Starring:
Summary: Two people go head-to-head over a dangerous conflict of opinion.
Future Date: March, 2012
Curse and Blessing
The Bronx
New York
Sirens wail to the west, punctuated by the clamour of New York street noise here in Brooklyn. Heading away from the nearby hot zone, yellow taxis all but shove up against each other outside the nondescript building that's known, to some, to be a shelter and addiction center. A bicyclist weaves between the cars, eliciting shouts from the vehicles; across the street, a man avoids road rage by taking to the sky like he's filled with helium, and nobody looks twice.
As evening falls on a grey day, people leave the shelter after a meeting. None of the attendees are looking very sharp; those that aren't dressed shabbily just look worn down. It's hard to tell that they look more optimistic now, after the meeting, than they did when they came in. Niki stands in the doorway, just out of the way enough to let people pass, watching. "You remember what I said, Jackie!" she encourages a young woman who steps outside.
Standing a little ways away from the building, but in the path of some of those who were attending the meeting, is a person who would look familiar to some there as the one who sells them the drugs. KeLyssa Gallagher. She is adorned by a skirt, black and straight, and a short sleeved shirt. Pretty skimpy, even for her, though it doesn't really matter to her. No matter the weather, she doesn't ever seem to get cold. She eyes the people over, the clientele. There are some who have become quite strong willed over the last few weeks and have started refusing the drug. But she knows there are a few weak ones there. She knows them all too well. She just…has to weed them out.
Niki knows KeLyssa's name, but not her face. As the smile she had for one of the passing attendees fades, a stonier expression defaults, attentive gaze settling over the sparse crowd spilling onto the sidewalk. There's no one left inside from the meeting — no one who's leaving, anyway; some of them stay at the shelter — and so she comes out onto the front step, arms folding over the charcoal grey of her own sleeveless shirt, under the frayed V-neck. Queen of All She Surveys, the mostly-blonde's eyes narrow on KeLyssa all the same.
Oi…she's been spotted even before she's been able to make a sale. A tough day already for KeLyssa. She glances at a couple of guys as they pass. "See ya Jessie, Conner. Hope yer doin' better, guys." She says, her southern twanged voice encouraging. She has to avoid suspicion somehow, right? She flashes Niki a little smile before moving to go and walk past her, like she doesn't really have intentions to stay, despite it being the opposite.
"Hey," Niki interjects as the Southern gal starts to walk past. Ironically, if KeLyssa hadn't said a word — looked like, maybe, she didn't know anyone at all — the older blonde on the step wouldn't be reaching out to stop her, slender arm like a Do Not Cross barricade. "Haven't seen you around before." Suspicion is low in her voice, barely there, but there's nevertheless something hostile about the way Niki says it, even though she smiles, nodding in the direction of 'Jessie' and 'Conner'. "Your friends?"
KeLyssa is thus stopped by the woman, unbeknownst to her, who could most likely rip her arms off. "No…yeah…I'm new here, really." She says with a glance toward the two boys she spoke to. "Oh, them?" She says in regard to Niki's question. Oh boy, now she has to think up an excuse for speaking to them. That's the hard part. "Oh yeah. I seen 'em here an' there on the streets. I heard 'bout this place, what ya'll been doin'…thought I'd check it out for m'self. Bein' on the streets…with the drug an' all, it ain't easy."
"Tell me about it." A few tiny details about KeLyssa's answer don't quite match up for Niki, or maybe it's something about her demeanour… But other than a faint squint, she doesn't let on. Besides, if this girl needs help… "You've come to the right place. You just missed the meeting. We hold 'em every Thursday at six and sometimes Saturdays. Shelter's open all around, though. What's your name?"
KeLyssa almost says her full name, but figures it's best to stay with the nickname. "Lyss. M'name is Lyss. Pleasure ta meetcha, ma'am." She looks at the building. "Meetin'? Didn't even know there was one goin' on. Don't know much 'bout the program, ya see, b'side…well, ya know. B'side actually helpin' people get off the drug an all."
