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]

Wonder what they want. All those questions, none of 'em were about anything in Chicago, it's all about you. So what the hell they need me for's a mystery.

Maybe I'm not Main Character material...

[jadedlynx]

The questions might've changed when I took Ling. It's not like they were trying to grab me at Wu's. Ling was even giving his farewell speech when I knocked him out. If they wanted info from me, they could grab me and use the same truth drugs.

[papalobo]

They don't seem too concerned with trading for him either, though. I don't get none of this.

[jadedlynx]

It means Ling wasn't at the head like we thought. That doesn't tell me who might be.

[ Letting Shawn put his weight against the car, Ash unlocks the door but grabs some things from the back. He did have hopes of finding two of the three men.

And now, Yut Lung isn't answering his phone. Ash isn't too broken up by that. But Max is in their hands. Everything could fall apart with that. ]

[papalobo]

And I can't figure out who the turtle, the rabbit, the monkey or the eagle is...

[jadedlynx]

[ He does have a small basket of food and a first aid kit, but as he gets into the car, he hooks the phone up to the laptop to being breaking in instead of immediately doing first aid. ]

The turtle does fit Wu best, but if it is, he's not on our side.

[ With the program started, Ash opens a bottled water and places it against Shawn's hand. ]

Water.

[papalobo]

[He chugs it as if to take it all down in one gulp.]

[jadedlynx]

[ A hand reaches out to stop him so that he can wash down the two pain pills that he places in Shawn's other hand. ]

They're weak stuff, but I can't risk giving you anything stronger with the drugs in your system.

[ Unfortunately, Ash did not pack extra shoes. He did, however, pack extra clothing in case the got bloody in the rescue. He assumed he could just wipe down his shoes.

After adding a protein bar to Shawn's lap, while the laptop works, he begins to change. Shawn's blind and even if he wasn't, it's not like he hasn't changed in front of people before. ]

[papalobo]

The stuff I was seein' the first hour of being blind was pretty damned scary.

[But he's not shy about popping whatever pills he's given now. Ash saved him; there's no reason to be skeptical or to doubt him. He's too smart and careful to even accidentally overdose him.]

[jadedlynx]

The stuff you saw?

[ It couldn't have finished yet and still, impatient, even as he slides off his pants, Ash looks at the laptop. ]

It should just be a lot of dark and blur. What did you see?

[papalobo]

Bad trip kind of stuff. They got needle happy.

[jadedlynx]

It was probably a secondary drug or a reaction to the mixture that made you trip. Unless there's a second blood to dilate your pupils, that one just messes with your eyes.

[ He pulls the shirt over his head. It's only Shawn's blood, but if he has to walk back inside, it's better not to look so obviously bloody. ]

But maybe there is. The Chinese play with them more than me so they might've made their own batch.

I'll need my shoes back.

[papalobo]

[He can take them off himself, for him.]

Where to next?

[jadedlynx]

Not far.

[ Redressed, he sends out orders to Alex. Among them is a territory-wide search for Max even if it'll probably be fruitless. ]

I'm working on hacking into the phone, but I do know this place is their hideout. As soon as I get into the phone, I'm going back inside. Somebody is on the way to pick you up.

[papalobo]

Staying right in the heart of things, huh?

[jadedlynx]

I'm in the heart of it no matter where I actually am, especially now that they have Max. I have limited time to move.

[papalobo]

I'm getting the feeling you love your lover more than me and it is breaking my heart, Ash.

[His phone isn't any harder to hack than Ling's. It is, as expected, also in Chinese.]

[jadedlynx]

[ He already has the translation app ready. ]

You're sitting right beside me, Shawn.

[papalobo]

And I have a lot of ouchies you're not kissing better.

[This phone belong to the horse on Ling's phone.]

🐎: 🐒 obtained but 🐕 hostage. 🙉 down.
🦅: Don't worry about 🐕. In that case we no longer need 🐒.
🐢: Baba Yaga can only eat so many a day. The more sacrificial pawns on hand the better.
🙉: Not dead but out of operations. 🐕 may end up with 🐉 if we don't get him back.
🦅: 🐈 can be neutralized with any pawn.
🐢: We should meet the crone before 🐕. Best case scenario the dog dies.

🐢: Have you stripped him?
🐎: Armed but no listening devices just a phone.
🐢: Have it brought to Chang Dai. Tell anyone it was lost and found property. It will make sense to them why it goes there instead of the police. The rat takes the cheese, the cat takes the rat.
🙉: Does the 🐕 feature in the song any more?

🦅: Any sign of 🐕 ? 🐺 Unaccounted for.


🐢: 🐒 pictures gathered and spread. Get what info you can.
🐎: 🐒 going 🐒. Got address for 🐺.
🐢: I'll call now.

🙊: 🐺 has pack.

🦅: Make due with 🐒. 🐼 Useless.

🐢: Hold on to 🐼. Alive fine, status otherwise unimportant. The 🐼 is a creature of great cultural heritage after all.

🦅: 🦢+🐼 may yield connections to old woman.
🐢: Follow up on that.

🐎: 🐒 doesn't know about 🦢. May have encountered Baba with 🐉. Confirms 🐉 owns crone.

🦅: Should we bait or avoid, now that we're redirecting operations from NYC?

🐢: See what 🦢+🐼 yields. Counter measure obtained. Proceed as planned with 🐉.

[jadedlynx]

You're the monkey.

[ Ouch. Sorry, Shawn.

Reaching out, Ash opens the door. ]

The needle they had the truth drug in. Any idea what it looks like?

[papalobo]

They gotta insult me on top the injury? And I don't know a lot about needles. It didn't look like a shiny, fresh diabetic one, if that's what you mean.

[jadedlynx]

I'm going back in to look for more. If I'm not back by the time your new ride gets here, take it.

[ There's enough time for him to get in there and be back by then so it'll mean something happened. ]

If I can find it, I want you to play doctor with Ling.

[papalobo]

So that's why you were offering to pay my way to college. I'm gonna be a medic!

[jadedlynx]

Yeah. I'll always be a good doctor.

The guy who picks you up will open with the word 'unit'. The door stays locked until then, but if you keep your head down, nothing will seem off.

[ As he instructs Shawn on the plan, he sends a text to a woman who played his mom.

She was indifferent to him, just like his real mom, so she did a good job. ]

It's Ash. Leave your house now and don't be home again until I tell you.

[ It's not hard to connect the swan to a pretty woman. ]

[papalobo]

??