eversohandsome | Duplicity IC Contact

[ For better or worse, Bob has no reaction to being asked for drugs beyond nodding in what seems to be complete understanding. This isn't the first time he's been asked to bring something illegal to a mate.

He'd want the same thing if he was forced to stare at the walls of a 6 x 8 cell. Not that he knows how these cells stack up against what he's used to seeing the inside of. But the point still stands. Anything to take the edge of awareness in that situation. ]

Yeah, yeah. I'll sort you out, don't worry.

I'll see you later, then, yeah?

[ It occurs to Tennal to be certain that his communications are being monitored, that he should have sent a vague text if he was going to say anything at all, but far be it for him to think through the consequences of his own actions before he takes them.

Maybe if he did that, he wouldn't be locked out at all. Or maybe he could have thought it through and still not cared enough to behave himself, that is how things sometimes go with him. ]

If you insist.

[ It's probably a polite fiction on both of theirs parts, he probably won't really show. Tennal tries to tell himself that he knows that and that it's fine that way. ]

[ There's not much that Bob ever really insists on. But he is loyal, and he doesn't flake on people unless he's caught up in something big.

It takes him longer than it would back home in London to score some gear. He doesn't have money of his own to pay, so he has to steal, fence and then purchase a small baggie containing three pills before he can think of showing up at the People Zoo.

It's hardly an inviting place and more than once he reckons he's about to get shoved into a cell himself, but eventually he's pushed into a small visitation area and sits in a chair on one side of a table. At least there's no glass, but then that probably makes sense. Dominants can't exactly get a good feel of a Submissive if they can't actually touch. There he waits, almost immediately bored without any stimulation. ]

[ Tennal is surprised when he's told that he has a visitor, but he's not surprised when he isn't returned any sort of clothing. He's told, the moment before he enters, that it's another submissive and so he shouldn't hold out hope of this being useful for him.

He has had time to prepare himself and little enough to think about even if he didn't believe Bob would visit. His smile is oh-so-bright, a practiced look, one that says there's nothing to worry about here, and he makes no attempt to cover up. He would have been showing off at some point anyway. ]

I hope you didn't have to wait too long. It took a while to make sure my clothes were just right.

[ This is stupid, but stupider is that Tennal can't get a read on Bob, that his abilities continue to just not work. It's not even like he can tell there are minds and he can't get anything from them, like they have shields, there's just nothing, he has no ability to look out from his own mind. It's horrifying and even more claustrophobic than the cell itself. ]

[ He appreciates the humour despite the circumstances, even manages to avoid looking all that strongly unsettled by the other man's lack of outfit in this specific setting. Sitting up straighter in the folded out, uncomfortable seat, he's briefly considered that these are probably not the same as the ones the snobby Dominants get to sit on. ]

Birthday suit looks good on you, boyo.

[ If they'd been meeting over that drink like they planned, it would have sounded far more flirty than it does. As it stands, Bob sounds as if he's hit the same headspace as Tennal. Humour taking a jab at the powers that be. ]

Said I'd visit, didn't I? Don't like to disappoint.

You seen many Dominant pricks yet?

[ At least because it's another submissive, Tennal isn't expected to kneel. He tries to avoid them, but all the expectations of this place are really stupid, and it turns out they're a lot more firmly enforced when he's already been arrested. ]

I got to be naked furniture at a party yesterday. If I thought this was boring, that taught me something else.

[ Only the knowledge that he'd be very quickly subdued had been enough to keep Tennal from getting up and strangling someone for getting a little too familiar. And Tennal's not used to controlling himself, hates the idea that that means this place is having an effect on him. ]

Bit fucking obvious, isn't it? The whole sexy furniture bollocks.

Playing Ikea ain't as fucking edgy as they think it is.

[ Call it bravery or stupidity, but Bob's wound up just enough to not bother to lower his voice. And it's not that he feels untouchable, either. He knows just as well he could be forced to do the same any time a Dominant feels like it.

But he's feeling rebellious. Like he wants to punch somebody. Punching up always feels good. ]

So you're in here until somebody stumps up the money? You know anybody who could do that for you?

Perhaps it’s a classic for a reason. Although I can’t say that human furniture is a part of high society on Exana.

[ And Tennal, for all his nakedness and submissive status, still carries all the airs of being familiar with that.

Part of him realizes that he needs to calm Bob down, that he doesn’t want to be responsible for another person clashing with this place.

And so he lies, easy and without remorse. ]

It’s just a matter of picking who I want to owe a favor to. And making sure I don’t accept an offer too quickly. It just doesn’t send the right impression.

[ They may not come from the same kind of background, but Bob seems to accept that answer wholly, swallowing it as the truth. Why would somebody make up an answer? He doesn't know Tennal well enough to sift through the likelihood of anything other than something close to the truth.

That and he's more than familiar with the favours system. Not here but at home. In fact favours are probably the main reason he's still alive and kicking. He doesn't think on that too often, but when he does and icy chill runs through his veins at the thought of being drowned in the Thames. ]

Yeah, yeah. Makes sense. Right impression's hard to keep here when we're you-know-what.

[ He motions at the line down his own throat. ]

Still. Don't wait too long, yeah? I can think of a million other things we could be doing right now if you weren't banged up in here.

[ Tennal feels a little pressure come off his chest at the acceptance of what he’s said. This is a different kind of dangerous line than what he usually hovers over, but the last thing he wants is any kind of sympathy. ]

Don’t want to give the guards a show?

[ Tennal can certainly understand that, although maybe these guards would object less than he’s used to. ]

Make me a list and we’ll work through it when I’m out.

[ He imagines Bob has plenty of options, people he could work through any kind of list with, but Tennal likes sex and there’s always the fun of having more of it, of different combinations. He figures he only has so much time with it before his personality drives Bob off, before the other man realizes that he’s unpleasant to be around, but he may as well have as much fun with it as he can. ]

[ Snorting at the idea of giving the guards a show - because he does see that as a joke, must be - he fidgets in his seat and flicks his gaze to the door he arrived from. Plenty of guards back through there. Plenty the other way too, he's sure. He's not giving them a shred more than he absolutely has to.

When he looks back, his eyes are a touch sharper. As if his brain has moved on to something specific. Illuminated by his next statement. ]

You? I'd give you a show. The rest of them can jog the fuck on.

We can at least pretend like we ain't being watched out there.

[ Tennal smiles, and there's something different about this one, it touches his eyes a little more. ]

I can't imagine what I've done to deserve that.

[ But he likes it, likes the idea of it even if the root is likely a general dislike of authority on Bob's part, rather than anything that Tennal himself has done. ]

But I'll make good on whatever promise that is.

[ And agreed, on the having to pretend. Voyeurism isn't usually on Tennal's list of things he seeks out. ]

[ Something in what the other man says strikes Bob as noteworthy, though he doesn't outwardly react beyond a brief quirk of his eyebrows. Tucking that statement in a back pocket, almost unconsciously, he smirks. ]

Probably better not making promises in this place. Never know when some wankstain's going to make it impossible to deliver.

But I get you.

Both of us are thinking the same thing. Good to know. Don't want to be barking up the wrong naked fella, you know what I mean?

[ He can fill silence like the most chatty of people. Opting for an abundance rather than nothing much at all. Used to visiting people in prison, is he. ]

Bloke out there said we had 10 minutes. Haven't been keeping count but when you're ready, say something shit to me and we'll sort you out.

Promises are easy, especially since you already know I’ll break them.

[ Not that Bob seems to mind as much as he could that they’re here instead of somewhere more fun. He minds, clearly, but his dislike of the situation doesn’t seem oriented at Tennal, who can tell that much even without reading him.

Tennal wants to tell him to stay, to ask for a kiss, because this is a quarter of a distraction from the awful stillness and oppression of being trapped in a cage or sent out to be some attractive ornament for dominants. But every minute Bob spends here is time that increases the likelihood he’ll say something the guards take offense to, time where Tennal is responsible for any consequences that happen to him.

The request is— well, people very rarely ask to be on the receiving end of Tennal’s sharp tongue and there’s certainly a part of him that enjoys it, that knows how to make people hate him and uses it like a weapon. The part of him that gambles with his own safety and thrills every time he walks away. ]

Pretty useless, you showing up here. Want to feel like a dominant for a moment by having power over someone, even if they have to be in a cage to do it?

[ What Bob thinks he does or doesn't know doesn't yet stray into the realm of presuming he knows anything about that. The other man's insistence on not being able to keep a promise doesn't mean much one way or another. Nobody's been very good at keeping promises in his life, but they've been people he's cared about more than he's cared about himself all the same.

It's not enough to just not keep promises.

The little barb draws a satisfied smirk from him though, suppressed only at the last minute because he did ask for it for a very specific reason. Though he's actually not looking to leave the man so easily. ]

Nah, come on now. I said something shit. Feels like you're just flirting with me, babes.

[ Tennal’s eyebrows draw together for a moment and then he carefully smoothes them out. He doesn’t know Bob’s pressure points, hasn’t ever done even a casual reading of him and he wonders if maybe that does matter, maybe he’s an asshole because he’s a reader, like some people have said.

But the truth is that he doesn’t know what this is about, and it’s not an uncertainty that he’s used to. But falling into spoiled rich kid territory, that might be the best approach. ]

Maybe it’s just that when you’ve spent your life surrounded by shit you start to think there are different shades to it, and that that matters. When everyone else only notices the smell you give off.

