Crystallised

Posted on Monday May 6th, 2019 @ 00:18 hours by Mayterial Droz

Mission: Short Treks
Location: Unknown, Rangalor V
Timeline: 2382
2957 words - 5.9 OF Standard Post Measure

With things like the universal translator, you had to be creative when it came to finding your drug of choice. That's why people like Selah always looked for the word of the street. Signs carved into nooks and crannies that mean nothing to the general passerby. Tourists they called them. Those signs meant the world to the people that spent their entire lives out there. She spotted the little diamond that she had been looking for. She knew it had to be here somewhere. Looking around the alleyway she saw a shabby sign hanging out into the street, it was a neon sign with a jolly man chugging a beer. She dusted off her long black coat and approached the establishment.

Luckily the bouncers weren't all that picky. She was a woman and with her dirty-blond hair she was a welcome addition to the gathered crowd already inside the bar. Selah looked around, now that she was inside she just needed to find the person with the right look about them. It usually wasn't all too difficult. Big man with quite a few women around him. A flashy suit, a bit too much gold on him. She didn't seem to spot one easily this time though. Looking around the room she spotted some Fleeters, some of them even had their uniforms on still. She didn't like Starfleet at the best of times, but she really detested them when she was trying to get her fix.

The stage lit up to reveal a woman in a long blue gown standing behind an old fashion styled microphone. The soft play of piano started up, joined by an acoustic guitar. A song about black holes and a sun. The lyrics made little sense to her. She remembered her parents' establishment, working the tables and every month performing magic shows with her brother. A small smile crept over her face. It quickly dissipated as this whole setting reminded her of the choices she had made that had gotten her here.

[Some years ago]

"How are you getting this money, Selah. I know you're not making it just performing parlor tricks on the streets." Her father's voice trembled, whether it was with anger or fear was anybody's guess. The echoes carried around the empty bar.

Selah looked at the man that had worked 16 hour days to keep his bar running and still slowly seeing it slip through his fingers. They were lightyears away from the idyllic core worlds where money wasn't a concern. The worries of making ends meet had become visible in his face, deep lines of worry around his eyes and grey streaks in his hair, "it's enough to make the rent. Why are you being like this?"

"Being like this? My little girl is out on the streets every day, doing god knows what and then comes home with four bars worth of latinum." He shook his head, "Why do you think I'm like this?!"

Selah her mouth dropped open at what her father was implying, "What the fuck dad, I'm only 16, what do you hold me for?" she shook her head, "I'm not selling my body. I'm using my other skills." She made a strip of latinum disappear with a flourish of her hands.

"Are you stealing? Are you lifting people's purses?" Her father's jaws clenched as he asked.

"What's it to you? All these tourists out there, not a care in the world, not an eye on their money." Selah shook her head, "would you rather they lose some inconsequential strips or you lose everything you've worked for your entire life?" She felt the anger boil up in the pit of her stomach, how could he be so ungrateful? They asked them to chip in. The silence that hung between them spoke to the dire situation they were in.

"We don't want to lose you." The soft feminine voice coming from her mother was barely audible in the large room, "I'd rather live in a two bedroom apartment and scrubbing waste recycling manifolds than lose you."

It caught Selah off guard that her mother was suddenly in the room with her.

[Present day]

"Times are gone for honest men." A lyric from the song rang in Selah's mind as she just stood somewhere in the back of the bar. The melodic transition in the notes carrying her thoughts away from her goal, if only for a moment. She remembered being grounded after telling her mother that she'd rather live on the streets than sharing a bedroom with her brother. Her father refused the money and she was grounded for the rest of the month. Forced to work shifts in the bar.

Slowly she gravitated towards the bar, taking a moment to take in the people in the bar. It was clear everything was revolving around the Starfleet presence. When the singer finished her song she smiled broadly in their direction, clearly the dark curled, light brown skinned, woman was familiar with the fleeters. It seemed less and less likely that this was a place she would be finding what she was looking for. She took a stool at the bar and sat down, leaning with one arm on the counter, "Can I get a Rissian sunrise, and do you happen to know a jeweller near here?"

The man behind the bar didn't bother with fancy shaking and moves as he prepared the cocktail. It was clear to him that this wasn't someone to give him a tip, "I hear one of the fleeters is a gemologist. She wears yellow, black hair. Betazoid like you." He placed the cocktail in front of her, "10 Slips."

