duplicitymemes | TDM #12

Entry tags:

«tdm

TDM #12

« « « TEST DRIVE MEME » » »

« « « THEY LIED IN EVERY WORD

It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit. Yet, solace is found in the lies we tell each other, comforted by the peace of knowing that we're not alone in our depravity, and once on this path, sin itself becomes the lesser of two evils masked in a cloud of normalcy.

This is how Duplicity has functioned since the beginning. The divide of power and social standing is overt in that Dominants influence the decisions made both publicly and privately while Submissives cater to the rules presented to them. It is the way of Duplicity to assign random designations at birth with no leeway in altering what has been given. Climate in the Up is far stricter than that of the Down; violating outlined personas for a Dominant or Submissive while in full view of others is punished by degree of infraction. In the Down, many tend to turn a blind eye to these sorts of offenses.

To counteract the discovery of the Deceit Gene – a natural "negative" response to all stimuli – the L.I.E.S. program was founded. The program had been designed to introduce new subjects to the current environment and test for the Deceit Gene through immersion in Duplicity's standing society. Sexual impulses and encounters increase the chances of detecting the gene within these individuals. Participants are typically released from L.I.E.S. after a year; however, results have remained unsatisfactory and testing still continues.

... and you’re here! Finally! Welcome to Duplicity.

After choosing a door and stepping through to the other side, the first thing that greets you are the enthusiastic faces of people in medical scrubs and pristine lab coats. Their enthusiasm translates to eagerness as they strip you of your clothes to perform a thorough examination—you will be healed, bathed, and given a paper gown to wear until your items can be processed and delivered to your residence later in the evening. You are also given a device that accesses the network as well as the time and location of orientation.

If you enter Duplicity into the Up, congratulations! You’re a Dominant, which means you are immediately picked up by a limo after processing and taken to your highrise. Here, it is two Dominants per floor with separate apartments. If you enter Duplicity into the Down, congratulations! You’re a Submissive, which means you are directed towards public transportation with the address of the motel you’ll be living in. Here, it is two Submissives per room with a shared common space for all rooms.

Enjoy your free time until orientation! Participation is mandatory by all new and old arrivals.

The weather is a windy 69 degrees.

» » » SUPPRESSION OF GLEE

It's time for the monthly Duplicity train tour. Seats are in pairs and randomly assigned to Dominants and Submissives alike. Traveling from Fiddler's Square, the train journeys through various parts of the Up, showcasing society and examples of lifestyle. Along the way, frequent stops are made; a variety of passengers can be seen exiting and entering the doors. A Dominant with a kneeling Submissive takes a seat near the front of the train at one stop. A small group of Submissives board and sit closer to the LIERS at another, all seemingly content in their roles. As the tour continues through the Up, the train passes close to the Market and White Wall Bridge and zips by North Park before heading into the Down and bypassing Red Wall Bridge and South Park.

The train makes a "final" stop at Riddler's Square, where inhabitants of the Down are instructed to return to their temporary housing. Those who live in the Up are permitted to stay on the train and revisit the same locations while returning.

CAUTION
On the second day that new arrivals have been in the city, the train will derail due to a malfunction in the computer systems. Anyone on board at the time, Noon, could be injured, stuck, or killed. Emergency services will light up asking for immediate assistance.

« « « ASK THE ROAD

Two of Duplicity’s largest film production companies are out to recruit new, exciting talent. With the warring success of Subliminal, Sublingual, Sublime and You Scratch My Back, I Claw Yours, they have the influence and the funds to go big. They have reached out to the LIEs program for help with the idea that inclusion in local culture will make incoming LIErs more compliant, not to mention bring fresh blood into the industry.

Orientation is just a little different this month. Welcome to the casting couch, LIErs and those unlucky graduates of the program mistakenly sent notice of mandatory attendance, or else…

Not everyone has what it takes to be a star. Both Domination Station Films and Studio Hott are in need of plenty of extras to fill in the background of their newest productions. After an initial sorting in the lobby of the newly refurbished Orientation center, some newcomers, LIErs, and graduates are hustled into a quick and dirty costume fitting. The costumes aren’t as nice or detailed as those for potential stars and may be safety pinned in awkward places. Makeup is cheap and sometimes gaudy. It gets the job done.

