behavioural | duplicitymods

No? I'd have thought you'd be glad to see me.

( but he's not going anywhere. instead, he wrinkles his nose. takes several steps towards pierce. doesn't stop until he's barely a breath's distance away from him, and--tips his chin up to look him in the eye.

looks him over for a moment. he looks different, but that's not surprising. it's been some time since oliver's last seen him in person. a year? a little more than that maybe. too long, for pierce and his shitty family. )

Let me in.

( his expression hardens and then contorts into something conflicted and distraught as oliver closes the distance between them, so familiar and perfunctory the act that it takes him aback. pierce doesn't want to believe it's him, but from the way he talks to the way he moves, he is a perfect mirror of the oli he knew.

even the magic emanating from him is undeniable.

appearances can lie, but not magic. not his essence. it's actually him. oliver daye, alive and well. not a hair out of place.

eyes fall shut for a breath as he tries to wrap his mind around the possibility. it seems too easy. too good to be true. but then this world he is in doesn't play by normal rules, does it? it doesn't care about alternate universes or timelines. it sure as hell doesn't care about the people it brings in.

he holds up his hand to keep oli at bay, taking a step back from him. )

Just... Just let me try to process this first. ( he swivels around on the heels of his black oxfords as he heads deeper into the apartment. he stops in the middle of the living room where shards of glass have scattered and coated most of the floor from the earlier blast. he turns around to face him, his arms folded against his chest. ) When was the last time we saw each other? Do you remember?

( what a mess. a disaster, even. oliver takes a big breath in as he looks around what had been a very nice living room and is now just. shards of glass everywhere. typical pierce, honestly. he shouldn't be surprised at his propensity for destroying everything in his path when shit doesn't go as he wanted it.

he'd be a little more pissed, except. pierce arrived right in the nick of time. )

Graduation. Before you took off back to your family estate and left me behind. ( he's not mad about it, although his tone may come across more peeved than he really means it to. oliver pulls in another deep breath, holds it in as he raises his right hand, index and middle finger extended out towards the shattered glass. murmurs a couple words in a mangled, half-latin half-gaelic jargon made just for him as pieces of glass pick themselves up off the floor and slowly start to piece themselves together back on their proper frame.

oliver lets out the held breath. turns back towards pierce. )

Why? What the hell's your problem?

( graduation has been more than a handful of years for him.

the implication of what that means doesn't assuage him in the least. he can only reason that oli is from the past then. before he ever came to his family estate as he so aptly puts it. before he was killed by one of the many greedy and vindictive pigs that had wandered the halls of that illustrious building.

he should have never let him take a single step into the strickland estate.

but it isn't the right time to dwell on past mistakes or revisit all the many ways he royally fucked up. ignoring oli's questions, pierce doesn't bat an eye at the cleanup. he is too accustomed to his friends taking it upon themselves to repair the damages he deals. instead, he narrows his eyes at him skeptically. )

So, it's been like, what? Two, three years...? ( has nick's brother died yet? )

Two years. Nothing exciting has happened since you left us.

( oliver's switched between houses. went back home, before he remembered he hated it there and took off. found a new home on nick's couch and decided to spend a good amount of time getting high and forgetting about everything else. with the glass cleaned up, he can actually walk across the living room, so he--does.

makes his way over to the comfiest looking couch to throw himself across it, legs over one of the arms. hands across his stomach. )

When's the last time you remember us meeting up?

( two years would put oli at around twenty years old.

there is a three year gap between them. so the question now is whether to tell him the truth or lie. )

All of us? The last time we were all together was graduation. We haven't been in the same place together since. ( he doesn't want to lie, especially not to oli; but he isn't ready to divulge everything either. not when the guilt is still eating away at him from the inside out. ) I'm 23 now though.

( he can at least tell him that much. )

How long have you been here?

A couple months. Not long. Kennedy got here a month after I did. Nick's been here for over a year.

