i've been here times before (val)

[Roderick Dwight bishop]

we all fall down
-LIKE TOY SOLDIERS-

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It was your average day in ocean city. The people were lively and bustling as they proceeded with their daily lunch routines. There were, of course, the truant high school kids that felt that they were too cool to eat the meals that Manchester Prep prepared for them. There were the working drones that dreaded returning to their humdrum jobs in an hour. Then there was Bishop who stood on the corner of the Ocean City Coffee Company with his Beats by Dre headphones over his ears, his backpack slung over his shoulders, and his skateboard in hand. To most, it seemed as if the young man were just passing through and in his own world, but in reality his attention was fully focused on the area around him. He kept his eyes peeled for potential customers for him to sell to, his motivation for the day's hustle being the rent being a week past due. Summer time usually meant that the high school kids had more time on their hands to do drugs, but it was also a time where young hotshots thought they were bad enough to get into the game and they'd been slowly taking Bishop's business away. He usually didn't post up anywhere near the coffee shop, his usual spots being the boardwalk and beach during the day and the more popular clubs at night. Lately there'd been a bit of an increase in undercover cop activity at both the boardwalk and the beach, and the bright sun shining down on him clearly meant it was too early for him to be around the clubs. So here he was, in a bit of unfamiliar territory for him.

His dark brown eyes scanned a group of teens that sat at a nearby bistro, hoping to catch the eye of one of them. One of them, a fifteen or sixteen year old looking boy, met his gaze for a second. Bishop nodded at him and the boy grinned before nodding back and returning to talking to his friends. After a few seconds, the rest of the group looked in Bishop's direction a few times. One of them, the lone girl in the group, laughed before pointing at Bishop. It seemed as if Bishop had their attention as the boy whom he'd nodded at started rummaging through his pocket and pulled out what looked like a few bills. Bishop grinned, there was nothing like the prospect of making his first sell of the day. The teens conversed for a few more minutes before the girl nodded at the boy, which Bishop assumed meant that they'd agreed to purchase something from Bishop. The boy got up from his seat and walked in Bishop's direction. Yes! Bishop thought, come to poppa. Bishop scanned the area again to make sure the area was clear. The boy seemed to be doing the same as he walked, causally glancing from one direction to another. Good, someone that knows what they're doing. Bishop relaxed and stopped looking at the boy completely as he approached him.

"How's it going" the boy asked as he nodded in Bishop's direction. Bishop looked the boy up and down before returning his gaze to the surrounding area. "I'm good man. What's up? The boy looked back at his friends who were chuckling as they looked on. "Can I help you with something" Bishop asked the boy in an attempt to get him to hurry up and get the process moving. The boy turned back to Bishop, realizing that he wasting time. "Uh, yeah. You seem like someone that knows where I could score some bud. Think you can help me out." Bishop grinned before shoving his free hand into his pocket and turning to walk towards a nearby alley. He motioned his head telling the boy to follow him and the boy grinned. "How much you trying to get? "An eighth" the boy asked, as if Bishop didn't have it. It almost made him chuckle that the boy doubted Bishop's supply. Anyone that knew Bishop at all knew that his backpack was specifically formatted by, Bishop himself, to stash a decent amount of weed so that he would always be prepared to make a sell. "I got you. Keep a look out for me" he told him as they turned the corner. He slid his backpack off of his shoulders and unzipped it. He reached in and began searching for his scale and his baggie. "It's gonna be forty five" he said as he pulled a little from his stash and dropped it on the scale.

Notes; enter the meddling val... now
Tagged; val
Words; 766

[valentina KIM LEVESQUE]

SHE COULD BE A JOAN OF ARC

Today was one of those days when Valentina actually felt good with being out and about. She was not just sitting around inside her house doing whatever she does when she is there. The weather was just inviting and she could not allow herself to let this one go. A small smile had crossed her lips as soon as she had been walking down the streets, loving the fact that she could just do this and not want to go drink or go get high or even just slip into a deep hole and never come out again. Oh but why was she even thinking about this at the moment? She just wanted to relax and have a nice day by herself, doing absolutely nothing important at all. Yes, some people might prefer to have company most of the time but Valentina was different right now, she was pleased with just being by herself today. Her eyes looked around the place, seeing some people happily moving around the streets as well, everyone seemed to be having fun at the moment, just like she was and it seemed nice in her mind. To be honest Valentina had not been doing anything important in the past days, she had just been laying around and calling some of the few friends she actually has. Part of her really wanted school to start so she could go back to being in the drama club and act a little bit or maybe just stand to the side and see people do their thing on stage. She was very flexible when it came to what she did in the club although from time to time she did prefer to just stay on the background, even so from time to time they asked her to just be something more important, or not important, but just closer to the leading roles. That had been actually a little weird on her part, but she had slowly learned to deal with it.


It was then that she reached the coffee shop, actually having a coffee sounded rather nice in her mind so she was thinking of just heading in there when she spotted someone familiar down at the corner. She frowned a little as she took one step closer to finally see who it was. Bishop. Her eyebrow rose a little as she looked at him, not sure why he was just standing there, but maybe he was just waiting for someone to come up to meet him. Yes that was probably all he was doing and that was actually whats he wanted to believe. Way deep inside Valentina knew that was not the case at all, he was there for a reason, and it had nothing to do with waiting for someone to come and meet him; or well, maybe that was the reason but not for them to meet up and go get a coffee or a chat. No, he was waiting for some clients. Oh she had tried time to time to stop this but he seemed to always go back to it. Sure this was not her decision to make but then again they had met at rehab, that meant he sort of wanted to stop doing this and she wanted to help as much as she could because she had been down that road -NT selling, but using- and it was definitely not the best thing ever. Her eyes continued to look at him, as if waiting to see if anyone was actually going to move closer to him, if anyone was going to buy and even when that was his source of income she didn't wanted anyone to come close to him. Because that would mean he was providing someone with drugs and to be honest, she didn't wanted to someday see him being arrested due to something like this. Yes, she worried too much about this.


Just when she felt like maybe she was wrong she saw some guy moving close to Bishop and she frowned. Oh no she through, recognizing the entire actions and when they moved to the alley she began to walk that way as well. Meddling? Maybe, but she didn't give a damn if she was. When they were gone inside the alley she glanced at the group of people from whom the other boy had separated from but she soon continued her way. "Hey, fancy seeing you here" she spoke as she walked up to them. "You, beat it" she said to the guy who was buying, raising an eyebrow at him and making him see with her eyes that he should probably do what he was being told. "You" turns to look at Bishop with a smile on her lips. "Buy me a cup of coffee, I mean you just earned some money" she finished, not entirely happy to say those words but she said them anyways because she had not been able to walk in before they made the transaction. "Maybe something to eat as well" she added, there was no way she was going to let him stay in this corner, she knew people will buy from him, she knew that very well and there was no way for her to let him keep doing this if she could help it. "And then we can just relax and talk" she said with a nod of her head as she eyed the scale, her mind instantly almost going into some flashbacks, most of the concerning her mother but she pushed them away; there was no way for her to think about that woman. She would just bring herself down and it would not be a pretty sight to see.

OUTFIT HERE TAGGED BISHOP NOTES Hope that was good

TEMPLATE BY WE WERE INFINITE ! OF CAUTIO 2.0

[Roderick Dwight bishop]

we all fall down
-LIKE TOY SOLDIERS-

[/SIZE]
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The zeroed out face of the scale quickly rose to a solid 3.4 which caused Bishop to frown. It was always annoying to be .1 under rather than over. He wasn't the type of dealer that intentionally shorted someone to make a profit. He was a firm believer that the ganja was a magical plant that was meant to be shared with everyone. In a perfect world he would just give the green out for free, but this wasn't a perfect world. He looked up at his customer who was looking directly back at him and the scale. Some lookout this kid turned out to be. Bishop grinned before snapping his fingers in mock disappointment. "Damn, just short" he said before dipping back into his stash and pulling out another small nug. When he dropped it onto the scale, the 3.4 shot up to a 3.7. The kid raised his eyebrow as Bishop nodded in satisfaction. "Is that alright with you" Bishop asked as he bagged the weed up. As if he really needed to ask. The kid smiled and nodded as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of what looked like twenties. Bishop had to fight the urge to sigh in envy. Everyone in this town seemed to have money but him.

The kid counted out the money, and instinctively Bishop counted it with him in his head. The kid held three hundred bucks in his hand, easily. If Bishop were like most of the dealers he knew, Bishop would have just made three hundred dollars, easily. He watched as the boy pulled three of the twenties out and held it out. In one swift motion, Bishop took the boy's money and dropped the baggie in his hand before reaching into his pocket to get change. "Just give me one sec-" "Hey, fancy seeing you here" was all Bishop heard before his heart dropped. It wasn't that he was scared that someone walked in on his transaction because Bishop was always mentally prepared for that to happen. He wasn't, however, prepared to see who it was that walked in on the transaction. Valentina Levesque was a wonderful girl that he'd befriended in rehab. She was someone that Bishop knew had his best interest at heart, and someone that he knew was probably not too happy with him right now. He looked at his customer who looked as if he were about to cry. Bishop smiled, he probably though Val was a cop. Before the kid could beg for mercy, Val dismissed him and the kid couldn't have walked away any quicker. Lucky.

When Val turned to address him, he was relieved to see that she was smiling. He wasn't in big trouble, this time. She told him that he was going to buy her coffee and lunch, instantly causing him smirk. He held the money in his hand up and waved it in the air. "Well since you scared that poor bastard so bad that he forgot his change, why not?" He noticed her eyes turn towards his scale and he frowned at himself. "Just let me pack up and then we can go" he said as he quickly gathered his belongings. If Bishop learned anything in rehab, it was identifying triggers in other people. Admittedly it was a weird thing to learn in rehab, but Bishop was always more of an empathetic person so reading other people came naturally to him. Something about Val's eyes, perhaps the almost distant look in them as she stared at the scale, told him that it was time to put the scale away and a change of scenery was needed now. He put his backpack on and smiled, "Lead the way ma'am."

As they walked out of the alley, Bishop looked over to where the group of kids that had just purchased from him were sitting. To no one's surprise, they were looking directly at he and Val. Half seemed to be amused at the thought of Bishop possibly getting arrested while the other half were concerned about themselves getting caught up. He grinned and nodded reassuringly in their direction, mostly for his benefit though. He didn't really like knowing that people were starring at him because it made him a bit anxious. When he got anxious, it messed with his natural intuition, which let him know when people he didn't know were starring at him were starring at him. He didn't like always having to be on guard like that, but this was the life he chose for himself. "So what brings you over this way my sweet Valentina" he asked once he saw that the kid's attention was no longer on them. He hadn't seen or spoken to Val in a while and he was glad that he was getting an opportunity to catch up with her.

Notes; sorry for the lame duck post >>
Tagged; val
Words; 811

[valentina KIM LEVESQUE]

SHE COULD BE A JOAN OF ARC

Looking at the guy who was buying from Bishop she could have laughed at the look on the guy's face. It seemed that the color had left his face and he was probably ready to say that he was not doing anything wrong, or that he would never do it again in his life. It was amusing, in her opinion, to even consider her as a police officer. Valentina could not be more away from that, even her clothes would be able to show that but perhaps the male thought that she was undercover. A slight smirk came to her lips at the idea, her eyes focused on him as she waited for him to rush away from the spot. Soon that was exactly what happened; well, she had not left him more option due to the confident attitude and the look in her eyes, if one added to the tone of her voice. However, she could easily tell he was not looking for any type of trouble, because the guy soon was rushing away. It was just funny to see someone so scared although, well, she rarely had to go with someone to buy drugs, since usually her mother had been the dealer. It was depressing to think about that, so she didn't. Now all she needed to do was merely look at Bishop, she didn't wanted to seem upset, although deep inside she was but she just wanted to stop what he was doing and enjoy a day with her friend. A day that did not involve having to use, sell, or think about drugs. She did felt proud though, because so long she was not thinking about wanting to use anything. No, she was fine like this and just wanted to get movie and go get a coffee. It was like her new drug really, she tended to just pick a cup of coffee when she was feeling antsy. It was good and bad really, but she wasn't going to debate on it at all. As long as she was clean, she felt like things were good.


Seeing him wave the bills made her shake her head, smiling a bit more as he agreed to go get a cup of coffee and possibly some food as well. In all honesty she was going to by some of that herself, she wouldn't exactly force him to pay for her things, that would just be rude considering she had money after all. "Well I made a great entrance" she responded with a slight nod of her head before holding her hands behind her, playing a little with her hands while she tilted her head and bit down her lower lip. It was good that he was going to place his things away, that was definitely what Valentina needed, eyes looking away to focus slowly on the floor, taking a deep breath and hoping he would be quick but she guessed that with his past experiences the boy knew exactly how to move. Each second that passed made her play a bit more with her hands, waiting not so patiently for him to be done. One thing she liked about Bishop was the fact that he wouldn't get upset when she did this, he wouldn't yell at her for him having him get in the way of his income. Income, that was usually all people seem to care about, not her though, she had enough money after all yet she rarely came to use it.For one reason or another she just felt bad when using it, which was why she tended to avoid it. Her eyes looked at him, waiting and waiting and waiting and finally he was done. It felt like an eternity to her and she hated that. The words were like music to her ears and she nodded, turning around starting to walk out of the alley. Good thing too because she was never a fan of alleys; perhaps because of all the horror movies she had watched, they just tended to be a creepy place even in the middle of the day.


Seeing Bishop glance to look at the group of kids made her look that way as well. Her eyebrow rose and she saw some of them looking as if they wanted to leave which really only seem to amuse her even more. It was hilarious if you asked her, the kid that bought wasn't new at this, but some of the others might just due to how they looked. Oh the thrill of not knowing if they were going to get caught or not, she found it rather stupid though. Although that was probably because she was never actually buying from the streets. Oh whatever, she simply was happy for being here enjoying the weather once more which allowed them to have fun while talking. Her hand moved to brush her hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear while she moved. It was nice to have company, even when a few minutes ago she had been thinking that it had been nice to be alone. Oh well, one could easily change their minds now, after all it wasn't like she had bumped into someone she disliked. That was obviously one of the things that helped her fine with the unexpected person. She had also found him when he was selling, which was good because now she could get him to stop. Not permanently but one day at a time, that was how she saw this little thing she was doing.


"The nice weather" she responded in all honesty. "I just couldn't stay inside in a day like this" her eyes glanced up at the sunny sky, which only had a few small puffy clouds here and there. It made her rather happy, sure she also liked the clouded skies and which it looked as if it was about to rain. But this one was also nice. "So I came for some coffee and then I saw you and I said to my self 'let's save him for a boring day alone'" People she got along with, people who actually knew a bit more from her life were the ones she could speak too like this. Never in a million years would she speak like this to someone from the drama club, not even if she had known them for a while now. In the end it just came to trust really; she could talk and be friendly with them but real joking like the one she had done just now seemed to take sometime. "I think it works perfectly" she added, not wanting to ask what he was doing here because it had been fairly obvious. "What have you been up too?" with some luck he would let the stories of his job away, and just focus on something else. That was what she was hoping for, but who knew if that was what she was going to get.

OUTFIT HERE TAGGED BISHOP NOTES it was good

TEMPLATE BY WE WERE INFINITE ! OF CAUTIO 2.0

[Roderick Dwight bishop]

we all fall down
-LIKE TOY SOLDIERS-

[/SIZE]
[/center]

Val's mention of the weather instantly caused him to look up to the sky. It truly was a beautiful day. Perfect weather for skateboarding or chilling at the beach, but work came before pleasure. Not that hanging with Val wasn't a pleasurable experience, but it had been a good bit since he'd actually just went out and boarded. These days his board was just a means of transportation and an accessory to his outfit for the day. He'd become the type of person he despised in high school. Someone that hopped onto the skateboarding bandwagon just because it seemed cool. There was a time when Bishop competed in competitions and he was actually good at it. Unfortunately he lost interest in it after a few serious episodes of depression, one episode landing him in the rehab facility that he met Val in. He smiled at this thought. Although he probably wouldn't admit it aloud, ever since he'd met the girl she'd been a bit of an inspiration for him to slowly get his life back together. He'd forgotten how much he actually liked to skateboard before today and he made a mental note for him to take some time out during the week to dedicate it to honing his skills again.

"My hero" he said playfully as he placed his hand over his heart. He was though. Had she not come through, he would have returned to where he'd posted up before no doubt. The plan was to spend the day working as much as he could, but he knew that putting in overtime was not good for his progression. But what could he do? School had been a bust for him and working an actual job didn't get him the fast money that selling drugs had gotten him addicted to. "Nothing much" he said in response to her question. It was clear that he'd been up to his usual antics, but actually saying that to Val just didn't feel right. He felt as if he were letting her down, even though she seemed to be ignoring it all. That was another thing he liked about her. She was subtle, yet blunt. It was clear that she popped in on his transaction to pull him away from it all, and then she attempted to change the scenery and move on by inviting him to get coffee and lunch. She really was like a guardian angel to him, and he was grateful for her.

"How's the boyfriend" he asked her, not remembering the guy's name. The guy had done one of the many tattoos that Bishop had on his right arm. It was back when he and Val first met and Bishop had developed a bit of a habit of getting tattoos. It was a phase that broke the moment the money stopped rolling in. When Val mentioned him in group, Bishop was quick to ask her if he could do him for cheap. It was actually the conversation that led to them becoming friends. Bishop had only met the guy that one time, after which he'd only seen glimpses of him when he and Val were together. From what Bishop could remember from the single meeting though, he seemed like a really cool guy. He probably had to be considering he was with Val during her time in rehab and, as far as he knew, was still with her to this day. "Still doing tattoos I assume?" Just thinking about it made Bishop want to get tatted, but he would need to get his funds in order first. It didn't help that there were a few tattoo parlors within walking range right now. Hell, there would be one in arms reach when they got to the coffee shop in a few seconds. It took a little bit of will power, but Bishop decided it was best to not even turn his attention towards the tattoo parlor. It would bring up a time when Bishop was high daily, and Val had just made a concerted effort to get his mind off of that time. Instead he lunged towards the doors of the coffee shop and opened it up for Val. He bowed a bit theatrically, waving his hand towards the entrance of the restaurant. "After you madam" he said with a phony accent and a smile before following her into the restaurant.

Notes; hope this works.
Tagged; val
Words; 731