"Shit," you gasp as you hobble into a bench, assisted by Yuexia. The metal is cold. You can feel it through your clothes. "Ow." You pressed a finger against your knee. The sudden flare up you could deal with. It's almost good to know it hurts. But the numbness was frightening. Chipping yourself into the darkness. Although…If it was numb, it wouldn't hurt, would it? Natural painkiller. The world was made up and so are your muscles. Who cares if there's a giant bleeding hole through it? Nerds.
You try to stand up. Your legs shake like windchimes. You fall down and you add a bruise on your ass for your hubris.
"You alright?" You you you. Enough with that. Yuexia is standing above you. There might be concern in her eyes. "Its like, I think you need a doctor, but I really don't want to explain to a legit legit doctor why you've been stabbed."
You you you. "It's fine," you say when you find your voice again, closing your eyes. "I just need…" What? What do you need? You need to sleep for a week. You need the mystical pancreas- panaceas- of Kunlun. But failing that "... more painkillers. Like a lot of them."
"Drugs aren't the answer to everything you creepy drug hobo."
You crack open an eye. "How do you know? Take any recently?"
Silence, then laughter. A crow and a passerine. Of course you're the crow in this analogy. When it fades and your heart ambles down several emotional registers, you say, "you know, I do have a house. So I can't be called a hobo by definition."
"Sure, you don't. Can you return to it?"
You shrug. "I can't. There can't be a home for me. Not one that I would like. I mean, look at me. Look at us. We're killers. And incompotent ones at that." The world blurs. Another world overlaps. Why are your hands red? Is there something wrong with your brain? First you dream Vajrapani hiding in Yue Fei now you're like that guy Macbeth. Out! Damned spot!
Yuexia ponders this. "No," she says, "I mean can you open the doors of your apartment and pass out there? Not this sadsack shit."
"No."
"My case, rested." She sketches out a flourish. "You are a creepy drug hobo until you can buy your house back. Then you would just be a creepy drugman."
"Moving up in the world. Soon I might even manage to function in normal society." Your leg twinges.
"The world is made up of little things," Yuexia nodes sagely. "But seriously, bro, do you need a couch or something? My dad's out of the country for the week and my housekeeper only comes in during the afternoons. I can call a cab."
Call. Call, call call. "Oh, shit," you say, "d'you think Flay knows…?"
"What? Why? Oh, you mean we should call her." She's great. You need to keep her around more often. At least until she ticks you off. "Well, uh. I don't think they could have bypassed my phone." Yuexia takes out a black tablet. They really are making them one size bigger each generation.
Wait. Hold on.
"Motherfucker did you actually bring your phone to this thing?" you ask.
"Well, you did too, so I don't see the issue?" The phone screen lights up. "Aaand nope. It's clean. I think. No logged entries. Here." She throws it at you. You try to catch it. It hits you on the nose and tumbles into your lap. "Man you really got hit."
She's already got Flay on the phone. You press it to your ear and wait, leaning down on your knees. "Hello?" It's louder than you expect. It stabs you through the ear.
"Hey," you say, turning down the volume by several pips. "We fucked up. They caught us."
"Right. Then?" It's clipped.
"We're working with them now. To." Ow. "Expidite… fuck this codeword shit. They're planning to overthrow their bosses. They have my number. I'm beat to hell. Gonna pass out for tomorrow."
"Okay. I'll figure something out. Get it looked at. There's a black doctor at Jingshan. I don't want you dying just yet."
"Thanks, mom." You turn off the phone and hand it back to Yuexia. "Okay. Uh. I'm rooming at Red Corner Hotel. Can you drop me off there?"
"What? No way, man. You need medical attention. You heard her. Get your ass to Jingshan."
"With what money?"
"I bugged Oogami into giving me my pay ahead of time." Wait, you could do that? Shit. You missed out. "I'll cover you. It's not like I need it all that much."
"That is such a rich kid thing to say," you say in lieu of multiple more undiplomatic choices.
She nods. "It would have been enough to buy me a pony but my aunt farms and I've have enough of that for a lifetime."
"I see." You don't, really. What does farming and horses have to do with each other? Everything's mechanized now. Unless it's some bougie all natural theatre. Which, sounds like something the rich people would do. Maybe not Yuexia, you admit. She'd probably blow it off and spend it fucking around. In fight clubs.
"Sorry, dude." She drops herself on the other end of the bench. "It's hard to figure out what to talk to you about, you know? Every time I say something we run into core material contradictions."
Was it that bad? You run a line through your memory. Oh. It was that bad. "I'm surprised you know those words," you cover your embarrassment.
"I'm in the social studies track in high school," she says as she drapes herself over the bench. "They all forced us to learn that stuff. Like it really matters."
"Study hard every day," you echo the words of the Chairman.
Not that that aphorism means anything to anyone. It's just a meaningless platitude now, one that's been repeated by thousands upon thousands. Millions upon millions. Almost billions. "Shut up, shut up, furthermore, shut the fuck up, professor."
"Ha. But no, though," you continue, "I think you could leave whenever you want to. It's not like beating motherfuckers up isn't a respected position these days."
"Nice try, voice of a dispossessed generation. You'll never tempt me from my life of fast food and faster cars and the fastest internet this side of life."
Hurts to laugh now but you do anyway. "You know," you say as you look up at the moon, hanging like a polished coin. "I notice you're being a lot more loquacious."
"It's the moon," she offers. "I write the best essays sleep deprived. You're doing the same thing. You've even used loquacious and nobody uses it at all."
"It's the pain for me," you offer. "If I get tased and waterboarded, I feel like I might churn out the next Lu Xun."
The moonlight shines off her eyes. Like a cat. "We should collaborate. Storm the literary world. Get accolades. Duel each other when we have a disagreement and rake in the bigger bucks."
"Delightfully cynical."
The Conversation Drifts…
[1.1] {Pain Is A Teacher} To Yourself: You can almost remember something...
[1.2] {Harmonious Society} To Her: It's almost friendly, the way you talk to each other…
[]- Nothing: The car rolls up before you can find a topic.