You may not have a speaking role. It doesn’t mean you’re any less important, so get comfy on the furniture or in the pool and get busy promoting the Dominant/submissive culture that drives Duplicity’s society. Unsure of how to act? Better listen closely to the director. There are shock collars and bracelets to “encourage” the unwilling, and the camera will keep rolling until the scene is right.

Scenes may be sexually explicit or merely instructive, such as proper seating and kneeling, feeding and serving of Dominants, and keeping a respectful distance in walking. Extras fill any and all roles required by the director for that realistic setting feel.

If you are a Dominant extra, be sure to claim elevated seating and show a firm hand toward any submissives cast as your partner. If you’re submissive, it’s the ground or floor for you, depending on where the scene is set. Be attentive to your Dominant’s needs. It’s OK to talk, as long as you keep it down. Anything you say will be taken out in post.

Craft services has just what it takes to set the mood. Stop by for a drink or snack. Soon enough those pesky inhibitions will be a thing of the past.

(Some, but not all, of the food and drink contains mid to high level aphro effects. The film companies are taking no chances. The scene doesn’t call for intimacy? Good luck keeping your hands to yourself. You may be in for a shocking experience. Repeatedly.)

« « « SOME END MIGHT

You’ve caught the eye of the studio. You’re ushered into a small room to wait your turn. Whether you’re new to the city or not, you find yourself paired with someone for a screen test. Do they want you for Hungry Hearts or It’s in the Pizza? Read your lines convincingly, make some chemistry with your partner, and you could see your name and other things in lights very soon. Don’t worry if the dialog is cheesy. It’s part of the charm.

Having trouble getting into your part? There are costumes hanging on a rack. Try one on. You may find the experience transformative, as though you were made for your role, or it was made for you…

(Costumes may or may not affect the personality of the wearer. Those that do will make it much easier to get into character and greatly lower inhibitions when it comes to the more demanding scenes.)

Be aware that any sexually explicit scenes will only be filmed between a Dom and a sub, or a Dom and multiple subs. If you are a Dom cast in the scene with another Dom, it will be gen only.

(We’re assuming you’ve seen a porn or two, or at least a parody. Go crazy on the cheesy dialog and stupid set-ups. It’s just pretend, right?)

« « « NOT FIT TO COPE

Some people just aren’t meant for film. If you don’t catch the eye of any of the studio reps, you are recruited to work on set building and painting, helping dress extras or potential stars, or providing that extra stimulation to keep them going between scenes. Individuals who complain too much about the circumstance may find themselves assigned to the more unfortunate jobs. Somebody needs to clean up those sets after they’re finished.

(Just put your role in your top level if there’s something specific you have in mind you’d like to play out, like “set building” or “fluffer.” We won’t judge.)

« « « MOD & OOC NOTES

Please read carefully.

On each Test Drive Meme, there will be a section noting character roles; these will vary each TDM. On an IC level, characters will still have gone through the doors but assignments OOCly are still randomized. When applying, there is a section of the application that denotes whether the character chooses "left" or "right". When participating on the TDM, there will be a third option. Players may link either a top level or a thread (five or more comments from their character) from the TDM and title the link as "Door Pass". This means that the player is choosing to take the designation that they were randomly assigned on the TDM, rather than taking the designation of a door. If the player decides to select a door rather than use the pass, then they are trying their luck; they may get the same designation they had on the TDM or the opposite. Once the application is submitted, players can't change their choice.

To assign roles to characters for this TDM, use the following guide: There's a table with items on it. Your character selects one. If they chose the jar of pickles or ballpoint pen they are a Submissive and if they chose a clothespin or mini baguette they are a Dominant.

Please remember to mark any necessary content, and have fun!!

» » » MAIN NAVIGATION « « «

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The creaking, clattering sound of the elevators making their way to the level the two of them are on is an interesting backing track to what Ed shares. And, if it's credible, is all very useful information indeed.

But wasn't this exactly why Oswald had made Ed his Chief of Staff? Well, arguably, he made him Chief of Staff because of nepotism, though if Ed had been an idiot Oswald would never have given him a position like that in the first place. Hell, if Ed had been an idiot they would never have drawn closer to one another in the first place. He can count on him to know things. Too many things. What was an incredible asset also became the sword that Oswald fell upon.

More names to add to the mental list: Rubies. Westley. Lecter. And, if Ed is right, there's untapped potential here. Fires to stoke. Territories to work with. Power to take.

