[center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019e7cbe-43dc-713a-9c31-7e0fc5f6a725.webp[/img][/CENTER][indent][sub][COLOR=9174cb][I]Eve; featuring Qing Yuan [@Hound55][/I][/color][/sub][sup][right][COLOR=9174cb][b]Death and all her Friends - V[/b] [i]Fuse[/i][/COLOR][/right][/sup][/indent][center][COLOR=dimgray][SUP][sub]_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sub][/SUP][/COLOR][/center] [indent][indent] [color=silver] Someone had died violently, that much Eve knew. She knew even in her dream and felt an interruption that sounded remarkably like a gunshot that had her wake to the fading scent of popcorn. This wasn’t like the day before when her mind was full of chaos; she woke calm from a nap this time and made her way through the dimly lit apartment with a yawn and a stretch. The declutter from the day before still held and the only real messes were coffee cups in the sink, and a half cup of pad kee mao she’d forgotten to refrigerate the night before that was still left on the bench. [color=76535c]M̷y̷ ̷w̷i̷f̷e̷ ̷a̷l̷w̷a̷y̷s̷ ̷p̷r̷e̷f̷e̷r̷r̷e̷d̷ ̷a̷ ̷p̷a̷d̷ ̷t̷h̷a̷i̷.̷.̷.̷[/color] With a roll of her eyes she dumped them into the garbage disposal and flicked the switch, the familiar grinding disappeared into the background as she wandered away. She lit off a lamps berger in the lounge and the scent of crisp linen with sweet fig washed over the space. Music clicked on to a playlist where she had left off and she made her way back into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and found a container of tiramisu leftovers that she ate a spoonful of as her girl dinner. [color=7ea7d8]𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚗𝚞𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚣𝚊𝚋𝚊𝚐𝚕𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚎[/color] The scent of burning popcorn came back. Or was it? Popcorn had a distinct noise. Popcorn went [i]pop pop pop[/i] but this mysterious something was making an almighty grinding noise and she turned on her heel to see the garbage disposal smoking and spitting up food in a way that was far too reminiscent of her nephew. [color=6b7653]ᴳᵉᵗ ᵗʰᵉ ᶠᵘˢᵉᵇᵒˣ![/color] “Fuckity fuck,” she said, lunging in panic for the wall switch and as she slapped it off the disposal quickly died with a groan. [color=537076]ןnɟǝɹɐɔ ǝq[/color] Smoke still curled up from the sink and so she reached for the fuse beneath the cabinet and fumbled it in her haste. The kitchen lights snapped out with a click. She looked down at her hand and there was a ring missing from her finger. [i]”Shit…”[/i] she repeated; source of the sound confirmed. Silvio would be furious. [COLOR=9174cb]“Hey Siri…”[/color] she shouted out and her phone screen flashed. “Find me a repairman to fix a garbage disposal.” She paused and blinked. [COLOR=9174cb]“NO AI,”[/color] she yelled, turning her head back, daring herself to look over the edge of the sink and back into the smoking mess, the rest of the kitchen lights flickering away too. [color=7ea7d8]𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜[/color] [COLOR=9174cb]“Shit,”[/color] she sighed again, the adrenaline only then beginning to die down. [hr] [color=tomato]“Shit…”[/color] An elderly Asian man and his young adult son are talking, hunched over the counter of [i]Liu’s Fix-It[/i]. [color=springgreen]“What?”[/color] The younger man paused, deep in his own mind. [color=springgreen]“What?”[/color] He snapped back to reality, and welcomed the distraction of the vibration on his hip and its pre-packaged excuse to distract from his previous thoughts. [color=tomato]“Oh, I’ve just got a phone call. That’s all.”[/color] Qing pulled out his phone and put it to his ear. [color=tomato]“[i]Ace of Trades[/i]. Qing Yuan Liu speaking.”[/color] He introduced himself and waited on the caller. [i]Ace of Trades[/i]? [color=6b7653]ᵂʰᵃᵗ ᵃ ˢᵗᵘᵖⁱᵈ ⁿᵃᵐᵉ[/color] [COLOR=9174cb]“Uhh, hi Qing,”[/color] Eve answered, in that awkward way that just tended to happen when calling for services. Dancing around on the anxiety of knowing and not knowing just how polite to be, what she'd have to say, what she'd have to ask. [COLOR=9174cb]“Eve,”[/color] she continued, stepping closer to the sink again as the lights flickered above still. [COLOR=9174cb]“Do you… do you fix, um.”