Day 261 - Monday, September 8th

[papalobo]

[Max isn't awake early enough to be shocked by how early in the morning Ash can pull it together to text, nor is he shocked by waking up first and alone. Although that he's going to be in a good coma with the pill and his exhaustion probably isn't a great cause for concern for Ash in not getting a response. It's around 11:00 AM that Ash gets a thumbs up emoji as an answer.

In actuality, things are not thumbs up. Max wakes up alone, and his mind combines the dream with reality to quickly determine Ash has left him to finally take that flight to Japan; unaware he's awake, even while aware that's not very realistic, he lies there looking at the empty space not even occupied by cats, for several minutes, before the need to use the bathroom finally gets him moving enough to come back to reality just a little more, to process that all of it were dreams, that he has no right to get depressed, to blame Ash for any dreams. Nor for any realities. He told him to take on Blanca. He's urged him to take up Eiji when he's ready.

Ash had to go without breakfast today. Probably. He'll check the kitchen for signs of cooking before realizing the texts he read about Ash leaving last night weren't part of the dream, but were real; so he's living that double life, away from him now. Things are dangerous, and Max... sits at home and worries about food. Things are hazy. Maybe the good parts of yesterday were a dream too; at best, they were a delusion that really physically happened, he realizes.


He could call Alex and ask for a full update on the situation. He could probably ask Ash directly and get one.


Instead, he tends to his own work e-mails. He'll be on a few major shows soon, after all. Time to get his data together, time to follow up with some of those politicians, time to get with Charlie about how the lawsuits and investigations into The Unit are going.


Time to reach out to Shawn, since he does have his number. In confidence.

Misplaced confidence. At 12:30 Ash is texted by Shawn.]

Your old man's a drug addict~~

[Also today, the girl who is not presently covered in twigs but still looks as if she's been rolling around on carpet for static, frizzy hair and clothes meant for painting a house more than actually going out, glares at him bitterly through class, even during a test that should have her more distracted by it. But Ash is surely too busy to deal with that.

All the more when at 2:00, Wu is calling him. He's more of a caller than a texter.]

Comments

[jadedlynx]

[ Sheng was definitely involved in this. Damn it.

But the guy was black. That was rare. ]

Have you seen a black man working with him?

[papalobo]

Huh? A black guy? From what I heard, you're the only gang that's got any interracial blends in one group out here.

[Which meant no. Or at least none he'd admit to.]

[jadedlynx]

The same black guy is behind the note. Did it include an address? Anything that might lead somewhere?

[ Ash finally begins to text Yut Lung and filled him in on what he learned and then followed up with a question: have your guys spotted any black men around? ]

[papalobo]

Any notes've been kids from here or something saying someone asked them to pass it to me. Everyone I bothered asking said they had it passed off by someone who looked Chinese, but... I still got some of the notes, but they're in Chinese. We could try fingerprinting 'em or something, but I mean, doesn't seem like a secret who the source is.

[There's no immediate reply from Yut Lung, but that isn't likely surprising; he isn't someone who works on the ground level at all, it'd be fair to say he probably hasn't set sights directly on a single human being with a net worth of less than six figures in over a week. But a racially homogenous gang has its benefits when looking for an outlier.]

[jadedlynx]

I met with him, and he doesn't have plans on spilling anything. I need to find the guys who might have directly interacted with him. Go through them and see if there's anything you can find.

Thanks.

[ It's a quick call. He sends another text to Cain, which is rare enough. ]

Have there been any Chinese men hanging around?

[ It's unlikely, but Ash returns to the alley to look for clues. If there were flies, maybe the garbage is old enough to contain something. ]

[papalobo]

Through them, like the kids?

[It's not that he didn't understand, nor that he thins it's completely unreasonable. But still, he does know there's a chance, even if they were just used as messengers, that they'll get drug into a gang war.]

[jadedlynx]

No. I mean the notes. If you think any of the kids can give you a description, I won't pass it up, but I don't want them involved in this anymore than they are. I'm already planning to let him know how pissed I am he used them as his messengers.

[papalobo]

The notes just make it real clear he wanted to meet with me. I mean, I guess I can try to go all detective on it and look for Beautiful Mind schticks, but.

[jadedlynx]

I'm following through all angles. He's managed access to Sing. Just let me know if you find anything.

[papalobo]

See what I can do. Not really in my own territory here, thoough.

[jadedlynx]

I know, but right now, you're the popular girl in school.

[ And Ash is moving to search trash bags. ]

[papalobo]

Tee hee. Is the dethroned queen bee gonna go nuts trying to get her crown back before prom, now?

[jadedlynx]

You got desperate enough to expose yourself in corners. I figure you need this more than I do.

[papalobo]

And you bit a guy's dick off. So I got why you were top dog and I was just the chihuahua in your purse.

[jadedlynx]

You bite one guy's dick off, and that's what you're known for.

[papalobo]

Anyway, I'll call you if I find anything. Or when I think I spent every lead.

[jadedlynx]

Thanks.

[ With that, he ended the call and went to bust open a trash can. ]

[papalobo]

[The alleyway has a normal trash can and two industrial dumpsters. The dumpsters were last dumped that morning; it's a block with a Monday garbage day. The regular trash can meant more for passing use by pedestrians has a lot of food containers, drinking cups, cigarette packs, ad flyers. There are no windows on the sides of the buildings that make the alley, and it leads to an entanglement of back roads between the businesses there. It's a well chosen place to get lost in, with five different entrances and exists to the little concrete maze, including the one Sing and Conner had gone into and only Conner had come out of.]

[jadedlynx]

[ The text to Cain was sent. Yut Lung was looking in his territory. Shawn was following up. It's late, and he doesn't enjoy walking down random dark alleys at night, but Ash can at least follow the various trials to look for clues. ]

[papalobo]

[Being Ash's own territory at least means that if any eyes linger on him for too long (aside from admiring him, which many do), most seem at least familiar enough--even if not necessarily in his gang--to know better than to make any moves to follow and jump him, and perverts don't tend to lurk in alleyways so much as prowl the public streets.

He does come across some sleeping; the little maze of buildings is a popular spot for the homeless to be unbothered by police. He can find no less than four homeless old men huddled up under tattered coats, and there are a few needles about suggesting it's not an unpopular place to shoot up. There's a used condom. There is, at one of the central intersections, a sewer manhole with grates for drainage. That opening as well as the natural filth make for an increasingly unpleasant smell as one goes deeper into the maze, likely explaining why most of the homeless seem to favor sleeping nearer to the entrances and exits rather than go further in to be harder to find by both police and homeless hunters.

It probably helps that in Ash's territory, at least, homeless hunting isn't very well tolerated.]

[jadedlynx]

[ He'll eventually step inside whatever shop he can find open to buy some snacks - whatever's leftover from the Deli, etc - to offer them out as he goes because in these kinds of places, the homeless are the cameras. He takes the time to talk to them, ask them about Sing and a possible black guy. The food could be bribes, but Ash offers them out in hopes of earning their goodwill instead. It usually works well with his charm. ]

[papalobo]

[Being attractive also helps. It's probably not a surprise that the people he talks to are a little out of it, drunk, drugged, or just suffering brain rot, but since Ash is nicer (and hotter) than most people, and especially since he comes offering food, they try to answer.]

I dunno 'bout this Sing kid himself, but I did hear some Chinese squick-squack 'bout two, three days ago. Lot of the foreign talk around here just sounds like the teachers in Charlie Brown--Won wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah Waaaaaah--but I know Chinese when I hear it, at least. Used to really like Bruce Lee movies as a kid, so it sounds familiar.

Don't speak a word of it, so can't tell you what no one was sayin', but you said he looked Chinese, gots a Chinese name. So, best I got for ya, Kiddo.

[jadedlynx]

[ As ridiculous as it may sound, sometimes being attractive can make situations difficult. What they might give for free to some, they'd want payment for from others. Hence the charm and food; it's important they're willing to offer without wanting some kind of payment. ]

Did you see where they went?

[papalobo]

Heard 'em walking past. I was at the other entrance before, there by the theater that day. One between the theater and the parking lot, I mean. Didn't see 'em, sounded like just one guy talking, but at least two walking. Didn't think much of it, so I didn't pay a whole lot of attention but they were goin' south to north.

[The cafe and the alleyway Ash had known Conner to come out of, after entering with Sing, was on the south.



Layout of alleyway for convenience.]

[jadedlynx]

[ Mentally, Ash marks off the lower half. If they were still going north at that point, they either went into a building on the northern side or took a north exit.

At least they were still above ground here. If they took to the sewers, he'd be screwed.

Another hot dog for that guy. He kept the same plan in action, moving north. ]