Brief Title:
Yishi in Orange
Characters:
Xiu Lin Tseng (Yishi), Annie Ritter (Gogo)
Scene Runner/Watcher:
IC Date:
08/16/12 11:00
Location:
Ryker's Island Visitor's Center
Summary:
Xiu Lin is being held on murder charges. Anne comes to check on her.
Social or Plot:
TS:
No
Log:
In the eternal quandry of the law-abiding good samaritan, the young Xiu Lin Tseng is currently in jail. She has not even been arraigned yet, though the charges she faces are quite serious: a dozen counts of murder. Xiu Lin called the authorities in order get help for women who had been victims of human trafficking and had been forced to work at the sweat shop, many of whom had been mistreated, even raped. But doing so brought the police, as she knew it would, and the police found not just immigration problems but a dozen brutally murdered men, and one gibbering with insanity and terror. As the only able-bodied person present, Xiu Lin was the obvious prime suspect. And since she has refused to identify anyone else who was present at the scene, she remains in custody, awaiting arraignment.
Informed that she has a visitor waiting to see her, the diminutive female prisoner makes her way to the visiting center, dressed in a drab orange jumpsuit and dark canvas slippers. She is walked in with three guards covering her, bound with ankle chains, wrists bound to a waist chain, and the guard behind her is carrying a shotgun in hand, unlimbered and ready for use. They are taking no chances with this 'crazed killer,' despite her ever-polite and respectful demeanor. She stops once through the door, and waits until the guards point to one station and guide her to sit down. They connect her chains to the seat and station, then release one - and ONLY one - wrist from her manacles, to allow her to pick up the handset required to speak to the person on the other side of that reinforced plexiglass.
"Hello." Xiu Lin offers, softly.
Annie got word that her friend was locked up through a friend of a friend, and the moment she heard about it she got dressed to impress and headed down to the police station. In her best skirt suit she showed up before her lawyer did, so she went to visit Yishi first. An obviously powered woman meeting up with the savage murderer of various and sundry criminals. It gets more than a bit of attention, and heavy weapons guys are probably loitering somewhere nearby, but Annie doesn't care. She's not going to be fighting the police anytime soon. She steps up to the plexiglass and picks up the handset, "Hey Xiu Lin. I love the new outfit. Are you okay? Have you got a lawyer? What the hell is going on?"
Xiu Lin smiles, even if it is a tad strained, and nods to her big orange friend. "Hello, Annie. Glad you like it. It was thoughtfully provided by these nice folks, along with these glorious accomodations." Yes, she's snarking. But only gently. It's still Xiu Lin in there, even if this is rather hard on her. "I'm OK. Thank you for asking. It was good of you to come. It's nice to see a friendly face, even like this." Hey. Most of the faces she has seen in the last two days either want her dead, want a piece of her, want to convict her of crimes she hasn't committed, or want to rake her over the coals to get her to 'flip' on whoever did kill those men. Her only comfort has been knowing that the women she saved are safely with the protection agency. "I do not have a lawyer yet. The basics are not too dissimilar to when you and I found those children. Someone called me. I went to help, and found those women in need. So I called to get them help. And now they want me for those men's murders. Or they want me to flip on whoever did kill them. So I am busy trying to prove to them that I had nothing to do with the murders." Go figure, Xiu Lin is being incredibly patient about this.
"And a vigilante did it and you are going to keep your mouth shut to protect whoever did it?" Annie leans forward to put a hand on the plexiglass, "Well, I've got my lawyer coming down here. We'll get you out on bail. And if my lawyer can't, then I'll get Jen down here and I bet they will get you out pronto once she's involved hon." She offers up her big alien smile full of fangs and glowing white teeth, "I can't have my hero locked up. Who would I get to inspire me to be a better person?" She's a big rough and tough hero type, she's not supposed to get blubbery over things like this. But she hasn't gotten to the "How to visit your friends in the slammer and not cry" portion of her book "Superheroing for Dummies" just yet.
"Someone else did it. They most certainly did not do it to themselves. But there is nothing I can tell these good officers about who did it. I only know what I found when I arrived, and I am being as helpful as I am able where that is concerned." Xiu Lin admits, if a tad carefully, through the handset. She can't extend a hand to match Annie's on the glass, since the hand she has holding the handset is the only one freed right now. "I appreciate the offer of a lawyer. It is not required, but I will gratefully accept whatever help I can get to clear this up. I respect the work they are trying to do, but so long as they are focused on me, they cannot possibly find those responsible."
Jen? Lawyer. Yishi's eyes go a bit wide at that. Annie must mean the Avenger, Jennifer Walters, the She-Hulk. Wow. Talk about high-powered help. Xiu Lin snuffles audibly into the handset, leaning forward to press her forehead against the glass close to where Annie's hand is, doing the best she can to 'make contact'. "You flatter me, Annie. I'm just trying to do what is right. I would be grateful if you would check in on the women. I called the Diana Kertzveil Foundation. Give them my name, and they should be able to tell you how they are doing."
Annie presses her big hand flat, grimaching a bit at the barrier between her and her friend. "I will call them for you hon. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about anything. You'll be out of her in no time. Not that you don't look great in orange, but honestly, what isn't better with orange?" She offers up her big strange smile, "So...whoever did it was there before you? Well, it doesn't matter. You didn't do it and they can't keep you here for being there. I mean, you didn't run around grabbing murder weapons and getting your fingerprints on every body or anyything dumb like that right? No stupid movie stuff?"
Xiu Lin smirks a bit, pulling back so that she can watch Annie through the plexiglass. "No. Nothing like that. I've already discussed their forensic findings in detail with the detectives. They ... were not pleased." They were frankly insulted, a little creeped out, and very skeptical. How could she possibly have such an accurate accounting of what their forensic techs would find, unless she had purposefully set it up that way? "They have not mistreated me. The inmates are not exactly friendly, but thus far I remain safe." Probably because Xiu Lin has defended herself against any incursions, which likely accredits for the heavy guard and restrictions.
Annie wrinkles up her face and snuffles, though of course, how she does that sort of thing without a nose is always a mystery. She dabs at her eyes a bit then and says, "Well, good. I didn't think you'd fall for the classic movie mistakes, but...someone has to or where would all those movies come from?" She heaves a heavy sigh, then says "Well, stay out of trouble on that side okay? I know you can handle yourself, but...well, my lawyer will be here soon, so we'll get you out ASAP. Being there isn't a crime they can hold you indefinitely for."
Xiu Lin nods. "I appreciate it, Annie. I won't be going anywhere, so I'll see you when it's done. Don't cry too much, OK? I'm alright." And she is. She's not great. But she really is OK. "Thank you, for coming to see me. It means a lot, Annie." She offers a sad, wistful smile.
"Well, I can't help crying hon. You shouldn't be in there in some stupid jumpsuit. And you are so tough that you aren't going to do any crying. So, I'll do it for you." She smiles through the barrier at her friend, "What, I'm not going to come visit you?"
Xiu Lin leans forward again, pressing her forehead to the glass. "I am fighting hard not to cry, Annie. You are making that difficult. I can't go back in there with tear tracks, or I'll have to fight twice as hard to keep them off me." She does seem to have figured out the mechanics of being 'in stir' quickly. "Many of my friends and colleagues have stayed away, rather than be tainted by a possible murder suspect. So it is good to see someone."
Annie puts her face on the glass and them presses her lips against the plexiglass for a tender smooch...or not. After her kiss she blows her cheeks up to comic proportions. "I'm too dumb to worry about that. And if I did worry about it, it still wouldn't matter, cause I love your puffy cheeks too much. Oh, and the rest of you too. I guess. I don't know. I'm not sure I love your left pinky. It is pretty shifty."
That at least gets Xiu Lin chuckling, then laughing at Annie's antics. "Very well, then. I will keep my shifty left pinkie to myself." She smiles at her friend. "I told you it was good to see you. Now, I should see you soon, if your lawyer can manage my bail. And I'll be sure to have my shifty left pinky apologize for what it has done."
Gogo looks cheered to see that her antics had the intended results. She's not going to contribute to Xiu Lin having a bad time in the slammer if she can help it. "Okay. As long as you keep shifty under control." She fishes into the pocket of her suit jacket and drags out her big cell phone. She fumbles with the extra large icons a moment, then smiles. "Okay. Sarah says that she is going to get you out. She's got the assistant D.A. on the ropes. They are playing a game to keep you in here while they fish for something good enough to stick it to you."
Xiu Lin nods. "I rather assumed as much. Thank you, Annie. And thank Sarah for me. I assume I will see her at my arraignment?" So far, she seems to be assuming she will be arraigned, rather than just released on her own recognizance. Then again, this is a dozen brutal murders. She's probably right. The diminutive Chinese woman motions to one of the guards, who approaches as she offers, "Take care, Annie. I'll see you soon." Then she hangs up the phone and waits as she is disconnected from the station, her wrist returned to her manacles, and then is walked out of the visitor's center.
She really doesn't look too bad in orange.
