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]

Ash?!

[Despite the order, he jerks as if to face him; his pupils are too wide, though. Ash has been the victim of a similar drug enough to likely guess that for him, it's like hearing sounds in a dark room. He's too surprised to sound relieved or worried; it's pure shock for the moment.

He really hadn't expected rescue.]

[jadedlynx]

[ It's a popular drug, it seems. ]

Shh. I haven't secured the rest of the house.

[ Once the wires are cut, he tries to help Shawn to his feet. It's important he's able to move if Ash has to hold off more men. ]

Do you know if anybody else is inside?

[papalobo]

[His standing is unsteady, but he can probably walk, even if running is bound to be out of the question. He also has no shoes.]

I don't even know what I'm inside. I heard you got Ling. You got Wu or Sing?

[jadedlynx]

No. I'm hoping Wu is in the room I haven't checked.

[ Alive, preferably, but the acid and Shawn's condition keeps his stomach heavy. ]

I'm going to put you outside on the fire escape. If it sounds like things go south, use the railing to get down. I can hold them off long enough for that.

Don't trust anybody here. Even the old woman downstairs is in on it.

[papalobo]

If I didn't need you to save my sorry ass right now I'd be real insulted you don't want me with you as backup...

[jadedlynx]

[ An arm hooks around Shawn to help him walk and guide him to the window. ]

I've been on your end of that drug before. You wouldn't even know how many fingers I was holding up.

[papalobo]

They got a lotta drugs. Instant TKO got me in the house. Dunno if it was a blowdart or what. Woke up in a limo. Real nice to me 'till they said you got Ling. Some kinda truth talky thing, too. Right out the movies.

[Ash is going to get blood on him, which will make him conspicuous when leaving.]

[jadedlynx]

[ Shawn is going to make him conspicuous when leaving. ]

They made the call not to do the trade, and they've also got an acid that can dissolve a body so they wouldn't have been real nice if you didn't give them what they wanted.

There's a window here, a few feet off the ground. Step over it. The escape is on the other side.

[papalobo]

Wait for you unless I hear somethin' that sounds bad, right? You got a phone you want me to call Alex or someone with to back you up if it goes south?

[jadedlynx]

Yeah, I'll call in help if I need it. I still have Ling to barter with. The Chinese princess wants him.

[ But he's going to try and avoid confrontation. Most of Chinatown would hold him down while the next guy shoots.

Ash describes the path to Shawn in case he needs it. How many steps between each turn, and roughly how long to keep walking before he could make it back to someplace more public.

With luck, he'd be able to go with him, but Ash Lynx isn't known for his good luck. ]

[papalobo]

I wanna do the "best buddy" movie thing here and insist on sticking by and waiting no matter what, but I know this game enough to know dead weight.

But if it keeps you from doing some suicide hero stint knowing I'm waiting out there, I am.

[The fire escape rattles with his unsteady settling onto it.]

[jadedlynx]

If something happens out here, come back inside.

[ Ash can't promise he'll be back, but he plans to come back. First, though, he goes back to the dead man for his phone; he has a collection now, but somebody has to know where Wu and Sing are.

Then, if the front door isn't locked, he'll do that now before finally going to the door. There's no choice but to open it. Again, he's silent. If they're sleeping, he wants to keep it that way. ]

[papalobo]

[It's a bedroom, with four futons all laid out, ash trays, long dried blood splatters here and there on two of the futons, empty beer bottles, a rancid smell, and no actual people.]

[jadedlynx]

[ Good to know that brave speech was for nothing. But, it actually is. Ash would've preferred to find Wu, Sing, or both in here even if it meant a fight, but if they were not here, there'd be nothing gained from a fight.

He sends a quick text to Yut Lung while giving the house one more sweep to be sure. ]

You suck at holding off cops. Our next clue to Sing is a white limo. Try to find it.

[ Then he returns to Shawn. ]

It's clear. We can go. Did you hear them mention Wu?

[papalobo]

[The message to Yut Lung could not be delivered, his phone says.]

Hey. Good job not dying. They talked about an old woman in Chinese a little, but no old guys. Lot of it was coded, but once they drugged me, I ended up telling them I knew Chinese and they stopped talking around me too much.

[jadedlynx]

[ This is growing. Yut Lung wouldn't have cut off Ash's access to him. ]

I'm the lynx. They're creative with that one.

[ Ash once more hooks an arm around Shawn. ]

We have to move slowly, this thing creeks if you blink at it.

Yut Lung is the dragon. Ling decided he was going to be the dog. Not a lot of reason to use code if it's going to be that obvious.

[papalobo]

Bet he didn't choose that name himself...

[He snickers about that. Dogs aren't especially well regarded by the Chinese as a whole.]

But that's his name. Guess his mom wasn't a big fan of him either.--Ow, shit...

[Movement is pretty painful. Ash can likely tell Shawn wouldn't have really gotten far on his own if he'd had to.]

[jadedlynx]

I just need a direct line to his mom, then. We already have something in common.

What did they say about the old woman?

[papalobo]

That she was missing and something about those missing persons silver alerts or something. Something about a wolf in a cage and turtle not needing a monkey anymore.

[jadedlynx]

You're Chinese. Can you connect the turtle and monkey to anybody? Max is the wolf.

[papalobo]

Inn't it more like a cougar?

[jadedlynx]

Don't ignore a serious question to make a joke, or I'll think you switched brains with him.

[papalobo]

If I had an answer to--ow-- the serious question, I'd lead with that...

[jadedlynx]

Would you?

[ Ash isn't sure. But he does know that out of the two of them, he'll have an answer time walking. ]

What would Wu be represented by?

[papalobo]

I don't know the guy... But old guys are usually turtles or something, right? They're slow and wise or ..ow... Something.