[/color] [I]Shit[/i]. The name of the appliance had slipped her mind and from her side of the phone she wagged her finger in a circle close to her head trying to summon it. [color=537076]ʎǝuoɥ 'ןɐsodsıp ǝƃɐqɹɐƃ ǝɥʇ s,ʇı[/color] [COLOR=9174cb]“Garbage disposals?”[/color] She found it. [COLOR=9174cb]“Yeah, a garbage disposal?”[/color] She placed her hand on the counter. [COLOR=9174cb]“Mine is completely fucked–”[/color] [i]Shit, again.[/i] She was sure people shouldn't curse down the line at service workers. Oh what the hell did it matter anyway. [COLOR=9174cb]“Totally fucked. It's blown the lights so I'd like it fixed today, if you have the time. If you can.”[/color] [color=tomato]“Garbage disposals..?”[/color] Qing’s brow furrowed for a second. [color=tomato] “What, like one of those sink-installed things that were all the rage after the moon landing?”[/color] The older Asian man’s face lit up next to him. He mouthed ‘Really?’ to him and was met with emphatic nods, before rolling his eyes. [color=tomato]“Yeah, we have… someone here… who’d be very enthusiastic about taking a look at fixing that. Sounds like a two person job anyway, I’ll look at your wiring whilst he checks the actual unit. It shouldn’t be able to blow your lights just from giving out.”[/color] [color=tomato]“I’ll tell you what, you’re going to be paying for the two of us, but I’ll knock out the after-hours rates. Sound fair?”[/color] Eve’s eyes narrowed. [i]Moon landing[/i]? [color=6b7653]ᵂʰᵃᵗ'ˢ ᵗʰⁱˢ ᵍᵘʸˢ ᵈᵉᵃˡ? ᴴᵉ ᵃ ᶜᵒᵐᵉᵈⁱᵃⁿ?[/color] As if she’d built the apartment and would know. [color=537076]˙ʇɹoddɐɹ ƃuıʞɐɯ ʇsnɾ s,ǝɥ[/color] Still, he’d agreed to help and as she looked back across at the kitchen again, it was something she needed. Desperately, lest Silvio find out and send his own help alongside a lecture. [COLOR=9174cb]”Yeah… It’s a sink installed thing alright, I think… I might have dropped something I shouldn’t have into its teeth.”[/color] She paused, looking down at her empty finger again. [COLOR=9174cb]”Yeah. That sounds fair. I’ll text you the address.”[/color] If he asked what happened to the lights, she decided that she would lie about having panic punched the wall switch. [hr] And so Eve waited, sitting in her armchair with her eyes closed. Her mind having mapped out the city so she could imagine a handyman’s truck making its way through the traffic and through the various winding grids and lines to make it to her apartment that was neither in Midtown or the Lantern District, but right on the edge of both. Was it really a two person job, she wondered, or was this a classic rip off situation? [color=6b7653]ᴰᵉᶠⁱⁿⁱᵗᵉˡʸ ᵃ ʳⁱᵖ ᵒᶠᶠ! ᵀᵃᵏⁱⁿᵍ ᵃᵈᵛᵃⁿᵗᵃᵍᵉ ᵒᶠ ʸᵒᵘ ᵇᵉⁱⁿᵍ ᵃ ʷᵒᵐᵃⁿ![/color] The thought of that annoyed her and to get over the self-inflicted annoyance she tried to imagine what they’d look like. Perhaps like Mario and Luigi in colour contrasting outfits; with a side of tradesmans crack to display from out of their oversized overalls, slick with grease and paint and various marks. She didn’t have to think for too long; a knock at the door and she was up to greet them, trying to let the humorous thought escape and be quashed so she could appear at least half serious when she said– [COLOR=9174cb]”Hello!”[/color] [color=tomato]“I’m Qing Yuan. We spoke on the phone. That’s my father, Bo Wen. He doesn’t speak English.”[/color] Qing shot the older man a look. Apparently there had been some kind of conversation in the car prior. [color=springgreen]“Hello!”[/color] The older man immediately breached whatever agreement they had, with a gleeful grin and a wave. [color=tomato]“Not a word. His mind… truly an enigma.”[/color] He ignored the older man. [color=tomato]“Just through to the kitchen, right?”[/color] A string of Chinese poured out of the older man. [color=tomato]“Just stop. Do you need me to get the unit out too, or do you think you can handle it, lă obà?”[/color] [color=springgreen]“Don’t call me that in front of pretty young woman!”