down block after block. While he wanted to hail a taxi, he couldn’t afford it, and had only a little bit of cash on his card for a hotel room. He decided that wasn't going to work and instead went and continued walking before he found a park to sit. He waited hours watching people before he went to eat some fast food. After he felt some time was spent enough to excuse his leave, he went to a grocery store and bought some hand sanitizer, toothpaste, shampoo, anti-dandruff shampoo, and then walked out. Sitting on a bench, he took out a small container for laundry detergent. The inside had been cleaned out and Melvin then poured the contents of the coke into the container before sealing it tight and then placing it into his shopping bag. It wasn't weird for him to come back with products like these.
Sweating bullets, he headed back to the portal.
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MoonKitsune rolled 1 4-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-4)
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Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 9:05 am
He stepped into the lighthouse, feeling faint but glad to be back on the island. At least here he knew what was around and no one knew what he had. Most of all, he was only a short walk to see Rep again. He hadn't seen the man after their spar and it had left him feeling raw but wanting. Even moreso now than ever. Ever since he left Dr. H's office, he wanted to turn to someone, but no none was there.
When Rep spoke to him on Twitter, he was delighted to hear he was in such a good mood to talk to him again and it felt everything had been resolved. It didn't matter as much that Rep didn't believe now. He would prove him wrong later. For now, he needed his friend back in his life, and his friend said he was more than willing to meet and talk. That Rep needed him for a favor.
That he would be his best friend again.
He knew that something felt strange, but the prize, the reward of company and getting something back from his life before, was far too valuable.
He waited as the techs looked him over and then took his bag. They checked the hand soap, the shampoo, and then the container.
And then he heard a little chuckle.
"You got to be shitting me?"
The tech, a raven-haired man with a snake tattoo, opened the container and looked at Melvin. "Didn't see you as the type."
He tossed the container to a fellow tech who whistled at the amount. "Heavy."
Melvin was given his bag back, minus the most valuable article, and gestured to leave.
Cold, Melvin walked away, looking as the container was confiscated, before he walked down the steps outside.
The walk across the training field and to his room was a quiet one, where he stared at the moving ground in front of his shoes.
He had it. He did it. And now – now all of it was all gone.
In his room, he shut the door and dropped the bag of decoys before he laid in his bed, face down. For a hour he stayed there, thinking what he was about to say.
It was an experiment. Surely Rep would know that it was dangerous. Maybe he could find …..
……..a better friend.
He felt his stomach turn at the ******** bomb.
Disaster.
Embarrassment of a hunter.
The words came swirling back and he curled in as he brought out his phone, looking at the dim reflection of himself in the glass before it lit up to his finger-touch as he texted Rep. Baneful The techs confiscated everything.
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