(no subject)
Deep stopped drumming his fingers and looked up as Ju Cai came into the room. Suddenly he looked impatient, and the ghoulish inflicted half-smile on his face made him seem considerably gritty. "Hello," he said, terse.
"Hi," Ju Cai smiled and his expression faltered quickly. "You look like.."
"What's this I'm hearing about a half-assed search for Lionel, Peyton and Benjamin?" Deep stared at him with a hard look. "You send out help but you let them dawdle. I don't mean to be accusatory but, is this not a serious situation to you?"
Ju Cai nearly choked. "Of course it's serious, and don't say you didn't mean to be accusatory because it was."
"Then my next question to you is, why aren't you taking it seriously?"
Ju Cai moved further into the hotel suite and sat down on the floor beside Deep, looking up at him on the couch. "Well, to be honest with you, I don't think looking would make a difference."
Deep deadpanned and got down onto the floor, trying to get level with the Triad. "So it's not worth even trying to search for them?"
"You say that like I'm not trying. I sent out my men, didn't I? Didn't I, Deep?" Ju Cai threw his hand up ludicrously.
"You sent out your men but they're not doing so much, are they? Are they, Ju Cai?" Deep snarled, the stitches limiting the disgust on his face.
"They're not standing around jerking themselves off at the thought of possible danger if that's what you're trying to get at," Ju Cai wrinkled his nose. "Calm the fuck down. They're doing what they can. I'm sorry they can't be more like you, all overreacting and restless when this sort of thing can't be helped."
"I am not overreacting. I was right about their disappearances, and I'm sorry I can't sleep well worrying about their welfare. Aren't you the least bit concerned about them? How can you sleep so peacefully knowing that they're dead or perhaps worse?"
"Duh, I'm concerned, but let's face it, I can roll around in my bed with my head hurting and my eyes bloodshot all night but it's not going to bring anyone back. Freaking out isn't going to be the miracle that finds them. I'm worried about them, really I am, but I have to conserve my energy. Maybe you should try that sometime."
"I can't just sit back, are you mad? I know I'm throwing myself even further into the fire by behaving this way but these people are missing, Ju Cai. I don't know where they are, how they've been, if they're alright--"
"Oh and you think everyone else does?"
Deep furrowed his brows. "What I'm trying to say to you is, you search for them or you don't. Don't put your employees on post and tell them to keep their eyes peeled. It isn't enough."
"But at least they're doing something. I think it'd be even worse if they weren't."
"It's even worse to search and give up, Ju Cai. It's flimsy and so incredibly nonchalant that anyone should try for a while and then drop. At least if you had told me that you'd done nothing, I would better understand your reason in saying that it wouldn't make a difference."
"Don't be so damn black and white." Pause. "You're too compassionate, Deep, and that level of sympathy you have is making you a fool."
Deep was so struck, he gaped. "As though you are any better?"
"For this job? Probably." The two of them immediately fell silent, leaving Ju Cai to feel both good and bad about his honesty. "I'm not saying you're shit at what you do, because you're not. What you do is good. It's just the way you act that's the problem."
Deep turned his head, glaring away. "You can't soften an insult. Get out of my suite."
"I'm just telling you. You've been all sorts of irritable and grumpy and it's just made you really, really annoying," Ju Cai said, straight-faced. "I, like, have to zone out when you're talking to me sometimes because all I'm getting is a load of crazy in my ears and truthfully I'm so afraid it'll go to my brain."
"Don't you think you've said too much? You're laying it down a bit too heavy on me and to be frank I'm not sure if I could take any more of it."
"You just can't panic when things like this happen, Deep. You just can't. It sucks, I know, but like, what can you do? Why let yourself deteriorate instead of save yourself so that you can continue what you're doing for a longer amount of time instead of exerting the energy all at once?"
"I've heard enough." Deep pressed his face into his palms.
"No, seriously. Especially for guys like us. Don't you think the kidnappers would be, you know, kind of a lot smarter than to keep within the area? It's been a long, long time already. Anything could have happened. I've been panicking too, trust me on that one, but you have to accept that this is really just the waiting game."
Deep said nothing.
"You know, I don't want to have to say this to you because I know it's simmering somewhere in the back of your mind--"
"Then don't say it--"
"But if all three are dead, that makes three fewer people to worry about. Having them be gone would break your heart--it'd break all our hearts--but at least you wouldn't freak out over not knowing how or what they're doing. It's much better than terrible."
Deep, with his sneer pulled taut by the stitches, forced Ju Cai to leave.
-
It had been so long since Lincoln last had visitors, that as he approached the door he was filled with a mix of both suspicion and excitement. The thought of a friend coming by to visit made him swell with appreciation, and the thought of being targeted made him fearful but surely if it could add to his life--or take it away--it would be much more rewarding.
He'd spent his days, weeks, in silence, constantly feeling ungrateful whenever he came to recognition of his current life. It was hardly a thrilling thing to be trapped in, and any memory he had of decisive completion and success did not seem to exist. Living this way made his time on earth seem longer; he did not want that.
His surprise could not be contained when he answered the door to find a disheveled Oscar.
The taller man seemed just as surprised to find that Lincoln was missing an arm and an eye, but he knew better than to ask any questions. Sniffling out of unexpected pity for his afflicted friend, he muttered out, "Hey."
Lincoln rasped back a "hello". He stepped to the side of the door, tacitly urging Oscar to enter the house.
Oscar took a step but seemed to change his mind, shaking his head. "I tried to go to Yousei's house but no one answered. Um--don't..tell me what happened to him. I don't know what I'd do."
Lincoln swallowed. "I don't know either."
Oscar opened his mouth to say something but decided against that too. "So, I..." He put his fingers to his mouth, scratching his upper lip. "I've been in Poland."
Lincoln didn't nod.
"Actually I returned a while ago but..I didn't think it would have been a good idea to see you then."
"What made it a good idea to see me now?" Lincoln asked softly, looking down.
"You're my friend and I missed you."
"You're my friend and I missed you too."
They both looked down.
"I just wanted to tell you that I missed you guys. You and Yousei, I mean. And that..I don't think you're bad people."
Lincoln's eye went watery. "You have no idea what that means to hear."
"I'm telling you because some things..I-I don't know. I'm really not sure what's happening anymore." Oscar bit down onto his lip, shaking as he put his hands over the sides of his face. "Everything is so out of whack and it's all just so far from how I expected my life to turn out, but being friends with you guys was--"
"Is?"
Oscar shook his head, "Was one of my biggest comforts."
Lincoln nodded and wiped his eye with his sleeve, sighing. After a pause he asked, "So where will you be now?" A longer pause. "If you want to stay with me..."
"It.." Oscar trailed off. "Wouldn't make any sense for me to stay with you. Or with anyone. I'm looking for a place in Long Island so I can be nearby the coast. If that doesn't work, I'm just heading back to Poland."
"Ah," Lincoln said, looking down at his feet. "Good luck, Oscar. I hope you lead a good life and find...better people to be friends with. I wish you hadn't gone through any of these heartbreaks by being close with guys like me. They shouldn't have been for you."
"It's easy to get heartbroken by lawfully innocent people, too."
"Just lawfully?"
"I don't think you're bad, Lincoln. I really don't. Hardly anyone really is."
"..You would be surprised."
"I would be."
"Hi," Ju Cai smiled and his expression faltered quickly. "You look like.."
"What's this I'm hearing about a half-assed search for Lionel, Peyton and Benjamin?" Deep stared at him with a hard look. "You send out help but you let them dawdle. I don't mean to be accusatory but, is this not a serious situation to you?"
Ju Cai nearly choked. "Of course it's serious, and don't say you didn't mean to be accusatory because it was."
"Then my next question to you is, why aren't you taking it seriously?"
Ju Cai moved further into the hotel suite and sat down on the floor beside Deep, looking up at him on the couch. "Well, to be honest with you, I don't think looking would make a difference."
Deep deadpanned and got down onto the floor, trying to get level with the Triad. "So it's not worth even trying to search for them?"
"You say that like I'm not trying. I sent out my men, didn't I? Didn't I, Deep?" Ju Cai threw his hand up ludicrously.
"You sent out your men but they're not doing so much, are they? Are they, Ju Cai?" Deep snarled, the stitches limiting the disgust on his face.
"They're not standing around jerking themselves off at the thought of possible danger if that's what you're trying to get at," Ju Cai wrinkled his nose. "Calm the fuck down. They're doing what they can. I'm sorry they can't be more like you, all overreacting and restless when this sort of thing can't be helped."
"I am not overreacting. I was right about their disappearances, and I'm sorry I can't sleep well worrying about their welfare. Aren't you the least bit concerned about them? How can you sleep so peacefully knowing that they're dead or perhaps worse?"
"Duh, I'm concerned, but let's face it, I can roll around in my bed with my head hurting and my eyes bloodshot all night but it's not going to bring anyone back. Freaking out isn't going to be the miracle that finds them. I'm worried about them, really I am, but I have to conserve my energy. Maybe you should try that sometime."
"I can't just sit back, are you mad? I know I'm throwing myself even further into the fire by behaving this way but these people are missing, Ju Cai. I don't know where they are, how they've been, if they're alright--"
"Oh and you think everyone else does?"
Deep furrowed his brows. "What I'm trying to say to you is, you search for them or you don't. Don't put your employees on post and tell them to keep their eyes peeled. It isn't enough."
"But at least they're doing something. I think it'd be even worse if they weren't."