[/color] [color=tomato]“Oh yeah, you’re a spring chicken. Be professional for five minutes.”[/color] [color=springgreen]“He’s actually a good boy!”[/color] The older man turned and offered Eve a toothy grin. [color=tomato]“Nobody understands you! And they wouldn’t care if they could!”[/color] The younger man hollered from elsewhere in the depths of the house, looking for the fuse box. Another string of Chinese, possibly expletives, and the older man got to work on the kitchen sink. In mere moments he was looking at the garbage disposal unit and was holding it up before the flickering lights. Inquisitive eyes paired with the everpresent smile. They were not Mario and Luigi, and there was no kind of Italian greeting as Qing immediately had made his way through the space, and Eve hadn’t had a chance to get too good of a look at him despite a [i]sense… [/i]Before Bo Wen was flashing her a wide smile as punctuation to a good natured comment which she would happily take. [color=6b7653]ʸᵒᵘ ᵃⁿᵈ ᶠˡᵃᵗᵗᵉʳʸ...[/color] She was hardly able to get a word in between their volleys of familial banter. She blinked, and, leaving Bo Wen to the kitchen, found herself more concerned with Qing’s instant exploration. [COLOR=9174cb]”Can I help you with finding something? Want some coffee? Do you drink coffee?”[/color] she asked aloud from the centre of the lounge space. Bo Wen gave a pleased sound of gratitude at the offer from the kitchen, before Qing quickly kept things strictly business. [color=tomato]“We drink tea.”[/color] He flatly replied. And then turned, briefly startling himself at how close Eve had been following him through her house. It made sense, he didn’t really announce his own intentions before he disappeared. [color=tomato]“Fusebox… fusebox… fusebox…”[/color] He gave voice to his intent, more for her benefit than his own. [color=springgreen]“You never drink my tea!”[/color] The older man called from the kitchen. Qing gave the young woman a polite, forced, cordial smile - all he had to offer. [color=tomato]“We drink tea.”[/color] He flatly repeated. [color=tomato]“Fusebox has to be around here somewhere...”[/color] He stepped back out into the main hallway and found a disguised panel in a wall near the heater. He opened it up and emitted a whistle descending in pitch, before making the sound of an explosion with his mouth. [color=tomato]<“How goes the actual garbage disposal unit, Spring Chicken? Because I’m looking at a fusebox that might be older than you! Not a circuit breaker in sight! I thought ‘fusebox’ was just one of those old terms with historic roots! There’s damned wires in there! I’m less looking for one single problem, and more wondering where the rats are on treadmills actually powering this house!”>[/color] He called through the house in Wu. [color=springgreen]<“She’s a nice lady. And for as old a unit, it’s actually in pretty good shape. I wouldn’t be surprised if the problem was in the wiring from the sound of things.”>[/color] Bo Wen returned. [color=tomato]“Ah… she said something fell in there too. So look for that!”[/color] He called back in English. [color=tomato]“What exactly was it that fell in the garbage disposal?”[/color] He asked Eve. [color=6b7653]ᴰᵒ ʸᵒᵘ ᵗʰⁱⁿᵏ ᵗʰᵉʸ'ʳᵉ ᵗᵃˡᵏⁱⁿᵍ ᵃᵇᵒᵘᵗ ᵗʰᵉ ᵐᵉˢˢ ⁱⁿ ʰᵉʳᵉ?[/color]. Eve was quiet as the voices in her head chattered and hummed away in the distance, and the voices in her space – the real, very much in front of her voices, spoke and yelled back and forth at each other. Her head tilted as she watched what was happening, lingering on Qing’s hands as he ran them over the fusebox. It took her a moment to register back into his question. [COLOR=9174cb]”Right,”[/color] she affirmed, and brought her own hands together. [COLOR=9174cb]”I was wearing a ring, I usually wear it. Always wear it,”[/color] she continued. [color=tomato]“A ring?”[/color] He confirmed with Eve, before his grin broadened across his face. [color=tomato]<“It was an engagement ring. So drop the heart eyes, matchmaker!”>[/color] He called back through to the kitchen in Wu. [color=tomato]“So just find the ring and then make sure the thing’s working again!”