Lyss. "Well, that's what we're about. Helping people move on with their lives. Away from the crap lives these drugs bring about." Lyss. The half a name is tugging at a memory. Niki, settling re-folded arms a little tighter under her chest. Eyes lined in kohl and dark makeup glance at the open door behind her, then back upon KeLyssa. "You wanna tour?"
Certainly even the half-name would bring some form of familiarity. KeLyssa looks into the entrance before nodding. "Yeah…a tour'd be nice. Might even consider checkin' m'self in. It's been so long since I ain't needed the drug. Don't know if I kin get through without it." She says, eyes turning back to face Niki.
"Great," Niki says, a heartened smile spreading across her mouth, welcoming. "Come on in." The warmth extends only so far, however — as Niki turns to step just past the threshold, blue eyes watch KeLyssa over her shoulder awfully carefully, becoming razor sharp as she says in a good-natured voice, "Empty your pockets. It's like procedure. No drugs, no weapons."
KeLyssa slowly, cautiously, follows Niki into the building. No amount of warmth from the other woman will cause this 24 year old to proceed without any amount of heedfulness. When asked to empty her pockets, her first thought is that she doesn't want to be frisked. Because then she'd be in BIG trouble, no doubt. Not that she's too worried. There would only, really, be troubles with the big Boss Man who she pushed the drug for. Out of the hidden folds of her clothes and the pockets, she takes four things: a wallet, keys, a comb, and a picture of a boy who actually looks a lot like her.
The first room of the shelter is small, low-ceilinged, and grey. A few tables are shoved against the walls, some of which are covered in graffiti. A few magazines are stacked up, along with pamphlets for the shelter and fighting addiction. A calendar tacked to the wall. Two vases of fake flowers. They don't have much, but they try.
"Thanks." Niki flashes "Lyss" another smile after glancing at the belongings, but there's still something about that name. "Is that your brother? He looks just like you." she says as she steps close to the young woman. "I'm just gonna make sure you're spick and span. Clean when you come in, clean when you leave, you know how it is." Niki reaches out to pat down KeLyssa's clothes. Which means— yep. Frisking.
KeLyssa smiles softly at Niki and nods. "Yes'm. That there's my brother. M'twin, he is. He's just a smidgen older'n I am, an' he always seems ta like to rub it in m'face whenever I talk to 'im…but it's certainly been a while since I've seen 'im…a long while." She states honestly. She tries to hide her slightest of sighs. She was afraid of being frisked. She holds up her arms and awaits. What Niki would find would be numerous vials. Much more than an addict would carry. More like that of a dealer.
Niki has obviously done this before. It's not her job, but every job around the shelter has become hers at some point. She's always here. Always making sure everything runs, that people are being treated well. Her hands move quickly, firmly. "I have a twin sister." How about that. The search comes to a stop as Niki, eye-to-eye with KeLyssa — they're the same height — pulls familiar little vials out of the woman's pockets with both hands. More out of a fold in fabric. More and more and more. All casual conversation drops. "You're a dealer." Niki's head tips back, coolly regarding her. "KeLyssa, right? I know you."
KeLyssa doesn't slouch away, as he natural instinct would be. Sure, she's been caught. But she's not going to back down. "That's right. An' yes, I'mma dealer. An' yeah, m'name's KeLyssa." She tilts her head. "Now, more'n likely, you'll be wantin' be gone an' outta here, right? Leavin' yer li'l recoverin' patients alone. Well, tell ya what, Wonder Woman, gimme back the vials, an' I'll leave ya alone. An' I'll leave the people here alone. Deal?"
Disdain bubbles to the surface, parallel with a decidedly threatening stare. "No deal." Niki takes a single step back, out close quarters, and holds both hands up in show, fingers clenched around the multitude of vials of murky liquid. "You think you need this?" she challenges with a humourless laugh. As warning as her increasingly intense stare is, there's sympathy lurking inside. Understanding. "To survive? To make money? Guess what. You don't." Niki swings one arm out, sending one handful of vials flying to her left. A shower of glass and expensive drugs attacks the spray-paint on the cement wall.
