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]

Not yet.

[ The less touch on his back, the better. ]

[sentimentalstoic]

[Likely, working at his hips directly won't go over very well, either.

No matter. He reaches for the hand that, not that long ago, had had a knife through it. Having been the one to have stitched it up, much to Ash's confusion at the time, he runs a thumb over the shockingly already near invisible marking, lightly feeling out how said hand has been recovering on the inside.

Ash's body is a wonderland he can play in for hours no matter which sections of the park may be closed.]

[jadedlynx]

It's a lot better.

[ He trusts Blanca enough that his eyes close. Naked and with a man who could easily overcome him, Ash knows that he's in good hands, not in danger of being a victim yet again. ]

It'd have been annoying to lose the ability to use it.

[sentimentalstoic]

[And yet, some part of Ash would be tense if he were to touch him in the same places.]

You've a knack for understatement.

[But he had thought the same thing when treating him. He had decided not to reveal himself, and yet, back then, he had determined even at the very real risk of blowing his identity, that hand had to be saved.]

[jadedlynx]

I spent 20 minutes crying in your lap in the last 6 hours. That wasn't enough dramatics for you?

[sentimentalstoic]

I'd rather have an eternity of seeing you at the other end of that spectrum, but it seems over the years I have grown more decadent in taste.

[jadedlynx]

At this rate, I'm thinking I might make it to 22 if I'm being generous.

[ Maybe less if the Lings try again. ]

An eternity is a little too far out.

[sentimentalstoic]

Thank you for offering a part of your remaining limited years to me.

[jadedlynx]

It makes them a limited-time item.

[ Ash would say they're also exclusive, but... ]

[sentimentalstoic]

Most things are.

[jadedlynx]

[ Ash smirks. ]

Limited-er time.

[ He does know that's not the actual way to say it. ]

[sentimentalstoic]

But does this style of living make you happy?

[Blanca could, is tempted to lecture him, to inform him what he already knows: if he hadn't been trying to juggle a regular life with this, likely, he would now be above the law as much as Golzine ever was. This happened because he needed to return to normalcy, which meant going through that system he was meant to look down upon as a mere toy.

He doesn't disagree that this really can't last as long as a normal human lifespan.]

[jadedlynx]

The way it is right now, no. Things are too strained with Max.

Usually? Yeah.

[ Head leaning back against the tub, his eyes stare at the ceiling. ]

If I can get out of gang life, that's the side I plan to leave behind. If I can't, I know it'll have been a better run when it's over. What's the point of living 80 years when you're not enjoying it?

[sentimentalstoic]

[So he believes things will go back, does he?

He continues to massage that hand, as good an excuse to hold it as any.]

And enjoyment is its own reward? How hedonic.

[jadedlynx]

[ He believes it might. Ash does know how screwed things are right now. ]

As opposed to what reward? Another year? It's not a video game with a high score.

[sentimentalstoic]

If one has a one in one hundred chance of enjoyment every day, one has approximately three and a half enjoyments per year. Even if those odds reduce by year at some point, there is always the chance for more per "score."

[jadedlynx]

If you thought every choice brought the same chances of enjoyment, you'd be in the Bahamas, not here playing nurse to me.

[ Ash splashes water at him. ]

You get it, too. Maybe not the choices I make, but why I make them.

[sentimentalstoic]

Yes. For you, at least, "enjoyment" isn't what you're really looking to maximize.

[As for himself, he's in a fluffy white bathrobe in a scent bathroom with a gloriously attractive naked blonde whom he can pet almost freely, in a beachside mansion.]

[jadedlynx]

Quality.

[ Blanca can fill in the blank of 'over quantity'. ]

I'm going to remember Ireland and that sky for most of my life.

[ Ash has never pretended not to be enchanted by their date. ]

But I'm not going to forget that you came here for me, either.

[sentimentalstoic]

Eventually, I'll have been over so many times you'll have lost count.

[jadedlynx]

[ Finally look back at Blanca, his head tilts to the side, allowing still-dry blonde hair to hang to the side. ]

You came because you were worried about me.

[sentimentalstoic]

Close enough.

[jadedlynx]

You. Were. Worried. About. Me.

[ Each word is emphasized as if it's something embarrassing, but with more of an aim to tease than actually insult. ]

[sentimentalstoic]

[He tries not to giggle. He's entirely too grown, too stately to giggle, and yet, between giggle and chuckle, the noise he makes is decidedly just a bit closer to the formal.

An Ash who is teasing is an Ash more in his element than one trying too consciously to relax.]

Close. Enough.

[jadedlynx]

You like me enough to worry about me.