Logs:Important Folk

Important Folk
Dramatis Personae Ion, Tian-shin
In Absentia	2021-04-04 "Making your papa proud, I hear?"
Location <NYC> Tao Yuan Funeral Home and Columbarium - Chinatown
The expensive cast bronze signage for this unassuming storefront on Mulberry Street is entirely in Chinese, with little to cue in the uninitiated that it is the most prestigious funeral home in the neighborhood. Today there is a good deal more coming and going than usual, as the well-connected but less well-to-do families of the area's Chinese diaspora come to pay respects to their dead for the Qing Ming Festival. Inside the air is redolent of incense that grows stronger as one moves past the reception area and up the stairs to the columbarium. The main columbarium chamber is crowded with rows and rows of beautiful if simple wooden shelves displaying funerary urns, and today with mourners bringing incense, flowers, and fruit. Most of the side room doors are closed, but there is one with large double doors thrown wide open. Within, most the walls are also lined with shelves of urns, save for a spot directly opposite the entrance, where an altar is, appropriately enough, adorned with statues of the three Marshals of the Central Altar. A three-legged cast iron cauldron stands before the altar, bristling with incense sticks. Not all of the smoke is coming from the offerings, however. Several of the dozen or so people in the room are smoking fragrant hand-rolled cigarettes. The men are uniformly dressed in fine tailored suits, while the women wear qipao, all in somber colors. Standing beside her mother and younger brother, Tian-shin appears to be drowning her obvious discomfort in Scotch. She's trust just differently enough from the others to stand out, in a black Mandarin collar pantsuit trimmed in scarlet. Her hair is done up in an impeccable bun, secured by a red lacquer hair stick, and she is wearing considerably more makeup than usual. "{Yong would be so proud to see Tian-Yi preparing to follow in his footsteps,}" Mei-lan--Tian-shin's mother and one of the tong's star widows today--is saying to two middle-aged men, in Mandarin. Beside her Tian-shin's younger brother beams, but not so much as to seem improper, given the circumstances. Tian-shin excuses herself to refill her glass from the rolling service tray by the door. By all rights Ion should be looking out of place, here. In jeans, heavy boots, his much-abused MMMC cut over a faded denim shirt, he certainly isn't dressed like a Respectful Mourner. The cigarette tucked behind his ear is just a Newport. He doesn't seem particularly somber and he is definitely not Chinese. He /does/ have flowers! A somewhat ludicrous number and assortment of flowers spilling out of one arm. None of his incongruousness seems to be bothering /him/ in the least, though! He seems perfectly at ease as he makes his way through the funeral home, eyes lighting when he spies Tian-shin through the open doorway. "Shit girl I know," he starts probably more than a little too loud, modulating his tone down to a more hushed library-whisper as he makes he way over peer in through the doorway, "-- know you say outside but I was outside and nobody was outside except for this --" he offers forth the flowers with a flourish. "Girl was selling 'em and she was /real/ convincing." Tian-shin looks like a deer in the headlights when she spots Ion, and her expression cycles quickly through surprise into alarm and mortification and finally, /relief./ "{Oh thank god you're here,}" she whispers back in Spanish. If she was going to say anything else, she doesn't quite manage it, as an extremely muscular young man steps up beside Tian-shin and says, "Excuse me, Sir, this is a private party." "That's her /boyfriend,/" Tian-yi puts in before either his sister or Ion has a chance to explain. His tone is even but he wears just the barest hint of a vicious smile. "Why don't you come in and say hello, Ion?" Their mother looks very much like she /wants/ to argue, but also does /not/ want to publicly contradict the son whose praises she'd just been singing. Tian-shin just pours Ion some Scotch, her expression unreadable. Ion accepts the Scotch gladly, taking the glass and turning over his bounty of flowers to Tian-shin in exchange. "Oh yeah-yeah-yeah, sorry, friend," Ion nods to the man beside Tian-shin, "where my manners at? I been invited." He tips his glass toward Tian-shin. Then /raises/ it to Tian-yi, with a bright hook of a grin. "How /you/ been, boy?" He takes a gulp from the glass as he saunters into the room. "Making your papa proud, I hear?" The muscular young man doesn't even blink. He only bows shallowly and steps aside. The middle-aged men talking to Mei-lan, however, are looking Ion up and down with distinctly unimpressed expressions on their faces. Tian-yi /does/ blink, as if startled by Ion's knowledge of his recent elevation, and shoots his sister a dirty look. "I am deeply honored to be given the opportunity to do right by my father's memory and give back to the community." The line sounds /very/ rehearsed. Tian-shin takes another drink. "Oh, I did not know you were invite Ion," Mei-lan says with a hard look at Tian-shin, but she's all smiles as she bows to their guest. "Welcome, welcome. We have already done the ah, sweep. Now is talking, food, and drink." "I didn't know little Tian-tian had a boyfriend," says one of the middle-aged men, smiling broadly as he takes a drag of his cigarette. "What is your name, young man?" Tian-shin bristles visibly at the pet name, but only takes another drink. Ion returns Mei-lan's bow. "Afternoon, Mrs. Hua. Always good to see you again." He rocks back on a heel, brows lifting. "Little who? I thought Tian-yi, he the baby in the family. But yeah, me and Tian-shin, we been together a bit now. I'm Ion." Now it's Tian-yi's turn to bristle while Tian-shin hides her incipient smile behind her glass, though--perhaps remembering that she ought to pace herself--she does not take a drink this time. By the time she lowers the glass she has schooled her expression to pleasant neutrality, though no one seems to really be paying much attention to her. Most pairs of eyes in the room have gone /just/ a little wide and are tracing a bit nervously between Ion and the middle-aged man who had called Tian-shin "little." "Pleased to meet you, Ion. I am Chen Ling-Yin," he says, looking more amused than offended at being obliquely contradicted. "Tian-yi is indeed the youngest, but they both seem so little to me. You see, I have known them both since birth. You should know she's a very special girl, and I hope you are doing right by her." "Mister Chen great man," Mei-lan adds hastily. "Take care of our family many time." "Father worked for Boss Chen," Tian-yi says, his chest puffing out just a touch as he continues, "and now I do, too." "Yeah? Important kind of folk to have in the community." This reply is clearly directed toward Mei-lan's comment, and not Tian-yi at all. "Is good to meet you, Mr. Chen." Ion lifts his glass in a salute, wandering back closer to Tian-shin. "I'm sure if I know her half so long as you -- well. I already think she pretty damn special so that maybe wouldn't change much. I try to treat to her proper, but she's the best judge of that, I think." His glance to Tian-shin isn't exactly questioning. "A lot more important than people with no respect for tradition and propriety," Tian-yi has stopped smiling and is just openly glaring at Ion now. Chen studies the rank badge on Ion's cut, humming thoughtfully. "Mutant Mongrels," he says, his voice neutral and just slightly inquisitive. "Our ways are different, but I can respect what you do for your community." Then, a beat later, still too neutral to sound entirely like praise. "Not just your own." He takes a long drag on his cigarette. "And you have good judgment, about Tian-shin, at least." His smile to her is ever so slightly rueful. "She's always going to do things her way whether you accept it or not." Tian-shin's brows wrinkle slightly, and she looks almost ready to object before frowning even deeper and just taking another drink instead. Mei-lan is glaring at his daughter now, making /significant/ eye movements at her glass. "Yessir. Takes all kinds of ways to keep people going, huh?" Ion has started to take his cigarette from behind his ear, tuck it into his mouth, but he puts it right back when Tian-yi speaks. "No propriety where?" His eyes have gone wide with an exaggerated confusion. "/My/ people, see, we got a real strong tradition of, treat guests polite. Looked to me like that's something your folks --" The sweep of his hand takes in -- basically a large three-quarters of the room. Tian-shin. Mei-lan. Chen. Distinctly /not/ Tian-yi. "-- had in common." He knocks back the rest of his glass, hooks his arm through Tian-shin's when she continues drinking. "I really just come for this one, shouldn't be keeping you all so long. I hope you all don't mind if I steal her. You ready, /honey/?" Tian-yi sputters at this, Mei-lan blanches slightly, and Chen Ling-Yin inclines his head. "What you say is true, and I humbly apologize for my employee's uncouth behavior. He is young and ignorant, and I sincerely apologize on his behalf." With this he bows to Ion--more deeply than anyone else has, thus far. Everyone is staring at them again. "I hope that you enjoy your evening, and please feel free to stop by the Spring and Autumn, if you are in the neighborhood sometime and hungry." He leans forward, his tone slightly conspiratorial. "You may tell the staff you are there on business, and they'll feed you." Tian-shin leans on Ion a bit more heavily than usual, her balance already suffering. "Later, Mother, Tian-yi. And it was good to see you again, Uncle Chen," she says. "I'll say hi to Tag for you." She doesn't wait to see whether her older brother's chosen name registers any confusion. "I am ready!" She looks up fondly at Ion, then adds, almost like an afterthought as she steer them unsteadily toward the door. "Sweetheart."