alwayskayaking | Duplicity Inbox

Tim.
I'm missing two ribs.
I saw them pulled out.
I know what it looks like.

You SAW them pulled out???????????? And don't most rib bones look the same????? Did you tattoo eyes onto them or something???????????

I needed one of them for something.
The other one I traded for a Statement.

[Because that's just how things are sometimes.]

There's nothing on them.
Don't be strange.
I Know it's mine.
Which raises the question of how these people even got it.
The Boneturner sucked it into his body, and Jared's not the type to give up pieces he pulls in.

[He gave his bone away for a statement. A bone that was sucked up by Jared.] You got a statement... from HIM? You found him? Sasha and I could hardly find anything on the guy except old police reports that basically say he was a massive creep and bully.

He's certainly that.
Elias manipulated him into attacking the Institute after the Unknowing.
He was supposed to do it after I'd got back there, but I was still in a coma when it happened.
You remember the Distortion?
The thing that showed Sasha the worms.
It ended up helping Martin and the others, trapped Jared in its corridors.
It wasn't much sleuthing on my part.
One of the assistants who came after you let me know what had happened, and the Distortion's been in a habit of lurking about the Archives ever since the Prentiss incident.
I knew where to find it.
Ergo, I found Jared.

[Explains the how, but not the--] Why? Why did you want to find him?

[That really shouldn't be the focus here. Jon rewinds with a sigh.]

You remember that evil coffin from one of our early Statements?
The one wrapped in chains with 'Do Not Open' on it?
It was a portal into the Buried.
The Circus had it with them for reasons.

A woman named Daisy who was helping us during the Unknowing was thrown into it during the fight with the Circus.
After I woke up, the coffin found its way to me, and I was told she was inside.

Daisy was extremely important to another one of my assistants, a woman named Basira.
They'd been in the police together.
Partners.
I knew she wanted Daisy back, so I had to figure out a way to get to Daisy and then find my way back out of the coffin.
Based on a few Statements, it seemed that having some sort of physical anchor to the world helped people to escape the Buried.
I didn't have anything particularly sentimental on-hand, so I thought a body part might work, instead.

I tried cutting off a finger, but it just kept healing the moment I took the knife away.
As that clearly wasn't working, I needed some other way to get a piece of me to leave behind.
The Boneturner can pull pieces out of people without causing injury.
Logically, he made sense.

[After the Unknowing. After his... it was strange hearing about these people he didn't know yet. The lives that they lead after and...

...and...

Hold on. He reads that again. Then one more time for good measure.]

You chopped off a finger and it reattached itself?

[Ah... the not human thing. Right.]

Something like that.
I'm not immortal or anything.
I don't think I am, anyway.
Just a bit hardier than I used to be.

Edited 2021-01-30 00:19 (UTC)

That's useful. [He's a bit uncomfortable thinking about it, but he also can't deny that it would be something useful. Yet, that also makes him think about something else he's been meaning to ask about.]

You made the clone say where he was. Do people always have to answer any question you ask?

If the Eye's not going to give me any physical prowess, I suppose the least it can do is make sure I don't die when other avatars are beating me up.

[That question makes Jon wary, though. He's trying to be honest, but he's afraid of how Tim might take it.]

They don't always have to answer.
But it is a power I have.
I can compel most people to answer me honestly if I want them to.
It doesn't always work here.
And before you ask, I can't remember if I've compelled you before.
It's possible.
It slips out sometimes if I'm not paying attention.

It's honestly one of the reasons I prefer to text with people.
I can't compel them like this.
Less chance I'll lose focus.

Or you're beating yourself up?

[Tim isn't sure how to feel the longer the text goes on. Jon really wasn't fully human anymore. He had been trying to deny it for as long as possible, but that didn't seem possible after everything anymore.]

I'll try to remember that and text rather than call.

[And he'll be more hyper aware when Jon talks to him. Unsure if he'll be able to not be suspicious of any question Jon asks him in the future.]

Dismembering myself isn't actually a regular pastime.

My abilities also don't work over the phone for the most part.
You remember what it was like trying to record any of the real Statements on our laptops?
It all just goes to static.

So what you're saying is the Eye is a cranky old man who doesn't get the kids and their crazy technology these days?

Maybe that's why it likes me.
We share some basic values.

Maybe the secret is playing more Angry Birds. [It's a little hard to joke right now, but he's trying. Feeling less defensive means he's starting to realize how hard it must have been for Jon to reach out to him.]

That game is a time-wasting sinkhole that adds nothing of value to the world.

[He is extremely bad at Angry Birds...]

That's sort of the point. You just turn your brain off and enjoy a bit of time to yourself to unwind. Or for something quick to do while stuck on the tube.

I find the daily crossword in the newspaper far less frustrating.
And turning my brain off around other people I don't trust sounds like a recipe for being pickpocketed.

Do you even have something worth pickpocketing off you?

[W O W]

I've been mugged here more times than I can count in the past year and a half.
People apparently see something worth taking.

I suppose most would look at a dom and think they'd at least have some cash on them. And you are dressing a lot nicer here than you did back home.

Yes, well.
Regardless, I try to keep aware when I'm out and about.
It's safer that way.

[Not that he's doing a lot of going out just at the moment.]

[Unless a clone wishes to kidnap him.]

I suppose trying to be safe isn't a bad idea.

It isn't.
If you need mace, I have plenty of it.
I would strongly encourage that over guns.
You don't have to aim nearly as much, you're not going to accidentally shoot someone, and it gets your point across in an excruciatingly painful way.

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