ArchivedLogs:Bringing Home Trouble

Bringing Home Trouble
Dramatis Personae Jim, Dan, Mei, Ash, Murphy
In Absentia	2013-04-30 Dan brings Mei. Murphy arrives late. Ash makes everybody food. TROUBLE ABREWIN'.
Location <NYC> 214 {Jim} - Sunrise Apartments - Clinton
Jim's apartment is not big, the living room area L-shaped with the entrance at one end and a kitchenette found at the other. Furnished by a scuffed wooden curb-found coffee table, a saggy green couch upholstered in a scratchy burlap material and two chairs, the habitat manages to just barely function as a one bedroom rather than a studio by merit of a walk-in closet sized bedroom you would have to cross through to reach his cramped bathroom. In here, water damage stains the walls. As does rust, around the showerhead in the cramped shower stall. This apartment is a wild disarray of boxes and a thriftstore whicker chair and -- empty pots? Bags of soil? A PALM TREE? There are other random plants in mid-potting, only partially kept on a brown tarp that was thrown down at then at SOME point kicked up and tossed aside again. There might be a lot of dirt. Like a lot. And not as many boxes as one might expect for someone moving in. This is New York - any one-bedroom apartment really should properly be housing at least two people. Make those two bachelors as well as you officially have a MANCAVE. Jim is not actually doing anything productive. He is in 'house clothes' which on this seasonably warn day in No Air Conditioning land means boxers - covered in a print depicting many sticky notes with such motivational messages as 'No coffee, no life', 'Cancel today, start again tomorrow' and 'You're late.' - a wife beater and a bandana tying his scruffy hair back from his scruffy FACE. Which is squinting behind a cigarette lazily hanging out of the side of his mouth. Lounging back on the sofa with a cup of coffee loosely in his hand. "So like," he's muttering to the other house occupant. "You got a girlfriend or something?" He asks like it's not too late for this to be a deal breaker. Ash is decked out in a similar shirt, but he's more likely to call it a sleeveless undertee or tank top. He's also wearing some ratty jeans that brush the tops of his bare feet with more threads than fabric. "Eh. No. Not really. I mean, seriously, when have I had time to find a girlfriend? I've been locked up - which ain't romantic, let me tell you, borgminded, brain surgeried and now I get off work and feel like someone ran me over with one of the steamrollers I drive." While Jim may be lounging, the thinnish nonteen is mucking around in the dirt. He's not just playing with it, he's hardening it, making thin, compressed sheets of stone and lining the floor with it, seamlessly fitting them together and making sure all his mess ends up on top of the new floor instead of under it, on the old one. He's humming a little as he works, his face and hands covered in a fine layer of grit. "How about you?" Mei hesitates, she was told a name and an apartment number. That gruff guy seemed like one you wouldn't say no to, so... hesitating as she does she winces then knocks on the door to the apartment and waits... just... waits, to see if anyone will answer it. As she weights she nervously shifts her weight from foot to foot and glances up and down the hallway outside the door, anxious and clearly ready to sprint away if something goes wrong. Dan trails after Mei, pausing at his own apartment door to try the knob and ensure that it's still locked before he moves to stand behind the girl. The hand that lands on her shoulder is probably meant to be encouraging, if its placement wasn't so heavy. He narrows his eyes as he, too, waits, skinning his eyes side to side to watch the hallway at both ends before leaning forward to echo Mei's knock with a bit more assurance. "Don't pussy out now, kid." is his rumbled advice, his eyes crinkling in amusement. Inside: "Don't forget getting the plague. And nah. Not really." Jim moves his eyes lazily to the door. "Doorbell." He lies. They have no doorbell. He isn't budging from the couch. ASH. GET THE DOOR. "YOu know, I completely forgot getting the plague. I just sort of slept through that." Ash gives Jim a little wink before dusting clumps of dirt off his arms into a pile and pulling himself up to his feet. He moves over to the door, still a little dusty and dirty and is just about to open it when Dan jiggles the handle. He looks over his shoulder and scowls at Jim before peering through the peek hole at the outsiders. Lips pursed, he begins the length process of unlocking all of the locks, save the chain, THEN, he opens the door just wide enough to see his face through. (That's all the chain there is, anyway.) Then he smiles, big. "HI. Can I help you with something?" At the sound of locks rattling, Dan's attention snaps back to the door, seeking out the face that peers out. When it is not familiar, his hand tightens warningly on Mei's shoulder. "Jim here?" He says, before the girl cans speak. It's loud enough to carry inside, through the cheap wood. Mei looks like if it weren't for Dan's hand on her shoulder she would have bolted already, just out of reflex at this point but his hand there either reassures her or frightens her enough to keep her in place, it is unclear which. In any case she peeks in through the partially open door, lookt at Ash and perhaps past him a bit, with a small frown on her face. She lets Dan do the talking for now though. Still she clearly is paying close attention to what is being said. Who could be scared of sweet little Ash? He's like a little brown mud puppy. Jim on the other hand, might give you three guesses on whether he's going to make this TRASHY or not. And the first two don't count. "Who's at the door?" His raspy smoker voice can be heard from inside. At least there's not the sound of TV in the background. That's the next apartment over. "May I ask who is calling?" Ash responds pleasantly, his voice a smooth tenor. Behind the door, his hand is playing with the door handle. Dan shifts peering over the teenager's head into the apartment. "It's 201," he says. "Across the hall." His gaze flicks down to Ash, then back over his head. "Got a package for ya. From Murphy." Frowning, the 'package' is a young Asian teen, and Mei does not look happy. But then she also isn't protesting, as she watches the exchange between Ash and Dan, and the body-less voice from inside the apartment who probably is Jim by her deductions. She squirms a bit under Dan's hand on her shoulder but stays put for now, still silent. "Your mom," are the words that immediately follow Dan's pronouncement - providing a /far/ better answer to Ash's query. Also: "/And/ your dad. I'm an equal opportunity parent-fucker." Murphy emerges in the hallway amidst a cloud of surly and smoke; /glaring/ as he walks toward the doorway where Mei and Dan stand - he's in his black wool coat, white shirt, black tie - and with bandages wrapped 'round his throat and hands. Tightly wound. Fingers bare, sticking out from beneath the gauze. Cue the response Murphy probably gets from every door he darkens: Jim /swears/. It takes a long time to get it all out. And follows it up with a nice loud, "If you're my mom 'n dad, and you're /fucking/ my mom and dad, you must have a hell of a time un/fucking/ yourself every morning." He jerks his chin at Ash in a 'go ahead', adding, "You better be bringing me more than a big wet one or I'm pulling my gun." "I think the package is a girl." Ash explains as he closes the door enough to unchain it, then opens it wider for everyone to enter, his hand still on the door, holding it open ever so politely. "Hello, and welcome to our cave. My name is Ash and I'll be - oh. Well, I'll just be around, I guess, if you need me." Dan's hand loosens on Mei's shoulder when Murphy joins them, although it remains in place. This makes it easy to steer her inside when the door is opened. He throws a glance at Murphy as he crosses into the apartment. "Dan," he grunts in response to Ash. "Across the hall." In case that wasn't clear. The dirt and disarray gets a furrowed brow as it's examined, before he's offering Jim a tight nod. "Hey." So eloquent. Mei lets her self be 'escorted' in to the... interesting apartment. She glances around, but so far has kept mum, not saying a word since others seem to be doing all the talking for now. She does look over Ash and Jim, but then glances back to Dan who has his hand on her shoulder. That frown remains on her face but again, for the moment she's playing the mute. She makes no resistance or protest though as she's guided into the apartment. Murphy shoves in right behind Dan and Mei. Like he /owns/ the place. Ash is given just a glance - more of a /glare/ than anything. A big, firm, bandaged hand descends upon Dan's shoulder with a *WHUMP* - Murphy's grip, even through the blistered, burned skin - is like steel. Cigarette smoke /swelling/ out of his nostrils as his other foot nudges back to shove the door shut behind them. WHUMP. "You sure you wanna be here, Dan. Bad people are about to discuss bad things," Murphy informs him. "You might wanna skiddaddle 'fore I explain to the folks here who Lil' Miss Midas is, here." He thrusts a thumb over to Mei, before adding: "Reason bein', once I start this lil' story, I'm gonna tell you how it ends, and you might not like that part." Even as Murphy gives his little speech, he's reaching into his coat pocket for something. Pulling out... is that a McDonalds cup? It is. 16 oz; medium. Figures Murphy's some sort of /pansy/. Oh, and someone seems to have painted it a pleasant, sparkly yellow. Then he tosses it at Jim; at which point, Jim would come to realize that ain't /paint/ -- that's solid-mother-fucking /GOLD/. "Jim Morgan," Jim throws his name into the introduction hat, even offering a last name. Slouched down, he has an arm tossed across the back of his couch, the other balancing his coffee mug on his stomach. "You," he lifts a finger off his cup to point at Dan, "I've seen around, yeah -- oh, Jesus Christ, Murph," yes, Jim is saying this /right/ on top of the first half of Murphy's tirade, so that two male voices, loud and scratchy, are going off like dogs barking at each other from two sides of a fence, "I swear to god there has been a night somewhere /dark and unkind/ that I told you /exactly/ what my answer'd be if you showed up at my place with a guy draggin' around an underaged Chinese girl - holy shit." He'd casually reached out to catch the cup, and his hand nearly hits the couch under its unexpected weight, saying out loud, without /pause/ from his previous words, "-that is solid-mother-fucking /GOLD/." He puts his coffee aside - that /really/ means business - and sits forward, pulling his cigarette from his mouth and using it to gesture absently towards Ash, "Ash is cool." But his eyes are on the gold cup. He is suddenly all furrowed-browed and grim-frowning /business/. He hands the cup over to /to/ Ash, and Murphy now officially has his narrowed, hard-squinting, attention. Ash makes sure that the door is closed and locked after all the people enter, taking the cup when Jim offers it to him and examines it with a more serious expression than before observed on his face. He takes a deep breath and glances at the girl, the seriousness melts away. "You did this?" He asks softly. "You hungry? Want some hotdogs? We've got some hotdogs and some icecream. I bet you like sweets, eh?" He leaves the cup on the back of the couch and focuses on Mei. "I can make some for you too, Dan, if you're staying." Dan nods, affirming Jim's knowledge of his existence. Because that's really all either of them can lay claim to, at this point. "Dan Rourke," he elaborates for the other man. His squeeze on Mei's shoulder this time /is/ reassuring, and he drops his chin in a quick nod. Murphy's offer gets a rude noise, and the ex-soldier rolls his head to give Murphy a flat look. "I just waved my gun in the face of three guys I'm /pretty/ sure weren't takeout delivery guys on a shopping spree," he rumbles. "I'm pretty sure, the way that Tex was giving me the hairy eyeball, I'm already in it up to my fuckin' nuts." In other words, he's not going anywhere. Ash's offer gets a shake of head, although it's as gentle as the way he releases Mei's shoulder. "Grab some food, kid." Mei watches these exchanges, all with a frown, still etched on her face. Then as there is the offer of food her attention turns to Ash and she slowly nods, "Yes, please." Her voice holds an accent, and is a bit too practiced, like someone who definately does not have English as a first language. She looks up at Dan then takes a deep breath and moves towards Ash, once Dan's grasp is released. She seems to not have much to say at the moment but she is keeping her eyes on all of the people in the room, one after the other and clearly is paying close attention, as she glances towards the cup then back to Ash and gives a shrug, in a non-commital kind of way about what food should be chosen. "Alright. Your funeral." Murphy /excretes/ cigarette smoke like roadkill excretes unsettling smells. He gestures to Jim, and the cup, as if to illuminate. "Yeah, that's solid gold. Had it checked. 100%. Kid here's got the Midas touch. Story is, best I can piece it together - and kid, feel free to correct me if I got any of this shit wrong - bad fellas brought her over from across the seas to make them a mint. Shipped her over in a crate. Car accident, she got out - now the Triad's after her. Also, maybe the Chinese gov't. Ain't sure about that part." Murphy continues puffing his cigarette steadily, deep in thought. The hand on Dan's shoulder has been removed. As Ash moves to retrieve hotdogs, he grunts out to him: "You got any coffee?" "Huh." Jim leans back again, taking his coffee cup with him and tosses his arm over the back of the couch again. He takes a long moment to pull in a long sizzling drag off the coffin nail, and then exhale it through his flared nostrils. And flat-out jumps straight to, "How long y'need her t'stay?" It's not a point he seems overly anxious about. It's more /Murphy/ that he's maddogging. Calling to Ash, "Give it to'm black." And he jerks a nod towards the couch and a beaten up old recliner, "Put your feet up." "If she's staying, then she gets the bedroom. I'll make myself a bed and you get the couch," Ash insists as he heads into the kitchen, beckoning Mei to follow. "I don't know if you like hotdogs though. We have ramen, and oh, a can of chicken." Bachelors are terrible food keepers. "What do you like to eat?" He's already poking his head into the fridge and pulling out the ketchup and the hotdogs and the buns. Only then does he start the coffee. He's got priorities. Dan watches as Mei steps forward, giving her a nod of encouragement as he moves to find a spot on the couch. "That's more or less what I got, too," he rumbles at Murphy as he drops lightly into the cushions. "Maybe not the part about the Chinese government, but the three chuckleheads from the shop...yeah. Bad guys." He watches the interchange between Jim and Murphy with slightly narrowed eyes. This may or may not be an expression of satisfaction for the way Jim approaches the other man. It sure seems effective. "I got food at my place," he says suddenly, raising his voice to address Ash. "If she don't none of that." Mei hesitates at Murphy's story, then shrugs and nods, "Made gold there, but some reason drugged, brought here. Triads, they take me from..." She hesitates, thinking of the right words in English, "They take me from Government... eh, many months ago? Not sure how long. Heard them say something about needing to move. Didn't say where to." It is clear she was not kept in the loop of what the Triads were doing in moving her from the sounds of it, even if her English is a bit rough. As she looks to Ash and his busy making with the food she gives him a sort of puzzled look then says, "Hotdogs Okay." She leaves it at that, as if she doesn't want to make any more trouble than she likely already is making just by being here. She glances to Dan and nods, but apparently isn't a particularly picky eater. At least not at the moment. "Not sure, yet. Few days, maybe. Need to figure out more permanent digs." The Murph watches Ash go into the kitchen; if not having coffee brewed /immediately/ bugs him, he doesn't show it. Instead, he just hunkers down and makes his way toward the chair Jim offered, slouching atop of it with a thunk. "Three boys back in the shop were just riffraff. Not /dangerous/. Just a coupla strays, sniffin' around, looking for an easy meal. And the way this story ends," he mentions, throwing a glance back at Dan, "is everybody keeps their mouth shut while Jim and I figure out where to stash her. Kid," he mentions, gesturing to Mei, "you're gonna have to have yourself a talk here with me and Uncle Jimminy Cricket."