fingeronthebutton | Duplicity IC Inbox

I'm allowed to do whatever I want in my free time, right?

[This might be asking for trouble, but the lack of clarity on the boundaries is making him more and more anxious. If he's in a box, he wants to be able to see the edges of it, not accidentally slam into the side at full tilt without meaning to.

Tim's questioning has left him feeling more uncertain than ever.]

Oh? Do you suddenly have plans, Jon?
A rising social life?

[He could have. Mostly, he just wants to stay the night with Peter... And Gerry wants to hang out with him, too. Maybe Agnes will agree to go back to doing coffee sometimes.]

I don't see that the reason is any of your business.
It's a simple yes or no.

I believe it is my business since you know you have to ask in the first place.
Wouldn't you agree?

No, I wouldn't.

[Jon lets that sit for a moment, knowing full well he's expected to answer, even if he doesn't agree. Maybe it would have been better not to ask. Ugh.]

I just want to be able to see my friends outside of work hours without having to check with you for everything.
People like Tim, Gerry, and Agnes.
That's going to be tedious for the both of us.
Especially when you can just see what I'm doing whenever you want.

[He's not going to mention Peter, Jamie, or Rafa by name. Peter's the particular concern with how they've been... getting on. Comforting each other after losing Peter's Dom Sally and Martin, playing around with the cat thing. He lives with Lyall and Alessandro, so that's just what it is, as well.]

And the others? I know you are thinking about them, Jon.
Let's be honest since we're in this delicate position you've created for us.
It will make things so much easier on you.

DO you want me to list off every acquaintance I have?
We'll be here a while if I have to think of all the potential people I might talk to here, you know?

[He's stalling, and he knows it. What does Elias even want? Just the pleasure of making him type out names?]

Very well, I will allow you to stall this time.
List them.

[Seriously? Fine. Fine! He wants names? Jon will throw every bloody name he can think of at this horrible man. He purposefully puts them in a random order.]

Beau
Kamiya Tsurugi
The Iron Bull
Jester
Lan Wangji
Ana Steele
Ignacio
Anders
Festival
Rafaello d'Este
Ivy Valentine
Dorothy Gale
Lilith
Eggsy Unwin
Magnus Bane
Daenerys Targaryen
Hannibal Lecter
Vanessa Ives
Tinya
Crais
Sally Timms
Legato Bluesummers
Kavinsky
Belial
Morrigan Prince
Claudia
Alessandro Tarabotti
Thomas Nightingale
Constance Blackwood
Gertrude Robinson
Noah Czerny
Rip van Winkle
Matthew Murdock
Richie Tozier
Will Graham
Vrenille
Dorian Gray
Ben Hargreeves
Mark
Vash
Jason
Suzanne Sheringham
Eames
Jamie
Hayley Marshall-Kenner
Agnes Montague
Nick Scratch
Hiling Care
Tim Stoker
Randolph Lyall
Kyle Valenti
Wolf
Ransom Drysdale
Ambrose Spellman
Peggy Carter
Dominic Prince
Tim Drake
Reggie Mantle
Tomoe Himura
Dorian Pavus
Connor
Harley Quinn
Azwel
Lestat de Lioncourt
Cyram
David Talbot
Father Anderson
Gerard Keay
Julian Bashir
Diva
John Doe
Fenris
Cullen Rutherford

Now, consider this, Jon.
Do you feel you have to ask for my permission to see these people?

No.

[Maybe.]

I just don't want to get in trouble because you're not being explicit.
Do I or don't I need to ask your permission to spend time with people if it doesn't interfere with my work?

I will think on it and present you with a response in an hour.
Do be patient now.

[He literally doesn't need the time. He's just doing this to mess with Jon.]

[Patience is not one of Jon's limited virtues. He knows Elias is just being a bastard, but calling it out is only likely to extend the timeline. Still.]

You have an hour, then.

[He can attempt to assert himself a little bit? Maybe. Jon will spend the next hour researching, glancing at the clock every five minutes, horribly distracted as he waits for the sound of an incoming message.]

[How cheeky. Just for that Elias let's an hour go by. And then doesn't reply back.

Yep. He's making you have to contact him, Jon.]

[He gives it an hour and fifteen minutes before picking up his phone again. Bloody spiteful, childish- Ugh!]

I'm waiting, Elias.

Oh are you? I don't recall agreeing to a time.

You said it would be one hour.
It's well over that now.
I believe punctuality is in the Institute's staff handbook.

Can you be sure, Jon?

[This is a text. The time might be mysteriously missing on his end now. Just to mess with Jon.]

[For more than two minutes, Jon second-guesses himself, scrolling back through his phone in anger, then frustration, then confusion. Elias had said one hour. Hadn't he? Jon's own response that he has one hour is there, but... he'd been replying to it, hadn't he? God, he's tired. And anxious. He's not misremembering that, though. He is not.]

Don't do that.
You're not an avatar for the Spiral.

[So stop screwing with his head!]

Just answer the bloody question.

[He chuckles because he knows Jon is second guessing himself.]

You may have a social life as long as you come to me whenever I call for you without the Call.

['Be a good boy and you'll have more give on the leash' is what Jon reads in that reply.]

Fine.
That's all you had to say.
Goodbye.

Duplicity IC Inbox

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