ArchivedLogs:Stimulating

Stimulating
Dramatis Personae Lucien, Tian-shin
In Absentia	2016-04-05 "He could be a trained monkey in a suit for all I care."
Location <NYC> Harbor Commons - Rooftop - Lower East Side
An open-air escape especially popular with smokers and fliers, the Common House rooftop makes good use of its limited space. The railing that circles it has child-resistant gates where walkways can be extended to connect to the other buildings in the development. A colorful and ever-changing table with sometimes-matching benches provides an ideal spot for an urban picnic. There are two garden boxes on the south-facing side, one for vegetables and the other for herbs and flowers, a tool shed and small patio table with chairs between them. There's an unseasonable chill in the air tonight, as it's been the last few days. The Commonhaus is quiet, the supper having been sparsely attended this time. Tian-shin leans on the railing, staring blankly across the river, a cobalt blue tumbler in one hand and a menthol cigarette burning in the other. She's still dressed from the day in a sharp gray pantsuit, pink satin blouse, and somewhat chunky but still professional black heels. Her hair she has braided and wound into a wide, neat bun at the back of her head. The door to inside opens, closes. Disgorges Lucien onto the roof, dressed more casually in jeans, leather jacket unbuttoned over a green button-down, grey vest. He already has a slim black cigarette tucked between his lips as he slips outside, patting his pockets down before exhaling, quiet and slightly irritable. "{Forgive me,}" his French is quiet as he tucks himself against the railing not far from Tian-shin, "could I trouble you for a light?" With a smoker's intuition, Tian-shin has already transferred her cigarette to her lips and, reaching into a pocket of her pants, produces...a lighter? It looks like a Chinese dragon with iridescent blue-green scales, coiled in on itself. She shuffles a step closer to Lucien, braces her thumb on the dragon's antlers and pulls back--the creature's mouth opens to produce a perhaps surprisingly even flame. In the firelight the shadows under her eyes leap into stark relief despite meticulous makeup. Lucien leans forward, tipping his head down to touch the end of his cigarette to the flame. Some subtle thread of tension coiled through his shoulders eases faintly as he pulls in a breath, his eyes slipping partway shut. "Merci." He leans a little bit more heavily on the railing, eyes turning out towards the grounds -- or possibly the city beyond. Somewhere in the near distance, there is a car alarm wailing. A dull flickering orange glow, its source obscured by buildings in between. Lucien's gaze is not quite focused /on/ it, a little distant, though turned in that general direction. "Well." His voice is a little dry. "/Steve/ made it to dinner, at least." Tian-shin drops the lighter back into her pocket and takes the cigarette from her mouth, exhaling slowly out into the deepening darkness. "De...rien." There's a slight lift to her intonation, as if she does not feel /completely/ certain she has got the right word. She leans on the railing, stares into the night in silence. At the comment, though, her eyes snap aside to Lucien. Only briefly, before she looks away again. "They let him go at the station." She shrugs. "Didn't even process him. Which...makes a very elegant point with a very heavy hand." "Under the circumstances --" Lucien shakes his head, lowering the cigarette. "I'm not sure this is the appropriate time for subtlety. It has certainly been inflaming public opinion, at least." Tian-shin emits a noncommittal noise and pulls hard on her cigarette. The stream of smoke she blows out a moment later is sharp, fast. "Public opinion's the best hope for my clients now--for...Jax and Ryan, that is." She taps some ash into a colorful ceramic ashtray sitting on the railing beside her. "I know /I've/ no hope of getting them off." "Yes, well, the way the government tends to mutant health Jackson may well need you to have a hope of staying alive until their release." Lucien's thumb flicks at the end of his cigarette, a faint trace of grey still in his breath when he exhales. "The question is really how much more noise /that/ will take." Tian-shin nods, the gesture so slight that it's barely noticeable in the poor light. "A lot, I'm sure," she says, finally, sounding more than a little weary. "We'll need the noise just to keep him alive, much less released. But my partner also has some experience with the whispering-into-the-right-ears variety of noise-making. Me..." She closes her eyes. "...I'll just keep filing the paperwork." "Your partner?" Lucien's head turns, green eyes flicking towards Tian-shin now. A slight lift of eyebrows, a slight lift of tone, quietly curious. "That is new, no?" "Yes." Tian-shin lifts her cigarette, inhales, but almost chokes in her haste to add, "The business kind. But yes, a former classmate introduced me to him after news of the raid broke. He specializes in human rights law. Though..." Her laugh is quiet, humorless. "He could be a trained monkey in a suit for all I care. He's saving /my/ life." "Is he good?" Lucien lifts the cigarette again, dragging in a deep breath. "Good enough to let you find a moment one of these days to sleep, I hope? Gods know after all of this --" He shakes his head. There's a small twitch of his lips at the sound of police sirens nearby. Tian-shin looks down, over the railing on to the courtyard below. "Oh, he's good enough, but sleep is hard to come by even when I've got time for it." As if this has suddenly reminded her of her drink, she raises the tumbler in her hand and sips from it. Her eyes track aside to Lucien, studying his reaction to the siren. "How are you holding up?" "That seems to be a trend with your household. Between you and Joshua -- your brother will need to hold down the sleep quotient for the lot of you." Lucien is turning back out towards the city. The sirens are wailing off into the distance. "There is quite a lot of caffeine in my life, though. /I/ will be just fine." "Tag?" Tian-shin turns an incredulous glance on Lucien, and then actually laughs, the sound brief yet bright. "If we're relying on /him/ to do our sleeping, Funhaus is truly lost. No. We are also well-supplied with stimulants." This with a long pull on her cigarette before--somewhat reluctantly--stubbing it out. "That'll have to do." Lucien's breath huffs out, a softer quieter chuff of laughter exhaled on a brief puff of gray. The flickering orange glow across the neighborhood is dimming, dying. "Well. Until Workhaus is rebuilt, then, perhaps your residence can take over its name as well. It seems more appropriate. For now." Tian-shin's eyes seek out the still-unfamiliar shadows of the new construction on the grounds. "There will be a new Workhaus soon enough," her voice is strangely soft, contemplative. "Funhaus should stay Funhaus, even if the name is less descriptive and more just...a reminder." She tosses back the rest of her drink. "Can't work /all/ the time," she adds, as she shuffles, slow and just a touch unsteady, back toward the stairs. Lucien's brows raise -- slight, faintly skeptical. His hand rubs against his cheek, weight settling in against the railing. "No." His mild voice is noncommittal, eyes shifting to follow Tian-shin for a moment before looking back out to the city. "I suppose you can't."