"It's even worse to search and give up, Ju Cai. It's flimsy and so incredibly nonchalant that anyone should try for a while and then drop. At least if you had told me that you'd done nothing, I would better understand your reason in saying that it wouldn't make a difference."
"Don't be so damn black and white." Pause. "You're too compassionate, Deep, and that level of sympathy you have is making you a fool."
Deep was so struck, he gaped. "As though you are any better?"
"For this job? Probably." The two of them immediately fell silent, leaving Ju Cai to feel both good and bad about his honesty. "I'm not saying you're shit at what you do, because you're not. What you do is good. It's just the way you act that's the problem."
Deep turned his head, glaring away. "You can't soften an insult. Get out of my suite."
"I'm just telling you. You've been all sorts of irritable and grumpy and it's just made you really, really annoying," Ju Cai said, straight-faced. "I, like, have to zone out when you're talking to me sometimes because all I'm getting is a load of crazy in my ears and truthfully I'm so afraid it'll go to my brain."
"Don't you think you've said too much? You're laying it down a bit too heavy on me and to be frank I'm not sure if I could take any more of it."
"You just can't panic when things like this happen, Deep. You just can't. It sucks, I know, but like, what can you do? Why let yourself deteriorate instead of save yourself so that you can continue what you're doing for a longer amount of time instead of exerting the energy all at once?"
"I've heard enough." Deep pressed his face into his palms.
"No, seriously. Especially for guys like us. Don't you think the kidnappers would be, you know, kind of a lot smarter than to keep within the area? It's been a long, long time already. Anything could have happened. I've been panicking too, trust me on that one, but you have to accept that this is really just the waiting game."
Deep said nothing.
"You know, I don't want to have to say this to you because I know it's simmering somewhere in the back of your mind--"
"Then don't say it--"
"But if all three are dead, that makes three fewer people to worry about. Having them be gone would break your heart--it'd break all our hearts--but at least you wouldn't freak out over not knowing how or what they're doing. It's much better than terrible."
Deep, with his sneer pulled taut by the stitches, forced Ju Cai to leave.
-
It had been so long since Lincoln last had visitors, that as he approached the door he was filled with a mix of both suspicion and excitement. The thought of a friend coming by to visit made him swell with appreciation, and the thought of being targeted made him fearful but surely if it could add to his life--or take it away--it would be much more rewarding.
He'd spent his days, weeks, in silence, constantly feeling ungrateful whenever he came to recognition of his current life. It was hardly a thrilling thing to be trapped in, and any memory he had of decisive completion and success did not seem to exist. Living this way made his time on earth seem longer; he did not want that.
His surprise could not be contained when he answered the door to find a disheveled Oscar.
The taller man seemed just as surprised to find that Lincoln was missing an arm and an eye, but he knew better than to ask any questions. Sniffling out of unexpected pity for his afflicted friend, he muttered out, "Hey."
Lincoln rasped back a "hello". He stepped to the side of the door, tacitly urging Oscar to enter the house.
Oscar took a step but seemed to change his mind, shaking his head. "I tried to go to Yousei's house but no one answered. Um--don't..tell me what happened to him. I don't know what I'd do."
Lincoln swallowed. "I don't know either."
Oscar opened his mouth to say something but decided against that too. "So, I..." He put his fingers to his mouth, scratching his upper lip. "I've been in Poland."
Lincoln didn't nod.
"Actually I returned a while ago but..I didn't think it would have been a good idea to see you then."
"What made it a good idea to see me now?" Lincoln asked softly, looking down.
"You're my friend and I missed you."
"You're my friend and I missed you too."
They both looked down.
"I just wanted to tell you that I missed you guys. You and Yousei, I mean. And that..I don't think you're bad people."
Lincoln's eye went watery. "You have no idea what that means to hear."
"I'm telling you because some things..I-I don't know. I'm really not sure what's happening anymore." Oscar bit down onto his lip, shaking as he put his hands over the sides of his face. "Everything is so out of whack and it's all just so far from how I expected my life to turn out, but being friends with you guys was--"
"Is?"
Oscar shook his head, "Was one of my biggest comforts."
Lincoln nodded and wiped his eye with his sleeve, sighing. After a pause he asked, "So where will you be now?" A longer pause. "If you want to stay with me..."
"It.." Oscar trailed off. "Wouldn't make any sense for me to stay with you. Or with anyone. I'm looking for a place in Long Island so I can be nearby the coast. If that doesn't work, I'm just heading back to Poland."
"Ah," Lincoln said, looking down at his feet. "Good luck, Oscar. I hope you lead a good life and find...better people to be friends with. I wish you hadn't gone through any of these heartbreaks by being close with guys like me. They shouldn't have been for you."
"It's easy to get heartbroken by lawfully innocent people, too."
"Just lawfully?"
"I don't think you're bad, Lincoln. I really don't. Hardly anyone really is."
"..You would be surprised."
"I would be."