KeLyssa reaches out, but before she can even encapsulate the vials in ice to protect them, they're shattered. Oh, it's on now. She doesn't want to tell the boss that she didn't at least give a fight. She raises a big eyebrow at the other woman. She lets out a little scoffing laugh. "What'd you know of it, then, eh? Hmm?" Tracing the air with her finger, a circle shaped disc of ice is formed and she takes a firm grasp of it. "Now, ya'll'd probably say that I don't need a job like this ta make money 'cause it ain't worth it. It ain't worth the trouble or the persecution." Her thumb and forefinger trace the edges of the ice disc, making it sharper. "Ya'd probably go as far as to say that there're alternatives. Jobs in the legit community. Well, some've us do try that, you see, but can't seem to juggle three'r four jobs an' go to school neither. But at the same time, we don't wanna go 'bout wrackin' up a debt that we won't be able ta pay back easily later, or not be able to pay for school or nothin' like that neither."
Ice. What're the chances. Niki fails to look surprised, but a hint of alarm widens her eyes — she knows how deadly it can be. Still, she stands strong, holding her ground despite those sharp, icy edges so close-by. "Look. I know exactly what it's like," the older — by roughly twelve years, but let's not dwell — blonde replies, her voice low and wrought with insistence. The more she talks, the angrier she gets. "You are preaching to the choir, little girl. So what if the alternatives suck. Surprise, look where we live. Everything sucks." Niki gestures with the hand that clutches the rest of it tight. "Because of this. What you sell to people trying to get better! My people. You're preying on them!"
KeLyssa seems to finally be done making the edges of the round ice disc sharp. Holding it in her hand, it doesn't melt but rather stays cold and frozen. "Ice is a fascinating thing, ain't it? So useful and yet can cause so much harm." She brings her index finger down an edge, making a small cut which bleeds lightly. "It can do so much more damage. It can even kill. Should we make ice illegal? Should we start weanin' people off've ice? No. It's the same as with the drug. It ain't doin' nothin' but to those who take it, an' most've 'em take it of their own free will. Sure, they're tryin' to get off it now, but if they wanna try it again, who're you to stop 'em? Who're you, Miss Goody Two-Shoes, to stop me from providin' this…service to 'em?"
"Someone who cares more than you do," Niki snaps, advancing by one bold step toward KeLyssa and her deadly ice. A bold move, for someone who looks competely vulnerable to those sharp edges. She shoots a sharp and fast glance to the remaining drugs in one hand before throwing them to the floor, where some shatter, some don't. "I talk about free will to the people who come in here all the time," she goes on, a hiss in her words, "But say someone uses their free will and hell, winds up taking out a whole city with their ability because they didn't have enough willpower to say no to the pretty little DRUG DEALER." Niki glowers at the young woman with heated contempt. "Get out of here."
KeLyssa tilts her head slightly. "Oh, ya don't think I care, do ya?" She lets out a little shrill laugh. "Ha. Well. If ya say so, ma'am. But how little the mighty doth know." And with a quick flick of her wrist, the ice is thrown at the Niki. Not anywhere dangerous. Just at her shoulder. Cut through and teach her a little of what she's in for. Though, KeLyssa doesn't quite know what she's in for either.
The ice skims over her shoulder, skimming the bare skin and leaving a clean red line in its wake. A cry escapes Niki, more guttural than it is high-pitched, as it's cut off abruptly, forced down. Her body tenses all the more, fists clenching at her sides and squeezing over nails painted like gunmetal, one foot scuffing closer… it's restraint that stops her. Willpower. It's a battle. "I almost feel sorry for you," she forces through her clamped down teeth. "Now, I told you to leave."
KeLyssa almost seems happy to have gotten such a response. And the fact that restraint is being shown is even better. She's definitely pleased by the fact. "Hah. I ain't nobody to feel even the slightest bit o' sorrow for." She steps right up into Niki's personal space, looking her straight in the eye. "Let's get somethin' straight. I will sell to whoever I want to. It don't matter if they're outside these here walls or in. Ain't nobody gonna stop me. Not you an' not nobody. Ya hear me?"
A dark and completely unwavering gaze matches KeLyssa's eye-to-eye. Niki doesn't back up, nor does she back down. That restraint of hers is starting to wear thin, darker and angrier lines of it skewering deeper into her features. For a split second, her fierce confidence falters and she glances over the icy Southerner's shoulder at the door that leads further into the shelter. The door that doesn't open. No one seems to be overhearing this little difference of opinion.
Niki shifts one shoulder back — the one that doesn't sport a trickle of blood — and with her fists clenching even tighter, she looks for all the world like she'd like to punch this woman in the face.
Niki does absolutely nothing but give her that harsh stare.
KeLyssa raises one eyebrow with a questioning look. "Li'l Miss Goody Two-Shoes losin' her patience, is she? What's it gunna be? There's more where that came from." She motions towards the trickling shoulder. "Ya don't wanna mess with me, sugar pea. I'm a force that ain't ta be reckoned with. Now why don'tcha walk that pretty li'l figure've yers to yer office an' like me work my own li'l miracles for these folk? Mmm?"
"Miracles?" Niki spits out the word incredulously, a humourless, biting laugh on its heels. "Are you some kind of crack job? This stuff is a curse. You're on my territory, missy." In other words, she's not moving her 'pretty li'l figure' anywhere, least of all her nonexistent office. "Let me ask you something," she snarls, "You ever taken it?"
"Leave 'em miracles up to the miracle workers, I always say." Comes KeLyssa's quick response. "This stuff's only as much a curse as ya make it out to be." Slowly, KeLyssa's hands move from side to side, a small ice pike with a very sharp looking end. "I ain't never taken the drug…I don't need to ta know that it can be a blessin' for some people…missy." She narrows her eyes. "But who're ya to judge in regards to it anyways? Have you ever takin' it?"
"Why do you think I'm doing this." Niki's restraint is wearing all the more thin, but even still, she doesn't lay a finger on KeLyssa. "You can't judge if you don't know what it does to you." She very slowly drops into an easy crouch, plucking an unbroken glass vial from the floor amidst bits and pieces of glass. "How it changes you."
KeLyssa laughs. "Well, leave the more miraculous miracles ta me." She says. She plucks the vial out of Niki's hand, the pike obvious in her other. "Now, a little friendly o' yours was kind enough ta show me once, 'thought me takin' the drug. And I'm still sellin' it. So, I wouldn't quite be so hasty none if I were you. I'd just rather they not go through the pain of the God awful withdrawal."
Niki's eyes grow wider in unwelcome surprise when the vial is snatched, her fingers grasping thin air. Her gape turns speedily into yet another glower at KeLyssa. She eyes the ice in one hand, the vial in the other. It's so close. She could reach out and grab it right back. "If you walk out of here and start selling around this shelter again, you are going to regret it."
KeLyssa pockets the vial and smiles sweetly. "Well, we'll just see 'bout that, won't we hun." She slaps the ice pike onto Niki's arm, where it wraps itself around quickly and tightly. She gathers her stuff up quickly and exits with a cocky smirk on her face.
A wince from the constricting ice can't interrupt the heated stare that follows KeLyssa non-stop. Niki does an admirable job of not showing her pain, beyond that. She lets KeLyssa get the last word, too mature to call out — not to mention, she's still holding herself back from what she wants to do.
When the drug-dealing blonde and her cocky smirk are gone, Niki clutches at the icy band around her arm, marching to a sharp corner jutting into the room. With a low cry that's three parts frustration, one part pain, she slams the ice into the corner of the doorway. It chips. Cracks. Angry with herself perhaps more than KeLyssa at the moment, Niki drops down into a chair behind an old, heavy wooden desk in the corner. "Yeah, we'll see," she mumbles under her breath to herself. In rage, she shoves the desk with all her might. It barely scrapes along the floor, not moving more than an inch.