[ He rather hopes that he’s not being wound up just to get punched, but in that case it doesn’t seem like it really matters what he says. ]

Mmm. Yeah, bit too obvious still though.

[ Being compared to shit isn't all that different to being treated like he's the shit on someone else's shoe. He should just ham up being offended by that, but there's an edge to this that feels too much like a game to hit all too hard.

And, really, he's just creating the start of a scene. One that'll at least be memorable for both of them, not just because the actual plan is a little bit of theatre in the bleakness of all this. He doesn't seek it out but every now and then a bit of drama is worth its weight in popcorn dipped in gold.

He hasn't really contemplated the fact that what he's used to hearing as an insult possibly doesn't translate for a society who might not experience things like homophobia. He can't even imagine that. ]

Come on, tiger. I thought I saw a bit of fire in you.

[ Tennal has run through their status in this city and class, and he's pretty sure he can rule out neuromodification and military division affiliation as being too specific to Orshan society to guess at any equivalent wherever Bob is from.

Bob had mentioned there not being freedom to have sex with men but other than that being bullshit, Tennal has no idea how to use it, or really think of it as usable. ]

I suppose you would look for that in others, to try to get someone else's spark to reflect on you. It must come from knowing that you couldn't keep up without some kind of assistance.

[ This is...probably not helping. ]

You must take after your gen-parent that way.

[ Because insulting someone's parentage does have a way of escalating things. Usually. ]

[ It's surprisingly difficult to find the right access point, mostly because Bob has invited this upon himself. There's a little bit of work on his part to understand what gen-parent means, but the overall message he works out after a beat.

It's probably right on the money to dig into a sore spot, but he takes a moment to snort and then lean back in his seat, as if he's trying to put more distance between them. ]

You what? You saying something about my mum?

Your mum clearly never taught you respect for your betters.

[ Tennal feels a little dirty, but it’s a dirtiness without particular attachment. His gen-parent is dead and his aunt is the legislator, she’s received plenty of public criticism but it’s not Tennal’s problem. ]

Someone should have showed you both your place, but maybe she wasn’t bright enough to know it.

[ A flash of anger is what he'd been aiming for. Bit of a spark to make at least part of what he intends to happen next more plausible. He's no stranger to getting into play fights just as he's no stranger to having a proper scrap. At least there's no weapons involved, here and now, that would make it difficult to present this as completely genuine. ]

Yeah, that'll do it.

[ It's a murmur more than anything, as if he's speaking to himself. But it's audible enough for the other man to pick up on should he be paying attention.

One last moment where Bob sounds like his soft and generally friendly self before he launches into his next persona.

Handsome Bob, who knows how to fight just like the rest of the lads he grew up with back in SW8, is skilled enough at scrapping that he's confident he won't hurt Tennal in the process. ]

Fuck you!

[ A sharp call to action and then Bob's launching himself across the space between them, hands outstretched to grab Tennal both by the throat and by the hand. It's all a ruse, a quick tussle to bring them close together before the guards have a chance to intervene. The packet of pills Bob sourced outside of these walls is pressed firmly into Tennal's palm.

How else is he supposed to sneak in drugs to his new mate here? ]

[ Tennal is used to his own defiance and the consequences of it. Given who he is - or at least who he’s related to - those consequences have been more likely to take the form of mind control to shut him down and take over his mind rather than violence. But violence has never been out of the question, not with either boarding school classmates or the army involved, and while Tennal isn’t a fighter he’s also not immediately cowed by it.

It shows in his eyes, a stubbornness setting in even as he gets grabbed. His hand closes around something and it’s only because he’s so very practiced at lying with his body language that he keeps from grinning. Instead he clenches both hands into fists, bringing them up like he’s going to try to throw a punch.

He doesn’t get the chance, a fact that’s probably more protective for his hands than for Bob’s face, before the guards are rushing in, pulling them apart and shoving Tennal towards his cell. ]

Yes, that certainly proves your sophistication.

[ Tennal realizes he’s shaking slightly, adrenaline and terror and satisfaction all blending together as he tries to get the last word in. ]

You can take your sophistication and stick it up your arse, pretty boy!

[ Bob's voice echoes down the hall after the man being bundled away, and at least he hopes the nickname softens the faux aggressive goodbye. Mission accomplished, though. A bit of boredom-relief coupled with delivery of some illicit substance or another.

Fuck knows if the pills in that packet will actually be the psychedelic he asked for. It would be naive of him to think there's not some weird city shit infused in even the drugs here.

Still, he hopes it provides some entertainment for Tennal. Better than rotting staring at the inside of a prison cell.

And he's very used to being slung out of doors by bouncers and policemen, so much so that he smirks as he's thrown out on his arse by the guards. It's been completely worth the visit. ]

Duplicity IC Contact

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject