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

[compellingstatement]

Not right away, no.
He just doesn't want to live in the Down.

Who are you contracted to?

[Sorry, Tim. That's not slipping through.]

[alwayskayaking]

Don't blame him. Place sounds pretty awful. Can the two of us pool money to pay for his place until he finds a contract? I can probably step in if he doesn't find one before his time is up. [It's not that he doesn't want to help. He's more worried about the responsibility of having two contracts at once when he's still getting use to the idea of even having one.]

Probably no one you know.

[compellingstatement]

[Mm...]

I'd have to check with Elias.

[Unfortunately.]

I do know quite a few people here.
Or at least I've seen them on the network while--[stalking]--browsing.
Are you embarrassed, Tim?

[alwayskayaking]

Oh yeah, I forget that you're his submissive now. [Should he be saying stuff like that on the network? Probably not. Does Tim care? Not really.]

Nope. Not embarrassed.

[compellingstatement]

[Jon's jaw clenches tight for a moment, and then he just... ignores that comment.]

Then why are you evading my question?
Are they someone horrible you were tricked into a contract with?

[alwayskayaking]

[Well, now he's being evasive because he is having a bit of fun with Jon's need to know everything.]

Nooooooope.

[compellingstatement]

Tim.
I do actually have insight into people here.
There are actually dangerous people that I would prefer to warn you about.

[alwayskayaking]

Do you? Because half the time it seems like you don't use that insight very often.

[compellingstatement]

Knowing something and acting on it are very different things.

[alwayskayaking]

[That can't be easy to admit to. Fine. Jon probably does know more than him anyway so maybe he will have some useful insight.]

Charlotte Lowell

[compellingstatement]

[Jon has... no idea who that is and goes to check the latest Dom/Sub Finder.]

You contracted with a shape-shifter?
You?

[alwayskayaking]

Yeah, she turns into a fox.

And what's wrong with me being contracted to a monster? At least this way I can control what she does to a degree and always know where she is.

[compellingstatement]

[Jon had been surprised, but pleased in a way. If Tim is starting to come around enough that he'd contract with a non-human, maybe there's hope for him having a much easier time in Duplicity. Maybe Jon could introduce him to more of his inhuman-]

What do you mean, 'control?'

[alwayskayaking]

Do you really want me to answer that? I can tell you that she agreed to it all on her own. No mind control or blackmail needed.

[compellingstatement]

[It's been a long time since he's felt anything like this with Tim. He's been frustrated with the man. Guilt-ridden. Righteously angry, though? That's years.]

And how desperate was she, Tim?
You don't need to blackmail someone for there to be coercion in this city.
For you to be taking advantage of someone who has virtually no power in this society.

[alwayskayaking]

No idea, but I still gave her a choice. If this city put pressure on her to sign with me that's not my fault she didn't find someone else.

>voice

[compellingstatement]

[Screw text.]

Are you serious?

[There's incredulity pouring out of Jon's tone.]

[alwayskayaking]

She can change her mind in three months! It's not like I tricked her! Pretty sure I've been treating her a lot better than Elias treats you and you're only in a pretend contract with him!

[Is it fair to throw Jon's mistakes in his face like this? No, but Tim is feeling defensive and wants to turn this around on Jon.]

[compellingstatement]

Do you really want to set Elias and how he treats me as the moral bar you need to clear? Is that how low you're planning to sink?

She's a person. What are you doing to control her? You had better be letting her get a job and make purchases. At the barest minimum.

[alwayskayaking]

If she wants a job then she can get one and spend her money as she wants. [After she gets permission for anything over twenty dollars.]

[compellingstatement]

Have you given her explicit written permission that she's allowed to do those things? Something she can carry around for prospective employers or people at the shops?

You have no idea what it's like to be a Submissive. Nothing is simple. I couldn't even but a pack of cigarettes or a cassette tape when I first got here without a Dominant there buying those things for me. I had to get a permission slip to do anything. Like a child.

[alwayskayaking]

She has that. [Up to $20 dollars.] But she does need to tell me where she'll be working if she decides to get a job.

[alwayskayaking]

[More importantly.]

Wait, why did you need that? You're a dominant.

[compellingstatement]

Why? Why do you need to know that?

My Submissives have blanket permissions to work wherever they want without me needing to know specifically what they're doing. I'm supposed to be the nosy one, Tim. If you want to know, you can ask her. You shouldn't make it a condition. You should have virtually no conditions on anything she does as long as it's not hurting people.

And I wasn't a Dominant when I first got to the city. I was a Submissive for more than a month. They changed my designation.

[alwayskayaking]

It's a condition because then it's not something that I have to wonder if it's a lie. Not something I have to question if it's real or not.

It's a condition because I want to know where she is. She's my responsibility now and if someone gets hurt while I'm responsible I want to know. I don't know this woman well enough like you know your submissives. I'm afraid that my trust needs to be earned before I freely give it away these days.

How you treat your submissives is just going to be different to how I treat mine and how I'm sure other people treat theirs.

Huh. Didn't realise that happened to you. [He bites his tongue from saying anything like: makes sense and they got it right the first time.]