Day 263 - Wednesday, September 10th

[papalobo]

[By morning, Max's texts are mostly jibberish but the article he delivers to Peter at 3:30 AM is well polished, especially given in the e-mail and subject body the entire line was off by one or more--- 'yjr stiv;r er ys;lrff snnpiy' for 'The article we talked about' and the body was similarly incoherent.

Everything hurts. He knows Ash would tell him to take a damn sleeping pill already. He knows a lot of things. He knows Ash is tired of his pity party. He knows even if Ash were to tell him something comforting, he wouldn't believe it. But being in this brain-rotted state of sleepless delirium is actually further from consciousness. In sleep, he dreams, and there he is. Right now, there's a state as far from himself, as if his self has decayed, like inebriation, and that's nice enough he decides it calls for some actual inebriation. They've got hard liquor and his publication calls for some, so he's going to toast to himself at sunrise, and let the cats hear him tell them in loud, slurring detail about the time Eiji saved Ash in the sewers, that their Ash is all sewer stinky now again, and that Ash won't come home because he's fantasizing about better times with a better useless sidekick, and also he's probably blowing Blanca to get magical answers, or maybe just because he likes men who can react. At any rate, they should come outside with him he decides, and he will also pour alcohol into shot glasses that he'll set on the ground level for them.

By 8:00, he's Shawn's problem. His texting skills have deteriorated enough to switch to voice.

Shawn puts up with it for about fifteen minutes, but he's got things to do, like wait in the bar for Ash to wake up and see how things have been going.

He is then Jenkins's and Charlie's and even Kent's problem. All of them are surely grateful to Ash for having encouraged him to build and reach out to a friend group a little more.]

Comments

[sentimentalstoic]

You're doing all right?

[jadedlynx]

The same as usual. My week was made up of mooncakes, sewers, and missing Chinese kids.

[sentimentalstoic]

I'll call if you feel like unwinding.

[jadedlynx]

I already have a lunch date. I decided to feed the guy before sending him in as bait. We'll do a call when things calm down.

[sentimentalstoic]

Take care of yourself.

[jadedlynx]

No promises.

[ Assuming that's the end of the call, Ash arrives at the bar and grabs the small bug. ]

[papalobo]

[Shawn is there, chatting up with anyone nearby easily.]

[jadedlynx]

[ Shorter wasn't so different. Shorter, who got blackmailed and used by a Chinese mafia family.

Was Ash sending somebody else in to suffer the same fate?

Sing needed him. He approached, knowing it had to be done. ]

[papalobo]

Hey. Any luck getting the number?

[jadedlynx]

I have a guy working on it. We have time for lunch.

[ Even if he's not hungry, they can have lunch. ]

[papalobo]

Big plus of your base bein' a bar with a kitchen and a clean front business, you can ply a lot of us poor kids with food and drink~

[jadedlynx]

Drink and food.

[ Without any real seriousness, Ash corrects the order by importance. ]

Drunk tongues are a lot looser and drink minds a lot more willing to do stupid stuff.

[papalobo]

I think I already come pretty pre-plied on that front.

[jadedlynx]

Don't be so self-centered. It wasn't catered to you. Not everybody comes in drunk.

[papalobo]

You do seem to like the company of idiots. Me, the old guy,
don't much like the child prodigy princess....

[jadedlynx]

[ Child prodigy his ass. He wasn't even uniquely evil. If he'd been born without the connection or money, maybe he'd have done well enough, but not on a prodigy level.

He also hurt Shorter and Eiji so Ash isn't generous with his opinions even if they're his real assessments. He's also just not prone to correcting misconceptions if they're not important.

Conversation is easy between them as they're both prone to banter and sarcasm. After lunch, they can play dart or pool as Ash waits for a reply from Wu or contact from Ling. ]

[papalobo]

[It's several hours before Wu texts with an address and no context, assuming Ash will know what it means.


But despite trying to be cool and coy, it's just his own home address.]

[jadedlynx]

I'm glad you know how to text, but remember the part where I said it shouldn't be your house?

[papalobo]

[So, he'll call.]

[jadedlynx]

[ Stopping their game, Ash sighs. ]

Don't just call after I congratulated you on being able to text.

[papalobo]

He said he wouldn't agree to anywhere less neutral than my place. He's also willing to meet with you tomorrow at what is considered his territory, but that's... not very safe, really.

[jadedlynx]

Oh, are you worried he doesn't like me? How painful.

He doesn't believe in phone calls?

[papalobo]

I like them.

[jadedlynx]

I'm bringing the guy he wants to meet. He'll want to do it in private, away from me. Have your own security.

[papalobo]

I can tell him if you'll agree to meet him in his territory, but...