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]

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. ]

[papalobo]

As for your being a whore, it doesn't take a detective to determine where Max Lobo got his information on your step-daddy's regime, nor the political consequences. That man has an ex-wife and child he's abandoned, which can only be attributed to one thing realistically. Sing's been lured by the possibility of losing his virginity to you. Your first aim in torturning me is the crotch; sexual predation is a tool as firmly in your skillset as any other. The same goes for the youngest Lee.

[jadedlynx]

Nothing in here, huh?

I'm not going to give you a lecture on confirmation bias, but I didn't stab your dick as a sexual thing. It was an asshole move the same way stabbing your eye would be. I don't want to fuck you so sit down and worry about the actually dangerous stuff.

[papalobo]

I assumed you preferred the other end, so attacking my manhood was the surest sign you had no interest like that in me.

[jadedlynx]

Yeah, you would assume that kind of thing.

[ He'll have to get access to that room himself. Too bad. It'd be nice if something was that easy.

Having Shawn for backup would make things go better. As much as he wants to rush in and make sure Max is safe, he knows they won't hold him there.

The other guy comes in as Ash leaves. On the way back to the bar, he tries Yut Lung again. ]

[papalobo]

[The number is not in service; the city is alive with sirens, the early morning rush more cramped and hectic than usual, a sense of terror and panic throughout the familiar streets.]

[jadedlynx]

[ The perimeter is set around his own area, but it might be a good idea to move the Unit kids. He'll arrange it.

For now, once he makes it to the bar, he tracks down Shawn. ]

[papalobo]

[He will be informed of a bombing at Yut Lung's mansion when he next makes contact with his own gang.]

[jadedlynx]

[ A bombing?

He'll find out once he's at the bar. Instead of going for Shawn, he'll look up the news to see if it mentions Yut Lung or how it happened. ]

[papalobo]

[It was believed to be the work of Ash's gang, according to the news. Those sirens begin to close in around his territory. It seems Ash--an unknown blonde--had broken in to a Chinese man's house the night before and engaged in a violent robbery and kidnapping, and Ash's gang is, according to the news, currently launching a violent attack on Chinatown.]

[jadedlynx]

[ Tch, a pain in the ass, but he isn't so unprepared for an assault be it from the cops or another gang.

His men start to receive the text. Some stay exactly where they are, others don't. Those taking care of the unit kids have alibis. Some can behave around cops. Some can't. Some are too strong to leave. Some are too weak to stay.

The kids can be moved once the cops aren't directly on them. For now, he has to grab Shawn. ]

[papalobo]

[Shawn is recovering, cleaned, more patched up by now, and in a new set of clothes.]

Looks like they decided to go all in today, huh?

[jadedlynx]

Don't worry. After getting your territory hijacked once, you learn a few things.

But I need you to come with me. It's the downside to being the only Chinese guy here.

[papalobo]

Well, I'm kinda in terrible pain and drugged up, but you're in luck, I like your company.