[/color] He tried to put Eve’s mind at ease with English. [color=tomato]“Thanks. Hopefully shouldn’t take us…”[/color] He furrowed his brow at what he was looking at in the fusebox and trailed off. [color=6b7653]ᴰᵉᶠⁱⁿⁱᵗᵉˡʸ ᵗʰᵉ ᵐᵉˢˢ[/color]. [i]Shut the fuck up, Jason.[/i] [COLOR=9174cb]”It’s a ring, yes,”[/color] she began, stepping closer to Qing to look at whatever he was looking at, whatever made his brow move that way. Hell if she knew what she was looking at. [COLOR=9174cb]”But it also looks like a nail. Like a wrapped nail. A toolbox nail right? Fashion thing.”[/color] She side eyed him then as she explained. It had been a ridiculously expensive thing and she could only imagine how it would look now having been minced through the disposal. [COLOR=9174cb]”Why are you frowning at this?”[/color] she asked, changing the subject, keen for him to take over again. [color=tomato]“Because this is a Lovecraftian horror beyond all human understanding. I think I just saw a tentacle in there, and it called out to me in ancient languages, heretofore unheard, trying to take me into its thrall…”[/color] He swatted at the box with a rubber glove. A loose wire fell to the floor, he picked it up and showed her the burnt marks where it had crossed old fuses. [color=tomato]“...Fortunately that ancient language wasn’t Chinese… so I think we might be all good here.”[/color] Eve smirked at that and took the wire in between her own fingers and looked at it up close. [COLOR=9174cb]”Huh… So that’s it? That's all?”[/color] All that trouble just for that, she bit her lip and sighed. [COLOR=9174cb]”Well, if Lovecraft was going to set up his shop anywhere in this damn City, it would most certainly be right damn here.”[/color] She handed it back to him, not sure what else to do with it and then she looked at him proper, up and down and carefully too. [COLOR=9174cb]”Thanks.”[/color] [i]Something, something, something…[/i] [color=tomato]“Well…not just that. It probably blew a fuse or two as well. We should have spares… from the Kennedy Administration… in the van. Gimme a few minutes, I’ll replace them.”[/color] Just then his father walked in, holding something between his fingers. [color=springgreen]“Here. I found the… ring as well.”[/color] Switching only to Wu for the quoted lie. Scowling at his son. Qing laughed and headed out the front door for the van. Eve took the ring back, watching Qing leave with a quirked brow. The jewellery looked less like a Cartier now and much more like an actual nail and then she understood exactly what Silvio had meant when he had rolled his eyes at it in the first place, and his reason for practically having a heart attack at the price tag. [COLOR=9174cb]”Thanks again,”[/color] she offered to Bo Wen, smiling as she let the chewed up piece of jewellery fall into her pocket and away from being looked at any further. [COLOR=9174cb]”Is the sink fixed?”[/color] she asked, stepping away from the fusebox and back into her kitchen to take a look. [color=springgreen]“Nothing wrong!”[/color] He replied happily in broken English. Eve flicked the switch and nothing happened. Something in the kitchen still smelled vaguely like burnt toast. She flicked it off again. Qing hollered from the entry again. [color=tomato]“Just… wait. Nothing’s going to work til I replace the fuses… there’s no power going through there. Just– about… there! Alright! Try it now!”[/color] The garbage disposal whirred into life. Still in relative darkness. Qing walked into the kitchen. [color=tomato]“Your bulbs couldn’t take the extra juice, but the disposal could still go a little. It just doesn’t like it and… made that smell. Now I’ll level with you, we could replace the bulbs too. I have some in the truck, but we’ll charge more than a store will, anyone in our line of business would. Mark up to ensure covering costs.”