( this couch is nice though. why do all the fucking dominants get great furniture and his default housing was full of ratty sheets and mattresses with springs coming out of them? it's unfair. fucking pierce and his stupid dom privilege. )

I've got a contract right now, but soon as it expires I'll switch over to you. It's been five years since you and I've seen each other?

( don't u mean fucking pierce and his stupid privileges in gen?

although, if you ask him, he totally got downgraded here. )

Wait. Wait wait wait— ( he holds up his hand. ) Nick and Kennedy are here too? ( what the fuck. ) Are they your age?

( please don't tell him that he is not only the latest one to arrive here but also the oldest one out of the group chronologically speaking. )

And who the fuck did you get contracted with, mate? ( his brows snap into a disapproving frown. ) Is it Nick? Kennedy?

Edited 2022-03-22 04:03 (UTC)

Timeline seems to match up, yeah. Nick hasn't said anything to make me think otherwise, nor has Ken.

( his head tips back against the arm of the couch, fingers raising to tug at the collar around his neck. finds the buckle and undoes it entirely to throw it across the room. william isn't his favorite person right now, which is why he's quick to. well. offer him over. )

Some asshole. I was in the middle of planning my big fuck you party for him when you showed up, so. Great timing.

( well, that's just great. everyone's three years behind. lucky him. guess he won't have to catch them up with recent events. )

Some asshole? ( he arches his brow at him before his gaze follows the trajectory of the discarded collar. extending his left hand out towards it, he summons the accessory over to him, his fingers curling around its band. he doesn't look over at oli as he asks the next question, a steel-like tone to his voice. ) His name?

If I give you a name, you're going to make a mess. And I'm already in the process of cleaning it up.

( or at least getting himself out of it. and nick. hell, if nick wasn't in the line of fire this would be a hell of a lot easier. just tell william to fuck off and be done with it. but he has to be careful now. )

I'll tell you once I've gotten Nick out of the way. Okay?

Nick? ( he shoves the collar into his pants' pocket. ) Is Nick contracted with that asshole too?

( are you saying that two of his best friends are currently submissives and contractually bound to some fucking collar-hankerin' perv? )

No. Nick's contracted to a guy named Kyle Valenti. Apparently a vampire. Really hot though. I've already terrorized him plenty, he's not a creep or a jackass or anything. Checked through his network history, too. Nothing bad enough to raise any red flags.

( kyle's a sweetheart and oliver didn't waste time adding him to his list of favorites. )

Kyle's also his boyfriend. Him, Ragnor Fell, and Nate Hawthorne. The three of them are great. His fourth boyfriend's a piece of shit but more in the self destructive to the point of hurting everyone around him way, less the spousal abuse towards Nick way.

( that's a pile of shit you're dumping on him all at once, oli.

he needs to fucking sit down. rather than join oliver on the couch though, pierce settles for the arm of it. )

Four boyfriends. One's a bloodsucking fiend, the other's a jackass. Got it. ( what the hell, nicholas? he totally drank the fucking koolaid here, didn't he? ) But what's that got to do with the asshole? ( one problem at a time, oli. he lit just got here. )

One's a warlock--half demon, half human. The other's a witch. Also prefers the term warlock. They're both cute too.

( just an fyi. in case pierce gets curious later. oliver made an effort to vet them already, pierce doesn't have to start fights with them to make sure they're fine or whatever. not that oliver saying they're fine will stop him from being a dick anyway.

he does twist himself around enough to wrap an arm around pierce's waist. tries to drag him down onto the couch. pierce makes a good pillow, he intends to take advantage of it. )

Nothing. Nick's not in the asshole's direct line of sight, but he's close enough that I'm not going to start shit without making sure he's out of range.

