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+---- Thread: Loyalty isn't Green (/showthread.php?tid=855)
Loyalty isn't Green - Menachem Meijer - 07-17-2022
Menachem was working cleaning glasses at the bar and trying to keep an eye on the place as he did every night now. He was getting better at the bar though it still wasn't considered his final destination.
The man had knelt down and was grabbing some glasses to put back on the shelf behind himself when he heard someone come up. "Welcome to the Pony, what can I- Oh!" he looked surprised and smiled. "Aslan! I thought I'd never see you again!' He had seemed so quick to remove himself from his presence the last time they'd seen each other. "How are you doing? And your sister? I hope everything is alright."
He had told him he owed him a favor, maybe he'd found him to cash it in?
RE: Loyalty isn't Green - Aslan Koç - 07-18-2022
Aslan, on the other hand, moved with purpose toward the bar. Much as he looked put together, Aslan hardly cut the figure of the too-much-money types who sometimes practically lived at the Diamond Pony (Zechariah included these days, though never in the bedrooms).
Had they not recognized him from Dr. Witaker, Aslan doubted he ever would have been allowed to so much as set foot in a place like this. Nisa would riot if she ever caught on that a step up in life for them might have been through a brothel of all places.
“Doing alright,” Aslan answered.
He was always doing alright, according to him.
“Nisa’s keeping busy,” he added. “I’m keeping busy. It’s good to keep busy. Seems like you’re keeping busy, too.”
His eyes landed on the crutches near him.
“You alright, Menachem?”
RE: Loyalty isn't Green - Menachem Meijer - 07-19-2022
Menachem nodded, "it's good to hear, and to see a familiar face here." Cept for his brother, whom he'd been playing hide and seek with his mask and using the name 'Tony'. "And yeah, busy's good. The work isn't bad. I may be working the doors before we know it."
He looked a bit embarrassed when the crutches were noticed. "Ah yeah, I mangled my leg a bit. I fell down a forgotten well, took about a week before I was found." He laughed as if it were a joke but he had nightmares of being in a dark cramped place he never had before. "But I'm out and on the up and up."
He glanced at him. "You're looking well. Want a drink?"
RE: Loyalty isn't Green - Aslan Koç - 07-21-2022
There was whooping and giggling in the next room. It certainly seemed less depressing than the brothels he spent quizzing survivors at … but the Pony, too, had had a killer – an owner, at that. It could also have been that oddly sweet smell of smoked opium, casting the establishment in a pleasant haze.
Menachem was one of the cases that had gone, against the odds, right.
“You prefer the doors?” he asked, leaning an arm on the counter. “Or do you prefer where you are?”
He hoped he wasn’t messing with a good thing going. Sure, the Diamond Pony was … elite. But an elite what? Aside from the men who enjoyed the job perks, he couldn’t think of anyone who would actually want to work a brothel long term.
Aslan didn’t so much as blink at Menachem’s embarrassment.
“Hate it when that happens,” he said, like it was the most normal thing in the world to go missing down a well for a week. “Anyone looking out for you?”
Allah Allah. Don’t let him be one of the types none would think to report missing.
“Ah, it’s a little early for drinks, but thank you.”
Never mind all it took was a pint to get him drunk.
“Do you primarily tend bars these days, then, or were you hoping to go back to more physical work?”
RE: Loyalty isn't Green - Menachem Meijer - 07-22-2022
Menachem shrugged at the question as he looked around. "I mean, I was hired to do the doors. This is temporary while my leg heals, you know? A guy on one leg isn't the most intimidating. " He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and looked away.
The casualness to his situation brought out a small laugh and he brushed back his hair. "Yeah. I mean.. a woman needing a piss found me and got me out the next day. I managed to get to a doctor and he contacted my little brother. I've been staying at the farm he has, but you know.. he's got a wife and a baby. So I'm trying to get out as quick as possible. But you know, I know how lucky I am. No one knew I'd been working out there, and had she not found me, I'd still be there with no one knowing what happened." His brother had probably already thought he'd left town for some reason. "Even though I told myself i wouldn't leave until I paid you back for all you did for me." He'd now made the same promise to Anita. When he was better, that Ben person would regret what he'd done to her family.
"Ah, suit yourself. Just felt polite to offer since I have little else." He grinned a little.
Menachem shrugged. "It's work, isn't it? Look, my older brother is a barrister, my little brother could have been a lawyer but became a school teacher. And my sister is like.. a talented song writer. And that's just the ones in town." He perhaps should see Ruth, but that would be avoided as long as possible. "I've always been a disappointment to the family. And I used to not care and would do whatever for money. But I've decided maybe I should try to be more law abiding since you worked so hard to free me. So, work is work. I don't have a lot of talents, so..." He shrugged. "It's something, right?"
RE: Loyalty isn't Green - Aslan Koç - 08-02-2022
At least it sounded as though he had a brother and sister-in-law looking out for him. Aslan held up a hand when Menachem insisted on helping him.
“I appreciate your offer, Menachem, but you don’t owe me.”
Allah Allah, he could have lost a bet fair and square, and Aslan would have told him the same. Especially on those crutches. He’d never outrun her on those crutches.
He let out a laugh and shrugged his arms out.
“I might take you up on that if I’m in the area.”
Which was surprisingly not impossible – especially if Witaker actually took him on.
What he’d intended as poking his nose into surface business that wasn’t his turned into a lot more business that wasn’t his. He wasn’t about to complain.
Was Aslan the one who inspired him to get on the straight and narrow, or was it just talk? He’d have advised him not to get caught rather than stop committing crime if he really wanted to know how to get by without familial nor professional supports – or even with some of those.
Maybe Menachem had found a better way after all. He certainly didn’t feel good about the way he lived.
“They’re wrong to not support you,” Aslan said, resolutely.
RE: Loyalty isn't Green - Menachem Meijer - 08-02-2022
Menachem rose his brow and looked at Aslan very seriously. "No one else thought I was innocent or cared. You saved me, you did. Whether you believed in me or not, you got results and I don't forget that. So you might not accept it, but I do owe you and will one day find a way to make it up to you."
He flashed a quick smile, "Fantastic. I hope you do, you look like you could really use a break, letting go, you know? Just come talk to me and I'll help you out."
He looked away, wanting to thank Aslan but the guy already was being fantastic to him. Still he had to say it. "Thanks, I wish that was the case but don't hold your breath. I'm the black sheep that everyone wishes wasn't in the family." He looked away and waved his hand. "Ah, sorry about that. I shouldn't be airing my laundry in front of you. Thanks for letting me talk though. Seriously, um.. so what brings you here? Since you don't seem to care about drink or girls at the moment."