[Lan Fan finds the article, since Ling won't do anything but sit in bed and wait for his phone to ring. It takes her an extra day to give it to him, concerned as she rightly is about how he'll respond— and he takes it badly, of course. He reads it once and he feels numb; twice, hollow; by the third time his eyes pass over the part about just one casualty his vision blurs with tears and it's all he can do to sit there and wipe his face as the tears keep coming, until Lan Fan takes the paper away from him.
It can't be Greed— he refuses to believe it, but if it's not Greed then it's one of the others and that isn't any better—
It's two days before Ling bothers to get out of bed again, and a third passes before he numbly gets dressed and goes about his business. No one in his family or any of their meetings mentions the Devil's Nest, but of course, they wouldn't; it's just Ling, alone in this upper crust world, who gives a damn. He doesn't speak to anyone but Lan Fan and no one even seems to notice.
But then, finally, a text as he's half-heartedly staring at his closet to dress for today's stupid meetings, and he immediately throws his pressed shirt in a heap to throw on jeans and a t-shirt (so he doesn't get instantly mugged in the worst part of town, see) and get the fuck out of the house. Someone tries to stop him on his way out, and what he shouts at them will probably land him in some kind of trouble later, more than skipping his responsibilities will, but whatever-- he doesn't care about anything else anymore.
He finds the building and then room 303, pausing for just a moment outside before he walks in, not knowing what to expect— but Greed is there, and that at least unwinds the knot in his stomach. Ling shuts the door behind him and doesn't know what to say; he thinks if he opens his mouth just yet he'll start crying. So.
Well, alright, he can manage just one word, a little choked up-] Hey.
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It can't be Greed— he refuses to believe it, but if it's not Greed then it's one of the others and that isn't any better—
It's two days before Ling bothers to get out of bed again, and a third passes before he numbly gets dressed and goes about his business. No one in his family or any of their meetings mentions the Devil's Nest, but of course, they wouldn't; it's just Ling, alone in this upper crust world, who gives a damn. He doesn't speak to anyone but Lan Fan and no one even seems to notice.
But then, finally, a text as he's half-heartedly staring at his closet to dress for today's stupid meetings, and he immediately throws his pressed shirt in a heap to throw on jeans and a t-shirt (so he doesn't get instantly mugged in the worst part of town, see) and get the fuck out of the house. Someone tries to stop him on his way out, and what he shouts at them will probably land him in some kind of trouble later, more than skipping his responsibilities will, but whatever-- he doesn't care about anything else anymore.
He finds the building and then room 303, pausing for just a moment outside before he walks in, not knowing what to expect— but Greed is there, and that at least unwinds the knot in his stomach. Ling shuts the door behind him and doesn't know what to say; he thinks if he opens his mouth just yet he'll start crying. So.
Well, alright, he can manage just one word, a little choked up-] Hey.