( he wasn't curious, but now with oli's appraisal, it's probably safe to assume that he's only guaranteed to pick a fight with one of them. )

Uh... ( sorry, oli. he's still, well—... he's still processing that you're actually alive and not dead while simultaneously battling the insurmountable guilt he feels for what happened to you very recently in his timeline because of him. physicality from you is a bit too much for him right now.

he maneuvers away from both oli's hold and the couch, thinking it might be best if he just went back to standing. nothing strange about this whatsoever. ) So, how is Nick within his range? Will he go after him if you throw that big fuck you party for him too soon?

( fucking rude. how's he supposed to coddle up to pierce, steal his wallet and his things, and leech off of his body heat if he's apparently refusing to touch him. it. completely throws him off and turns oliver's attention away from the whole william bullshit (understandably and also: great. he doesn't want to get into that just yet) as he pulls himself up to a sitting position and tips his head back enough to look up to pierce. )

What's going on with you?

( fuck

and he was doing so well up to this point too. time to recalibrate— )

Nothing. ( he shrugs his shoulders. ) Besides the fact that I'm trapped in sex city and expected to play out a citywide master-slave kink like I'm some fucking puppet that they think they have any right to control. And maybe I'm still trying to wrap my fuckin' mind around the fact that I'm somehow three years older than you guys! ( he throws up his arms emphatically. )

I want to fucking bash in a guard's face right now, Oli, so can we get back to Nick and the asshole you decided to sign a contract with?

( it's an overreaction. not the kind he would generally expect from pierce. pierce is clever, too smart for his own good, the stupid fights he picks is less about the reason behind the fights and more because he likes to curl his hands into fists and hit. oliver probably could have gotten pierce's opinion on city-wide bdsm play sometime before but it didn't really come up so he can't gauge if he's really that bothered by it or just being dramatic to throw him off, but

well. his arrival had been a little nicer. stealing one of nick's jackets and having an intense makeout session did help oliver adjust to the idea of duplicity. )

It doesn't matter. He was nice at first anyway. He's still been--nice. To me. Mostly? He'll be gone soon anyway.

It seems to fucking matter a lot here if you're so concerned that the fallout will impact Nick too.

( it's starting to feel like he isn't getting the whole story here with the way oliver keeps beating around the bush and his patience is wearing thin. )

What has he done to you, Oli? What's his goddamn deal with Nick?

He doesn't respect boundaries. Or the word no. ( from what he's learned from jessica, at least. oliver does--pull himself up. rests his elbows on his knees, and his chin against the palm of one hand. ) He's--been relatively fine with me, because for whatever reason he wants me to stick around. But when I said his name to Nick, Nick asked me if I thought he was a good person or not. I don't know what he's done to Nick. But I know he did enough to make Nick wary about him.

( so. enough to be concerned. but nothing with concrete proof, aside from what jessica spilled. )

( unfortunately, he is familiar with that type. they're dotted throughout high society. he was related to some of them and he has seen firsthand what they're capable of doing. it doesn't surprise him that duplicity would have similar pests, especially when the class system does little to discourage that type of behavior from manifesting.

he grows quiet for a moment and then with eerie ease— ) We can solve this problem right now. Take me to him and I'll kill him.

People don't stay dead here. You kill them, they come back a few weeks later, and this place will give you really fucked up punishments for bending the rules. I'm pretty sure murdering a Dominant falls somewhere in there.

( a raise of his hand, waving pierce off. )

I'm handling it. If you get into shit now, it'll reflect badly on me later.

T'ch.

( yeah, he just t'ch-ed at u 💁‍♂️ )

What's your plan then? Share with the class.

He's cursed to reincarnate. Something witches blah blah blah, vague and unhelpful. But I'm guessing it's that same curse that gives him as much strength as he has. He heals fast, hits hard. What if we broke that curse? It won't stop him from coming back here, but it might depower him enough that basic charms can keep him away.

( he's experimented a bit with that. threw a charm at william, once. )

But anti-curse crap is a little out of my wheelhouse. I've been working on something, but he is strong, and old. I need to make sure it's strong enough before I even get close to him with it.

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cw: implied rape

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