Duplicity Inbox

[alwayskayaking]

Duplicity Inbox

You've reached Tim Stoker. I'm out at the moment. Leave me a message and I'll return your call soon.

Comments

[alwayskayaking]

[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?

[compellingstatement]

[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.

[alwayskayaking]

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?

[compellingstatement]

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.

[alwayskayaking]

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.]

[compellingstatement]

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.

[alwayskayaking]

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?

[compellingstatement]

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

[alwayskayaking]

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.]

[compellingstatement]

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

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

[alwayskayaking]

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.

[compellingstatement]

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.

[alwayskayaking]

Do you even have something worth pickpocketing off you?

[compellingstatement]

[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.

[alwayskayaking]

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.

[compellingstatement]

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.]

[alwayskayaking]

[Unless a clone wishes to kidnap him.]

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

[compellingstatement]

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.

[alwayskayaking]

I have some already. It was surprisingly easy to get here.

And I'm taking lessons. I have more control now so I won't make that mistake again. [Hopefully.]

[compellingstatement]

Tim, if that gun you have just made you aroused.
What exactly do you think might happen the next time you try to shoot someone?

[alwayskayaking]

I figure it's fifty-fifty either the same thing happens again or the new bullets I bought will kill them. Either way I got away last time after sex. I think I could do so again.

[compellingstatement]

[How to word this delicately.]

If you know that gun might force a certain effect and you shoot someone with it, would you consider yourself at all responsible for inducing that effect in another person?
Not to mention yourself.
I don't know, Tim.
Given the nature of that effect, it seems too risky.
It's one thing when you didn't know about it.
It seems like it might be another when you do.

[alwayskayaking]

[The long pause that follows Jon's message might clue the Archivist in that Tim hadn't thought about it in that way.]

You have a good point with that. I hadn't considered it in that way. I'll look into replacing it.

[compellingstatement]

[The fact that Tim doesn't immediately bite his head off about it is... progress? Tentative progress. Now Jon just has to figure out how to prevent the man from getting hold of a different gun. There must be license requirements. Can he report Tim for illegally firing a gun? Should he tell Wolf to?

But going behind Tim's back like that is exactly what the clone had been accusing him of. Jon doesn't want to be what Tim fears, a creature that just keeps sabotaging him.]

Would you take self-defense lessons with me from Tim Drake, instead?
I honestly think you'll get more use out of them than having a gun.
And he keeps pestering me about doing them.
Having someone else to hold me accountable to them would be... useful.

[alwayskayaking]

I'm already taking them. He's a pretty good teacher and even better at knocking me to the floor, but I think getting some exercise would be good for you. And I mean more than what you get from lifting boxes of statments.

[He's taking self defence lessons already, he has mace, and a gun. Is Jon seeing the picture of how safe Tim has felt lately in this city?]