Shared by TGC on all major communication channels. Check out their tweet here:

Thank you for your patience! Sky’s most colorful event of the year will soon be upon us, and we're excited to support an amazing cause once again. Learn more about Days of Color, an updated take on a fan favorite 🎨
https://bit.ly/DaysOfColor

Transcript:
—————

Build Something Beautiful Together During Days of Color

https://preview.redd.it/zt39wep4n33b1.jpg?width=1778&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dad845ba082f03b67a8f5dd0ec9bd995bd7b3a92
Arcs of rainbows will soon be gracing the skies over the realms. Days of Color will soon be here, and with it, Sky’s annual celebration of the diversity that makes our shared world so vibrant.

An Updated Name for a Continuing Celebration

Each year in Sky, diversity, hope, and inclusion have been at the center of the event players have known as Days of Rainbow. We were excited to add big updates to it this year, especially because we know the event means a lot to so many players around the world. Because of that, we also wanted to touch on the name change from Days of Rainbow to Days of Color.
Expanding the event meant digging into the core themes that players have experienced since Days of Rainbow debuted in 2020. While the themes and messages haven’t changed, the new activities this year better capture what can be achieved only when all of our different colors can shine together.
The updated name highlights this, and as Days of Color, the event will continue to focus on diversity, hope, and making the world inside and outside of Sky more inclusive for everyone.

Revelry in the Clouds

The most colorful time of Sky’s year begins at 00:00 on June 1st, and runs until 23:59 on June 14th. Two event guide Spirits arrive in Home for the occasion who can teleport you to where the main festivities will be held: the secretive area high above Daylight Prairie, expanded specially for the occasion.
Within this vivid and colorfully decorated space, players can use their capes to charge eight platforms, which become available one by one each day of the event—a nearby closet and magical spell-lending geyser can help if you need to make a quick cape change. From the eighth day onward, all of the platforms can be charged with the aid of other players, and once they are, get ready for a brilliant display that shares Light and lifts all players to scenic and glittering heights.
https://preview.redd.it/e12cta86n33b1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1dc35d2e16c592ee8f73a64bc8e3b892533ca1bb
Even if you stay near the platforms (or choose to visit Sky’s rare pupper), the area is perfect to decorate with color trail spells as you fly around! The spacious scenery also allows dozens, even hundreds of players to gather together using the festival tech featured in Season of Passage quests and the Season of AURORA concert. All the colorful avatars of fellow Sky children from across the world may just create a living rainbow of their own.
Outside of the event space, a double rainbow in Home provides colorful Light and a laid-back way to gather with friends. And of course, some themed daily quests point the way to places in the realms where you can appreciate the beauty of a rainbow (or, perhaps, the discovery that comes at the end of one).

Days of Color Currency

We mentioned earlier this year that we’re planning to make some changes to Sky’s economy this year, and as we announced in a recent blog post, event-specific currencies are one example of that plan in action. Days of Color will be the first event to feature event currency, which will hopefully make it easier than ever for players of all experience levels to unlock the newest Days of Color memento being introduced this year.
As you explore the event area and complete themed Daily Quests, keep an eye out for small iridescent, bubble-like spheres. Players can collect 8 every day during the event—and on days with themed Daily Quests, up to 12 each day! Explore a bit more on the weekends and you might find an extra bubble or two…
Note: The total number of event currency intended to be available during the event is affected by a bug. To offset that bug, we’ll add 8 event currency to the inventory of all players who log in during Days of Color. The only thing you need to do to receive this is to log into the game.
https://preview.redd.it/xbo43xp7n33b1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=756c0d4c6b7d56af5a8a8107c4b8f5c181b782d8

Colors That Make a Difference

This year we’re proud to share that we’ll once again be supporting The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and mental health organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) young people. The Trevor Project’s programs include crisis services, education, peer support for people around the world, and other efforts to ensure young people can have the chance to thrive no matter who they are. You can read about our 2022 campaign with the Trevor Project here.
We are making a donation to The Trevor Project during Pride month in association with the Days of Color campaign, and will reveal the total amount after Days of Color has concluded. We invite you to join us in supporting The Trevor Project this month!
https://preview.redd.it/zw536yk9n33b1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=162a6447be0dc696ce8bdd0a319e8c2b724ba21c

2023 Days of Color Campaign Items

• Dark Rainbow Pack $9.99 (all prices USD)
  
  • As a token of gratitude in return, 40 regular Candles are included with the purchase of this campaign pack
  • $5.00: Days of Color 2023 campaign
  • $3.00: platform fees
  • $1.99: development
• Rainbow Pack flower hair accessory: $19.99 (returning item)
  
  • As a token of gratitude in return, 75 regular Candles are included with the purchase of this campaign pack
  • $10.00: Days of Color 2023 campaign
  • $6.00: platform fees
  • $3.99: development
• Double Rainbow Pack flower hair accessory: $9.99 (returning item)
  
  • As a token of gratitude in return, 40 regular Candles are included with the purchase of this campaign pack
  • $5.00: Days of Color 2023 campaign
  • $3.00: platform fees
  • $1.99: development

Other Days of Color Items

During the two weeks of the event, a number of other items will be offered for sale or in exchange for in-game currency. These can be found from the event guide Spirits, or from the in-game shop. (Please note that these are not Days of Color 2023 campaign items.)

• New this year—Dark Rainbow Cape: 104 Days of Color currency
  
  • This is earned through our brand new event currency
• Rainbow Cape: 175 Candles
  
• Rainbow Trousers: 95 Candles
  
• Rainbow Braid Accessory: 20 Hearts
  
• New this year—Dark Rainbow Tunic: $14.99
  
• Rainbow Earring: $2.99
  
• Rainbow Headphones: $9.99
  
• Rainbow Hat: $9.99
  

Free trial spells for all items are available from the Sleepy Traveling Merchant’s Boat in Home.
https://preview.redd.it/lfpg80ban33b1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8d2e11a71f60f1fedc3dcb78c84a45eb9bed9f6e

A Rainbow of Colors, United

We can’t wait to present all the updates we’ve been working on for this event to bring new experiences to players. With our individual colors together, respecting and welcoming everyone around us, and making the world inside and outside of the game a place where everyone can thrive—those are the skies we hope to see you in!
—————
^{Reminder I'm not TGC staff, just reposting their announcements :D}

Wednesday, June 7! Come see some of the best comedians from the area roast each other! Special early pricing until Thursday!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/roast-battletm-in-aurora-illinois-tickets-634986069427?aff=ebdssbdestsearch&mibextid=Zxz2cZ&fbclid=IwAR2e6NwzPOqnNJed2VDWGoGuOzr50oCaequTdNmv0HL5uiu-9kYjwjWfpHE_aem_th_AcVm2xZ5Qd-RoFpff8LAqrZAAJk16f0MZKebUSgWvZOqI4-YiczYbnltU6s_yY4pbjt_wgEq_0MejLqlpGuf3e6d

​
https://preview.redd.it/9hto109j413b1.jpg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=388325d9d04aabaccbc280dc60e529b23d2b7e5f
🚪 Dive into our latest sprint on Zealy about FastAuth, a game-changing feature of the NEAR BOS.
✅Show how quickly you can create a NEAR wallet using FastAuth.
✅Tweet your entries with #FastAuthTimeTrial & #AuroraCommunity
✅Be the First in this Sprint
Let Aurora Community win the FastAuth Time Trial Competition!
https://twitter.com/auroraisneastatus/1663548083417010177

Bondsman Near Me
If you are in search of a prompt and trustworthy local bondsman near me, look no further than VIP Bail Bonds. We pride ourselves on being one of the leading providers of bondsman services in your area. Whether you're located in Jefferson County, Aurora, Adams County, Douglas, or Arapahoe County, we've got you covered. For more details, feel free to reach out to us or visit our website.

The Pride Progress flag will not be flying next month outside the York Catholic Education Centre.
After several months of at times raucous meetings and presentations on the topic, trustees with the York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) voted 6 – 4 against flying the rainbow flag outside its building in Aurora during the month of June.
“The motion, after the recorded vote, the motion is defeated,” Chair Frank Alexander said Monday night moments after the votes were tallied during the board's monthly meeting.
A few people in the packed boardroom loudly expressed their disappointment with the outcome. Alexander, who voted against the motion, ordered those individuals removed. He then called a five-minute break.
The motion, which wasn’t heard until nearly the end of the meeting, was tabled by student trustees Anthea Peta-Dragos and Jonah James. “It really is unfortunate that the voice of students was not heard by the majority of the trustees. It is extremely disheartening, but, again, we will continue to fight," James told CP24 following the meeting.
"Students are strong fighters and we will continue to be there to represent them." Peta-Dragos said she and James, who as student trustees were not able to vote on the motion, were optimistic that the vote would be in favour of flying the Pride flag.
“There’s very different opinions in the room and we were extremely hopeful that maybe we could get more votes for the flag, rather than the other” she said. Added James.
“Honestly, going into this vote we knew that it was going to be a very tight one, but were driven by what we believe in and we did have faith and you really can’t do anything without having faith,” he said, adding every other board that has voted on whether or not to fly the Pride flag also had a close vote.
“We know one day this flag will go up.”
Several trustees who shared their thoughts during the meeting on why they are against flying the Pride flag pointed to the need for the board to do more overall to support LGTBQ2S+ students all year long.
“Much more is needed to help move towards the end goal,” Trustee Michaela Barbieri said, adding this issue has divided people and she won't vote in favour of that.
“Tonight is not a matter of picking sides or who will win. It’s about our students and our community,” she said. Trustee Joseph Dimeo agreed, adding he appreciates that members of York Catholic’s LGTBQ2S+ community experience “hate, bullying and pain every day,” but ultimately said he wouldn’t support flying the pride flag as it simply “checks a box.”
Dimeo also said he’s not convinced that the Pride flag for a month will “solve all problems.”
In advance of tonight’s meeting, YCDSB warned anyone planning to attend that there would be “increased security and the police will be present to assist if needed.”
The enhanced security comes after an April meeting where those opposed to raising the pride flag began shouting in the packed boardroom. Those individuals were asked to leave, but remained in the building’s atrium and didn’t vacate until police arrived.
On Monday, the board said that a number of other steps are also being taken to ensure civility, including a requirement that those attending “sign in and produce government issued photo ID that confirms their provided information.” Attendees were also given a letter during sign-in outlining the expectations of conduct and “the consequences of not living up to them,” the board noted in a series of tweets.

I check on most dealers in the country for the best price possible. I do not make any money from this. I just wanted to share the love. https://parts.geraldsubarunaperville.com/productdetails.aspx?makeName=subaru&modelYear=2022&modelName=wrx-24l-6mt&stockNumber=e2410vc210&ukey_product=114926714&referer=parts.subaru.com&machineIDT1=emxxy2v0lus22pndqicc2zfu
https://preview.redd.it/egyz4est0u2b1.png?width=2732&format=png&auto=webp&s=17bbd62852009b7139725881d442702e35b0d74e

Previous Part: https://www.reddit.com/redditserials/comments/13trg6g/i_accidentally_joined_the_mafia_in_south_brooklyn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Becca invited me to her apartment when we made it back, sent me through the alley behind the building to keep the prying eyes at the minimum. That was fine with me as I was a lot more noticeable than I liked to be, at the moment. I had already lit a cigarette by the time she opened the back door of the stairwell to let me in. It was the last in the pack, and I'd only opened it this morning. The temperature on my phone screen had finally hit zero.
"You're gonna have to give me a second, B, I don't wanna smoke around you in your condition but I really need one."
She gave me another watery grin.
"Little too much blood in the nicotine system, huh?"
"Exactly, my young friend, exactly that."
She propped the door open and sat herself down on the ground. I could tell the high heels were starting to hurt her because she kicked them off and set them neatly to the side, though I knew the concrete had to be freezing her feet off. She tucked her skirt between her legs and sat with her back against the wall, her elbow propped on her bent knee, the other leg stretched out straight before her. It was exactly how what was left of Antoni had been sitting beside me less than two hours ago.
I was getting a little tired of all the patterns appearing in my life these days.
I flipped to my news app, as was my habit. There was an article at the top of page about the preparations the SDNY were making to get ready for the coming storm, but frankly I didn't really give a fuck so I just kept scrolling.
"Your old neighborhood is in the news, B."
"You ain't had enough bad news?" Beccs asked with a rueful laugh.
"Eh, I like to stay abreast of current events. I mean, you got me pegged, B. I'm a nosy fuck. But, uh, fifteen years on the inside, you learn that it pays to pay attention to the shit other people don't notice, cause you never know when the information you pick up is going to end up being the information you need."
She gave me a look that said she had to yield to my point.
"So what's the news from Koreatown?".
"Somebody shot a wedding up, apparently. Says seven were killed, including the bride and groom and the bride's father, as they was leaving the reception. You know, most of these names are Rhees. Ain't nobody you know, is it? Kinda feel like you've had enough death for the day, kid."
There was another look on her face, one I couldn't quite read even with all my people-watching prowess.
"Lemme take a wild stab at it. Two of those names are Rhee Seong-Min and Rhee Bong-Cha."
"Yeah," I nodded. "You do know 'em. I'm sorry, B."
She gave a low, almost rumbling, chuckle. It gave me a little shiver, not from the cold, and not one of enjoyment, either. She flashed a sign, one I'd seen her flash before, but it wasn't from any gang I knew personally, and lacking any official affiliation of my own, I'd dealt with my fair share of different gang members in the Upstate Correctional Facility. Double E's, one backwards, one forwards, three quick shakes of each hand.
"God bless old K-town. But you ain't got to worry about it. I'll not shed a tear over any of them. They's family, but they ain't exactly family, you know. I might tell you about it one day."
The last sentence had a note of finality to it, so I didn't ask any further questions in that regard, but I was still as curious as always.
"If all your family has Korean names, how the hell did you end up as Rebecca and your Dad as Sam?"
"My Dad's name is Park Kyung-Sam. Just Sam was easier to tell people and he, uh, he wanted me to have the same benefit of blending in in American society, and he liked the name Rebecca. So, Rhee Rebecca Hyo-Jin. My Mom's name was Rhee Chung-Cha, but everybody just called her ChaCha, like from Grease."
"So your Mom was the Rhee?"
She made an affirmative noise and nodded.
"She didn't exactly wanna give up her family name, and… my Dad didn't exactly give a fuck cause he was in love with her crazy ass. You know, that's where I get this from. Except my Moms, if she was still around she'd make me look like I grew up to be a calm, quiet girl."
I'd hate to see what was worse than Beccs.
"You done?" Becca asked. I nodded, tossed my cigarette into the sand-filled bucket we kept here for just that purpose. I followed B inside and we climbed the stairs to the third floor. I leaned against the wall as she pulled a ring of keys from her coat pocket and waited while she unlocked the knob and the three deadbolts on her door.
"Pretty serious about your home security, B?"
She shot me a look but didn't say anything as she opened the door. A steady beeping greeted us, and Becca stopped just inside and punched in a code on a security panel. As I stepped around her and entered the apartment, I understood why.
Do you know that part in Coming To America where Akeem comes home to his dilapidated Queens apartment and realizes Semmi has filled it with expensive furniture? Well, it was exactly like that. Becca locked the door back behind her, threw her stilettos onto the shoe rack, and hung her coat on the brass tree beside it. I did the same, removed my boots to place them on the rack as well.
"Jesus Christ, B, this place looks amazing."
There was a gray suede sectional in the center of the living room, a 152 inch Panasonic plasma bolted to the wall. The coffee table, the wool Oriental rug beneath it, and the end tables looked antique, as well as the green velvet chaise set near one window. There were three ornately-carved bookcases set against the far wall between the two windows facing the street, one filled with DVDs, and on the other two almost all the books were old and leather bound. The kitchen was open to the room, separated by a butcher block bar from the living room, all matching stainless steel appliances and black marble countertops. All along the walls were family pictures dotted between massive paintings held in golden Baroque style frames.
They were… stunning was the only word I could think to describe them. Most of them were portraits done in a slightly impressionist style, impasto if my memory served me, seemingly random strokes of thick paint that somehow managed to form the perfect images of faces and a few nudes.
"Jesus Christ, these paintings must have cost a fortune alone."
Becca stepped beside me, her arms crossed over her chest as she surveyed the painting I was looking at. It was done in mostly black and red, the image of a sleeping nude man, one arm tucked behind his head, his other draped across his stomach, his hips and legs covered with a sheet. If I touched it, I could have felt the wrinkles in the bunched fabric. There was something oddly familiar about it.
"They didn't cost shit," she answered.
That made me look away from the painting and back to Beccs.
"What the hell? Did you rob a gallery?"
"No, you mook, I painted them. They didn't cost anything but the price of the canvas and the paint, which, you know, I stole most of that from school."
"You painted them," I repeated, looking back.
As I looked closer at the canvas, I realized why it was familiar. The sleeping man was our dear friend Antoni Zabrowska. I had mistaken his tattoos for shadows, though I had to admit I had never seen him look quite so relaxed. As I glanced around the room, I realized I recognized many of the paintings. I was able to pick out her father's face, Rossi's, and I realized the model for the two female nudes was none other than Nia Bianchi. There was one of a woman in white with bloody skeletal wings that bore a strong resemblance to Becca and I imagined that was the infamous ChaCha.
"That's what I go to Columbia for. Visual Arts."
"You're a goddamn genius, B."
She scoffed.
"No, I'm fucking serious, kid. My sister collects art, and she refuses to go for the big names. Shit like this, she pays 10 to 20 grand for a painting half this size, more if it's one of the artists she likes."
Now she snorted.
"What? Your sister got a money tree?"
"No, my older sister Aurie's a writer. She wrote her first book when she was ten. She's published 20 so far, but she's got 30 or 40 more in backlog that she's still tweaking. She's kind of a perfectionist when it comes to writing, but I guess it pays off. Her books sell like fucking hotcakes everytime she puts one out, two of her series got picked up by Netflix, and Lion's Gate turned her seventh book into a movie. She even got to be involved in the productions.
"She's got a penthouse on the Upper East Side that she bought about six years ago. That's where I lived when I got out of the Upstate. Aurora, she's a fucking Saint, you know. I mean, I had a shitty PO that was up my ass every five minutes but Aurie never said a word about it. She just… always told me she was glad I was home, which, you know, was nice to hear considering that according to my grandparents I died 19 years ago. She was the one that helped me get this place down here, paid in full for a two year lease."
Becca raised an eyebrow at me.
"No offense, Tony, I can tell you're crazy about her, but she couldn't have picked a better place for you than this hell hole?"
I laughed as softly as I could, to save the muscles in my stomach.
"I picked this place myself, B. Cheapest apartment I could find in any of the boroughs, and it even had three bedrooms. I was thinking about having space for a library and a home gym."
Becca snorted.
"Yeah, it's cheap cause the fucking place is about 90 years old. Nobody's been able to get a hold of the slumlord who owns it for repairs in 8 months, but I bet you the motherfucker still collects the rent checks we deposit in his fucking bank account every month."
"Yeah, I figured that out just about as soon as I moved in, but beggars can't be choosers. Besides, Antoni always used to help me out whenever something broke."
Becca gave a small smile.
"They did that for everybody. I used to call them the apartment elves, cause instead of making shoes they were skittering around fixing fucking toilets and sinks, and rewiring burned up outlets and bringing in new refrigerators and stoves when shit broke in everybody else's places. And they bought it all with their own money. Everybody tried to pay them, but they never took a dime for any of it. Ironically enough, Pops used to talk about Antoni all the time because of all the money he'd spend over there every week. Said he had a good heart, just no good sense when it came to what was his responsibility and wasn't. You know, I had my own opinions about Antoni's heart, but I kept them to myself."
"I really wish I had paid more attention when Antoni was working on the boiler, though. Instead of just passing him tools and running my mouth."
"Yeah, you're good at that," she replied with a smirk.
"And fuck you, too, Miss Rebecca. You might be the strong type, but you're not exactly silent yourself."
She laughed.
"Make yourself comfortable. I'll be right back."
I nodded and obeyed as she exited into what I saw was the bathroom as she opened the door and closed it behind her.
The sectional was goddamned heaven, and she'd said make myself comfortable so I kicked out the recliner and leaned back. I closed my eyes for a moment and sighed, and when I opened them I nearly jumped out of my skin. I barely managed to stop myself from letting out a yell as I jerked back up to sitting.
Antoni's corpse was standing by the picture wall, looking intently at a photo of a child Becca wearing a ruffled, cream colored dress with a ribbon in her long black hair. It was the picture of her first Communion.
"Goddamn, you can't give somebody a warning before you do that?"
He neither answered me nor turned to look at me because he was using the stumps of his wrists to adjust several of the frames back straight again.
"Fucking neat freak," I laughed. "She wasn't lying."
He finally turned toward me.
You ever seen a corpse try to look annoyed when he's missing about a quarter of his face? I mean, what am I saying, you probably haven't, but suffice to say, it's pretty fucking funny. He raised his left wrist, and if he had hands, he'dve been shooting the bird.
Almost hysterical laughter burst out of me as Becca exited the bathroom.
"Least the pipes ain't frozen yet," she muttered.
She gave me a strange look.
"Who are you talking to out here? And what's so funny?"
I glanced back to Antoni, but he was gone again.
"Don't mind me, B, I'm pretty sure I got a concussion. I'm pretty much seeing pink elephants at this point." Or, you know, the mutilated corpse of my best friend, but it's probably best I leave it at elephants.
"Yeah," she answered, and crossed the room to hand me something. "Speaking of."
It was a mouth guard.
"What is this for?"
She didn't answer me, but headed to the kitchen and opened a cabinet, withdrawing a cut crystal scotch glass and then opening the refrigerator and withdrawing… two bags of blood. Nia's blood, to be exact. She unscrewed the cap at the bottom of one, punctured the seal with a fresh insulin needle, and to my supreme discomfort squeezed some into the glass. The mouth guard suddenly made sense. It was so I wouldn't break my teeth or bite my tongue off when the convulsions started and my jaw locked down from consuming demon blood.
"Oh no, B, I don't want that."
"Yeah. That's why I didn't tell you why I wanted you over here, cause I knew you was gonna be a pussy about it."
I tried one more last-ditch effort.
"You need that more than me, B."
"I can just take my next dose early, but you, you can't go down and see Ma looking like that. She's gonna ask too many questions."
That one stopped me.
"I've had enough of interrogations for one day, B."
"There ain't no interrogation when it comes to Ma. She just puts it in your head that you ain't got no choice but to tell her the truth, and you do. She's made state witnesses get up on the stand and confess their own crimes, pleading the fifth be damned."
She screwed the cap back onto the bag and carried them and the glass over to the coffee table and set them down. She walked over and opened a closet door, pulling out an IV pole with a little box attached to it, and grabbed a small cardboard box from off a shelf and what looked like a tackle box. She set it on the coffee table after she pulled the pole over to the sectional and plugged it into the wall, opened the cardboard box and removed a cassette from inside and inserted it into the box on the pole.
"What's that?"
"It's a blood warmer for rapid transfusions, so I don't go into hypothermia or hemolysis. Little bastard cost 137 thousand, but at least you can buy them online. You put a fresh cassette in every time, the blood runs through it, by the time it gets to my arm it's body temp."
She opened the tackle box and removed two fresh lines, attaching one to the bottom of the warmer and one to the top, hanging the bags of blood but not connecting the first of them yet. The top had a drip chamber with a filter, and the bottom held the flow regulator and the hypodermic needle with the cannula inside.
"You know, it's not fucking fair, B, you shouldn't have dealt with half the shit in your life that you have."
She snorted and her lips pursed with anger as she sat down beside me.
"You sound like Rossi with that shit. That's why he wouldn't let me die, said it wasn't fair. I was ready to go into hospice, fuck it, I was ready to see my Mom again. But I'll tell you the same thing I told his stupid old ass. Life ain't fair. Cause if it was I'd have my mother and my baby's father and Jimmy's ass would be the one laying in the morgue. You think it's fair you almost lost a finger because of what he ordered?"
I laughed.
"No, I actually think that's pretty fair. That's karma, B. I was usually the one doing the beating. How do you think I ended up in prison?"
She looked hard at me for a moment.
"I mean, you never told me. You were pretty open about having gone to prison, but you never said why."
"Well, I learned to be open about it. Some people get real upset when they find out they're dealing with someone who's been through the system, so I didn't really wanna go through that again. So now I just tell people up front, let them decide for themselves if they wanna deal with me or not. That way they can't throw it back in my face, say I lied to them."
Becca let out a bitter chuckle.
"So what's your story?"
"Well, we still ain't finished your story, yet, but we'll take a detour. The whole thing started my Senior year of high school. First game of the year, I blew my knee out, big as a bitch, tore everything there was to tear, shit was basically hanging on by the skin alone. Orthopedics said I had two choices, keep playing football or, retain the ability to walk on that leg, so… there went all my big dreams of college ball and making it onto the Giants."
"Linebacker?"
I nodded. "Middle linebacker. I was good at it. 6'7, 265 pounds but light on my feet, all muscle. Back then I was running 7 percent body fat, and wasn't even trying. Shit just… all came natural to me. It all blew up in my face. Shitloads of surgery and physical therapy, and then one day the pain pills stopped but the pain didn't. Everyday, every night, I was still hurting."
She nodded.
"I know about bone pain. I could always tell when I needed to up the dose when my bones started hurting. When I started out all it took was an insulin needle. Now I take so much, I'm not even sure I qualify as human. But I guess I won't be much longer. That's always been the plan. Just keep me alive till 30 and Ma's gonna make me like her. That's the preferred age for the Entrance, something to do with the Trinity."
I nodded.
"I started asking around school if anyone knew where to get some Percs but pain management keeps that shit so tight I could only get a few at a time. Not only was they expensive, it wasn't enough. I got hooked up with this kid named Alessandro, he told me if I really wanted to control the pain, he could get me something better and cheaper. He took me to meet his uncle, Colombian guy named Marco. First shot is free and it was… it was beautiful. Everybody always gets sick the first time, but I didn't. And then after that, all my free money from my after school job started going to horse, and uh, I got my last six months off school. I already had all the credits I needed from AP classes, started working full time. They didn't piss test. But, my tolerance was rising faster than my income was."
I took a deep breath.
"I'd been buying enough that Marco was offering me fronts but I never took it. So next time I went, I asked him for my usual and I asked how much it would be for two O's on the front, cause I knew a lot of other users and I was thinking of starting to sell myself. So, he told me he'd give me a pound, and we could settle up at the end of the month."
"Jesus Christ, if you were selling a pound a month you must have been making bank."
I shook my head.
"I wasn't in it for the money. I was in it to keep myself supplied. If I kept my prices right, I could use for free, and I had enough left over to pay my portion of the rent and help pay for the groceries. I got good at it, I'd take a shot, and nod out for a few minutes, then get up and start walking the streets."
Becca snorted.
"You wasn't standing on a street corner?"
"Fuck no. Too visible. I did all my business by phone. I had a burner and gave everyone the number, and when they needed some they'd give me a call and I'd meet them or they'd meet me. I had ethics. I used to have people offering me fucking blowjobs for a bag, but I always said no, shit felt wrong. All they had to do was pay me by the end of the month but, sometimes…"
She gave a grin.
"But sometimes, 'Bitch, where's my money?'"
"Yeah, sometimes people would try to skip out, so I had to apply a little pressure to persuade them to pay. I never killed nobody, it's hard as hell to get money out of a dead man. But, black a few eyes and break a few bones and suddenly they had money they didn't before. Being my size, there wasn't many of them that could fight back. But, I fucked up the wrong lowlife.
"There was this prick, he'd been dodging me for weeks. He owed me like two grand, I'd given him that much because I knew he had money, so when I finally caught up to him, I was pretty mad and, the bitch, he told me he wasn't going to pay me. Thought he was better than me, thought he could fuck me and get away with it. So I beat the mortal hell out of him, took his wallet. He had five grand in there but I figured, 3K surcharge for wasting my time."
I shook my head.
"But I should have done some better research on who I was going after. Turned out the little prick had a socialite for a mother and his Daddy was a hedge fund manager and… I'd hurt him pretty bad. First three months, not only was I dealing with DTs, I was waiting to see if they were going to add Murder to my charges. He was in a coma for that long, and when he woke up, he had to learn to walk again, how to feed himself. I beat him so bad I gave him brain damage."
"Goddamn, Tony."
"Apparently his parents knew their son's habits and knew exactly who I was, cause they went straight to the police, and two days later SWAT showed up, turned the house upside down. I smashed my phone into pieces, flushed it so they couldn't get my contacts, but I didn't think about the fact I still had the wallet with his driver's license in it. My grandparents disowned me, right then and there. I had just reupped so they caught me with 14 ounces, all it takes is 8 for Class A felony possession. I spent 13 months in Rikers, but my sister got me a good lawyer, he knew the judge and the prosecutor personally, golfed with them, so he got me a plea deal. I was looking at life in prison, but he argued that I was a good student that had made a bad mistake because of a chronic pain issue, and they were both first offenses, so if I pled guilty, agreed to go through a substance abuse program and anger management, then they'd give me the minimum sentence.
"15 years, Class A Felony Drug Possession, 3 years, Class B felony First Degree Assault, intentionally causing grievous bodily harm while in the commission of another felony. But, at my sentencing, the judge said I was a big guy, with a big anger problem. I hadn't killed anyone, but it wasn't for lack of trying. Said I was a danger to society, so when I got to the UCF, they put me in dark red."
"Supermax?"
I nodded.
"23 hours a day in a box by myself, no visitors, barely saw the guards. But, I stayed quiet, made no problems. Prison was overcrowded so I ended up with a cellmate, and I was glad to see him. It could have been Hannibal Lecter and I would have gave him a hug. He might have been a murderer but he was actually a decent guy. Him and his crew had knocked over some jewelry stores in Manhattan, last job went bad. He'd killed three cops, so he wasn't never getting out. Neither was his wife. Life in Bedford Hills."
"That's where they was gonna send me if Ma hadn't got the jury to give me a Not Guilty verdict."
I knew Becca had a tendency to get in trouble because beside the cheerleading pictures in the bodega, there was also a mugshot.
"What did you do?"
She gave a bitter chuckle again.
"Unlike you, I killed someone. 2021, this fucking crackhead tried to rob the store. He shot the customer that was in there, old guy named Mickey, killed him. He used to live in your apartment. Tried to shoot me, too, but the gun jammed and I had the aluminum baseball bat under the counter. I just started swinging. He went down, but I jumped the counter, and hit him again. Blood lust is a real thing. Once I saw he was bleeding, I wanted to see more. I beat his brains out, literally, he was dead long before the cops ever got there. Bat looked like a toothpick when I was done.
"They arrested me, and the DA himself showed up at my arraignment. Said self defense didn't apply, sent me straight up to Murder 2, requested I be denied bail because I had a passport and plenty of money so I was a flight risk. But we all knew the truth. He was still pissed that he hadn't been able to send Rossi away for longer, and I was the next best thing. Ma had to pull a lot of strings to make sure I still got my transfusions when I was in lockup. I was in Rikers for four months, had my eighteenth birthday sitting in the Singer Unit."
"Goddamned patterns," I muttered, then raised my voice again. "You, me, and Antoni all got that in common, except he wasn't like us. He was already in prison. That's what the rose meant, turned eighteen in prison. Life sentence, triple murder."
"He told you that?" She looked betrayed, so I was quick to answer.
"No, the tattoos told me that. Google is my best friend, B. That's what the skull and crossbones, and the coffins on his arm meant."
She swallowed, and nodded again.
"But, I moved down," I continued. "Went to orange when they moved me to Gen Pop, and I had friends waiting for me. Marco was very appreciative of me keeping quiet about my source at trial, so outside Abuela Bogota's was where I hung out the most. But I had friends all over. My sister was smart. She always put way more in my account than I could spend, so whenever I heard that somebody needed something, I'd go to the canteen and buy it myself and pass it to 'em. Nobody had to owe me shit. All I wanted was to be left alone, so I had people watching my back from all sides. I ended up in blue, got moved to the dormitory, started working in the kitchen, ended up running it, cause I was a 'model prisoner.'"
"You ever fool around with any of your cellmates?" Becca asked with a grin. "Cause I did."
I gave an uncomfortable laugh.
"I mean, yeah. 15 years is a long time to be alone. I don't consider myself bisexual even, but if somebody offers, you know…" I shrugged.
"I think the word you're looking for is heteroflexible. That's how Antoni referred to himself. He had a thing for you, you know."
That stopped me dead.
"You're fucking with me, B."
"Nope. He asked me once if I'd mind if he ever got the chance to hook up with you, and I told him no, as long as he didn't mind I still hooked up with my old girlfriends from high school. But he never asked you, said he loved you too much, was afraid of ruining your friendship."
"Jesus Christ," I shook my head, finally decided I needed time to process that, and moved on. "But, my last year there, Covid hit, and, I volunteered to work in the infirmary, but pretty soon the infirmary was filled, they started keeping people in the hallway, and finally they just ended up leaving them in their beds, I was all over the place. People dropping like flies. Everytime someone coughed or sneezed, everbody'd get nervous. I been smoking since I was 16, so I cough my lungs out every morning.
"People was looking at me like I was Death Incarnate. But I never caught it, not even once. And I was all around the sick, I was taking the bodies out to the truck outside the gate. Could've run but I didn't. Only had a few years left. It worked in my favor. They cut the last three years off my sentence, put me on supervised release and now, here I am, 36 years old, and just starting my adult life."
"Rossi got let out of lockup right before lockdown, poor bastard. Me, him, and my Dad all quarantined at Ma's, but of course, you know, me and Dad was essential workers so at least I got to get out of the house everyday. I graduated early, at 16, been working seven days a week since."
I glanced at the glass on the table.
"So let's get back to your story."
She shook her head, lips pursed again.
"Uh-uh, you're not wasting anymore time. Take the blood, but first," she reached out, quicker than I could even register, and used her thumbs to set my broken nose back straight.
I let out a yell, momentarily unable to see as my eyes filled with tears.
"Jesus wept, Becca, fucking hell, goddamn."
"Sorry. It would've hurt more if you'd known it was coming. Besides, you're a good looking guy, Tony, you don't wanna ruin your face."
"Thanks, B," I muttered as I pressed the toilet paper back to my freshly bleeding nose, tears streaming down my cheeks. "Need a haircut though."
"Nah, you oughta keep it. It's very The Dark Knight Joker, just black, not blonde and green."
I laughed quietly.
"Not sure that's the best association, B. A little too psychotic and violent."
She raised an eyebrow at me.
"Alright, alright. It's probably an accurate association, just a little less arson and murder." I sighed and looked at the scotch glass. "So how do I do this, B?"
"Think about it like a tequila shot. Take the shot and then slip the guard in quick. Then sit back, try to relax."
I nodded and grabbed the glass before I lost my nerve. I raised it in her direction.
"Saluti."
"Geonbae." She responded.