[/color] [color=tomato]“And while we’re levelling… a lot of tradesmen would try and use that stray wire to get you over a barrel and strongarm you to pay for a fuse-to-breaker conversion. That’ll set you back thousands of dollars. I’m not gonna do that. I don’t know your full situation here… maybe you’re rent-controlled, maybe you bought it cheap recently and money’s tight. But that does need to happen eventually. I’m gonna say it’s not a significant enough risk… you don’t have pennies wired in there, and I’ll plead ignorance on knowing your own specific local building codes. But when things aren’t tight… It's something that should be done. Maybe talk with family or your landlord or something. I don’t know.”[/color] [color=tomato]“Because while I do own the business… That business doesn’t seem to ever be in the business of making money…”[/color] He muttered glibly under his breath as he looked to wrangle his father. [color=tomato] “Ba! You done?”[/color] As she listened to Qing, Jason piped up again; some crude comment about barrels and being over them but he was quieter now, Eve was focused on Qing, on more than him – his energy, something that had made her feel not quite so enamoured as interested. [COLOR=9174cb]”Qing,”[/color] she said, latching on to what he had muttered, and his offers, and the way he danced around the subject of cash like he was expecting rejection. [COLOR=9174cb]”Don’t undersell yourself for me. I have money, I can make the money.”[/color] There was a broken three thousand dollar ring sitting idly in her pocket and her adoptive father was a mafia boss, but, he didn’t need to know that. [COLOR=9174cb]”I’m a freelance… Freelancer… Dancer.”[/color] [color=6b7653]ᴳʳᵉᵃᵗ ⁿᵒʷ ʰᵉ ᵗʰⁱⁿᵏˢ ʸᵒᵘ'ʳᵉ ᵃ ˢᵗʳⁱᵖᵖᵉʳ, ⁱᵈⁱᵒᵗ.[/color] She sighed and gave him a smile. [COLOR=9174cb]”If you tell me it’s thousands, it’s thousands. Just, as long as you know how to fix it. You know how to fix it, right?[/color] Her eyes narrowed again as she tried to figure out what it was, why his [i]aura[/i] was different. [color=tomato]“What, like that Netflix documentary with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders? You working over with the Canaries?”[/color] Now it was Qing’s turn to run an eye over Eve proper, up and down as if to verify the veracity of her story. His eyes briefly met Bo Wen’s who was standing opposite, and his big grinning face, before Qing realised what he was doing and stared at the floor. The ceiling. Anywhere else. [color=tomato]“Look, I’m not underselling myself. What I did. It fixed your problem. It’ll work. If you’re not bothered I can change the bulbs for you as well. It’s more thousands of dollars for… I dunno… Peace of Mind. And because eventually you SHOULD have a breaker conversion, because it's safer and stuff like today can’t happen. I just know it’s a lot of money to drop on one person late at night when they feel pressure. You decide you want to, that’s fine, you’ve got my details. I am qualified to do it. You’ve gotta pay for an inspection as well at the end. I just don’t want you making decisions like that thinking you have to immediately… and I also don’t really want to have to do a fuse-to-breaker conversion at this time of night. I’m going to have a hard enough time getting to sleep after gazing into the abyss of that horror fusebox already.”[/color] She gave it a moment. For him to catch his breath, de-fluster, and for her own grin to subside. She’d been glancing between him and Bo Wen as he’d spoken. [COLOR=9174cb]”Not the Canaries– ballet.”[/color] To the credit of her story, she pointed to a photo of her on a shelf in a ballerina’s get up, tutu and all in arabesque. It may have been four years old and three years since she’d been to a class, but he didn’t need to know that and to save the lie looping any further she changed the subject. [COLOR=9174cb]”But yes, fine, I’ll sleep on it. It’s not like I want to strong-arm [i]you[/i] over a barrel into fixing it right now,”[/color] [i]maybe I do.[/i] Her chin tilted just enough to be mischievous and she kept her eyes fixed to his. [COLOR=9174cb]”I’ve got other things to do tonight anyway.”[/color] It wasn’t until after they’d left and the room held their absence that she pieced it together. She knew there had been something unfamiliarly familiar with him, and it hit her. A sliver of a death thread had been clinging to Qing Yuan, swimming with something else. [i]Now just what was he doing with that?[/i] [/color][/indent][/indent]