alwayskayaking | Duplicity Inbox

[Tim starts to make a joke about who hasn't thought about slugging their boss then stops. Images of his clone flash in his mind briefly and he changes his response.]

Probably not that often.

Maybe thinking about that sort of thing with your boss was just me with Elias, then.
He's gone, by the way.
I don't know if Hawke told you, but I did ask him.
Just like that.
I'm not sure it's quite as much of a relief as last time.
He didn't have much time to do anything nefarious.

Edited 2021-02-02 00:36 (UTC)

[Should he say something? Say how he was starting to doubt Jon with just how bad Elias supposedly is.] Hawke told me. He didn't seem that bad.

Edited (Wrong icon. Very important to fix) 2021-02-02 00:45 (UTC)

No, he didn't.
I expect some part of it was the city severely limiting his abilities this go around.
They did something to shake his connection with the Beholding.
He was looking to me for answers on some things.
Which was... unnerving.
He was also from before things changed.
He hadn't realized he'd won until I told him.

Bet he liked hearing that.

He did.
It was... uncomfortable, really.
He kept touching me and trying tell me it was our world.

['Is it not?' is typed so fast that Tim very nearly sends it. His finger hovering over the button and stopping himself just in time.]

That must have been awkward and uncomfortable for you. [Is what he goes with in the end.]

It usually is where he's concerned.
He was stranger this time than before.
Gentler with me.
He kept trying to convince me he wanted to be my friend.

[Again Tim's hand has to stop before hitting send. There is so much he wants to say, but isn't sure it's a good idea: are you really sure Elias manipulated his contract before? Are you sure Elias is to blame for the end of the world and not just an excuse? Could it have been a Not Them? Like it had been a Not Sasha? Instead he simply chooses something else.] Seemed just like the Elias I always knew from back home. Maybe a bit stuck up sometimes, but not a bad guy.

He was bad, Tim.
He might not have done anything bad here, but he's a monster.

I guess I just didn't get a chance to see it for myself.

That's not a bad thing.
I'm glad he wasn't awful to you.

I still don't understand what his angle was.
Right before he left, he took me in for a few days.
Some sort of effect came while I was eating my breakfast out in the park near the office.
I lost most of my memories.
Everything back to where I'd just been hired as Head Archivist.
Elias found me wandering around, took me to his home.
Nothing untoward happened.
He was just... nice to me.
I don't trust it.

You sure it was really him? Either here or back home. Maybe the one you claim ruined the world was another Not Them.

[Jon side-eyes the hell out of that message, but manages to contain a snippy response.]

He wasn't one of the Not-Them, Tim.
You realize 'Elias' is just the body Jonah Magnus is piloting around?
He ripped out the original Elias Bouchard's eyes, stuck his own in, and erased the man who used to own that body.
Just like he did to every head of the Institute from its inception.

Edited 2021-02-03 04:53 (UTC)

[So says Jon.] Then maybe the one here was a clone or something. [Seemed far fetched, but he just ran into his own clone after all.]

Or maybe he was just biding his time.
He spent 200 years planning a ritual that ended the world.
For all his many faults, a lack of patience isn't one of them.

Then I guess I can see why he'd care about you, but why me? I thought the only one who mattered was you. Yet he was nothing but helpful to me. [About the only one who listened and agreed with him on things Tim thought anyone from home should have done the same for. Yet Elias seemed to be the only sane one for awhile.]

Considering he's used you and the others to help gaslight me in the past?
I wouldn't put it past him to play the sympathetic ear to get you on his side.
All the better to help convince me I'm being unreasonable, irrational.
He's just the old boring, but helpful Elias we all knew and admired.

Why can't we all be friends again, Jon?
You're being so paranoid, Jon.
Why are you always like this, Jon?
He's just trying to help you, Jon.

[Jon is attempting to keep his cool, but the anxiety and paranoia are bubbling up in his throat.]

[After so long of wanting someone, anyone, to listen and believe him Tim thinks he can understand how Jon feels.]

You do an amazing Elias. Have you thought about quitting archival work and doing impressions as a stand up gig? [He hopes Jon appreciates the attempt to lighten things up and doesn't hate it.]

[Jon hates it. It feels like he's being mocked. He has just enough self-awareness to know that he's probably being uncharitable to Tim, though.]

I'll take the suggestion under advisement if I'm ever looking for a new job.

[He can pretend to be fine with it.]

In any case, I really do hope you find something better than a gun.
Something like that seems bound to cause more problems than it fixes.

I'll consider it if you consider talking to Martin. Take care of yourself, Jon.

[Right, so. He has to talk to Martin to make Tim give up the gun? Hngh...]

You, too, Tim.

[Jon wishes it was that easy.]

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