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Day 261 - Monday, September 8th
[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.]
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.]
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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.]
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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.
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Did you see where they went?
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[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.]
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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. ]
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Someone at the Pharmacy exit confirms hearing some foreign talk from inside the central area as they were staying at the entrance by the comic and the laundry exit that day, but the whole reason no one sleeps or really stays in the central area is it's a common place for dirty deals to go down that nobody wants to end up a witness to, or they get chased off from the place the same as they would a legitimate business place, ironically.]
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The parking lot and pharmacy cameras would be the hardest to gain access to, and the latter would be closed at this time of night.
The gas station would be manned by someone bored and underpaid. The gym would be manned by someone more likely than not to be vain. Deciding the gas station attendant would be the one most bored and ready for a distraction, he starts there. ]
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Welcome to Conoco!
[Most clerks don't say anything until spoken to. She seems to enjoy her job.
Or she just noticed that Ash was the hottest thing she'd ever seen.]
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[ There's a bit of charm to his smile, but there's also worry and hesitation. This isn't just about flattering his lashes and hoping she'll agree. She's not desperate enough for that.
He makes his way to the counter. ]
Since I hear you're not supposed to ask a favor from a stranger, and I do need to ask a favor, I'm Ash.
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[She likes this game.]
I'm a Virgo, and I like listening to Chris Daughtry! I'm also single.
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As a Virgo, you know loyalty, right?
[ Reading newspapers means he runs across a lot of useless things. ]
Then maybe you'll understand. My friend has been missing for the last few days, and I'm worried he's fallen into the wrong kind of crowd so I can't call the cops yet. He hasn't even been home, but I'm told he was seen around here right before he disappeared. I need to see who he was with. Does your store have cameras?
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Mm... We do, but I can't get to them. It'd be a problem for the boss if I could just erase the data or something for what happened on my shift, right? So that'd be a manager thing...
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I know it's a lot to ask, Kelly, but if you could speak to them in the morning... or ask them to speak to me... He's a kid over his head. You know what the wrong kind of people could do to him.
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Yeah, of course.
[ He rattles off a number to one of his burners. ]
Leave a note to text if I don't pick up. I'll turn my ringer off through some parts of the city tonight to keep from drawing attention to myself.
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I can't wait at home. It's been three days so it's already this dangerous...
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I'll do a dumb thing as smart as I can, but the sooner I find him, the sooner I can stop looking so if you could have them call me, it'll help.
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Be safe, Kelly.
[ That leaves the gym. Maybe he'd have an easier time getting tapes from them. ]
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