Ilia Amitola is color coded for your convenience (amitola) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-04-22 16:55:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, ilia amitola, weiss schnee |
Who: Ilia and Weiss, plus NPC!Drug dealer
What: Weiss gets a lot more than she bargained for in more ways than one
When: Today
Where: Alleyway of a not so good part of town
Warnings: Shady drug deals, threats of violence
Status: Log | Complete
Orange County had plenty of ‘wrong’ sides of town, and most of them were no place for naive, pampered, white rich girls to hang out it. Weiss, of course, had no choice in the matter. Whitley wanted what Whitley wanted, and she had few in the way of choices. He’d seen her at that party, he’d seen the posts on the Network, and he’d even somehow gotten into her messages.
Why he needed drugs? These ones, specifically? She had no idea. What she did know was that her monthly allowance was higher than his, and that made this ‘illegal transaction’ a lot more plausible for her. One of her hands was inside of her purse, clutched around a can of mace, while the other hand exchanged a case of bills for a case of drugs. It was the scariest back alley she’d ever been in, even if the nearby bar was creating a lot of light and noise. There were people all around who’d hear her if she screamed. At least, that’s what she kept telling herself.
It’s what she decided to say aloud when the man put his hand over her own on the case and started to pull. “How dare you, we had a deal! Do you even know who I am!?”
“I don’t care, girly,” The man said, as he tugged a little more. “You came up with this money quickly enough, seems like the price was a little too right. I bet there’s more where that came from.”
“Stop tugging!! Do you want me to make a scene? There are people nearby, they WILL come to find out what’s making all the racket.” Weiss replied, her tone loud and imperious. The hand still in her purse was shaking with its can of mace, and she felt a lot less brave than she sounded.
Honestly, Ilia didn’t know why she went to investigate what sounded like a fight that had nothing to do with her. It wasn’t her place and given the whole reasoning as to why she left Arkansas, one would think she would prefer not to get involved. But she also refused to stand by when women were in trouble. Besides, she had plenty of anger that could be channeled into something that might help a stranger. Maybe it was a bit reckless, but given Ilia’s past, she wasn’t worried. She knew how to handle these sort of situations.
Thus turning around, Ilia picked up a discarded crowbar and headed into the alleyway. It wasn’t like she knew who she was coming to defend. She just wasn’t going to stand by and let some overzealous creep who just had to push for more money. Yes, she knew that was the game but really now.
“Hey! Why not just take the money you were promised and move along?”
Yes, Ilia was not the type of person you would think of as intimidating. She was small. But while her stature was enough to get people to underestimate her, she held herself as someone who had been on the streets and wasn’t afraid to fight and that often was enough. Besides, big guy or not, usually once someone was outnumbered as he now was? Well, it was better to go the path of least resistance.
The arrival of backup had actually not been anything Weiss had expected, even though she'd shouted as if people were going to come running to her side at any moment. In the dreams this transaction would have been easy enough - mainly because it would never have been happening, but also due to the fact that she'd have had her team. And her training. Illia was about her own height, and definitely looked intimidating to her as she glanced over at her.
She was relieved to see her, whoever she was, but tried not to look it as she glanced back to the man who was still grabbing hers. "See? I'm CLEARLY not alone here. This doesn't have to become trouble for you, does it?"
The man looked at Illia and squinted at her, obviously sizing her up for a few moments, before tugging Weiss just a bit closer. "Get out of here, girl, you don't need to get mixed up in this."
Now that someone else was there to back her up, Weiss started inching the can of mace out of her purse. She caught Illia's eyes and tried to somehow signal her as to what was going on without giving herself away.
Just like Weiss, Ilia wasn’t really paying attention to the person she had come to help. Which was a good thing for the heiress right now because the Arkansas transplant might change her mind in helping. Or turn on her completely. It was hard to say. Either way, Ilia was aware of her surroundings, of sudden movements and things to be wary about. And this idiot was just that. An idiot.
So she let out an exasperated sigh as she was told she didn’t need to get mixed up in what was going on. And the whole being called girl.
“See, I kind of do. I have this whole thing about jerks like you messing with girls. I mean, your face alone is a weapon. Tragic.” It was a twist on an insult from Arkansas but whatever. Bending her neck from shoulder to shoulder to loosen up, Ilia placed one hand on her hip, still holding the crowbar she’d picked up - clearly unafraid to use it if she needed to.
“Really, just let it go, man.”
She was giving him one more chance but it was clear she wasn’t going to back down.
There was a hint of steel in the way Illia spoke and carried herself that Weiss was definitely starting to notice, and the man had to have noticed it, too, because his grip on her hand weakened. He glared at the both of them, then finally rolled his eyes and let go, fully. Weiss let out a breath she didn't even realise she was holding, and inched the can of mace back into the depths of her purse. It was definitely a bad idea to pick a fight if one wasn't necessary, especially in these circumstances.
He took the money and kicked the other case out of the doorway so that Weiss could pick it up. "Next time you better bring double, or no amount of help from random strangers is gonna save you. Got it?"
Weiss wordlessly nodded her head, and the man slammed the door shut. She quickly opened the case to make sure it was legitimate, though she had no idea what Whitley had ordered or what it was supposed to look like. "Hopefully there won't BE a next time."
It was after she checked and closed it again that she turned towards Illia, looking a little sheepish. "I... uhm. Thank you for your help."
That was the main rule of the streets. Or at least in Ilia’s opinion. Don’t pick fights that don’t need to be picked. And she was someone who was usually always ready to jump into one and had a bunch of unresolved anger issues. But even she knew how to be smart about those fights. In theory.
Still, the teen didn’t let go of the crowbar until the guy was officially gone. After all, he could change his mind if she seemed to lower her guard. Not that Ilia ever truly lowered her guard. But it was only once it was her and Weiss that she turned to look at who it was she had saved as she was being thanked.
And that was when Ilia realized just who it was that she had come to the aid of.
“Are you fucking kidding me?!”
Because really, there was no other response for Ilia to have, though it was almost as if anger were radiating from her body at this point.
Weiss blinked at the other woman. "What? Was I not supposed to thank you? I obviously don't belong around here but I somehow doubt that common courtesy would make someone this angry."
Because it was very clear that she was angry, this woman that had come to her aid. Weiss had no idea how to process that, but suddenly wondered if she needed to put her hand back on that can of mace in her purse. She'd only just relaxed to the point of letting her own guard down, and now it looked like she was about to be in danger all over again?
Her hand tightened on Whitley's case, and she squinted at Illia. "I have a can of mace in here if you're thinking of trying anything. Though I have no idea why you'd come to my rescue just to shout at me over it."
Even if Weiss tried to use the mace on her, Ilia would have her knocked back before she could. After all, she already knew the other woman had it. And while she was angry - no, she was livid - to realize just who it was she’d helped? She wasn’t looking to get mace in the face and was much more adept to life on the streets than the heiress was. Which was why she scoffed at the threat.
“Because I didn’t know I was coming to help a fucking Schnee.”
Would she have let Weiss deal with all of that had she known? It was hard to say. But all the anger she felt but usually was managing to deal with? It was all at the surface. The face and heir to the company that killed her parents just standing there.
“I should have let him take more of your blood money.”
On the one hand, it should have been nice to finally be recognized for who she was, there in Orange County. She rarely had to deal with paparazzi outside of that one Skeeter woman, and most people on the network had no idea who she was. On a good day she didn't care. On a bad day it made her feel three inches tall.
Today? It made her feel like some kind of tiny, crawling bug. Weiss blinked her eyes again and dropped her hand out of her purse. Illia was right to scoff at the threat, and most of the wind had been shot out of her sails. "Excuse me!? Blood money? How dare you make an accusation like that! I'm sure my father runs a completely blood free enterprise."
“That’s complete bullshit. And aren’t you the heir or some shit? You should know how your family business is run. The cover ups. The use of blood diamonds.”
Because Ilia might not have finished school, she might have spent her time mostly on the streets. But she also had done her research. When the anger was heightened, when the name Schnee came up… she would look into the company. Almost desperate to see if fall and fail as it so deserved to do for the people who had died for the Schnees to make themselves rich. Yet it never did. Instead they just continued to rise on the backs and blood of those who were just trying to make ends meet.
It made Ilia sick.
"Of course I'm the heiress, but I don't make any of the choices. I'm barely allowed into the boardroom. My father isn't giving up control of the Schnee company for at least another decade or two." Weiss replied, her cheeks growing red with frustration and her own anger. Could it even be true? She'd never paid enough attention to what was going on. No one at any meeting she'd ever been to had ever discussed their business in that light.
Her eyebrows knit together and she folded her arms over her chest. "There has to be some kind of... misunderstanding. Why would we deal in blood when you can mine diamonds practically anywhere these days?"
“And you never bothered to care? Shocking.” Ilia didn’t know much about running a company, true. But one would think that someone who was being prepped to take over should be learning about the ins and outs of it before they took over. And not just being the face of it and being paid in their blood money.
Again she scoffed, rolling her eyes.
“Because it gives a higher profit to the assholes in charge. Who cares about the people who die in the mines, right? They’re nothing! Pay off the ones who might say something, cover up the deaths. Regulations cut into profits and you sure as hell can’t have that. Why go in conflict areas? Fuck if I know. Less competition for resources, general lack of caring for the lives in those areas? Pick a reason, it’s shit anyway.”
It was more than anger though. It was pain. The anger masked it, but talking about the cover ups, the deaths that no one cared about, the money paid to those who might raise attention while ignoring the rest…. It all was there.
Weiss had been about to argue about how well she cared, but she bit that comment back when Illia continued to talk about the rest of it. Cover ups, profits, conflict areas... Weiss knew nothing about any of that, though it was clear to her that Illia at least thought she should have. And maybe the other girl was right, though Weiss had a hard time admitting it. She didn't even know what to say. In the dreams, she had to admit, her father had some extremely bad business practices. Could that man truly be more similar to her own than she realised?
Or maybe she just hadn't noticed. As long as she'd obeyed him and stayed in line, it had been a non-issue.
She wasn't at all blind to the fact that Illia was speaking about this like she had a personal stake in it, either. Weiss was self absorbed and trying to do better at that, but she wasn't completely cold. "I... didn't know. Like I said, I didn't make any of those choices. If they were mine, I wouldn't have. If there have been cover ups then they're happening in the company, too, because this is the first I've heard of it."
Chewing on her lip, she added, "I'm... sorry. Obviously something must have happened to you. I guess, that we did. The Schnees, I mean."
Was it fair to take her anger out on Weiss? Not really. She was what, a year or two older than her? It wasn’t like she personally was the one behind the death of her parents. Behind the refusal to follow regulations to cut costs, the cover ups, the payoffs. But she was the face of the company and one would think someone who was the heir to a company should know this.
“Yeah well. You should look into it.”
It was the most she was going to give on the matter. Because she knew, even in her anger, that nothing could be changed if people just kept doing what they were and not looking into the actual practices.
She had to bite back her comment about how being sorry wasn’t going to bring her parents back. It wouldn’t erase the years in the system and all the shit that came with it. She didn’t know Weiss, she wasn’t going to get into that with the face of the company who was still doing the same shit they’d been doing for years.
“If you actually mean that? Then do better in the company.” Sighing, Ilia ran her fingers through her hair in agitation. She needed to get out of here. She needed to do something before she outright screamed. So with nothing left to say and feeling that anything else would make her completely lose it, Ilia turned and left the alleyway, heading towards the junkyard.
Definitely, nothing could be changed if everyone in charge just kept their heads in the sand about it. Weiss remembered the beginning of school, when Ruby blew a crater in the sidewalk sneezing on all of her dust. She'd made Ruby do her research on dust and its uses as a way of making the loss of product up to her, because being educated on these things meant it wouldn't happen again.
And even though that hadn't been particularly nice, since Weiss could admit she'd been shaking the vial around to begin with, she thought in this case it applied. IF her father was really doing horrible things to people, if her family's business really was this corrupt, she needed to do her research. If Illia had never blown up at her she'd never have known, even though the entire situation had made her feel awkward and attacked.
She watched Illia walk away, not sure what else she could say. So she just nodded and called after her, "I will!"
Now all she had to do was get through this situation with Whitley so that she could follow through.