Day 265 - Friday, September 12th

[papalobo]

[A Chinese man who is definitely a mature adult and not a teenager checks in to the Hyatt, one of their more exclusive rooms, along with his half-white half brother who is also certainly not a teenager and most definitely not the notorious gang leader wanted on suspicion of a September 11th New York City bombing in retaliation for an angry rogue sect of anti-American zealots.

The entire suite floor has been rented out, and it requires a special key card in the elevator and on the stairs to enter that floor. But they can rent one of the still very luxe rooms directly beneath.

A familiar white limo is in the car garage, though the opportunity to gawk or investigate is slim, between the security cameras and live guards.

There's still no contact from Max, but the Department of Homeland Security has become involved, and has begun to enter Ash's territory with intent to arrest any known figures within his gang to bring in for questioning.]

Day 284, Wednesday, Oct 1st

Comments

[jadedlynx]

[ Why? Why the hell is there a cop here? His body tenses. Revenge? It happens with cops.

He's tired. He's so damn tired.

Undoing his seat belt, he approaches. ]

[papalobo]

[There's nobody actually in the cruiser.]

[jadedlynx]

Hello?

[ Annoyed, he calls out. Where is the guy? He becomes all the more tense. The guy shouldn't be in the house. ]

[papalobo]

[There are no signs of anybody outside, however.]

[jadedlynx]

[ Does Blanca have a police car? Ash isn't sure why he would, but he's Blanca. Maybe that's his idea of being undercover.

He opens the door. ]

Hey!

[papalobo]

[The inside of the house looks undisturbed, at least at the entryway, which may be a welcome surprise. Less welcomed is likely the figure waddling out to meet him. He's a large--very large, towering even--man with short blonde hair, a scraggly bit of patchy facial hair, rosacea, heading out of the kitchen to glower at him, looking at Ash as if he's an annoyance rather than someone he had been waiting on, much less someone who has any right to be in his own home.

He stares at Ash as if waiting for the boy to explain himself for the nerve of being here.]

[jadedlynx]

Who are you? Why are you in my house?

[ He'll take annoyance over the looks he's received these past few weeks. ]

[sentimentalstoic]

[It's more like some badly dubbed cartoon, for how much the voice does not fit the face. His expression slightly softens, but the shape of his features seems perpetually annoyed and flustered, leaving to a greater disconnect between the look at the familiar voice.]

I did say I'd see you soon.

[jadedlynx]

[ The way is close enough that he leans against it instead of falling. ]

At least wash your face first. Nobody wants to see somebody they don't expect they're your size.

[sentimentalstoic]

I had thought getting ready in advance would be doing you a favor. I'm preparing you a snack as well, to eat on the way, so go get ready at your own pace.

[jadedlynx]

Get ready? For what?

[sentimentalstoic]

This visit'll take a little more than a labcoat.

[jadedlynx]

Max?

[sentimentalstoic]

I'd be interested to hear who else it might be.

[jadedlynx]

Two's enough.

[ Ash mumbles the words as he moves forward. Once he's directly in front of Blanca, his head falls forward, resting on a chest that's too big for normal men. ]

[sentimentalstoic]

[It's an unexpected moved, and there's some padding that feels like awfully real flab there, but beneath is still despite his best disguises, the reliable, broad, hard body he's come to rely on. A hand smooths the back of his hair. Ash not being one who cares terribly about conventional attractiveness allows him the luxury of being able to be so practical as to come pre-dressed for their mission like this.

It's quite selfish. But if Ash is going to think about Max the entire time they're together, it may as well be thoughts of how he actually is, rather than wondering, rather than guilt at not having been able to see him first.

Of course, if Mr. Glenreed has been self destructive, it will be worse, and Blanca has very little faith in the man they're seeing not to dramatically self destruct, but relationships can't be all fairy tale dates and feet sweeping romance, can they?]

[jadedlynx]

I should've borrowed this disguise before going in.

[ In spite of the joke, Ash's voice is small, revealing more than it had on the phone. He does miss Max, but it would be a lie to say the pain doesn't come from their repeated use. ]

[sentimentalstoic]

[The opposite arm them scoops around him, pulling him in closer, as with just that slip in his tone, he confirms the full nature of abuse Ash had been exposed to. Again.]

[jadedlynx]

[ The first time Blanca held him like this, he'd been even smaller, even younger. Marvin had just finished with him, and Ash knew he'd probably have to be with Dino that night, too. It all felt so hopeless.

He should be too old to cry over this by now, but as if Blanca's arm was permission, the tears start to come. His body shakes, both form terror and the sobs.

He never wanted it to happen again. ]

[sentimentalstoic]

[That time, Ash had been in a hotel bed; this time, Blana scoops him up, so he needn't even stand, bringing him towards the living room---Ash might notice, but is likely no longer surprised that the rest of the home is in good, cleaned condition, regardless of how viciously it had been ransacked.]

[jadedlynx]

[ He doesn't care about the state of the house right now. He's back there, face pressed into the table as his body moves back and forth with their thrusts. He's there, but he's also here, all but enveloped by Blanca. ]

[sentimentalstoic]

[Once sat down, he can hold him more firmly, head leaned back, looking at the ceiling as one hand moves in broad circles over his back, urging him to breathe deep and even, to let everything out without words or ego or anything so logical at play; it was an act of raw, bodily aggression and power that reigned over the boy who had rejected the power to put himself above that, the boy who likely could have ended them, but choose not to kill because... he choose this life, in this home, with the man they will see later.

This is the reality of Ash's world. But so too are the arms now around him, prepared to hold him as long as he may need, without a single change in his thoughts for him, having known of Ash's vulnerabilities before he's known much of anything else of him at all.

And if it were purely physical, he could make him feel as good as they did bad. He could remind his body that for all of the suffering he felt through it, it was also his connection to all the pleasures of the world. But sex has returned to something with an emotional factor, despite trying to destroy that link all these years. So it isn't a matter of good and bad medicine, anymore.

And so perhaps these rapes were harsher than most, when that part of his life was, in Ash's mind, meant to be over. It's never over. Not really. He choose to continue a life in the boundary between a God who ruled over the men who created him, and a vulnerable human who could love and lose.

Those who abused him enjoyed their power over him as much as his body. Maybe more. He was now known as much more than an easy victim. He was a difficult victim.]

[jadedlynx]

[ How Blanca must be disappointed. To see the boy he spent two years training be reduced to tears in his lap. What good did that skill offer if he couldn't use it? Does he see his time wasted?

Does he see Yut Lung?

The sobs are raw, but they do die down to tears to numbness. He stays in place even after they stop. The pain stays, and a good cry doesn't erase it, but the water is at least under control. ]

They're being investigated.

[ It's a low voice still, and he's not sure if Blanda can understand what that means: somebody might be punished this time. ]

[sentimentalstoic]

[He wonders if that really matters, or if Ash just hopes it matters, hopes something will make it different this time. Blanca's not a vengeful sort. For him, the thought of doing anything after the fact seems trivial; what's done is done, and it won't serve as any sort of warning, people who rape in these positions do it when they think the usual dangers are taken care of. And they often aren't wrong. But nobody including himself can be an ever looming threat to make all who dare think twice. Nor can the law. Nor can Ash's own prowess.

Ash's position is unknown, but Ash's boyfriend will probably want vengeance. Mr. Glenreed will see to it the investigation produces results. As will his publisher, more than likely. If it means anything to Ash, best let it come through them. It means something to them.]

I see. You'll have to confront the memory several times more in the coming months.

[jadedlynx]

The memories are always there. There's just usually no reason to talk about it.

[ They spent the entire time telling him it didn't matter who he told. Nobody would care. And usually, people don't. ]