Day 264 - Thursday, September 11th

[papalobo]

[Max sleeps; has as he'd thought, he achieves nothing, and he's not even a small-talk source of comfort or somebody to soothe Ash's nerves before his two AM meeting with yet another Chinese teenager. Something about Chinese teenagers seems to always spell trouble for Ash, and now he's in a mess involving no less than four of them.

But Max doesn't move. If Ash comes to see him, setting that pill counter and the note about the smoothie, he may notice he hasn't so much as shifted a finger. Ash has had to turn to painting, but there's no need to lock that room before, or even for a long while after. The only one in this house besides him is a breathing corpse.

But Shawn's ready and waiting for him at one, prepared to be decked out a wires that Ling's likely to hang him with if he finds out about them.]

Comments

[papalobo]

I live around here.

But I also know you drug us into a war with Golzine just for you to move up in power there, and no benefits to our side, besides showing off that you could lead our boss around like a dog on a leash.

[He doesn't sound like he actually has much resentment, so much as caution; those are words he's been taught more than words he particularly holds onto.]

[jadedlynx]

Do you know that? Sounds like a lot of rumors. Anybody who thinks Sing would be anybody's dog hasn't spent enough time with him. He's nice, not weak.

But I'm not trying to move in. I want to make sure Wu's safe. It sounds like you want the same thing. I need to know if there's a place around there where you could hide somebody.

[papalobo]

Uh, only behind every door, window, trash can, and fire escape?

And nice and weak are the same thing. People are either being nice to be stronger than an idiot who can't see through it, or trying to come off like a not-threat so somebody might overlook 'em and let 'em lick their feet.

[jadedlynx]

If you think it's strong to be mean, point your gun at any bully, and they're crying at your feet.

I'm all for the philosophy lesson, but I'm talking abut a kidnapped body.

[papalobo]

Most people drop for a gun. And if you wrap 'em up and squish 'em up enough, like I said, anywhere.

But people here wouldn't just let Wu-xiang sheng get drug in here roughed up.

[jadedlynx]

Most people aren't strong.

A kidnapped body that's still alive.

[papalobo]

Alive don't gotta mean comfy. It's kidnaping, not hosting.

[jadedlynx]

You guys walk by a lot of squirming garbage cans?

I'm talking back rooms, abandoned places, that kind of thing?

[papalobo]

Every room's a back room. White people...

[He gets an eyeroll, but he does look around.]

I've only been up half an hour, but I haven't seen nothing...

[jadedlynx]

[ Ash knows why this guy isn't the brains of the operation. There are no backrooms without fronts. ]

It happened before 2 this morning.

[papalobo]

Then you should find him fast. You know the 24-hour rule and all.

[jadedlynx]

[ He slides the hood back over his head as he moves by the guy. ]

That's the plan.

[papalobo]

If anything bad happens, I'm telling everyone you were here.

[jadedlynx]

If anything bad happens, keep looking for Wu. They'll try to pin it on me. They'll use my reputation. It'll work for a lot of people, but it'll be a decoy. Look at the same people pointing the finger. If getting him back is more important than hating me, don't accept their explanation.

[papalobo]

Sounds like bullshit, but you're not here with an army right now, I guess.

[jadedlynx]

I'm not asking you to do anything for me. Just keep looking for Wu.

[papalobo]

Don't pull anything fishy out here. I dunno who I'd report you to anymore, but.

[jadedlynx]

[ He became a monster, and he's still losing. At least being a monster had always been a means to an end, but what happens when it's not enough?

He's gotten weak. He should have traded Ling.

Instead, he's heading toward the shopping center itself. ]

[papalobo]

[ He earns quite a few stares, skeptical old women preparing for the day hesitating to step out when he walks through.

He is a monster, after all.

Although, with his hood up, it's only the particularly perceptive ones, those who notice someone trying to be inconspicuous. Others still go about beginning their day.]

[jadedlynx]

[ It's akin to suicide, he knows. It'll make them move the men, he knows. The smartest move would be the long con. The smartest move would be trading Ling to Yut Lung. He'd over-gambled Ling's worth to them. So, who did they actually work for?

The shopping center has to eventually come into sight. ]

[papalobo]

[The shopping center is a tight set of pathways more like alleyways with colorful shopfronts with little to no English, and the open sounds of people moving in their houses that double as their stores, with thin walls and doors, multi-generational families crushed in close quarters together.]

[jadedlynx]

[ They stopped in one place for a long time. Ash tries to overly the map with the shops he sees around him.

They'll probably be looking for him. ]

[papalobo]

[The fact that he has a destination helps him blend in, as if he knows where he's going; he can find the building, which looks to be a three story building, with either a front entrance which requires going through the front entrance--it appears to be a home where an elderly woman in the same clothing as the one who had dropped off the phone is rolling out egg roll wrappers--or slip through a tight squeeze between that building and the neighboring one to see if there's a fire escape or other entrance.]

[jadedlynx]

[ As if he needs to add 'beating up an old woman' to his list of sins today. Ash is going to hope for a back entrance.

And Max says there's no reason to stay so skinny. He can fit through tight spots. ]

[papalobo]

[In back, there'a winding set of fireescapes clearly not up to code, which is made of one rickety interconnected set between all of the buildings there. That includes up to every floor above ground level, though.]