The discovery that death is not a permanent fixture brings a crease to Oswald's otherwise still face of contemplation before deepening into a frown and then a sort of disgusted 'are you kidding?' sort of sneer.

"No death, hm?" His fingers loop and tap against the metal mesh encasing the elevators, making a faint rattling sound as he does that's emblematic of his annoyance, "How inconvenient."

His hand stills as he nods slowly to himself, a cruel and amused smile curling his lips.

"Well. Alive has quite the wide scope to it, wouldn't you agree? I suppose we shall have to get creative in out tactics, won't we? I'm sure we can find a way to help mend his broken heart before too long. Poor thing, he must have gotten so terribly antsy."

Who is the 'we,' exactly? Is he just speaking figuratively? Using the Royal we? It's unclear and perhaps even Oswald doesn't know.

"Interesting what you say about Pennyworth and this Lecter fellow. Not the sort of company I'd have pictured for the Wayne's butler, but... who am I to judge, hm?"

"Apparently. Though I don't know if it's just those who have been kidnapped, or all the residents. And yes, alive has a very wide scope. As Victor once infamously said in the middle of the GCPD, 'a man who has had both hand removed may be alive'." Ed had heard it, tucked back and away in his lab when the mayhem (Zsasz and his Zsaszettes) had hit.

He gestures Oswald ahead of him, ready to cover his back, not that he thinks there will be a problem here.

As soon as the doors are closing, Riddler reaches up and pulls off the collar, shoving it away again. "I hate that thing. But we learned young that sometimes, you need to be unseen. And the best invisibility is visible conformity." His hand rubs at his collarbone absently.

Sucking in his lower lip, Oswald manages to stifle a chuckle without putting too much effort behind it. He can absolutely picture Zsasz announcing something to that effect as he nods a little more vigorously in agreement.

"He's not wrong!"

The shift in Ed's presence is palpable, like the air changing from hot to cold. It brings Oswald's gaze to him from the corner of his sharp eyes, watching all the subtle and obvious changes between Ed and the Riddler, so many of which would just completely escape the notice of most people.

He knows, in the abstract, that the assessment is correct, but the way Oswald pushes his tongue into his cheek and juts his chin out suggests he has some real trouble with making those concessions.

"So... Even you are wary of them here."

Riddler's jaw goes tight, his gaze fixed elsewhere for a long moment. There's small twitches, suggestions that he's putting a lot of thoughts and words and things he could say in place and order, sorting through them, discarding them and picking up others to try in his mind.

"Yes. In short, yes. Do you know what I do, Oswald? For Ed. I handle the things he can't. When he goes to pieces, I step in. When he's too dumb to be quiet, I shut him up. I try. I keep things together because he can't. And this place? What they do to people here? Makes me wary. Gotham and Arkham didn't do that."

Of all the things Ed or Riddler have shared with Oswald, this is possibly some of the most vital in terms of crystallised importance. He has a lot of theories about Ed and his alter ego, but it had taken Oswald some time to figure out whether Riddler was just a shift in mood or a full-blown additional personality. It's still not entirely clear, but the two are distinct enough parts of Ed that even when signaled as two separate things Oswald is convinced he can still see the joining seams between them.

Hell, he even feels an involuntary spark of defensiveness for Ed when Riddler calls him dumb. Ed isn't dumb, not by a long shot. At a time not too far from what Oswald knows, that is what he finds hardest to grapple with--what happens to Ed. It's why he reaches beyond when the time comes.

But now, they're close enough to the man that sparked something new and unique in Oswald that he has to actively choke his own impulse to be protective.

He swills those impending words around his mouth and swallows, just in time for the second part of Riddler's assessment to arrive. It reminds Oswald of the face he wore earlier, vaguely predatory and threatening, outlined in something sexual and terrifying. The face of Riddler that he been shaped by this place that chilled Oswald to be bone. He feels that again here and the significance of those words. He doesn't take it as nothing, not by a long-shot, but he'll be damned if he'll let Riddler see another glimpse of the fear Oswald feels about the power structures of this world. Real or not.

"Despite all the things we did, all the codes that were bend and broken and lost, all the extremes we went to... Gotham has its limits." He doesn't meet Riddler's eye as he speakers, instead staring out over the expanse of the Down starting to come into view from the elevator. "That is what you're saying, isn't it?"

Riddler turns his attention from Oswald back to that somewhere else place. This place has done a lot of damage to cleave Riddler and Ed apart, the only way for them to survive after they came so close to a whole back home.

"Gotham has her own rules. You threaten to murder someone's wife slowly. You don't drag her out onto the front lawn for the whole gang to violate before death." Gotham has a limit and that limit tends to be the sexualisation of its violence. It's not the done thing. "I feel little for most people. But that's a limit I couldn't cross. I've been weak and violated, if not like that, and I don't need to be that sort of bully or monster."

"You couldn't."

The words are out of his mouth before he can bite them down, and they arrive with a swift privet on his feet to put himself squarely in front of Riddler. For someone with restricted mobility, he can move very quickly in a small radius.

"You couldn't even try and be that kind of monster. Not here. And not anywhere."

It's not a challenge or a dare, it's a definitive statement of fact. The kind of thing that Oswald would bet his life on if it came to it. Edward Nygma and the Riddler are many terrible things, just as Oswald Cobblepot is, but that is not one of them.

Riddler's eyes go wide, just a little, and then soften a bit, something like Ed looking out. "No. We couldn't. Neither could you." Whatever monsters they are or could be, that's a line you don't cross, do not pass go.

Ed looks away, shifting a little. "As you know, I'd only had the one girlfriend. And I can't stand bullies preying on people like that." It was how he'd ended up killing Dougherty, in part, trying to defend Miss Kringle. His attention drifts again, probably listening to Riddler. "Shh. Not here."

In his mind, Oswald doesn't need that kind of reassurance, or at least didn't imagine he'd need to hear it. But it's not the confirmation itself that has a lingering resonance with Oswald here but the impression of a flimsy bridge forming between them, like whisper thin wisps of cotton webs that form in the corners of rooms, fragile and easy to miss, but most definitely there to anyone paying close enough attention. But they also form precisely when focus is elsewhere.

It's there. The thinnest connection. Their first agreement, however flimsy.

Oswald forces a steely poker face though, enduring the ghost of Kristen to haunt the moment. His eyes twitch involuntarily though. Only had one gilrfriend. There it is again. The notable absence of Isabella again. It's not beyond them to bracket her death to exact revenge on Oswald, and yet...

Not here.

That's not a bad call.

"Not here," he echoes with a nod, "But all in good time."

"Hm? Oh. Yes." Not here is equally applicable to Oswald and Riddler. He tries to keep a lid on his crazy in public. "Back at the house. There's no bugs there, believe me, I've checked. A lot. I was a little unwell for a while and privacy felt more important than ever-"

"Shut up, Ed."

Ed clamps his mouth shut and hums, rocking on his feet and then looking at them. "It got bad when we came here. Between us. For a while."

This back and forth is, in its way, fascinating. Oswald had never seen the arguments Ed had with himself, rarely caught him talking to or at himself, or even really heard him speak about himself in fractured terms. In fact, one day, it would be Oswald making the distinction between Ed and him so specifically, but that is somewhere in the future. What Oswald knows is Ed and Riddler's singular affirmations: one making a declaration about who they are, but not denying or referring to the other.

"So I see," he says carefully.

A part of him should feel some kind of vindictive glee that Ed is coming apart--serves him right for betraying him and all of that. He should feel that, but it's hard to make it materialise. Instead, it is a marker of something, something he doesn't yet know about Ed. Something this world has done to him and he's not sure if he likes the firmer line or not.

"And now?"

"Good days and bad days." What else can he really say? Sometimes they almost meet, almost become that Chief of Staff they were when they landed here. "It works for us, here. More than it doesn't. There's things he deals with that I would struggle with. But, he's not really good at not being a jerk to people. And here, we need to not antagonise some people. Most of the unmarked locals? Don't even look at me twice, but Riddler always stands out."

Ed is used to being shy and quiet. Riddler can't stand not being the centre of attention, Riddler submits to no one and nothing. And that's not always good here.

"Riddler sees a bully, he wants to hit them on the head and wire them up to the grid for a bit of correction. I see a bully... I know you wait." Ed isn't the calculating one, but he is far more patient.

Oswald doesn't put too much work into hiding the little smirk that emerges from Ed describing what Riddler would do to people he thinks need dealing with; fireworks and room for applause. What an ostentatious moron. But in a place like this, he might just welcome a little ostentatious violence.

But there is absolutely value in waiting. This, possibly, is one of the reasons he and Ed got along before. Yes, Oswald can be explosive and impulsive, but he plays the long game, both things that the two parts of Ed could share in.

His smile fades as another question occurs to Oswald, but he doesn't want to ask it because if he does then he may receive an answer. It gnaws at him, chewing and snapping furiously to get out, but he knows better, refuses to open himself up to something that he knows will be uncomfortable at best and painful at worst.

Instead, he settles on a dodge.

"More good days than bad, I do hope. Though I fear that may be a naive wish on my part."

Riddler craves attention. He's that part of Ed constantly seeking recognition and rarely finding any. And he's getting enough here that, mostly, he leaves the masses alone.

"More good than bad," Ed agrees. He shifts his weight on his feet, hating the fact that he feels awkward and somewhat unwelcome with Oswald. He's never felt that way before, not with Oswald.

He can't help himself. "It wasn't a simple 'disagreement' was it? You're looking at me like you look at... your capos. Possibly useful, but inherently untrustworthy."

Of all the places for Ed to go in that moment, it had to be that one.

Oswald would have liked more time to process, to strategise, to decide how best to approach all of this and to what end.

He should have been expecting the question, but something also tells him that no matter when Ed asked it then it would have caught him a little on the blindside.

Of course, he could bluster and try to string together an excuse that's an obvious lie, but that would be insulting to Ed. And despite everything, Oswald is not inclined to stoop so low.

He holds Ed's eye for as long as he can, right up until he can't anymore at which point he makes a rather obvious turn of his head as worries his teeth with his tongue, his thoughts heavy and muddled.

"No. No, it was not a simple disagreement, Edward."

Ed nods and doesn't push it. He will want to know, probably, but right now, he just knows that something happened with Oswald and unlike Victor, Oswald hasn't reached the point where they make up again.

"I'm sorry I hurt you. Maybe the me who did it isn't, but I am. Once you're dressed and clean and fed, I can give you space, if you prefer. Or stay close, if you prefer to keep an eye on us."

Oswald wants to take those words to heart, ball them up between his palms and press the warmth of them somewhere in his chest to try and coax some of the healing along.

Instead, it feels more bitter than sweet to taste as he shakes his head.

"You cannot apologise for something that you do not know the shape of, Ed. Full of good intentions as you are."

He could sound cutting and cruel with ease--he has enough venom at the best of times and enough stored up especially for Ed that he could make every syllable of every word into a razor. But he doesn't. Instead, he sounds sort of... sad. Or at the very least confused, maybe tired.

It's hard to know how to feel about this Edward Nygma, what to believe, what to trust. The possibility that this is a trap wanders through Oswald's mind again and if Ed, or Riddler, or both are playing him on this level then he may as well just give them his crown right here and now.

Ed gives a small shrug. It's probably the only apology that Oswald will ever here for whatever happened; Ed knows himself and neither of him would apologise if they felt it was warranted.

Riddler has a temper. Riddler has a hidden fount of rage that Ed's total lack of anger barely keeps smothered. And if Riddler were wronged, or Ed were wronged...

He isn't sure what Riddler could do.

The elevator grinds to a halt and open upon the lower city. "Welcome to the Down."

The truth is Ed can't apologise because it's not Ed's fault. As vicious as Riddler's vengeance had been, and as much as Oswald may want to twist it into an act of betrayal, he also knows who is to blame, and it's neither Ed nor Riddler.

As the elevator doors drag themselves open, Oswald forces himself away from his impending cloud of melancholy to look out into the street of the Down, the city given over to the Marked members of society. The air is thicker, more humid, and Oswald can already virtually smell the desperation, the dog eat dog of it all.

It takes a moment, then he steps over the threshold.

"Home sweet home, I suppose."

Ed snorts and strides out, whistling and waving down a taxi. They're not great and he generally avoids them, but with the choice of that or Oswald having to walk the whole way, in his coat and with his limp.

He argues briefly with the driver about fares and costs and then waves Oswald over. "Come on. It's easier and quicker."

Here is another one of those moments that pokes a nerve for Oswald in a way he can't even remotely spin into something reasonable. Oswald's will to survive will allow him to walk miles and miles for days without so much of a flinch or a grimace even when the pain in his leg is all but screaming. And Ed knows that. He knows that Oswald could make himself walk through the Down and never utter a word of complaint, but he flags down a car because he knows it'll relieve some of the pressure and he does it without even an ounce of pity. It's that brand of attentiveness that is uniquely Ed and what made them work better than a well-oiled machine.

For a moment, Oswald hesitates, this time not out of overt mistrust, but just needing a moment for that haunting wave to wash over him and drip away before giving himself a bit of a mental kick and pulling himself together. These moments will come and go, apparently.

"Is this Undercity broken up into sections? Territories? What glamorous corner has your--" he stumbles as he approaches the word 'Dominant,' looking like he's physically trying to get his mouth around it or dislodge something stuck in his tooth before setting on, "Contract partner claimed for you all?"

"Nothing that organised," Ed states. "The Rubies have territory, but it's haphazard at best. There's no traffic in or out that I've been able to find, not really. Yes, I know there has to be some, but it's very well concealed and possibly in the Up, which is inherently more difficult to navigate. The SIN guards are persistent in their harassment."

He holds the door for Oswald without thinking, sliding in after him and pulling the door shut. The cab sets off towards their destination. "Ginger's a civilian. A horrible naive one at that. Victor told her he's a hitman and she still doesn't believe that means he kills people. She's a tailor, a very talented one, but not part of it all."

And, despite his talent for it, Ed isn't really either. He's never been that interested in influence or money beyond avarice. He likes to find a niche and occupy it and he's done that here. "I won't use their terms. Marked. Unmarked. Contract holder. I find they work for me."

Some might say it's far to early for Oswald to be thinking about ascension in power seeing as he doesn't even know his way around town yet, but those people would be wrong with no sense of ambition or taste for social movement. And besides, Oswald's brain would need a complete rewire at this point to make him think any other way.

He strokes the corner of his lips with his thumb, thinking--always thinking--as the Down moves past them beyond the windows of the cab. It smells funny and there's a strange rhythmic rattling sound, but at least it drives.

Eventually, his mind cycles back to various points that Ed has raised. There are a few things that strike him immediately, but one area in particular makes him frown.

"She sounds--" like an idiot. No, Oswald, try again--Ed is taking you to thae house owned by that 'idiot,' "Like a very special kind of naive, if that is the case. Why on earth would you contract with someone like that?"

Well, they're not on Earth anymore, for a start--

Ed would expect absolutely nothing less from Oswald.

"Ginger's naive to the point of ignorance or stupidity, but she's... basically a nice person. And she let me write my own contract, which basically means I can put in anything I want and she just signed. Why wouldn't I contract with her? She gives me protection from the authorities and other unmarked jerks. She promised- it's actually written into the contract that should you arrive, she's to offer you a contract here if you're marked and allow me to go with you if you weren't."

She has no idea what Ed and Riddler do and she doesn't really have any interest in knowing. "She knows about both of us and she just accepted the idea that there's two of us in here." He taps his head. "Also, I was nearing my three month grace period. If you don't sign, they arrange something for you and that could be anything."

For a moment, Oswald was going to give Ed a shit-eating grin and say something to effect of how, well, he wasn't going to say it, but if Ed is going to call her stupid--!

But whatever petty little teasing comment in particular he was offer dies on his tongue as Ed continues with more details about the contract, about how she let him write it, yes, but more specifically how Oswald is written into it.

He sort of misses the rest of what Ed is saying, too shocked to process much more at that moment as a whole whirlwind of thoughts light up every part of his mind, conflicting concerns and alarm bells smashing against unreasonable levels of excitement.

If Ed wrote the contract himself, why would he do that? Why would he include Oswald as a break clause to the contract if he'd been assigned differently? Would it be for revenge? Another long game plan to bring Oswald suffering by bringing them closer together through every possible means? He'd underestimated Ed before, yes, had no real scope of the lengths he'd go to, but would he really do that? Or was it just absurd? Too absurd? Why tether yourself to someone you hate that much? Even for revenge, could Ed stand to be around Oswald that much? And if he had been assigned differently, that would put the power back in Oswald's hands and he definitely wouldn't have agreed to anything nearly so foolish as Ginger. No, that implies a great level of trust. The kind of trust that--

It would be proof, wouldn't it? Proof that Ed is telling the truth. That this Ed is that Ed, from before Oswald's selfishness took over, before he really understood what love was supposed to mean. Before he let his own weakness win.

Maybe there are secretly two Oswalds too--the one who wants more than anything to open up and try again with Ed, and the one who knows better.

A lump forms in his throat which is hard to swallow down.

"... Can I see it?"

Who knows what Ed is talking about by the time he finally speaks again.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject