halfbloodhatchling | Duplicity Inbox

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DUPLICITY CITATION No. 34632
Violation: Disrespecting a Dominant
Fine: One day in Realignment
Payments must be received within 30 calendar days, or debts will be handed over to the Remittance Facility.

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[There's a delivery made to Kai's home with a small tag attached to the parcel that features a picture of a raven and a small note:

No strings attached, whatever you may think, I certainly don't want it back when you're done.
Happy Candleglow, may your path remain illuminated through the year.
-Chris

[Once unwrapped, the present appears to be a bottle of fairly strong whiskey, not the most expensive, but not the cheapest either.]

Hey there, keeping yourself warm in all this mess?

I'm either warm and bored or cold and occupied. So yes, mostly.

You're good?

About the same, house is good, one job is good, second one’s a managed mess, so fine.
Just wanted to check in.

[A beat before the next message comes in.]

So, you don’t need help keeping warm…need help keeping occupied at the same time?

Definitely. It depends a little bit on what you’re proposing, but only a little bit.

Calling in a raincheck on a bit of fun and tumble, if you’re interested? I could come to you and bring whatever you might fancy.

I’m interested. I’ve got a hotel room, should be easy enough. What do you have to bring?

Hotel will work, certainly.

Got access to quite a few kinds of toys, restraints, and the like. Got any preferences for or against I ought know about now?

No iron.

Toys I’m good with, restraints I’m good with with a safeword in play. I’d rather not be on the receiving end of impact play.

Got no iron to my name, easily done. No impact play: also done.

I’ll bring a few options, we can see how we’re feeling from there. Slide me the address and I can be there in less than an hour.

It's the Bumpass Hotel.

A little classier than the name, I promise.

[ continued here! ]

While I realize you probably don't wish to talk to me or Felix, I've made extra meatloaf. If you'd like to come over to grab dinner, you're welcome to.

I talk to Felix

[ Well, he sent him a text. It counts the same, surely. ]

But I don't want to impose. ]

It's not imposing. You taking some of the extra would be great, really.

Why is that?

Because it's better that someone enjoy it warm than we get it as cold meatloaf sandwiches for the next few days.

In that case, thank you.

You're welcome. There's also mashed potatoes and green beans, if you'd like some. I can wrap it up so you can take it, or you can eat here.

It's your hospitality. You can pick where you'd like me to eat.

Is that how this works? Fine, come over and sit and enjoy the meal.

[ ...That's honestly a surprise. He was pretty sure she wouldn't want him around. ]

Your wish is my command. I'll be over.

[When he arrives at the apartment, Ducky answers the door. No collar, no leash. She's dressed in a plain black skirt and a grey sweater over a white blouse, hair pinned up. Modest, tidy. Definitely not clothes most locals would call appropriate for a good submissive, too covered up.]

Welcome. How've you been?

[ For his part, Kai is dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, with a leather jacket to attempt to keep him warm. His hair is a little too long to be neat, but it doesn't quite cover his pointed ears. He blinks a moment at the question. ]

...Cold.

What about you?

I don't think Felix would begrudge you use of the couch if you wanted to stay with us to keep warm.

[She leads him into the kitchen, and makes a plate. The meatloaf is glazed in a tomato-based sauce, the mashed potatoes are fluffy and garlicky. She's a good cook, and enjoys doing it.]

And even if you don't accept that offer, we have some spare blankets I can send you back with.

No, it's--

[ Felix probably would, but Kai can't say that as any kind of a complaint. ]

He's paying for a hotel room for me. I can stay warm.

[ He's just irritated by it. ]

You two are doing alright, though?

[Her first instinct is to ask him why he cares. Her second is to simply say they're fine, to stonewall him. Luckily, Ducky's third instinct is more measured.]

We're doing alright for the moment. It's warm here, and we have food to last for a bit. I have more experience making ingredients stretch than Felix realizes. We had some lean times when I was young.

He and I talked, after the park. We're not planning on doing anything demonstrative like that in public again.

Kai knows exactly how much of this is his business, and that's none of it. That won't really keep him from asking.

So instead of nodding and saying that it's good to know, he considers the matter for a moment.

"Any particular reason you decided on that?" He's sure it's not for his sake, sure it's not necessarily something she wants to tell him about at all.

"Because you weren't the only LIER to have a strong negative reaction. Even if it did get Felix back into the good graces of the city if we did that sort of thing again, it's not worth losing the faith of everyone else here. In particular, those who count themselves my friends tore into him more than was tolerable. I hadn't calculated for that."

On some level, there's a resource management sim in the back of Ducky's head. Dignity, reputation with the city, money, time. Everything's calculated just so. But she hadn't expected how her walk through the part with Felix would affect reputation among LIERs. She didn't realize going in, how many people would care.

It's not that Kai disagrees with her, on a fundamental level he does understand that the city has set it up as LIERs against the authority, that there are dangers to trying to switch to the other side. But Kai is not political, hates politics, and will always instead do what he thinks is right. That never includes saving his own skin as the first consideration, although it is somewhere on the list.

"When you set up a situation to make it seem like someone else holds the power, people stop believing you had the power to set up the situation," he says, although it's more of a guess than anything else.

"Did you decide not to do it again, or did Felix?"

"It was mutually agreed upon, but I believe I said it first. He was less comfortable with the whole thing, the entire time we were out. I'm a servant back home; I'm used to certain posturing, acting...not quite submissive, but subservient as part of my duties."

There's other layers to it, too. The part that still gets to her the most is how many people moved to try to help her. How many people cared about her.

There are parts of that answer that Kai isn't surprised by, but none of it reassures him. Not that he's expecting any kind of reassurance.

"Are you going to advise him to end the contract with me, or to not renew it if it comes to that?"

This question visibly surprises her. "No. I don't talk to him about your contract at all. And if he asks...I still don't feel like it's my place."

Kai snorts at that a little. "I'll offer that advice to him myself then." Kai's life is a decent bit easier, having a contract, but he knows it still might not be worth it. He's especially not looking to get other people hurt.

"To be clear, it's not that you'd like him to release your contract or choose not to renew, but that you feel it would be best for him?"

She would be amused if it weren't so frustrating.

"As I understand it, I can go three months without a contract before I'd have to sign one again. I don't like being tied to people, beyond the fact that yeah, he could be held responsible for my actions, or for disciplining me." Felix disciplining Kai would probably be kinder and gentler than the city doing so, but it probably doesn't mean either of them would enjoy it.

"Eventually, you will have to find someone again, if you let this go, though. And Felix is a lot better than many here you could be tied to."

But if he's made up his mind, she knows she's not going to convince him.

"I hope you realize I won't stop worrying about you, even if your contract with Felix ends. It is not merely for his sake that I'm interested in your well-being."

"I hadn't really realized that you were worried about me." Kai's not sure he likes the sound of that, knows people deserve better than that from him. Knows he'd make a lot of stress if anyone worried about him.

"If you want to redeem him in the eyes of the city, he's definitely going to need to cut ties with me."

"Of course I'm worried. Your coping mechanism for being here in the city seems to be raging self-sabotage. And I've seen men take that route before--it's never fun to watch, but I refuse to just look away, either."

There's a pause, a deeper frown. "I suppose even I fell into that trap at one point. The pursuit of justice without any regard for self preservation."

Kai gives her a bit of a look back.

"Just because your method of trying to get along with the city is playing into their expectations in the hope that it will keep them from hurting you doesn't mean that refusing to do that is the same as self-sabotage. Some people don't negotiate with terrorists. I don't cooperate with my captors." At one point he had, and while he's here to tell the story, he's promised himself that he'll never do that again, never grovel for scraps of affection or mercy from people who enjoy hurting him.

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DUPLICITY CITATION No. 18292
Violation: Seditious Speech
Fine: 1 day Realignment
Payments must be received within 30 calendar days, or debts will be handed over to the Remittance Facility.

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I'm planning to do something to fight the government.
Would you like to be a part of it?
You may receive a citation, but I'll do the best I can to ensure the majority of any consequences fall solely on me.
It would involve distributing seditious flyers.

Edited 2022-05-04 14:32 (UTC)

Count me in.

I'll keep you informed.
Would you be more comfortable spreading them up in the Down or the Up?

Down, but I'm flexible.

We need more people in the Down.
That suits me just as well.
I'd advise disguising yourself in some way when you're putting them up.
You might still get caught, but at least ordinary gang members might not recognize you.

Sounds like a plan.

I'll send you further details on where to pick the flyers up and how we're doing the distribution once we have them.

Thank you, Kai.

Yeah, no problem.

Duplicity Inbox

CITATION

Delivery New Year's Eve

Text; UN: Ravens

Text; UN: gargoyle

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text; un: luckyducky

text; un: gargoyle

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ATTN: KAI GRACEN

un: thearchivist; text

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