Selah sighed a bit, she didn't have much to go around but this was such a good cocktail, plus she needed to do something for this man providing her with information, she slid 15 slips over the counter and grabbed the drink. It was time to get cosy with the fleeters at the other end of the bar. Slowly sipping the brightly coloured drink in her hand through the straw that came with it. She heard the talks becoming louder as she neared, the singer on the podium continued her set with another slow melodic rendition of an old song.

The talk between the fleeters, and some locals, died down slightly when Selah approaches, faces turned to look her up and down before one of the women in the corner got up. She wasn't imposing by her size, but the personality and confidence oozing off her was something Selah hadn't seen much in women around these parts.

"Don't tell me, you're not here to listen to Meghan." The Betazoid Starfleet enlistee slid her arm around the skinny blonde that had slowly shuffled her way closer to them, "You saw the writing on the wall." She made a motion in the air with her hand, "You're looking for a ticket out of here."

"I'm looking for a jeweller." Selah didn't really know how to react to this. She had done some scams, mostly the street thug ones where she distracted people with some quick sleight of hand tricks and her compatriots lifted their pockets. "Bartender told me you knew a thing or two about gemstones."

The black haired fleeter nodded her head, "Me, I'm just a simple Bosun." She put a hand in her pocket and fished out a small parcel with a diamond emblazoned on it, "Starfleet gets you places though. Makes you meet all kinds of interesting people. Like yourself." She hid the tiny white envelope away, "What do I call you?"

"Selah." She simply stated looking at the package, knowing its contents, her heart beating louder in her chest and ears. She hadn't realised how much she needed that right now. "How much?"

"Selah, beautiful name. I hope it's not your real one. It's bad form to give your real name to shady people." The woman winked, "You may call me June. And this precious gemstone will set you back a neat 30 slips and a kiss."

Selah could kick herself right there when she realised she had just told a total stranger, who was enlisted in Starfleet on top of that, her real name while it was clear she was looking for illegal drugs. It barely registered that she asked for a kiss as a part of this transaction.

"Haha! June! Are you just going through the months of Earth until you find one you like?!" A man sitting with his arms around two local women laughed out loud. His red uniform unbuttoned and revealing dog-tags hanging over a hair covered chest.

"Shut up Greg!" the woman that introduced herself as June bit back at her colleague, clearly emphasising the name as being fake as well, before turning back to Selah, "So what do you say, Selah?"

Selah nodded and started to rummage through her pockets to find the necessary slips. Showing the pile to June, but waiting to be given the parcel before parting with it. She pocketed the drug and immediately wanted to pull away but felt the arm around her tighten, she looked up at the black haired Betazoid, slightly afraid of what was going to happen next. Was this a sting? Was she just busted? That would've been the stupidest fucking thing ever.

June tapped her cheek and smiled a bit, "Are we forgetting something?"

For a moment Selah was confused before she realised again that second part of the transaction, a kiss. So weird. Did this woman want all the junkies to kiss her? Or was it just Selah she wanted to be kissed by? Hesitantly she leaned in, hoping that this wasn't some kind of trick that would get her ass kicked and robbed. Not that she had much money left after spending all of this on the cocktail and the drugs. She leaned in to kiss June on the cheek.

At the last moment, June turned her head and kissed her forcefully on her lips, with a loud smack she let go, "There are people out here in the 'verse that love you, Selah!" and with that June let Selah go.

Selah was awestruck. The warm lips still burning on her own. It confused her. It was totally different from all the other experiences she had had here in backstreets of Rangalor V. She needed a moment to catch her breath before she looked down at the package she had just bought. With one dexterous thumb she opened it to look inside and saw that there was a very generously sized dose of crystal inside.

[Years ago]

"I know you don't understand that we're doing this for your own good?!" Her mother spoke to her from the doorway, holding her from entering her own room.

"That's my stuff! You're going through my stuff! Doesn't a woman have privacy on this rock?!" Selah was mad at her parents, especially her father, going through her stuff. First, they refused her contributions to the monthly costs, then they grounded her for an inordinate amount of time and now finally they were tearing her room from top to bottom to find illicit materials. She should've been more careful. She should've known her father would recognise someone high on drugs. She should've just waited for the effects to wear off. She should've just dealt with coming home late. It would've been better than this.

"You're not a woman!" Her father yelled back from the room as he turned her mattress over, "You're a girl! A sixteen-year-old girl! And you're doing drugs, and staying out late, and stealing! You're leaving us no choice, Selah!" He ripped a drawer from her desk, and another. He was being very thorough and had very little care for the mess he made. That was going to be part of the punishment, to clean up the mess that he felt she had made for herself.

"You don't think I'm stupid enough to keep any of it here, do you? You fucking psycho!" Selah yelled over her mother's shoulder. It was no use denying the fact that she had used drugs, or that she had done some stupid shit to get the money to actually afford it, but she wasn't going to keep her earnings or her escape from this shitty reality near where her parents could find and confiscate it.

"Your father is not a psycho, Selah, he loves you. He loves you so much. We love you." Her mother grabbed her shoulders and tried to stare into the young woman's eyes, "He's afraid of losing you, so am I." She pulled her into a hug, "Don't do this to yourself. Don't do this to us. Please."

Selah could hear her mother crack and starting to weep about her precious little girl. It was difficult for Selah to keep up her anger, that was before her father picked up a statuette she had bought for herself with some of the early money she made on the street, actual honest money for her close-up magic tricks, "Hey, careful with that!" She pulled away from the hug as she saw her father clumsily handle the thing, trying to see if there was some way to get inside or it and with a pop and a crack the ceramic of the thing broke, "You stupid fucking ape!!!"

Her father stopped and dropped the thing on the ground before taking two large strides in the direction of Selah, "You listen to me young woman! As long as you live under my roof you will live by my rules! No drugs, no stolen money. In here we work for a living. Long days of honest work. Trying to give people a good time. You're grounded for the rest of the school year." He kicked something that he stepped on away from under his boot and stormed out of the room, past his wife and daughter.

"It's for the best, Selah. You can focus on school and your work here. Build up something for yourself." Her mother's eyes were red with tears, not about the things that had just happened or that had just been said but the inevitable thing that would follow, "Please, don't do anything stupid. I know he can be a hard-ass. But he really wants what's best for you and your brother."

"AND CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM!" The bellowing voice came from downstairs and echoed around the small hallway upstairs.

"Fuck you, you f-!" Selah yelled back, but whatever obscenity she wanted to add was cut short by a slap across her cheek by her mother. The slap was hard and left a ringing in her ear. More than the physical pain, the shock of it actually happening and her mother being the one that had done it was what brought Selah to tears.

"Don't talk to your father like that." Her mother was now stern and angry herself, trying to hide the fact that she had shocked herself with her strike as well, "Do as you're told. We expect you in the bar by happy hour."

Selah stormed into her room and slammed the door behind her. She rushed to the bed, not bothering to correct the sheets or pillows and threw herself down on it. For a moment she yelled into the fabric of the pillow, allowing it to mute her outcry. She turned on her back and reached inside her bra, pulling a small white package from it, the blue diamond on it revealing its contents. "Fuck this." She whispered to herself as she started to unwrap it.

[Present Day]

Selah sat in a darkened corner of her shabby apartment. The money she gathered was enough to garner a decent living but she always made sure not to overdo it. She didn't want to attract too much attention. She could probably go for bigger scores, and the crew had often pushed her to do something like that. Once or twice they had gotten away with it as well. Followed by a month of pure abandon. She was happy with how things were going right now. Well, maybe not necessarily happy. But at least content. She reached inside her bra and pulled out the white parcel of crystal she had just bought off the weird Starfleet woman. Looking at the blue diamond printed on the front. Fine, she wasn't even content with the way her life had gone, or where she was right now. All the bridges she had burned three years ago, all the people she had left in her wake. Broken, beat, scarred.

None of that mattered right now though. All that mattered right now was the Crystal. She crushed the large kernels into smaller dust and fed it into the makeshift inhaler. Shaking it to mix it with the oils already in there. The coil heating up and starting to vaporise the contents before she took a deep breath in. Then it all started to slip away. The hurt. The memories. The crummy apartment. A faint light piercing through her curtains became a multitude of stars in a black ocean of the vast universe that surrounded her. She felt incredibly small and all at once immensely powerful. Seeing all the known quadrant in one blink of an eye. In the end, it seemed very fitting that she got this off a fleeter, this was her enlistment, her trek across the quadrant.

[OFF]

Selah Zanaz (NPC)
Low Life
On the streets of Rangalor V
(as written by Mayterial Droz)

"Reality doesn't impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls."