Cousins in Arms

[Gifted]

"I make my own money for him. After I give him my cut I can spend the rest of it however I want." Liam said. "I usually use it for more important stuff nowadays, but I have more than enough. There's no reason I can't help out my cousin."

[Raven]

"You work for him?" Kailen asked in surprise.

[Gifted]

Liam nodded. "Grandpa Aaron's power is built on the drug trade. It's actually really good money if you aren't an idiot and get addicted to the stuff you're selling, which a lot of dealers do." Liam rolled his eyes. "I'm going to inherit the whole thing one day when he dies, so Grandpa Aaron thinks it's important to teach me how it all works. Officially I'm just a street dealer with the territory around the school, but I get taken to more important stuff."

[Raven]

"You sell more than cigarettes, then?" Kailen asked.

[Gifted]

Liam laughed. "Heroin is the real moneymaker in Soudoyer." He told him. "But we sell a bit of everything. Cocaine, ecstasy, some of the teachers favourite nerds are secretly fueled by all nighters of red bull and adderall. I tried it with cocaine once. Damn was that ever a bad idea." he chuckled.

[Raven]

"You tried cocaine?" Kailen asked, surprised. True, his cousin hadn't really been a goody-two-shoes, but he hadn't imagined Liam was so much like his friends, and even more of a nightmare in his dad's mind.

[Gifted]

"Yeah. I used to really like it but, well, not anymore. You remember like a month or two ago when Uncle Adam invited me over and I actually said no?"

[Raven]

"Yeah," Kailen said, curious, his tone urging Liam to continue.

[Gifted]

"Well about a week before, there was this party. It was being thrown by this guy I hated, full of people I didn't like, was going to have nothing to drink but booze which isn't my thing, and was probably going to end in a lot of drunk fighting. But for some reason I was still intending on going. I was getting ready for it and trying to figure out how I'd avoid dealing with the people there when I realized the only reason I was even considering going to this party was they would have a lot of cocaine there. Cocaine was literally deciding what I was going to do that night. Well, fuck that. I'm not going to let anything have control over my thoughts, not a person and certainly not a bunch of white powder. I shut myself in my house, went through a total bitch of a withdrawal period for a few weeks and I've never touched the stuff again. That's why I'd said no; I had zero interest in socializing while going through withdrawal thank you very much." He chuckled. "But cocaine is the only one I've tried. Well, I've had ecstasy a couple times too. But no depressants. Fuck depressents. Quite frankly if you take depressants, you're an idiot."

[Raven]

"I just smoked," Kailen said. "I knew a few people who used LSD, and they had poppers at a party one time, but I wasn't there. A bunch of them drink, of course." He shrugged. "But my dad would kill me if he ever found out I'd even touched a cig or a beer."

[Gifted]

"No big, I won't tell him." Liam said. "Yeah, beer just never appealed to me. I don't like the idea of being drunk. You're deliberately giving yourself less control over your own actions, that's always rubbed me the wrong way. So I never really drank or did any of that normal stuff. My friends used to tease me about being boring, but they got over it. Personally I think it's always a bad idea to use that stuff, but selling to people who want to make bad decisions is good money."

[Raven]

"I mean, I get it," Kailen said. "It's an adventure, and once you start you won't talk yourself out of it."

[Gifted]

"But it's not, really. I can sort of see the argument for stimulants. Those I get. You've never known how much energy your body can have until you've tried cocaine. But there is zero reason to try depressants. None. All they do is make you lazier and you spend hours on them doing nothing. At least when I take cocaine I come down with a shit ton of work done."

[Raven]

"You don't have to leave your couch for an adventure, Liam," Kailen said, grinning. "Haven't you ever read a book?"

[Gifted]

"Yeah, but it's still not an adventure. You want a drug for in-your-home adventures try hallucinogens." He said. "There is no good reason to take depressants. So many idiots completely screw up their lives on them and they get absolutely nothing out of it."