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

[jadedlynx]

You took intel from a bunch of guys who hated me? You didn't think that'd make them a little bias?

I have other questions, but right now, getting Wu out if he's in that hotel room is more important. I have a plan, but it'll be a lot less of a pain in the ass if I don't have to do it. If I can convince you I won't kill you if you work with me and call you a doctor, would you be willing to get him out of there?

[ Ash doubts it, but it's worth a shot. ]

[papalobo]

They hate and fear you. I'd imagine if they obtain the Japanese boy after all, that will be the end of this game.

Though, I don't especially enjoy bullying civilians and wished to avoid that much. His existence also seems to be a sore spot for the younger master Lee.

Your strange, slutty interminglings are Western in the worst way. Maybe coming to this country was a mistake.

[jadedlynx]

Yeah, yeah. I'm a whore. Answer the question.

[papalobo]

I'd betray you at the first opportunity.

[jadedlynx]

I didn't really need a drug to believe that one.

Then we'll go the nasty route. What can I threaten you with to have you call the cops and tell them your friends brought Wu back to your hotel room? What are you afraid of?

[papalobo]

And here my reports said you were clever... I suppose physical torture again is your best bet, but I'm mentally prepared to die. It'll be a test of fortitude, and I suppose my final act on this Earth, so I'd like to hold out.

[jadedlynx]

I don't need it that badly. My current plan is to get as many secrets from you as I can, including the Ling secrets, and then give you back to Mom and Dad.

Why were you looking up acid? Who's body did you plan on getting rid of?

[papalobo]

Everyone who didn't cooperate fully.

[jadedlynx]

So you make this big talk and act like you're better than your family, but you were planning on doing the same stuff they do, huh? Your high horse has lost a few feet there.

Tell me about the turtle.

[papalobo]

I don't want to hear that from the man who tried to circumcize me.

[jadedlynx]

If I tried to circumcise you, you'd be circumcised. I actually stopped short of the worse kind of damage. If I'd gotten everybody back unharmed, I'd call in a doctor and send you on your little Chinese way. If you'd been able to tell me you didn't plan on hurting any of them, he'd be on his way while you told me about the turtle.

But either way, I don't play the good guy.

The turtle in the text messages. Tell me about him.

[papalobo]

You make so many excuses to pass as human. A beast that can fool itself cannot fool anyone else.

Likely, one of my brothers, pretending to be an agent of himself. Or themselves.

[jadedlynx]

[ Ash doesn't fool himself, but he isn't going to explain his image to Ling, either. ]

You're working with the guy, and you don't know his name?

[papalobo]

It doesn't matter who they are if they outrank you.

I also have information that your sex life was the same. Anyone as long as they were important, as long as they paid. Don't act as if you don't know this world just because you've moved up in it beyond those limits.

[jadedlynx]

For somebody who liked to throw around the word 'whore', you guys are spending a lot of time thinking about my sex life.

What information do you have that might actually be useful?

[papalobo]

I'm surprised you didn't discover it yourself. My main concern was you'd be smart enough to put the pieces together, as close as you were to Shorter Wong.... We'd sent him to trigger a softness in you.

Didn't you ever wonder how he ended up there with no parents or guardian to sign off on treatment rather than jail time?

[jadedlynx]

Are you saying Shawn works for you guys?

[ Ash asks the question without delay or surprise. ]

[papalobo]

No, you idiot, I'm saying we set him up to get him out of Chicago. For the love of...

[jadedlynx]

Yeah, 'we sent him' really should have made it clear you didn't send him.

[ Ash isn't impressed. ]

[papalobo]

If you two got on well, he may have stayed out here and given up Chicago. I was hoping you'd copulate with him too. If you become stronger, perhaps you wouldn't have such a stalemate with the Lees and would actually make a move against him. If nothing else, I had planned for him to reach for your Japanese rabbit in a pinch. And then the Ling clan would assist you in eliminating the Lee's dragon.

[jadedlynx]

It's not a plan that would have ever worked. Your research is so far off that it's useless. I'm not at a stalemate with the Lee clan. I don't care about them. What the dragon does in his own little world is his own business.

[ Though Ash wonders if he's faked a kidnapping against Sing. ]

And I don't actually have sex with every guy who looks at me. That's the same kind of petty whispering you'll hear from a girl's locker room, and you wrote it into your plan.

[ Ash has more vials. Most of the rest can wait until later. For now, he moves to check Wu's pockets. Hopefully, he has the key card on him. ]

[papalobo]

His own business. What set this off from your end, again?

[jadedlynx]

Sing is my business.

[papalobo]

[He still feels his point is made.]

[jadedlynx]

[ It's not. Ling wasn't his business until they stepped into his business, either.

He checks the pockets. ]