eversohandsome | Duplicity IC Contact

[ 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

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